The Southern Continent

The Southern Continent was a land ruled by the righteous.

Compared to Yaan's homeland, or the 'Demonic North' as they called it here, the righteous faction in the South was…actually righteous.

"Junior brother Yaan, as someone from the North, I know that you might have some misgivings about the righteous faction, but you must understand…going by the standards of the Southern Continent, around half of the self-proclaimed 'righteous' factions in the North actually belong to the demonic path."

Yaan nodded slowly as the old man before him, his new 'senior brother', explained the differences in society here compared to the places that he was accustomed to. For one, referring to those close to you, such as sect members of similar standing, as 'brother' and 'sister', was a common practice in the South, whilst it was less prevalent in the North.

After Yaan emerged from the inheritance, or the 'evil inheritance' as they called it on the Southern Continent, many things transpired in a relatively short period of time. It had been three days since then, but Yaan was still feeling shocked and apprehensive regarding his current situation.

Zue Yin on the other hand, who had for some reason been dragged into all this along with him, was taking it quite well. Apart from one matter, apparently.

"Well, I know for a fact that my clan is indeed a righteous clan, Elder Keasal." She folded her arms and stared at the old man firmly. He coughed and forced a smile as he nodded, before turning back towards the map on the table, before briefly glancing at Yaan.

'Compared to Elder Zue Yin, Junior Brother Yaan seems more reasonable. Though, they are both shocking talents, to possess this level of cultivation at such a young age. Sigh, I need to keep reminding myself how young these two are…compared to our core sect disciples at their age, both of them are actually far more mature…'

After Yaan was forced to agree to join the 'Fragment Sect' as the white-haired man's disciple, that mysterious man only spoke one more line to him, before waving his hand and sending both Yaan and Zue Yin to this old man's mountain abode.

Yaan recalled the final warning left by that white haired man as he studied the map of Planet Yushu before him.

'That white-haired man, my 'teacher', is the ancestor of the Fragment Sect, and an immortal Qi refiner. He reminded me that if I am outed to the public as a demon, either in terms of my race or my alignment, then he will personally execute me. He used a spell to hide my body tempering aura and the red colouration in my eyes…demons are persecuted so thoroughly in the Southern Continent that all cultivators are banned from possessing red eyes. Anyone with red eyes will immediately be apprehended and judged by any one of the righteous factions if they are seen…'

In the Ghu Province, demons were relatively common, but they were still persecuted to a certain extent. However, a demon would not be outed just by having red eyes, as there were many techniques that could turn a person's eyes red. But in the South, the hatred against demons was so extreme that having red eyes was actually banned by law!

Both Yaan and Zue Yin had learned many things in these past few days thanks to the old man called Keasal. Keasal was an elder of the Fragment Sect, but his status was quite special, because he was a disciple of the sect's ancestor…making him Yaan's senior brother. He was also the only person who currently knew about Yaan and Zue Yin's presence in the sect. He was also fully disclosed their background as people from the other side of the planet, as well as Yaan's identity as a demon.

Keasal had been shocked when his teacher actually took on a demon as a disciple, but he didn't question it and also didn't seem to judge Yaan for it. Based on what he had learned about this land so far, Yaan felt like this was probably unusual for a cultivator in the South.

Thinking this, Yaan ran his gaze across the map once again. Even now, he could hardly believe it…

"Planets…" Yaan muttered. Zue Yin silently stared at the map, also feeling the same way.

The old man looked at them both and smiled amusedly, stroking his beard as his gaze shone with an appreciative light. Right now, he was feeling a deep sense of gratitude that he had been born in the South, where information was not withheld from the masses by the powers in charge.

Until now, Yaan and Zue Yin had no clue as to what a 'planet' was, nor did they know that they actually lived on one such celestial body. When Keasal first described a planet as 'a massive spherical object rotating within the void of space', they had no idea what this even meant.

When they were shown a map, which depicted the entire geography of Planet Yushu to the finest detail, including every region in the North and South, they were stunned senseless. The Ghu Province was shown on this map…only, it was far too small compared to the map as a whole!

The Ghu Province stretched thousands of miles from end to end, but travelling from the Northernmost point on Planet Yushu to the Southernmost point was a journey entailing over one million miles!

But beyond that…there were more planets.

And stars.

And star systems - seven of them in fact.

And Yaan knew that there were four world planes. This world as described by Keasal was only the Qi Plane! However, after probing for the past three days, Yaan could more or less confirm that Keasal did not know about the existence of the four planes.

But back to Planet Yushu…

On this planet, around 90% of the surface was covered in water. The greatest landmass was actually the ground beneath their feet right now. The Southern Continent was a single massive expanse of land that was roughly ovular in shape. This land covered the Southernmost point on the planet and stretched out for close to one million miles from East to West. There were a few small islands surrounding the Southern Continent, which were also included under the domain of the righteous powers, but the majority of their territory was on this single continent.

