3 The Higher Realm

As Yun Ming valiantly waded through the storm, Yun Bianzhong continued to lazily gaze at the pillar as though his Elder Brother's actions had nothing to do with him.

Just as Yun Bianzhong continued to indulge in his melancholic reminiscence, a familiar figure appeared before him. It was his Sect Master and adoptive father, Yun Lao! The old man carried with him an air of wisdom and experience; the aura of an old monster.

"Aren't you going to help your friend over there? He's having quite a hard time.", Sect Master Lao urged the sad lad.

"What for? What is this stupid cultivation crap even for?" Yun Bianzhong rebutted. He couldn't care less about another person's woes, even his Elder Brother's. He was tired of being that goody two-shoes cultivator who saves everyone in need. He was tired of being the knight in shining armor. He was sick of it.

"Hohoho, what has gotten you so sad and philosophical, boy? I reckon it has something to do with the Higher Realm." Old Monster Lao shot back.

Yun Bianzhong was jolted awake at the mere mention of the Higher Realm. "You knew!? Y-You-You" Yun Bianzhong choked, unable to get the words he was meaning to say out.

He couldn't believe that his Martial Father knew of that horrid place. The very place that shattered his will and motivation for into pieces. The place that turned the valiant "War Drum" Yun Bianzhong into the pitiful young man that he is now.

He didn't see a torn world of killing and darkness. He didn't see a world where the poor suffered and the rich ruled. No, the Higher Realm was better than all that; it was beautiful. The Sun shone on a glorious utopia of crystal skyscrapers that pierced that skies. Various beasts soared in the skies and roamed the lands and seas freely. Parents accompanied their children stroll around the lush parks. Verdant green patched the lands while buildings of colorful crystals grew from them.

But what separated the Higher Realm from the Yun Bianzhong's was not the landscape, but the people. There, he met experts that trumped him in every aspect. They smarter, stronger, sharper. There were cultivators that were both younger and more experienced than him. People with greater achievements and stranger experiences. And all of these people were from the lowest rung!

"I got there by chance," Yun Baizhong narrated, "I was in a deadlock with my opponent. It was the finals. Just one win away from getting it all. Glory, treasures, heck even women. I staked everything in that one move. I pushed myself to the absolute limit. And it worked; I won. But there were consequences."

Yun Lao had noticed that the voice of the young lad in front of him grew colder. He was more vulgar and spoke harsher words. This was far from the Little Baizhong he knew.

"Astral Projection had overdrawn my soul. I could only compress it to make up for the excess Soul Qi. I kept on compressing and compressing, and before I knew it, I had broken through to Rank 7. But it wasn't a cultivation breakthrough, it was more of a temporary spike. I knew my Rank was going to drop after this, and it sure did; it's back to Rank 1 for me. But that isn't the point. As my soul continued to grow denser, I felt it start to sink. And without a vessel... without my body to keep it in check it started to slip, no, sink out of the Realm's boundaries. And then..."

The Heaven-Splitting Sect's cultivation method is rather unique. Instead of cultivating the mind, body, or spirit like the other sects, they cultivated the soul. The concept was to take the external Heaven and Earth Forces into the soul for it to grow denser. To accommodate for a denser soul, they naturally have to improve their body as well. As the soul compresses, the force it exerts and the influence it has on its surroundings also increases. The dense soul and Soul Blade were a Heaven-Splitting Disciple's greatest weapons.

Soul Density also had a large impact on inter-Realm travel. Similar to how liquids arrange themselves or stratify according to their densities, souls also travel between the many Realms depending on how dense they are, like oil floating on water.