Chapter 67: The Structure of Sects (Exposition Heavy)
The destination that Li Ling and Bai Ruyi sought was the Asura Blood Hall. This was where Li Ling would be signed into the large tree that the Six Paths Demon Sect occupied and formally become one of its members, though at the lowest rank.
But to make it make sense, we would have to talk about the structure of a grand sect like the Six Paths Demon Sect and how things like the Tianmo Empire and the Asura Blood Hall fit into things.
To start with, what was a sect? It was simply a type of governmental or ruling body that employed a strict authoritarian system based on either clan ties or a unified religious identity that acted as a closed form of society.
What separated a normal village or any other form of authoritarian government with positions was the fact that sects were mostly a pseudo-religious type of government. They were half theocratic, half authoritarian, taking bits from the two and mixing them into a unique system that was born in the east.
A sect was not like a typical political government, where people were bound by their identity as citizens, which could be natural or inherited, and was not like a typical clan or family, which were bound by their shared bloodline.
No, a sect bound its members by their shared ideology and indoctrination, their religious belief that formed their backbone.
Now, saying ’religious’ might sound weird when taking cultivation sects into question, but sects in the cultivation world were actually very different from the sects that were typical of the mundane world, being a sort of offshoot.
This was primarily because, unlike mortal sects, which were constrained by the same issue that all religious-related factions suffered from—the lack of factual confirmation and the need for faith—cultivation sects did not need such things due to the presence of actual supernatural power.
So cultivation sects did not worship a formless deity, but rather entrusted their faith into personal power and the concept of the ’Dao.’ Of course, one could argue that the Dao as referred to by cultivators was a type of deity, akin to the Enlightened One in Buddhism, but that was actually not very relevant.
What was relevant was the practice and purpose of a sect. One must ask, why use a sectarian form of government, not a democracy, not a fascist government where power was vested in one, nor even an organization where the system operated based on direct exploitation for reward?
This was because of the existence of superhuman power.
In a world where all things were equal, like in mortal kingdoms or on earth, power was spread between financial, social, political, military, and religious power, and anyone who accumulated enough of these could occupy a high position in the world.
But in a world of superhuman martial power, all these other forms of power became secondary, something that could only be valuable if one had the martial power in question. That was why every transmigrator who hopped over did not dare introduce a transistor to these backward realms, because no matter how much financial power they accrued from their revolutionary idea, it could be easily seized by one with great martial power.
Still, to attain this power required practice, it required time, and it required resources. One person, even with all their power, could not hope to accomplish all of this alone, especially when considering the fact that cultivation was a race against time.
As such, the martial powerhouses decided to pick an area with great value and establish organizations, with the exchange of interests to empower it. The promise was simple: you join me, obey me, and accomplish objectives for me, and I will not only give you protection, I will also teach you how to grow your own power as well.
And so, the initial embryo of cultivation sects was formed. You could simply imagine how cruel and barbaric those early days were, because those lucky enough to have spirit roots and also have a method to cultivate were nomads who lived off the land, either acting as bandits to plunder the resources they needed or as lords, abusing human life due to their superior power.
With the birth of their groups, they were passively obliged to maintain a good reputation, so the abusive actions greatly reduced, and with helpers, they could now engage in the production of the resources they needed to cultivate sustained growth.
But the real value, and what caused the cultivation world to be born, was the exchange of ideas.
Now that the roughly formed cultivation methods each fellow out there had founded on their own were shared with others, more minds with different perspectives, talents, and knowledge points were able to take a look and, more importantly, improve upon them.
So new realms were found through trial and error over generations as sects grew in size and scope from initial groups, becoming fleshed out with their own organs of government, their own laws, their methods of trade, their internal and foreign policies, and more.
Today, sects were no longer about one person, but rather about an ideal or concept that its members strived to emulate, embody, and empower through their practice.
And that neatly brought us to the current sect in question, the Six Paths Demon Sect.
As a Grand Sect, it contained individuals at every level of mortal cultivation, even said to have an upper sect in the upper realm that one could directly ascend toward once they achieved the requisite cultivation. The same rang true for the other top 10 sects, though the strength of their upper sects varied even more than the lower ones.
But yet, the structure of each sect was largely fixed. Some sects could have diverse structures, with it being more complex, more compact, or even quite chaotic, but they still had the same skeletal framework.
The first fundamental framework was the members and classes of a sect.
From the bottom upwards, it started from the famous Servant/Menial Disciple, where the greatest transmigrators had started from before overturning the world with their golden fingers. Menial disciples did not have any resource allocation, only basic rights like protection from external foes, the ability to utilize sect resources to cultivate (for a cost), and basic teaching in exchange for strenuous labor and exploitation.
From there were the Outer Sect Disciples, who had minor resource allocation from the sect, a basic universal identity, slightly advanced basic rights including protection and utilization, and moderate teaching in exchange for mild labor and personal progress in cultivation.
After that was the Outer Sect Deacon, usually an older outer sect disciple unable to advance to the level required to enter the inner sect who had accumulated experience in outer sect affairs and was thus appointed to regulate such matters. As a low-level managerial position, it came with moderate resource allocation along with minor resource management, an advanced universal identity, semi-advanced personal rights as well as basic supervisory rights (control over those ranked below them), and semi-advanced teaching in exchange for loyalty, impartiality, and administrative labor for the sect.
