Bai Yujing

Overview

Bai Yujing (白玉京) is the supreme Daoist institution and the absolute ruling authority of the Qingming Heaven (青冥天下). Founded by the Dao Ancestor (道祖), it dominates the entire world like a massive, private sect domain. Unlike the Confucian Temple in Haoran Heaven—which exercises influence primarily through its academies and moral governance—Bai Yujing maintains strict, hierarchical, and overarching control over every Daoist sect, state, and cultivator within the Qingming Heaven.

The core of Bai Yujing's immense power is physically and organizationally structured into the Five Cities and Twelve Pavilions (五城十二楼). To maintain order across the vast world, Bai Yujing commands Five Hundred Spiritual Officials (五百灵官) who patrol the mountains and rivers of the Qingming Heaven, enforcing the Daoist laws and suppressing any extraterrestrial demon (化外天魔) incursions.

Leadership & The Three Headmasters

While the Dao Ancestor is the absolute founder, the day-to-day governance of Bai Yujing is handled by his three direct disciples. They take turns ruling the institution and, by extension, the entire Qingming Heaven, for one hundred years each.

• First Headmaster - Kou Ming (寇名): The eldest disciple, who has not made a public appearance for a very long time. He is dedicated to finding a fundamental, permanent cure to the threat of extraterrestrial demons, spending millennia meticulously crafting a cosmic armillary sphere (浑仪浑象) to perfectly map and contain them.
• Second Headmaster - Yu Dou (余斗): Known as "True Invincible" (真无敌). A fiercely strict, martial-minded Daoist who is currently in charge of the centennial rotation. Yu Dou believes in absolute suppression and intends to eventually request a decree from the Dao Ancestor to refine the entirety of Bai Yujing into his own natal artifact, transforming it into an ultimate cage to refine and slaughter all extraterrestrial demons.
• Third Headmaster - Lu Chen (陆沉): A carefree, eccentric, and deliberately lazy Daoist who often travels to other worlds (such as Haoran Heaven). He is scheduled to take over the governance of Bai Yujing in the next century. During his past tenures, he was famous for refusing to micromanage, famously telling rule-breakers to wait until his strict senior brother Yu Dou returned to punish them.

Structure: Five Cities and Twelve Pavilions

Bai Yujing is divided into Five Cities and Twelve Pavilions. These subdivisions are fiercely competitive, and their relative power and prestige fluctuate over the centuries.

Notable subdivisions include:

• Nanhua City (南华城): A highly prominent city. Its First Deputy City Lord is Wei Furen (魏夫人), Daoist name Zixu (紫虚), who is recognized as the foremost female Daoist sovereign (元君) in the Qingming Heaven.
• Yushu City (玉枢城): Once a powerful city, it has seen its standing decline in the last five hundred years, tying for the bottom rank among the Five Cities. It suffered a massive blow when its designated heir, Zhang Fenghai (张风海), fell out with Yu Dou.
• Shenxiao City (神霄城): Another of the Five Cities, currently tied with Yushu City for the lowest standing among the five.

Major Locations & Mechanics

• Zhenyue Palace's Yanxia Cave (镇岳宫烟霞洞): A notorious prison and penance site within Bai Yujing. Daoist officials who severely violate Bai Yujing's golden laws are imprisoned here. For instance, Zhang Fenghai was locked in Yanxia Cave for eight hundred years by Yu Dou after an ideological and lethal conflict. Even former deputy pavilion lords have been known to die of old age while imprisoned within.
• Extraterrestrial Demon Defense: The overarching purpose of Bai Yujing's sheer height and power is to act as a dam against the extraterrestrial demons in the Outer Heavens (天外天). The Dao Ancestor built Bai Yujing to reach the highest heavens to physically block these entities from flooding the mortal realms.

References

• 剑来23：人生梦复梦, 第四章 — 天寒加衣: Supports the centennial rotation of the three headmasters and identifies the primary existential threat to Bai Yujing as the extraterrestrial demons.
• 剑来26：人间最得意, 第七章 — 白也真剑仙: Supports the presence of the three headmasters and notes that Lu Chen's carefree nature often leads to conflict with the strict Daoist laws enforced by Yu Dou.
• 剑来33：城头刻新字, 第二章 — 龙蛇起陆: Supports the rotation of power, noting that Lu Chen will take over Bai Yujing in the next century.
• 剑来34：山中何所有, 第六章 — 刻字: Supports the names of the First Headmaster Kou Ming and Second Headmaster Yu Dou. Details Kou Ming's creation of the armillary sphere, Yu Dou's plan to refine Bai Yujing to cage the demons, and mentions the Five Hundred Spiritual Officials.
• 剑来40：风雪九层崖, 第三章 — 再见道士: Supports the existence of Zhenyue Palace's Yanxia Cave as a prison for high-ranking Daoist officials who break Bai Yujing's laws.
• 剑来43：青帝常为主, 第五章 — 青帝常为主: Supports Zhang Fenghai's release from Yanxia Cave and the Dao Ancestor's promise that if he wins the three-teachings debate, he can leave the Bai Yujing registry to found his own sect.
• 剑来46：人间半部书, 第二章 — 大师兄和小师弟: Supports the existence of Nanhua City and its First Deputy City Lord, Wei Furen (Zixu).
• 剑来53：万山奉朝请, 第七章 — 天下见陈: Supports the current rankings of the Five Cities, specifically noting that Shenxiao City and Yushu City are tied for the lowest prestige.