The elders' residences followed a similar ascending pattern, though far grander in scale.
Rather than sharing floors, each elder owned an entire level.
The higher the floor, and the greater the elder's status, the more magnificent the residence became: towering private pagodas-within-pagodas, gardens blooming with immortal herbs year-round, and chambers where time itself seemed to slow for deeper meditation.
Finally came the sect master's palace.
It stood apart from the others, grander and more imposing than anything else in the complex.
A solitary structure of pure white jade and obsidian, crowned with golden spires that pierced the heavens.
Waterfalls of condensed spiritual essence poured from its eaves into crystalline pools below.
Inside, space warped dramatically, the interior sprawled like an entire small realm, with endless corridors, hidden treasure chambers, and a central cultivation dais that floated above a sea of swirling qi.
