Dark Realm

Biodata

Power Progression

Nature and Geography

Cosmological Nature

• The oasis: The Dark Realm exists where rules leak from the River of Destiny. Distant space is comparatively “lawless”—not necessarily empty, but lacking the conditions needed for the Sequence path 454.
• The larger Theater: The Ghoul Mother describes the Dark Realm, the Dark Side, and the endless stars of the Sky Dome as one enormous Theater. Everyone occupies a role, but only Lords qualify to compete as its “protagonist” 411.
• Original limits: Despite its enormous scale, the realm initially has finite territory and resources. Establishing another Imperial City therefore threatens the existing cities’ shares 261.
• Universe potential: After ascension, it has the potential to become the core universe of the Myriad Worlds, either sharing that position with Kid Brother’s universe or taking it alone 636.

Regions and Settlements

Cultivation and World Rules

Martial Cultivation

• Native advancement: Cultivation Techniques form the foundation of a martial artist’s realm, while offensive, movement, and other supporting techniques determine practical combat strength 15.
• Login User requirements: Entry into the Glimmering Realm requires at least 10 Constitution, 100 Blood Volume, and beginner mastery of a core Cultivation Technique 5.
• Combat development: Early combat relies chiefly on physical martial arts. Starflash cultivation produces true qi, while higher realms enable increasingly powerful attacks and more effective secret arts 99.
• Power transfer: Morning Sun, also called Sunrise, is the normal threshold at which martial strength can be brought into reality 128 329.

The early realms have the following standard Blood Volume ranges; geniuses and major figures can exceed them 15:

Sequences and Authorities

• Separate power system: Sequence cultivation is distinct from martial arts, though the two can complement one another 185.
• Taboo terminology: Sequence Users are called Heavenly Demons in the Dark Realm because openly speaking of Sequences can cause trouble 165 191.
• Restricted disclosure: When Zhang Qing attempts to reveal his special profession’s name, thunder intervenes. He explains that a rule would compel him to massacre a city if he disclosed it 165.
• Advancement structure: Equivalent exchange and the establishment of a Theater underpin Sequence advancement 216.
• Authority framework: Lords’ Authorities supply the realm’s crucial framework, but lineage factions and other Transcendents collectively represent its fuller structure 630.

Specters and Demonic Tides

• Infiltration: Specters can hide among ordinary inhabitants, making identity verification a persistent security concern 1 165 393.
• Demonic tides: These eruptions scatter Forbidden Items and stir up Specters and exiles. Their aftermath offers opportunities to fight injured Specters 90.
• Forbidden Items: They can slow or reverse Hu Ben’s specterization, but only the first item of each type works for him; they do not remove his eventual fate as an exile 90.
• Predation: The life spawned by the Ancestors becomes a major obstacle to survival, helping drive the collapse of the realm’s civilized order 466.

Post-Ascension Laws

• Sequence collapse: Once the realm becomes a universe, Sequence power withdraws and the old system ceases to function 636.
• New route: Laws replace Authorities as Zhang Qing’s next means of advancement. The universe’s ongoing evolution makes divine rules easier to encounter and comprehend 637 638.
• Surviving system: Martial arts remains functional, but must develop further to bridge the gap left by the former highest Sequence ranks 638.
• Shared foundation: Law wielders depend on the Dark Realm Universe. Gaining other universes’ resources enlarges their home universe and strengthens the power system supporting them 641 643.

The Dark Realm Game

Access and Launch

• Zhang Qing uses a helmet carried back through rebirth to log in on April 25, 2034, one year before public release 1.
• The helmet scans brainwaves and permits communication with the system through thought 1.
• Public servers open at midnight on April 25, 2035. At that moment, a new tributary enters the River of Destiny 264.
• In Zhang Qing’s previous life, the game attracts over two billion players before descending into reality and shattering Blue Star 1 5.
• Its advertising appears through every major channel with apparently legitimate payments and arrangements, yet investigators cannot find any staff behind it 177.

Login User Mechanics

Society and Political Order

Imperial City Rule

The realm’s apparent disorder conceals a strict hierarchy dominated by the Imperial Cities. Their eleven decrees prevent major wars for many years, though border armies and clans remain eager to fight. Even during renewed warfare, factions initially avoid attacking Imperial Cities directly 216 340.

• Administration: Venerable Lords generally leave administrative decisions to the Imperial Cities 261.
• Strength: Combat power determines who can negotiate as an equal 356.
• Favors and karma: Major factions observe an expectation that favors must be repaid, despite the realm’s otherwise flexible morality 215.
• Survival over allegiance: Alliances shift with interests and survival pressures; shared benefits can even bring Sky City and its enemies into cooperation 404 411.

Identity and Social Hierarchy

• Razor: Anti-Specter squads can execute a suspect once a majority votes in favor. Innocent victims receive no protection after the fact 5.
• Village suspicion: Close-knit communities are difficult for both players and Specters to infiltrate 87.
• Human vulnerability: Yun Xiaoxi’s home village improves its survival through secretly obtained martial manuals, but its patron’s political mistake brings disaster 225.
• Great Xia’s Imperial Clan: After Great Xia gains Imperial City standing, its pure-blooded people receive preferential treatment throughout the realm and constitute its largest Imperial Clan group 468.

