Traditional Chinese 天山派 Hanyu Pinyin | Simplified Chinese 天山派 Jyutping Tin1-saan1 Paai3 | |
The Mount Heaven Sect, also known as the Tianshan Sect, is a fictional martial arts sect mentioned in works of wuxia fiction, most notably Liang Yusheng's Qijian Xia Tianshan. It also appears in Jin Yong's Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils as a minor sect that plays an important role in the story line of one of the three protagonists, Xuzhu. The sect is named after the place where it is based, the Tian Shan (literally means "Mount Heaven") mountain range in western China.
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History
In Liang Yusheng's Baifa Monü Zhuan, the Mount Heaven Sect is founded in the late Ming dynasty by Yue Mingke, a military attaché who later becomes a monk known as "Reverend Huiming" (晦明禪師). Huiming resides on Mount Heaven for several years and spends his time practising and studying martial arts. Huiming has three apprentices (Yang Yuncong, Chu Zhaonan and Ling Weifeng) who later play important roles in the novels Saiwai Qixia Zhuan and Qijian Xia Tianshan. By the time of the early Qing dynasty (the setting of Saiwai Qixia Zhuan and Qijian Xia Tianshan), Huiming is hailed as one of the most powerful living martial artists in the jianghu, while his three students are also renowned swordsmen.
In Jin Yong's Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, the Mount Heaven Sect has a different history and plays an important role in the story of Xuzhu, one of the novel's three protagonists. The Mount Heaven Sect is founded by Tianshan Tonglao from the Carefree Sect and its headquarters is in Lingjiu Palace on the Piaomiao Peak of Mount Heaven. The sect is a mysterious and hardly known in the jianghu in this novel. Its members were all women until Xuzhu becomes its leader. Tianshan Tonglao forces several other sects into submission through the use of the 'Life and Death Talisman' (生死符) and they are bound to serve her for eternity. Xuzhu frees those sects after he becomes the leader and earns their allegiance.