Looking across the vast expanse of the universe, there are countless sect powers. The great Blessed Realms boast deep and ancient lineages, standing proud above all others as first-tier powers.
Below the Blessed Realms, any faction that boasts a mid-grade Kaiyuan expert is considered second-tier.
And any faction without even a single mid-grade Kaiyuan cultivator is relegated to the third tier.
In theory, the lower a faction's tier, the greater its numbers should be. However, in truth, across the Three Thousand Worlds, it is second-tier powers that are most numerous.
A Grade Four expert qualifies as mid-grade Kaiyuan. As long as a martial artist isn't too dull-witted, advancing to two or three grades upon breaking through to the Kaiyuan Realm is perfectly feasible. Given enough time to temper and consolidate, a breakthrough to Grade Four is well within reach.
Thus, in every great domain, Grade Four and Grade Five Kaiyuan cultivators make up the largest proportion, and Grade Six cultivators are hardly rare either.
Even so, among second-tier powers, the differences in foundation are vast.
A sect with a Grade Four expert qualifies as second-tier; a sect with a Grade Six expert is likewise second-tier. The two cannot be lumped together.
Qinghong Pavilion ranked in the lower-middle range among second-tier powers. At its peak, it had held two Grade Five experts and four Grade Four experts—a foundation that hardly cut it on the grand stage.
Even so, a power like Qinghong Pavilion had once held dominion over an entire great domain, naming it after the words "Qinghong."
When the Ink Clan invaded, human factions large and small had no choice but to abandon the foundations they had built over centuries, relocating en masse to the Lingxiao Domain. Even the great Blessed Realms were no exception, let alone Qinghong Pavilion. At the time, guided by a small human squad retreating from the Void Domain, they joined forces with other factions migrating from various great domains and withdrew to the Lingxiao Domain. The journey was fraught with peril, but they survived.
The days spent in the Lingxiao Domain were the hardest they had ever endured.
At that time, the factions and cultivators pouring in from every direction were beyond counting—all, like themselves, people torn from their homes, with nowhere to settle.
The Lingxiao Domain did contain two universes: the Star Realm and the Demon Domain. But the former was off-limits to ordinary people, and the latter was unsuitable for permanent settlement.
Cultivation resources were desperately scarce, and a pall of despair hung over nearly all of Qinghong Pavilion.
It was only when the Lingxiao Palace arranged for them to be placed within one of the universes in the new domain that a sliver of stability returned.
After such a searing experience, the senior ranks of the Pavilion came to understand all too keenly the sorrow of having a weak foundation. But strengthening that foundation—how difficult it was!
Thus, three hundred years ago, when the Master of the Star Realm spread the word of the Myriad Demon Realm, Qinghuan Pavilion's Kaiyuan experts set off without hesitation for the battlefield in the Xuanming Domain, battling the Ink Clan to earn merits. Those merits could then be exchanged for entry into the Myriad Demon Realm.
The emergence of the Myriad Demon Realm was a beacon of hope for every small and mid-sized faction.
They had no qualifications to enter the Star Realm, but the Myriad Demon Realm was a fresh start. If they could send their younger disciples to cultivate there, they would receive nourishment from the World Tree saplings. In time, prodigies who could leap straight to Grade Six or even Grade Seven might emerge. They didn't need many—just one such talent would change their fate entirely.
At last, once the Myriad Demon Realm opened its doors, Qinghong Pavilion was among the first waves to move in. Only a handful of disciples—barely more than a dozen—entered initially, but over the years, more and more had been admitted.
They staked a claim on a spiritual peak and reopened the gates of Qinghong Pavilion. The beginnings were arduous, but unlike those dark centuries before, they could now see a road ahead.
Today, the Myriad Demon Realm hosted no fewer than seven or eight thousand factions large and small, and that number would only grow in the years to come.
Fortunately, the realm was vast enough. Yang Kai himself had discovered it when he first came to survey this universe—its size dwarfed that of a typical world. Without that capacity, housing so many factions would have been impossible.
Now, within Qinghong Pavilion, every Kaiyuan expert of Grade Three and above was deployed to one battlefield or another. Only a few aging Grade Two Kaiyuan veterans remained behind to oversee the sect and train the younger generation.
It was just as well that the Myriad Demon Realm held no great dangers. Otherwise, those few Grade Two experts alone would have been hard-pressed to cope.
A cluster of young disciples stood at the mountain gate, craning their necks in eager anticipation. Suddenly, a cheer rang out: "The senior brothers and sisters are back!"
As the cry faded, agile figures emerged from the dense forest ahead, weaving between the trees until they reached the gate.
There were fewer than a hundred of them, most in their teens or early twenties.
The nourishment of the World Tree saplings was closely tied to cultivation level and age—the lower one's cultivation and the younger one's age, the greater the benefit. An Emperor Sovereign Realm expert who tried to come here would likely receive almost nothing at all.
Every spot in the Myriad Demon Realm was precious. Qinghong Pavilion certainly wouldn't squander them. The disciples they had sent in were therefore mostly young people with genuine aptitude for cultivation.
Laughter and excited chatter filled the air before the mountain gate.
But soon, the little ones' eyes were drawn to something: a small, jet-black beast with sleek, unblemished fur. The creature appeared to be injured, dozing in the arms of a senior sister, its body wrapped in bandages through which faint traces of blood seeped.
The young disciples swarmed around it at once, chattering nonstop, clearly enamored of the little creature.
One disciple asked, "Senior Sister Qin Xue, is it a demon beast?"
Qin Xue smiled and nodded. "It's a shadow leopard."
The disciple reached out to touch the shadow leopard, but pulled his hand back before making contact, as if afraid it might suddenly wake and bite him.
"What happened here?" asked one of the Grade Two Kaiyuan veterans.