{T/N: Be warned, dear reader... Apart from the canon Factions listed in the wiki, all other names in this chapter are subject to my (the translator/editor) personal interpretation based on my general understanding of LOTM and Xianxia/Wuxia systems, as well as a ton of Google.
While I tried my very best to integrate everything as seamlessly as possible, the names may not be entirely accurate enough to capture what the author of this fanfic envisioned...}
~~~
As per their prior agreement, Qingzhi recounted to the Demon Monarch the major powers of the realm and its history.
The largest force in this realm was called the Penglai Immortal Sect. It was said this sect was located on Penglai Mountain in the East Sea, a universally acknowledged immortal mountain where one can find elixirs granting eternal youth, cultivation methods for rapid advancement, immortals with transcendent bearing, and beautiful, dignified fairy maidens...
In short, it matched everyone's imagination of an immortal realm.
Yet this immortal realm had suddenly vanished into the vast sea several thousand years ago. Had it not been for occasional news of Penglai Immortal Sect cultivators still surfacing, Qingzhi might have considered it a myth.
Though the Penglai Immortal Sect had long since disappeared, its influence remained considerable. For instance, in the Qingzhou region, many medium-sized sects claimed to carry on the Penglai Immortal Sect's heritage.
Other powers also acknowledged Penglai as the number one sect under heaven.
Below the Penglai Immortal Sect were eight first-rate powers of roughly equal strength, and the Shadow Cottage was one of them.
According to Qingzhi's understanding, each of these eight powers possessed a True Immortal, cultivators at the True Immortal Realm above the Void Refinement Realm. {T/N: These are probably the Dao Integrators...}
He wasn't entirely clear on the specifics of this realm, but what was certain was that the leaders of these eight major powers all commanded cultivation at the True Immortal Realm. For instance, the Master of the Shadow Cottage, who was both the substantive and spiritual leader of the Shadow Cottage.
These True Immortals rarely walked the mortal world. The significant high-end strength of the eight powers still primarily relied on great cultivators of the Void Refinement Realm.
Matters requiring the personal intervention of someone at the Master of the Shadow Cottage's level were all major events sufficient to shake the world.
Within the Shadow Cottage, there was one great cultivator at the late stage of the Void Refinement Realm, three at the middle stage, and several at the early stage... {T/N: The founder of the Blood Sect, the Mystic Sound Demon Monarch, is among the three cultivators at the mid-stage of Void Refinement Realm...}
The so-called late and middle stages of the Void Refinement Realm roughly corresponded to Raphael's concepts of Sequence 1 and Sequence 2. The early stage of the Void Refinement Realm roughly corresponded to Sequence 3.
Although the Mystic Sound Demon Monarch appeared to be merely one of four great cultivators, in truth, his divine capabilities were the most formidable among them. He had also pioneered three cultivation methods, placing him on equal footing with the great cultivator at the late stage of the Void Refinement Realm.
Thus, he could become the leader of the Blood Sect and secure numerous resources for the Blood Sect within the Shadow Cottage.
The Shadow Cottage's main headquarters was in Jingzhou. The branch leaders in other provinces were generally at the late stage of the Deification Realm or the early stage of the Void Refinement Realm, roughly equivalent to Sequence 4 and Sequence 3 Demigods.
The leader of this Jizhou branch was Qingzhi, a figure of real authority within the Shadow Cottage, which was why he had such intimate knowledge of its high-end forces... {T/N: I'm certain a reader or two will struggle differentiating between Qingzhou, Jingzhou and Jizhou...}
For ordinary cultivators, Void Refinement Realm great cultivators were also existences beyond reach.
'I guess the high-end forces of other powers are roughly similar...' Raphael mentally translated: 'Each power probably has one true deity, three or four angels, five or six Sequence 3s, and a dozen or so Sequence 4s. Plus there's also guest elders and such. Overall, the powers here are somewhat stronger than a Northern Continent orthodox Church...'
Beyond the Shadow Cottage, the eight major powers included the Heavenly Court, the Three Great Orthodox Sects, and the Two Great Demonic Sects.
The 'Heavenly Court' was the universally recognized ruler, governing the order of the secular world. Its leader was revered as the Celestial Thearch, residing in the Thirty-Three Layers of Heavens.
Meanwhile, the Celestial Thearch's son dwelled among mortals, handling specific affairs, and was titled the 'Son of Heaven'.
The Heavenly Court was somewhat stronger than the other major powers because besides its own disciples, it also recruited disciples and followers from other sects, as well as outstanding unaffiliated cultivators, to jointly administer the mortal realm. These disciples, followers, and independent cultivators were nominally all subject to the Heavenly Court's authority.
