The immediate aftermath of the battle was a scene of organized, weary chaos. While the leaders prepared to talk, the disciples of the Forest of the Radiant Dawn moved with a grim, practiced efficiency. Healers, those with martial spirits that could help heal, used their own techniques in addition to pills, their robes stained with blood and grime, rushed from one fallen comrade to the next.
A young woman with a Sunpetal Flower spirit knelt beside a grievously injured swordsman whose chest had been pierced by a demonic spear. Her hands glowed with a warm, restorative light as she channeled pure, life-giving energy into his shattered body, her expression a mask of intense concentration and empathy as she coaxed his failing life force back from the brink, her own face pale with the effort.
Other disciples, their faces set and hard, moved through the ranks of the now-dead Hegemony cultists, performing final, cleansing rites with fire to ensure no demonic taint lingered to corrupt the land, their movements swift and somber.
The largest group, however, was focused on the prisoners. They moved from cage to cage, not just cutting the locks but offering water, simple rations, and words of comfort. The sheer number of captives was staggering, and the process of freeing and organizing them was a monumental task.
Children cried for their lost parents, husbands and wives searched frantically for each other in the crowd, and the low, collective moan of a people who had endured unspeakable trauma filled the vast cavern. The Radiant Dawn disciples were patient and kind, their earlier righteous fury replaced by a deep, compassionate sorrow for the victims of the Hegemony's atrocities.
A burly warrior who had been a whirlwind of destruction moments before now knelt gently to offer a waterskin to a trembling old woman, his voice soft and reassuring as he helped her to her feet and guided her towards the growing crowd of survivors.
Li Yu and Cyra watched this unfold from a distance. The contrast between the Radiant Dawn's merciless fury in battle and their gentle compassion in the aftermath was striking. They truly were good people, fighting a righteous, if brutal, war. It was a level of organized altruism Li Yu had rarely witnessed, and he couldn't help but admire them.
Their discipline was absolute, their purpose clear. A temporary command tent, salvaged from one of the Hegemony's own structures, was quickly erected. It was a simple, functional space, a table and a few chairs its only furnishings. Grand Elder Theron, looking weary but resolute, gestured for them to enter.
He was followed by Lysander, who had been given a fresh robe to cover his injuries. His face was pale and drawn, but his eyes were clear, and he moved with a stiff, painful determination, his missing arm a stark and brutal reminder of the battle they had just survived.
Inside the tent, the four of them sat. The power dynamic was strange and unspoken. In terms of pure cultivation, Theron and even the heavily injured Lysander were far superior to Li Yu and Cyra. But the memory of Khaos—of the being they now knew as the Golden Shell Guild's First Grand Elder—was a palpable presence in the room.
It afforded Li Yu and Cyra a level of respect that their own Core Formation auras would never have commanded. They were treated not as juniors, but as the honored emissaries of a powerful cultivator.
"Before we begin," Theron said, his voice a low, tired rumble, "allow me to offer our gratitude once more. For your aid, and for the actions of your Grand Elder. We are in your debt."
Cyra, taking the lead as she had decided, gave a slight, formal nod. "Our Grand Elder acted according to his own will. But our purpose in being here was the same as yours: to stop this operation. We are glad to find that we have allies in this endeavor."
Her words were carefully chosen, establishing them as equals in a shared cause. She then moved directly to the heart of the matter. "Grand Elder Theron, we are new to this conflict. We know next to nothing about this 'Midnight Infernal Hegemony,' other than what we have witnessed here today. Who are they?"
Theron let out a long, weary sigh, a sound that seemed to carry the weight of centuries of conflict. "They are a plague," he began, his ancient eyes darkening with a painful memory. "A rot that has taken root in my homeland, the Southern Jade Continent. They are one of many such groups, all of whom follow the same dark path. They are demon worshippers, mortals and cultivators who trade their souls and their humanity for a sliver of the power offered by the Abyss. They are a blight that we have been fighting for a very, very long time."
He leaned forward, his expression grim. "What you saw here today, this massive harvesting of life, is their ultimate goal, but it is not their usual method. On the Southern Jade Continent, their activities are more subtle. They start small, with kidnappings in remote villages, gathering just enough blood and life force for what we call 'small-scale summonings.' A minor imp, a lesser shadow beast, a creature that can be easily contained and destroyed by a team of Core Formation experts. Each summoning is a test, a refinement of their ritual arrays. Each one is an attempt to create a more stable, more powerful rift. We hunt them relentlessly, but they are like rats in the walls of the world, secretive and numerous."
"Travel between the continents is, or should be, heavily restricted," Lysander added, his voice a low, pained rasp. "For this very reason. To prevent plagues like the Hegemony from spreading. But they found a way. They must have. To move this many cultivators, this much equipment, from the Southern Jade Continent to here… it is a feat that should be impossible."
Cyra's expression remained composed, but her mind was racing, connecting the dots. "The Hegemony is not the only foreign power we have encountered on this continent," she stated, her words dropping into the quiet tent like stones into a still pond. "We have also had dealings with a group calling themselves the Beast Revolution Faction, and another known as the Human Revolution Faction. They, too, do not seem to be native to these lands."
The reaction from the two men was immediate. Theron and Lysander exchanged a look of dawning, horrified understanding. "The Beast Faction?" Theron asked, his voice sharp. "You are certain of the name?"
"We are," Cyra confirmed. "They seek to overthrow human rule and establish a world governed by beasts."
Theron slumped back in his chair, a look of profound weariness on his face. "Then the situation is far, far worse than I had imagined," he murmured. "The Beast Faction is a name we know well, even in the south. They are a fanatical, powerful force from the continent to the east of this one, a land known as the Veldtian Continent. If they are here, and the Hegemony is here… then the old barriers are failing. The world is changing, and not for the better."
