Chapter 17: Tao Sect
This world was of an inconceivable vastness, far greater than anything BaiShe had ever known. It spanned multiple planes, each governed by its own laws and inhabited by its own beings. Three great strata structured existence: the upper plane, the subterranean plane, and the lower plane.
The upper plane was the epicenter of cultivation, the domain of the powerful, celestial empires, and gods. Divided into several continents, it stretched across distances so absurd that a journey from one end to the other could take millennia, even for a being transcending the laws of time and space. Fortunately, each continent had a portal connecting it to another. Every continent spanned trillions of kilometers and possessed its own cultures, royal lineages, and wars.
BaiShe hailed from the Eastern Continent, a land of cultivators and scholars, dominated by ancient sects that had passed down their knowledge for eons. Allied with the Southern Continent, this region shared many similarities with its neighbor. Manesh, the blind monk, was one of their greatest representatives, yet his own disciple came from the Eastern Continent, proof of the strong alliance between the two.
Opposing them stood a formidable enemy: the Western Continent. A millennia-long war had just ended there, leaving behind ravaged lands. At the conclusion of this titanic conflict, Chronos had seized power by killing his own father, Ouranos, with the aid of Odin, the ruler of the Northern Continent. Odin was a feared strategist and an invincible warrior. His involvement in the war against Ouranos not only strengthened the Northern Continent’s influence but also marked a shift in the balance of power in his war against the Vanes.
Only the Central Continent remained untouched by these incessant conflicts. It was the most mysterious land of the upper plane. No war, no conquest had ever reached it. No messenger had ever returned from it. This unsettling silence granted it a special status. Some believed it was the domain of forgotten gods, while others thought it hid civilizations so advanced they had no need to interact with the rest of the world.
Beneath this vast upper plane lay the subterranean plane, another dimension home to the five great demonic races. Unlike the celestial continents, which were ruled by emperors and gods, these races lived in perpetual chaos, where only the law of the strongest prevailed. These peoples were in constant war, seeking to determine which among them would give birth to the next Celestial Demon, a being destined to disrupt the balance of the planes.
The five demonic races were the Tengu, the Yama, the Shonen, the Kitsune, and the Yurei.
These five races waged an endless war, too absorbed in their own conflicts to concern themselves with the other planes. Yet, one thing was certain: the day a Celestial Demon emerged from their ranks, the entire world would tremble.
And finally, there was the lower plane.