The Three Great Orthodox Sects were the 'Celestial Master's Sect', the 'Buddhist Temple', and the 'Five Lakes Sword Sect'.
The Two Great Demonic Sects were the 'Luo Sect' and the 'Yin Yang Harmony Sect'.
The Shadow Cottage was considered an organization that straddled the line between orthodox and unorthodox. Its amity or enmity towards orthodox or demonic sects depended on the person and the situation. But broadly speaking, they leaned toward orthodoxy and were hostile to demonic cults.
There was also the Haoli Lineage, which was similar to the Penglai Immortal Sect in being a reclusive organization. It was said one of the Haoli Lineage's primary duties was escorting the souls of the dead to the Underworld. The fundamental requirement for disciples of this sect was to be pure of heart, with few desires, and to remain uninvolved in worldly affairs.
Unless malevolent ghosts or formidable ghost cultivators appeared, traces of this sect's disciples were almost never seen...
Having finished outlining the major powers of this realm, Qingzhi then spoke with the Demon Monarch about the realm's historical chronicles.
Countless years ago, the 'Immortal Venerable of Heaven and Earth' formed heaven and earth, and all things came into being accordingly.
At that time, the Penglai Immortal Sect had already been established. Some say it was the Dao lineage founded by the Immortal Venerable of Heaven and Earth. This Immortal Venerable was an existence at a level even higher than the True Immortal Realm of the Dao Integrators.
Later, the Immortal Venerable of Heaven and Earth disappeared without trace. Some said he had transformed into the Great Dao, becoming omnipresent; while others believed he had ascended to the Immortal Realm, departing this world. In short, opinions varied greatly.
And the three incarnations left by the Immortal Venerable within the Penglai Immortal Sect all possessed cultivation at the True Immortal Realm.
This was why all major powers revered the Penglai Immortal Sect as the foremost sect. Other powers couldn't say for certain whether they had more than one True Immortal Realm immortals, but the Penglai Immortal Sect definitely had at least three.
Later, for reasons unknown, the Penglai Immortal Sect's strength suddenly waned. Subsequently, the Luo Sect first appeared, followed by the Celestial Master, the Holy Monk, the Celestial Thearch, the Master of the Shadow Cottage, and so on, all emerging one after another. To vie for limited resources, they inaugurated an extremely turbulent and chaotic era.
At the height of the conflicts, even the Celestial Master's Sect was conquered by a coalition of the Luo Sect and the Shadow Cottage.
The patriarch of the Yin Yang Harmony Sect was also once jointly slain by the Celestial Thearch, the Holy Monk, and others. Even existences at the True Immortal Realm could fall, a testament to the ferocity of the battles at that time.
Eventually, the alliance between the Heavenly Court and the Three Great Orthodox Sects gradually formed, bringing rudimentary order to the realm. Over a thousand years ago, the Shadow Cottage and the Haoli Lineage also declared their support for the current world order.
The Heavenly Court divided the realm into twelve provinces, along with the Eastern Yi, Southern Man, Western Rong, and Northern Di. {T/N: Originally Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong, and Beidi respectively...}
Thus, the realm entered a long era of peace, which has persisted to the present day...
After hearing Qingzhi's explanation, Raphael stroked his chin in thought for a moment before saying, "The history of this realm seems rather vague..."
"Quite the contrary," Qingzhi smiled, "Every sect has a tradition of recording historical events. Over several millennia, the accumulated historical texts are countless. Moreover, different sects often have divergent accounts of the same events, making a unified narrative extremely difficult to achieve. Therefore, when discussing history, we deliberately keep it general and vague, so as not to offend other powers..."
"...The generally acknowledged dynasties number three: the 'Celestial Dynasty' from over a thousand years ago to the present, the 'Warring States' period from over a thousand years ago to over two thousand years ago, and the 'Spring and Autumn' period, over two thousand years ago."
Raphael was slightly taken aback, "Using 'Warring States' as a dynasty name is understandable. But why was the period before that called 'Spring and Autumn'?"
...
{T/N: Some of you may have noticed, the wiki never gave the names of most of the organizations within the Western Continent, but gave us the names of the leaders or consciousness within the Sefirot instead. i.e the Holy Monk, Celestial Thearch, Malevolent Dragon etc... So I took inspiration from the characteristics and titles of the Sefirot to name those organizations in this translation.
Now, please, share your theories here. Which do you think is which? Don't forget to drop a Review while you're at it...}