Technology and Culture

• Authority dependence: The old order has little incentive to develop conventional technology when Authorities already provide superior transportation, agriculture, and military power 295.
• Mechanical monopoly: Sky City’s Mechanical Authority monopolizes technology; the Dark Realm’s numerous Lords prevent it from becoming entirely subordinate to Sky City 488.
• Language transformation: After fate reaches Blue Star, the Sixth Floor and Sky City promote Great Xia’s language, culture, proverbs, and customs. An Imperial City Lord also supports this process 475.
• Rapid modernization: During a month of Sky City-assisted development, roads, high-rises, factories, digital currency, and power networks spread across the realm. Grain Authorities make crops grow at visibly accelerated rates 468.

History

Earlier Conflicts

Sky City’s earlier landings lead to wars with the Dark Realm. On one return, its intelligent machines attempt to reshape the environment through technological force, provoking the first-generation Tiger Venerable. Divine laws eventually end the fighting 488.

Early Login and Great Xia’s Preparations

Zhang Qing enters before public release and begins developing within Zi City. His rebirth knowledge gives him access to opportunities unavailable to later players, but survival still requires maintaining a believable identity among the Chuan Family and Razor 1 2 21.

After confirming that Sequence powers work in reality, he informs Great Xia’s leadership that the Dark Realm is a real world rather than merely a game. He proposes raising troops, fortifying cities, and storing grain, then offers to seize a city as a training base 128 165.

Great Xia takes An City and prepares it for future arrivals. Cultivation manuals are brought back as starter resources, while official teams secure game-related permissions and organize research and monitoring 185 215 251.

Public Launch and Territorial Expansion

The launch initially produces reckless behavior and repeated deaths. Players then learn to maintain personas, cooperate, accumulate Blood Volume, and cultivate. Great Xia’s Think Tank helps steer them toward practical progression 264 266 270.

An City becomes the center of player expectations about a human main city. Mountain City develops farmland using Great Xia’s seeds and a large regional workforce, while An City, Mountain City, War City, and Qi City become the core of a broader military campaign 272 295 341.

Zhang Qing’s raids and the Highnesses’ wars weaken orthodox lineages across the realm. As players gain strength and knowledge, they spread beyond their initial bases and shift from basic survival to exploration 348 358.

Blue Star Fall and Great Xia’s Recognition

Blue Star eventually settles in the Dark Realm. Great Xia rebuilds damaged cities, restores defenses, and develops identity checks against Specter infiltration. Zhang Qing insists that its existing government remain intact rather than becoming subordinate to his personal authority 393.

A later agreement between Sky City and the Imperial Cities formally recognizes Great Xia’s Imperial City status. The parties divide Authority territories and agree to clear Specters from the wilderness 462.

The resulting prosperity does not end political conflict. Si Bei Li uses construction, propaganda, and infiltration to encourage worship of Zhang Qing while preparing to turn the population’s dissatisfaction against him 468.

Renewed Sky City War

When the Imperial City Lords fall into deep sleep, orthodox lineages and Dark Side figures begin considering attacks on the weakened cities. Great Xia remains publicly recognized as the twelfth Imperial City despite discovering that its remembered status exceeds its available strength 500.

Sky City gradually commits more Sequence Sevens, lands military cities across the realm, and breaks Imperial City fronts. Great Xia loses its routes to Tiger Imperial City and Sheep Emperor City, retaining only its connection to Monkey Emperor City 514.

After Hao loses part of his Survival Authority to Zhang Qing, Sky City withdraws. Hao later orders its twelve Venerable Lords to launch an extermination war, sending a vast machine fleet toward the Dark Realm 547 605.

Removal and Ascension

Twenty-four Venerables immobilize the realm’s inhabitants, sort them by race, divide the territory and Dark Side, and swallow the realm in pieces. Zhang Qing leads the departure into the Chaos Sea while dragging the Steel Dark Realm behind him with Wisteria Flower roots 617.

The Lords subsequently reassemble the Dark Realm. Ordinary inhabitants experience no disruption to daily life, although high-ranking Sequence Users detect a gradual loss of power after separation from the Destiny Breach 621.

Zhang Qing then forces the realm into the Chaos Sea. Its matter and inhabitants begin disintegrating until Purple Qi stabilizes it. He gathers the destroyed inhabitants’ True Spirits and restores them through Flesh Authority 635.

Ascension solidifies Authorities and strips the Sovereigns and Transcendents of their former power. Several falling Venerable Lords descend into Great Xia for protection as the Sequence system collapses 635 636.

The Dark Realm Universe

The evolving universe provides an opening to comprehend Laws. Zhang Qing frames it as the inhabitants’ shared home, whose growth and survival require cooperation against other universes 637 641.

After developing a Universe Will, it settles in the Primal Land. Over the next three thousand years, it expands until it incorporates the whole region. Great Xia’s population grows rapidly, sorcery becomes prominent among Law-based systems, and some cultivators condense divine sparks 649 652 661.

Ghoul Mother’s Laws break reproductive isolation, causing almost two centuries of bloodline conflict before the Venerable Lords and Progenitors establish the Life Leap martial path. Despite these changes, the original powerhouses retain supreme standing, and ascenders from the Three Thousand Worlds continue seeking entry into the higher world 661.