Then came the classic Inner Sect Disciple, either an outer sect disciple who climbed here through hard work or a talent of a higher grade placed here from the get-go. This was where true affiliation with the sect started from and true inclusion as well. It was a seat that came with moderate resource allocation, an advanced universal identity, advanced personal rights, minor supervisory rights, and advanced teaching in exchange for loyalty, mild labor, and personal progress in cultivation.
After that was the Inner Sect Deacon, the same as an Outer Sect Deacon, but for the... well, the inner sect. Their rights were largely the same as the Outer Sect Deacon but one level higher, and they had supervisory rights and resource management over the inner sect disciples.
Then, the Core Disciples. These were the highest echelon of the non-management membership of a cultivation sect, and they had peak resource allocation, peak teaching, peak identities tied with the sect in question in perpetuity, and moderate supervisory rights over those below. This was the pool from which basic elders of the sect were drawn.
After Core Disciples were the True Inheritors, who were select Core Disciples whose talents set them apart from the rest, placed in the running to become the new Sect Master. They were in a semi-managerial position, with all the rights and functions of a Core Disciple while being allowed to grow their own faction bases for support, so they wielded actual authority within the sect bound by the rules rather than being unspoken.
There was also the special and unique position of the Saint Son or Saint Daughter (Saintess), which was the True Inheritor selected from the rest who was the main candidate for the next Sect Master. This position had the same managerial rights and power as a typical elder, one level above True Inheritors.
From the Saint Son came the various elders. Elders were one of the most complex classes in sects, because they held full political, financial, and managerial authority in a sect only matched by a saint child and surpassed only by the Sect Master as well as the Ancestor.
Some sects split their Elders very strictly, so the known positions were Outer Sect Elder, meant to manage the Outer Sect Disciples with the deacons as his officers; Inner Sect Elder, meant to take care of the Inner Sect Disciples with deacons as his officers; True Elders, who managed the various arms of government of the sect; and the Grand Elders, who had great martial power and sat with the Sect Master as his personal council to preside over the sect as a whole.
Finally, there was the Sect Master, and occasionally a deputy or two, who was the fount of honor for the sect and handled all executive matters of the sect. The Sect Master usually held supreme power in a sect and decided everything from its daily operation to its long-term policy.
Finally, above the Sect Master lay the Ancestor, usually a retired Sect Master of the previous generation who was still alive and had the highest cultivation in the entire sect, usually by at least a greater realm than the current Sect Master.
Ancestors usually refrained from interfering in sect administration and only acted as a form of ’nuclear’ deterrent to the sect’s enemies and competitors.
The second fundamental structure was the arms of government of a sect. These usually took the form of ’halls,’ which were organs of government in a sect that handled one part of its governance under the supervision of an elder assigned to lead it with a few deacons assisting.
The ten basic arms of government in a sect were crucial to its functions, but many sects split them into two or more new halls to spread out the power or had special halls for unique purposes.
Of the core arms, the first was the Main Hall, which was presided over by the Sect Master and the Grand Elders, who made all executive decisions for the sect.
The second was the Law Enforcement Hall, which was the judicial arm of the sect and handled all disciplinary matters of the sect.
The third was the Scripture and Knowledge Hall, which was the educational arm of the sect and stored all the methods and mantras of the sect, allowing it to train disciples efficiently.
The fourth was the Treasury and Resources Hall, which was the financial arm of the sect, controlling the sect’s protection of resources, allocation of resources, and accumulation of resources.
The fifth was the Merit and Task Hall, which was the labor arm of the sect, handling the issuance of tasks for the sect’s day-to-day functioning as well as monitoring disciples who undertook them.
The sixth was the Medical Hall, the health-related arm of the sect, which handled the safety and recovery of disciples for any issue, though many lower sects forwent this hall due to mercenary ideals.
The seventh was the Production Hall, the manufacturing arm of the sect, which was usually split into smaller halls by all sects, covering the six major arts under the hundred arts of cultivation. These are Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Talisman Making, Array/Formation Mastery, Beast Mastery, and Spirit Planting.
The eighth was the War Hall, the military arm of the sect where its members were mobilized to take part in the various conflicts of a sect outside of its territory for various reasons, like expansion, resource acquisition, and domination.
The ninth was the Elders Hall, which was the legislative arm of the sect, where the rules were deliberated on by the sect’s most trusted and foremost experienced elders, then implemented with the assent of the Sect Master.
Finally, there was the Martial Hall, which was the unique arm of the sect that dealt with specific martial factions or concepts within the sect. It was not usually called the Martial Hall, but was often split into multiple smaller halls, like the Sword Hall, the Saber Hall, the Earth Hall, and so on, depending on what martial concepts the sect in question valued enough to cultivate a special hall for.
Now, looking at the two fundamental aspects of the sectarian structure in Firmament Heaven, one could identify an issue. This was the fact that the mortal realms of cultivation were too plentiful in number and too tough to climb for the average individual.
As such, it was difficult for individuals of a certain realm to be firmly placed within all these membership and governmental levels in one single structure, something which caused the Grand Sects in the higher ranks that had personnel who covered the entire cultivation realm ladder endless headaches.