The sun over Kun Island burned with steady conviction as Su Mengtian stood once again in the heart of the State of Record's Grand Council Hall. This time, however, the air bore no tension of uncertainty, no quarrels of jurisdiction. The Sovereign Charter had settled the law. The Ten Halls had established the martial spine of the Alliance. And the border patrols, led by the newly formed Skyranger Battalions, had begun defending the realm with unfaltering vigilance.
But every society required more than power and protection. For order to thrive, the realm needed an unshakable civilian structure, eight central departments to administer its spirit, people, and progress.
Thus began the formation of the Eight Pillars.
Su Mengtian stood before the Hallmasters, not as a commander of armies, but as the Sovereign Architect of balance. His voice echoed through the dome. "No Hall, no noble bloodline, no romantic tie, and no past allegiance will define the leadership of the Eight Pillars. Only unwavering loyalty to the Heavenly Spear Alliance, years of earned mastery in their fields, and the strength of the Astral Ascension stage or higher shall dictate their right."
From the thousand names vetted by the records division and independent assessors, only eight remained. Their selections were not political, nor familial. They were born of personal trial, societal rejection, perseverance—and a hidden connection to Su Mengtian, forged not in his long-lost past life, but in the brief yet powerful bonds of this life's path.
The first appointment was Director Liao Yun of the Pavilion of Missions. A wiry man in his early fifties, with olive skin tanned by years of travel and scars carved deep across his shoulders, Liao Yun had once led an underground courier and intelligence network known as the Bladesworn Dispatch. Born to a forgotten nomadic tribe that wandered the Ironwind Barrens, his tribe had been erased by corrupt land authorities. He had lived in exile, using his swiftstep techniques to carry missives between warzones, never once losing a dispatch.
During Mengtian's silent expansion of the outer settlements, Liao had voluntarily routed dozens of unauthorized emergency supply drops to regions struck by beast tides. When Mengtian met him, he carried no weapon—only a battered satchel of field reports and ration logs. His Astral Ascension cultivation had come not from closed-door training, but from decades spent refining his qi while running across the continent on foot.
Rao Lin of the Hall of Valor stood first and raised a fist of respect. "A courier whose feet have touched every crisis—he's delivered more than letters. He's carried burdens heavier than most weapons."
Next came Warden Elira Sorn, chosen to lead the Battle Arena. Tall, with a statuesque presence and jet-black braids that fell past her waist, Elira was a retired war-general from a forgotten frontier province outside Crimson Sky influence. At sixty-seven, her power hadn't waned; her aura crackled like tempered steel, and her Astral Ascension aura shimmered as naturally as the morning sun.
As a young commander, she had led a rebellion of enslaved spirit warriors to reclaim their ancestral valley. After her victory, she dissolved her army and vanished into the wilderness. Mengtian found her in the Sablewind Gorges training orphaned beast-tamers in silent drills. When asked why she had never joined a clan or Hall, her response was simple: "No army worth building answers to pride. Only purpose."
Inara of the Hall of Ironblood gave a quiet nod. "She fights like a storm forged in silence. I would've followed her in my youth."
To preside over the Library of Treasures, Mengtian selected Archivist Bael Trin, a broad-shouldered man with salt-gray hair, bronze skin, and spirit-binders' gloves always hanging from his belt. Bael was born in the marsh-town of Lishen's Hollow, far from imperial recognition. He was a scavenger's son who dug through battlefields for broken cultivation tools, then repaired them in secret to help field mercenaries. His mind was a labyrinth of cataloged inscriptions, and by the time he reached thirty, he had personally bound over six hundred rogue artifacts.
Bael never affiliated with academia; he believed knowledge should belong to effort, not hierarchy. His cultivation had been honed entirely through exposure to the volatile spirits of ancient tools.
Lan Qiu of the Hall of Tempests tapped his chin and murmured with unmasked admiration, "A man who survived the madness of spiritbound scrolls and remained sane… I wouldn't let anyone else near our archives."
The Tower of Order and Judgment would be governed by Overseer Maerin Delk, a striking woman of advanced years with eyes like obsidian glass and a voice that never rose beyond necessity. She had spent forty years as a free adjudicator in the deep south, settling disputes between guilds, tribes, and outlaws—often at great personal cost. Her bloodline was unknown, but her will had crushed countless attempts at corruption.
