Exquisite Sound Sect/History

Founding Era

The Exquisite Sound Sect was founded in the Scattered Star Seas as a cultivation sect specializing in musical, illusionary, and sound-based techniques. Unlike brute-force oriented sects, the Exquisite Sound Sect cultivated through rhythm, spiritual resonance, emotional disturbance, and illusionary control. These unique techniques made the sect highly effective in:

• Mental interference
• Formation amplification
• Illusion-based suppression
• Spiritual disruption

During its early development, the sect grew steadily through trade, performance-based diplomatic contact, and neutral political positioning. Rather than expanding through conquest, the sect thrived by aligning with merchant alliances and neutral cultivator factions throughout the Inner Star Seas.

Rule of the First Sect Master

The sect entered its golden age under the leadership of its original Sect Master, later revealed to be the mother of Zi Ling. Under her rule:

• The sect’s core inheritances were fully developed
• Sect formations were refined
• Large quantities of rare instruments, illusion manuals, and spiritual treasures were accumulated

During this era, the Exquisite Sound Sect possessed legitimate regional influence and was considered a respected mid-tier power within the Inner Star Seas. However, this prosperity attracted the attention of hostile forces.

Destruction by the Hidden Fiend Sect

At the peak of its prosperity, the Exquisite Sound Sect was secretly targeted by the Hidden Fiend Sect, a ruthless demonic faction specializing in ambush warfare and soul-based techniques.

In a carefully planned surprise assault:

• The original Sect Master was killed in battle
• Core sect guardians were exterminated
• The sect treasury was plundered
• Multiple inheritances were stolen

This single massacre shattered the sect’s entire power structure and forced it into a steep decline. Surviving elders scattered, and the remaining disciples were left leaderless and traumatized.

Zi Ling, still young at the time, lost her mother during this catastrophe.

Transitional Leadership & Rise of the Twin Envoys

Following the destruction of the original leadership, the Exquisite Sound Sect entered a prolonged transitional phase. During this period, authority fell into the hands of two high-ranking figures:

• Fan Jingmei — Envoy of the Left
• Zhuo Ruting — Envoy of the Right

Together, these two envoys became the true operational backbone of the sect:

• Fan Jingmei managed diplomacy, strategy, and political maneuvering
• Zhuo Ruting enforced law, security, and combat discipline

Although no official Sect Master fully replaced Zi Ling’s mother at first, the sect was kept alive through their joint administration.

Failed Revenge Against the Hidden Fiend Sect

Years later, Fan Jingmei launched a high-risk plan to destroy the Hidden Fiend Sect and reclaim the stolen sect inheritances. To achieve this, she attempted to recruit the rising Core Formation cultivator Han Li.

A joint assault force was formed between the Exquisite Sound Sect and allies led by Fairy Violet Spirit. However, the operation ended in catastrophic failure when:

• A traitor from within the Exquisite Sound Sect defected
• Forces from Zenith Yin Island intervened
• Grandmaster Zenith Yin personally descended by possession

The battlefield collapsed instantly. The strike force was annihilated, and only fan Jingmei and Violet Spirit barely escaped with their lives using a supreme escape artifact.

This failure permanently destroyed the sect’s last hope of avenging its original Sect Master.

Disappearance of Zhuo Ruting

Not long after the failed revenge operation and the chaos surrounding the Heavenvoid Hall, Zhuo Ruting mysteriously disappeared. No battle, execution, or corpse was ever recorded.

Her disappearance removed the sect’s final pillar of enforcement and directly destabilized its remaining power balance. From this point onward, fan Jingmei stood alone as the sect’s only surviving top authority.

Her fate has never been explicitly confirmed, but it is widely presumed that she was silently eliminated during political purges.

fan Jingmei Becomes Sect Master

With all other leadership gone, fan Jingmei formally became the third Sect Master of the Exquisite Sound Sect. However, her rule was marked not by freedom—but by external domination.

At this time, the Starfall Coalition learned that Han Li had once been publicly recorded as an elder of the sect and was in possession of the Heavenvoid Cauldron. Seeing the weakened sect as perfect bait, the Coalition forcibly took control of the Exquisite Sound Sect.

Although fan Jingmei held the title of Sect Master, true authority rested in the hands of the Starfall cultivator Yun Tianxiao.

Exile to the Outer Star Seas

Under orders from the Starfall Coalition, the entire Exquisite Sound Sect was forcibly relocated from the relatively safe Inner Star Seas into the extremely dangerous Outer Star Seas, a region overrun by powerful Demon Beasts.

This relocation turned the sect into living bait for Han Li and placed all disciples under constant threat of extinction.

For the next twenty years, the Exquisite Sound Sect existed in a state of total isolation and near collapse.

The Beast Tide

During this period, a massive Demon Beast invasion known as the Beast Tide erupted. The Demon Beasts completely seized control of Wondrous Depths Island, cutting off the final escape route between the Inner and Outer Star Seas.

With no retreat possible and Starfall oppression worsening, fan Jingmei secretly began constructing a hidden large-scale transportation formation, risking execution if discovered.

Liberation Through Han Li

Years later, fan Jingmei encountered Han Li in disguise. Knowing her lifespan was ending and that the sect would not survive another generation of Starfall control, she formed a final agreement with him:

• Han Li would assassinate Yun Tianxiao
• She would activate the hidden formation and free the sect

The plan succeeded. Yun Tianxiao was killed, triggering the collapse of Starfall’s direct authority over the sect.

Shortly afterward, fan Jingmei died of old age, marking the true end of the old Exquisite Sound Sect era.

Return of Zi Ling & Restoration

After fan Jingmei’s death, Zi Ling, the daughter of the sect’s original founder, ultimately inherited leadership of the Exquisite Sound Sect.

Under Zi Ling’s rule:

• The sect regained political independence
• Starfall control was eliminated
• The sect entered its final revival phase

Zi Ling became the third and final known Sect Master, symbolizing the full closure of the sect’s tragic generational cycle.

End & Legacy

The history of the Exquisite Sound Sect is marked by:

• Founding prosperity
• Sudden annihilation
• Political survival under tyranny
• Quiet liberation
• Final restoration through blood inheritance

Few sects in the Scattered Star Seas have suffered such complete destruction and still survived across multiple leadership generations. Although the Exquisite Sound Sect was never officially declared destroyed, it lost nearly all of its members during the Hidden Fiend Sect massacre. Under Fan Jingmei, it survived only in name as a greatly weakened organization. After Fan Jingmei’s death and Zhuo Ruting’s disappearance, no functioning sect structure remained. Zi Ling became the sole remaining inheritor of the sect’s legacy and never attempted to rebuild it. While Wen Siyue and a few other members survived their ordeals, their fates remain unknown, and none attempted to restore the sect. Zi Ling ultimately chose to follow Han Li for both love and cultivation, marking the Exquisite Sound Sect as functionally extinct.