Nine Heavens and Ten Earths

Biodata

Nature and Condition

The Nine Heavens and Ten Earths is a fractured universe whose World Tree was felled, leaving the realm divided into its present broken form. Its damaged realm walls cannot naturally recover, making normal attainment of immortality exceptionally difficult. 528

• The realm's Heavenly Dao has been influenced by both the Immortal Realm and the Foreign Realm; Yan Kuan regards it as fundamentally impaired. 507
• During its End of Dharma period, its strongest cultivators generally needed to seek advancement in places such as the Immortal Realm. 650
• Yan Kuan's Emperor Pagoda states that, in the current era, Yan Kuan can suppress karma within the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. 403
• Shi Hao's later return of Dao power shifted the universe “from exhaustion to strength,” restoring its vitality without binding him to it. 632

History

Mythological Era and Fragmentation

During the Mythological Era, the Heavenly Court ruled the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, the cosmos, and the stars. Its sudden collapse ended that era and threw the universe into disorder until the Undying Heavenly Emperor began the Primordial Era. 277

The realm was severely diminished after the Ancient Immortal War. Its World Tree was cut down, its world broke apart, and the Immortal Realm—formerly an ally—largely kept its gates closed after the Foreign Realm forcibly connected to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. This lack of support contributed to the realm's defeat. 497 528

Yan Kuan's Reordering

After returning from the God Tomb World, Yan Kuan descended into the Lower Realm Eight Regions and prepared to enter the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths in his true body, intending to impose new rules upon the realm. 472

Following the execution of the four Remnant Immortals, Yan Kuan ordered every cultivator above the Heavenly God realm to enter Emperor Gate and guard it for one hundred years. He also declared death for those who colluded with the Foreign Realm, slandered the Seven Frontier Kings' descendants, or defended the four evil immortals. 497

The resulting purge shook the realm: several Longevity Families were annihilated, while surviving offenders were dispatched to border fortresses to fight the Foreign Realm. 530

Renewal through the Secret Realm Method

Shi Hao later returned as an Immortal King and transmitted the Five Great Secret Realms—Wheel Sea, Dao Palace, Four Extremes, Transforming Dragon, and Immortal Platform—throughout the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. His Dao sound awakened secluded cultivators across the realm and prompted widespread breakthroughs. 632

Shi Hao's system was powerful enough that Heavenly Punishment did not descend upon him; the white-robed Lord of the Forbidden Zone explained that tribulation would only help perfect him. 632

Later Damage and Recovery

The Nine Heavens and Ten Earths was later used alongside the Immortal Realm, Foreign Realm, and Burial Zone as one of four domains in Yan Kuan's supreme Slaughter Formation. The formation's creation inflicted severe additional damage on all four domains. 694

In later ages, Ancient Supremes taking alternative paths and successive new Great Emperors drove renewed development across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. 683

Regions and Defenses

• Boundless Heaven — One of the Nine Heavens; Yan Kuan returned there to subdue Immortal Dao-level beings from the Immortal Mound and North Sea Stone Forest. 535
• Great Scarlet Heaven Gate — A frontier Yan Kuan reforged into a new border against the Foreign Realm, where guilty Longevity Family members were exiled to fight. 531
• Emperor Gate — A major defensive stronghold in the Three Thousand Prefectures, manned by the realm's peak experts under Meng Tianzheng as war with the Foreign Realm escalated. 517
• Lower Realm Eight Regions — The lower domain through which Yan Kuan entered the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths; the Cross Yin-Yang Ground contains an ancient road leading there. 472 535
• Life Forbidden Zones — Numerous forbidden regions formed from the lingering obsessions or damaged Dao fruits of powerful beings formerly connected to the Immortal Realm. 531

Major Threats

• Foreign Realm — Its forced connection to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, its role in the Ancient Immortal War, and its continuing border invasions made it the realm's principal external enemy. 497 513
• Darkness — Dark forces exploited fissures in the starry sky, while the realm's living beings historically lacked reliable means to remove dark erosion. 497
• Army of Darkness — Fallen Immortal Kings and True Immortals attempted to invade from the Boundary Sea through the Ancient Hall of Guidance; Shi Hao intercepted them on the Embankment's side. 632
• End of Dharma — The realm's prolonged depletion restricted cultivation and left its native world weaker than higher realms. 650