Her cultivation base had been born not from battle, but from clarity—each stage achieved through years of civic mediation and harmonizing conflicting spirit energies in judicial rituals. Su Mengtian respected her not only for her neutrality, but for her unflinching posture before power. When asked if she feared Hall interference, she replied simply, "Laws are not weapons. They are anchors. I will not let the sea claim them."
Ji Yeyan of the Hall of Shadows bowed to her—not out of courtesy, but reverence. "That kind of silence? That's what keeps empires standing."
For the Sanctuary of Beasts, Mengtian chose Yune Yashara, a half-Northern barbarian woman with silver-flecked hair and skin tattooed with blood-pact runes. Raised by spirit-wolves in the glacial forest of Sae'dorr, Yashara had rejected all noble lineages after discovering her birth father had sold her to beast-traders. Freed by a rogue beast whisperer, she had spent her adult life tending to wild colonies of endangered species.
At 42, she bore both feral scars and cultivated calm, having reached the Astral Ascension realm through bonding with four generations of Thunderhowl direwolves.
Xiaoyun of the Hall of Wyrmcallers was the first to step forward. "Even the beasts bow to her—not out of fear, but trust. That is a rarer gift than any bloodline."
Soulbinder and healer Miren Vos was named head of the Shrine of Echoing Souls. A dusky-toned woman in her mid-forties with ancient runes branded into her forearms, Miren was the product of a forgotten ritualist line exiled centuries ago. Rather than resent her bloodline's erasure, she had sought harmony—wandering remote provinces offering bloodline awakening ceremonies that honored lineage without hierarchy.
Mengtian met her during a low-visibility outbreak among newly awakened children, where her soul-bonded calming chants had prevented a fatal collapse. Her rise to the Astral Ascension stage came from a deep synchrony with the pulse of life itself.
Yue Mei of the Hall of Luminous Veil clutched her fan gently. "She weaves spirit threads like art… even fear listens when she speaks."
The Sanctuary of Eternal Remembrance was entrusted to Elder Phairos Den, a stooped man with grizzled eyebrows and a carved wooden cane, but eyes that held the weight of history itself. Born the last son of a broken plains-tribe, Phairos had dedicated his life to recording oral histories from disappearing civilizations. In his youth, he had watched his mother killed for refusing to forsake their burial rites, and from that moment, he became both historian and mourner.
He traveled from ash-covered ruins to ancestral cliffs, collecting the rituals of grief and legacy. His Astral Ascension came not through battle or talisman, but from harmonizing with the lingering spiritual remnants of fallen cultures.
Xuan Le of the Hall of Astral Command saluted him. "That man remembers what even the stars forget."
Finally, to helm the Truehold Financial Bastion, Mengtian named Sorin Ma, a man with sharp cheekbones, short obsidian hair, and precise gold-trimmed robes. A financial auditor from the independent merchant province of Sen'kai, Sorin had exposed the corruption of a syndicate that funneled spirit stones to criminal underworlds. Cast out, he built a new credit bartering system from scratch in the northern exile colonies.
His cultivation, too, was unique—developed through precise qi-tethering in number-based formations.
Baojin of the Hall of Aegis smiled approvingly. "A man who can guard the value of nothingness… our wealth is safe in his hands."
When all eight were presented before the Grand Council, their sigils ignited in unison—each bound to Kun-crystal cores attuned by Mengtian's command. The Hallmasters, long feared for their power, stood in a rare moment of awe—not of strength, but of structure. These were not generals or nobles. They were builders. Guides. Protectors of legacy.
Su Mengtian stepped forward, his voice calm and resonant.
"These eight shall not kneel before any army. Their only allegiance is to the Alliance, and their purpose is not war—but permanence."
The Hallmasters stepped forward, each in silent agreement, and offered the formal salute of the Alliance.
Thus, the Eight Pillars were formed—not as weapons, but as foundations. Not chosen by fate, but by merit, resilience, and trust.
At the end of the council meeting, Su Mengtian established "The Law of Familia". It would allow only Alliance members to bring their family members into the Heavenly Spear Alliance realm and migrate here. And everything would be dealt with under the supervision of the State of Records.
And beneath the sun of Kun Island, a new realm was no longer merely guarded.
It was guided.