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4 - GusuLan Sect

I am the youngest in Gusu Lan history to develop a golden core. At only six. Most develop a golden for between seven and nine. Since getting my core, I have been working more and more on my cultivation. I did not care about anything else. I did not go out with other disciples, I did not join the others a majority of the time in lectures, as I was too smart to sit in my actual level of classes. I was in my brother's level, which is level three. There are twelve levels, but I surpassed the first two on my own making me the youngest in the class.

It was only something else for others to gossip about. My Shufu was proud, and he breaks the rule all the time by over praising me. It's annoying really. I don't mind my cultivations growing, but I didn't realize how much gossip came with it. I even got my guqin early. I just named it Wangji, as it is a definitions of who I am, as it is my name too.

In the Cloud Recesses, there was a long wall. Every seven steps, there would be a hollowed out window with intricate designs. All of the designs were different-playing an instrument amid tall mountains, flying in the air on a sword, fighting monsters and beasts, and so on. Shufu explained that the designs of every hollowed out window on this wall was about the life of each ancestor of the GusuLan Clan.

The oldest and most famous four windows told the life of the founder of the Lan Sect, Lan An. This founder was born in a temple. He grew up listening to the chanting of sutras, and thus became a famous monk at a very young age. At the age of twenty, he used the "Lan" from "qielan" as his last name and resumed the worldly life, becoming a musician.

During his path of cultivation, he met the "fated person" he searched for in Gusu, became cultivation partners with her, and founded the Lan Sect. After his partner passed away, he returned to the temple and ended his life there. The four windows were "qielan", "xiyue", "daolu", and "guiji".

Qielan comes from the word, temple. Xiyue is learning music. Daolu is on cultivation partners, which are two cultivators become a couple, marry, and cultivate together, they become cultivation partners. And finally Guiji, returning to nothingness.

At an unknown point in time, over three thousand rules were carved into a rock at the base of the mountain on which the Cloud Recesses exist, known as the Wall of Discipline. The Gusu Lan Clan also owned multiple external establishments to house their clan members while they were away on night-hunts, including the small, elegant Bamboo Cottage.

Like many clans, Gusu Lan teaches a unique sword style, described as "firm." Its members have prodigious arm strength from required handstands. All members of the Gusu Lan Clan must follow the rules inscribed on the Wall of Discipline outside the entrance. Visitors and guest disciples were also expected to follow all of the rules.

Punishments for breaking the rules include copying all the rules by hand, being beaten with a plank if the infringement was severe enough,or doing handstands while copying the rules.

The food in the Cloud Recesses as medicinal in taste and strictly vegetarian. The Gusu Lan Clan banquets, are more solemn than a funeral.

All members of the Gusu Lan Clan wake up at exactly five in the morning and sleep at exactly nine at night.

Female and male cultivators are kept strictly separate, and interactions between the two are usually forbidden.

The one rule that is a very important rule. That rule fifty-two, is embedded into everyone's bones right from the start. That rule, do not associate or befriend evil.

The forehead ribbon is a sacred object to members of the Gusu Lan Clan. Lan An taught that one can only let go of all regulations when they are with the one they love and cherish. Thus, a member of the Gusu Lan Clan cannot easily give another person permission to touch their forehead ribbon, nor can they take it off as they please. Furthermore, they absolutely cannot tie it on someone else - The forehead ribbon means "to regulate oneself," and as such, very few are permitted by the owner to touch it, unless they are either family or cultivation partners.