Compared to the North, which existed as a gathering of hundreds of islands of varying sizes, the South was far larger in terms of landmass. However, if you included all of the oceans and seas between each of the islands and smaller continents in the North, then the Northern Territory, which was occupied by various demonic superpowers, was actually a bit larger.

In between these two major territories was a vast expanse of water. Travelling between the North and South was extraordinarily difficult, since the environment between the two regions was inhospitable and dangerous to a ridiculous degree.

Be it the regular storms, the giant tidal waves and tsunamis, or the various ocean dwelling beasts, the ocean was a dangerous place, even for those at the Origin Soul Realm. Because this region was so violent and chaotic, there were very few landmasses between the North and South. The landmasses that did exist were often plagued by frequent natural disasters and were for the most part uninhabitable.

Not only was the environment in the North and South very different, but so was society. Vastly different, in fact.

The primary difference lay in the fact that in the North, the demonic faction had always maintained control, whilst in the South, the righteous ruled supreme.

Whilst there were always more righteous than demonic path cultivators no matter where you went in this world, the demonic were the ruling powers in the North – and they ruled over the righteous and demonic alike. This actually caused the righteous in the North to adopt some tendencies of the demonic path, despite still calling themselves righteous. For this reason, many in the Southern Continent viewed the 'righteous' organisations in the North with disdain, since some of their practices were simply too extreme to be considered righteous here.

A prime example was the Heavenly Path Sect. Yaan had asked Keasal about how the Southern cultivators would view a sect that kidnaps children from their homes and wantonly kills mortals without any regard for their lives or suffering. His response was that such a sect was undoubtedly a demonic path sect, at least according to the Southern principles.

'In the end, the distinction between righteous and demonic has nothing to do with morality. It's merely a matter of following the rules, or not following the rules…since the rules in different places differ, so does the definition of righteous and demonic.'

Despite thinking this way, Yaan had to admit that the 'righteousness' of the south was actually far more in line with what one would expect from a righteous land.

In fact, despite there being various righteous organisations in the Southern Continent backed by immortals, there was a single, clear, ruling power. This was something that the chaotic North lacked.

The Xuqi Dynasty and the Xuqi Sect.

There were six notable groups on the Southern Continent, each owning a large region of the continent and ruling over their respective areas; the Xuqi Dynasty, the Xuqi Sect, the Fragment Sect, the Blade Justice School, the Beast Domination School, and the Hukon Clan. Each of these organisations was backed by an immortal, but the Xuqi Dynasty was different…

The Xuqi Dynasty, which ruled and managed the Xuqi Sect, supposedly held three immortals within their ranks! They had always possessed multiple immortals since the beginning of these lands' records, and as such, they were regarded as the true ruler of the Southern Continent.

Beyond this, it was also said that the Xuqi Sect was actually a sort of subsidiary branch of a large-scale organisation that existed throughout the larger universe…

Whilst the Xuqi Dynasty did not technically own all of the lands in the South, and they could not freely invade or take what they wanted from others, they actually imposed their own laws onto the entire Southern Continent! The Xuqi Sect was established to manage and enforce these laws.

As such, the lands of the other four superpowers were comparable to the fiefs held by feudal lords in feudalistic mortal kingdoms. In a way, the immortals behind these groups were akin to feudal lords, but honestly, the immortals were far too mysterious to make this comparison with certainty.

Strangely, the immortals did not personally lead their respective organisations. Even in the Xuqi Dynasty, the official emperor was actually an Origin Soul Realm cultivator! Of course, that person was at the peak of the Origin Soul Realm, whilst his battle strength far surpassed others at his level.

The immortals almost never showed themselves, only entertaining a select few Foundation Step cultivators with their presence. For instance, the immortal ancestor of the Fragment Sect only ever appeared to speak with his disciples, of which he now had three. Besides Keasal and Yaan, his other disciple was the current Fragment Sect Master.

When it came to the Fragment Sect itself, it was simply grand beyond Yaan's imagination. So far, he had only been out to look around this mountain range, which lay at the centre of the Fragment Sect, yet this alone was already enough to shock him.

At the centre of the Fragment Sect, there was an enormous mountain, eternally hidden behind a thick grey fog that Yaan could not see through at all. He could not see how high this mountain towered into the sky, but it was certainly hundreds of miles at the very least!

Around this mountain, or rather protruding up from the base of the central mountain, there were three other mountain peaks, evenly dispersed around the central mountain. Keasal lived in one of these peaks. The sect master, a man called Senior Brother Brase by Keasal, and Sect Master Brase by others, lived on another of these mountains. As for the final mountain…this was to be Yaan's new home.

As the Immortal Ancestor's disciple, Yaan had a special status - he was actually given his own entire mountain peak immediately after arriving here…

Truly, the scale of the Fragment Sect had already expanded Yaan's horizons. It was like nothing else he had ever seen.