He looked at Li Yu and Cyra, his eyes holding the gravity of a teacher about to reveal a world-altering truth based on their question to him. "You must understand," he said, "this world is not one land, but seven. Seven great continents, separated by the treacherous and near-impassable Endless Sea."
He used his finger to trace a simple, crude map in the dust on the table. He drew a central circle. "This is where we are. The Earthen Continent. In the grand scheme, it is the second weakest of the seven continents. The spirit energy here is thin compared to the others, the resources scarcer. Its relative peace has been a blessing, but also a curse, leading to a martial culture that is, forgive me, less tempered by true, life-and-death conflict."
He drew another circle to the south. "This is my home, the Southern Jade Continent. It is linked, through ancient, unstable rifts, to the Demonic Realm. A trickle of that realm's corrupt, chaotic energy seeps into our world. It makes our spirit energy thicker, more potent, but it also brings with it the taint of the Abyss. Cultivation there is like drinking from a poisoned spring—you may grow strong faster, but the poison builds in your soul. It is why we have a plague of demon worshippers like the Hegemony. They are mortals who succumb to the poison's promise of power."
He used his finger to trace a simple, crude map in the dust on the table. He drew a central circle. "This is where we are. The Central Plains Continent. In the grand scheme, it is the second weakest of the seven continents. The spirit energy here is thin compared to the others, the resources scarcer. Its relative peace has been a blessing, but also a curse, leading to a martial culture that is, forgive me, less tempered by true, life-and-death conflict."
He drew another circle to the south. "This is my home, the Southern Jade Continent. It is linked, through ancient, unstable rifts, to the Demonic Realm. A trickle of that realm's corrupt, chaotic energy seeps into our world. It makes our spirit energy thicker, more potent, but it also brings with it the taint of the Abyss. Cultivation there is like drinking from a poisoned spring—you may grow strong faster, but the poison builds in your soul. It is why we have a plague of demon worshippers like the Hegemony. They are mortals who succumb to the poison's promise of power."
He drew a third circle to the east. "This is the White Tiger Continent. Like the south, it is linked to another realm, the Beast Realm. The spirit energy there is wild, primal, and infused with the raw power of nature. It favors those with strong bodies and spirits attuned to the natural world. Many human cultivators there adopt beast-like techniques and are more beast-like in nature. There is a firm belief of survival of the fittest over there, they worship the strong. It is a land of powerful, intelligent beasts, and it is where the Beast Faction was born."
He continued his drawing. To the west, a smaller circle. "The Barren Plains Continent, the weakest of all the continents, with no realm connection and the thinnest spirit energy. A land forgotten by the realms, where even reaching the Core Formation stage is a generational achievement. Its people are hardy, but they are isolated, and their martial traditions are considered primitive by the rest of us."
To the north, a circle that he drew with a grim expression. "The Frostbound Dominion Continent. A name from a forgotten age. It is no longer a land of ice. It has the terrible misfortune of being linked to both the Beast and Demonic realms. Because of this dual connection, the spirit energy there is the thickest of all the known continents. It is a land bursting with life, a paradise of cultivation resources. But it is also a land of eternal, three-way warfare between humans, beasts, and demons. A beautiful, brutal garden that forges legendary experts or breaks them into dust."
He added a sixth circle, to the southwest. "The Savage Heartlands Continent, a continent where the beasts were victorious centuries ago. A great war was lost by humanity in a forgotten age, and now, our kind there are either slaves or live in a few, heavily fortified city-states, constantly fighting for survival against beast tides. It is ruled entirely by beast emperors. That is also the birthplace of the Human Revolution Faction. They are a radical group of human supremacists, born from that oppression. They believe that humanity's only path to survival is through absolute, ruthless domination of all other races. Their philosophy is that to fight monsters, one must become a more efficient, more organized monster. They are spread throughout the continents now, a dangerous and destabilizing force wherever they appear."
"And the seventh?" Li Yu asked, his mind already overwhelmed by all of the information being revealed by Theron. Li Yu understood that this was information afforded by Khaos and the power he had shown to them.
Theron shook his head, a look of ancient mystery in his eyes. "The seventh continent is a myth, a legend, often called the Sundered Land or the Cradle of Gods. It is said to have been hidden away by a power beyond comprehension, in an age before our own. Some say it was the birthplace of humanity, others that it is a prison for a terrible, ancient evil. No one knows where it is, or if it is even still around. For all practical purposes, there are only six."
Li Yu sat in stunned silence, his entire understanding of the world shattered and rebuilt in the span of a few minutes. He wasn't aware of all these different land masses in this world. It would seem that the information was withheld by greater powers, not revealed to the general public. His retainers also did not have this information.
Perhaps one had to have a certain amount of power or strength before the secrets were revealed to them, those of a lower scale just wouldn't know. He had to ask Theron about this, his curiosity was too great.
He was on one of the six or seven continents. The factions he had seen as world-spanning threats were merely the transplanted offshoots of much larger, inter-continental powers. He was actually on a relatively peaceful continent, though that peace was being interfered with by these external powers.
Jian Xuan was from a land linked to the Beast Realm, a place of primal energy and powerful beasts. Suddenly, his immense strength, his obsession with strength, and his very presence made so much more sense. His journey across the Endless Sea, which had already seemed like a legendary feat, was now contextualized.
The pieces were all starting to fit together, forming a picture that was far larger and more terrifying than he had ever imagined. His own strength, which he had thought to be growing at a good rate, suddenly felt small and insignificant in the face of such a vast, conflict-ridden world.