Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Void Realm |
| Alias(es) | 虚界 |
| Classification | Broad designation for countless planes separated by World Barriers |
| Status | Extant; individual planes may be destroyed, delisted, or rendered unstable |
| First Appearance | 117 |
Power Progression
The Void Realm has its own cultivation ceiling, although the accumulation of Mortal World Qi can gradually alter the rules of an individual plane.
| Stage or condition | Relation to the Void Realm |
|---|---|
| Ordinary cultivation | Cultivators advance through the plane's normal cultivation paths while remaining within the limits imposed by its rules. 226 302 |
| Martial King, Martial Saint, and Martial God | These represent the highest conventional stages available to Void Realm cultivators. In Real Realm terminology, they correspond to successive stages within Qi Transformation; Core Formation is normally beyond the Void Realm's capacity. 226 351 365 |
| Power beyond the plane's limit | A cultivator who temporarily exceeds the Void Realm's theoretical limit can enter Unity of Heaven and Man, resonating with the plane and gaining extreme control over its surrounding environment. 296 302 |
| Dao Protector | A Dao Protector safeguards a plane and receives power from the world in return. This connection permits communication with the Earth Spirit and limited borrowing of the plane's power. 296 302 303 |
| Accumulated Mortal World Qi | A plane that accumulates enough Mortal World Qi can alter its rules and permit breakthroughs beyond the ordinary ceiling. The Dragon Person World can permit Core Formation breakthroughs, although its environment still cannot safely withstand the resulting power. 467 |
| Real Realm routes | Martial Void-Breaking, the Ascension Path, and guidance from a powerful Real Realm being are separate methods of leaving the Void Realm. Directly breaking the boundary has repeatedly been obstructed by an unknown force. 304 309 342 |
Cosmology
The Void Realm is not a single world. It comprises countless small planes—including the Human World and Demon World—whose sturdy World Barriers isolate them from one another. The Underworld governs souls across these planes. 117 411
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Planes | Each plane develops independently and possesses its own matter, life, five-element circulation, Earth Spirit, and World Barrier. 280 |
| World Barriers | Barriers make interplanar travel extremely difficult, resist breaches, and can isolate Contamination within a single plane. The resistance encountered when crossing a barrier increases with the traveler's strength, limiting the early deployment of powerful invaders. 117 185 287 466 |
| Plane signatures | Planes can be perceived as flickering spheres of light; the frequency produced by their five-element circulation functions as a coordinate signature. The Seven Luminaries Immortal Array can alter this frequency to conceal a plane from external invaders. 301 |
| World Passages | Stable passages permit travel between planes but require immense resources to maintain because a world attempts to repair spatial rifts. The Dragon Person Race has maintained networks of such passages between conquered planes. Its known network once included eleven active passages. 241 287 |
| Demon Seeds and coordinates | The Dragon Person Race can refine Demon Seeds that attach to living beings and transmit spatial-temporal coordinate information back to the Dragon Person World, providing a way to identify and invade otherwise difficult-to-locate planes. 230 301 |
| Mortal World Qi | Heaven and Earth Essence is part of Mortal World Qi. Its quantity and allegiance are fixed to its native plane, returning there after the death or decay of living beings, even if the being dies in another plane. 226 |
| Origin of Mortal World Qi | Mortal World Qi is associated with the place where a plane's Mortal World Qi first emerges; this location is also where the World Barrier is weakest. This suggests that the Qi enters from beyond the plane rather than being wholly native to it. 244 |
| Qi accumulation | Concentrating Mortal World Qi within a plane can alter that plane's rules and raise its cultivation potential. The Dragon Person World can already permit breakthroughs to the Core Formation Realm, although it still cannot withstand the practical use of such power. 467 |
| Cultivation ceiling | The Void Realm ordinarily restricts cultivation below the higher paths available in the Real Realm. Its described conventional upper limit is the Martial God Realm. In Real Realm terminology, the Void Realm's Martial King, Martial Saint, and Martial God correspond to successive stages within Qi Transformation, while Core Formation normally lies beyond the plane's capacity. Planes with exceptionally accumulated Mortal World Qi may partially exceed this baseline. 226 351 365 467 |
| Intelligent races | The Void Realm contains numerous intelligent races with distinct innate talents. Human Special physiques are an unusual racial phenomenon; most other Void Realm races do not possess an equivalent concept. 230 244 |
| World Wars | Planes can invade, conquer, exploit, and eventually delist one another. The Dragon Person Race has waged simultaneous wars against as many as four Void Realm planes. 170 289 |
Five Elements and Earth Spirits
Five Elements Root Artifacts
Every Void Realm plane possesses five Five Elements Root Artifacts, called Great Dao Immortal Artifacts in the Human World. Their appearances and secondary powers vary by plane, but their fundamental purpose is maintaining the stability and normal evolution of the five elements. 117 280
- Destroying the Root Artifacts throws a plane's five elements into chaos and makes it increasingly dangerous and unsuitable for life. 280
- The destruction of four Human World Root Artifacts caused catastrophic tsunamis, falling stars, overturned mountains and rivers, and the collapse of the Human World's plane. 414
- The four destroyed Human World artifacts were attributed to an unknown "Black Hand" wielding the Heaven and Earth Sword. 414
- The Seven Luminaries Immortal Array can manipulate a plane's five-element circulation strongly enough to alter its coordinate signature. 301
- In the Real Realm, the Seven Luminaries Immortal Array can be deployed through seven planetary points to manipulate terrain, gravity, mountains, rivers, and other planetary forces. 573 574
- The Human World Root Artifacts are important enough that concealing at least three of them in separate planes became a defensive measure against the Black Hand. 449 451
Earth Spirits
As a plane stabilizes, an Earth Spirit gradually forms within it. It is neither ordinary life nor matter, but a chaotic existence resembling consciousness and energy. 280
- An Earth Spirit precedes the emergence of life and influences living beings' wisdom, lifespan, and immortal fortune. 280
- It is regarded as the cornerstone for the birth of intelligent life; a plane without one contains only mountains, rivers, and vegetation lacking wisdom. 117
- Earth Spirits are drawn to Artifact Spirits, particularly powerful ones, and can grant intelligence to Spiritual Artifacts. 85 282
- The Human World's Earth Spirit granted intelligence to the world's Spiritual Artifacts during the Dragon Person invasion, enabling the artifacts and Dragon Person war machines to rebel. 282
- Spiritual Artifacts are not themselves counted among the Void Realm's intelligent races, which explains why their newly granted sentience was unexpected. 147 282
- Dao Protectors can communicate with an Earth Spirit and borrow some of its power, though not to the unrestricted extent of the Seven Luminaries Immortal Array. They can also use this connection to sense Earth Spirits in other planes. 303 462
- The Dragon Person World's Earth Spirit became exceptionally powerful after thirty thousand years of expansion through World Wars. 462
- The Dragon Person Race extracts Longevity Source from Earth Spirits to extend lifespans; this resource is traded through Dragon Person Coins. 467
- The Dragon Person Race's industrial exploitation of conquered planes includes draining their resources and using their Earth Spirits as a source of longevity. 462 467
Known Planes
| Plane | Known condition |
|---|---|
| Human World | Former center of the Ten Thousand Worlds; its coordinate signature was altered to conceal it from invading planes. It later suffered apocalyptic collapse after four of its Five Elements Root Artifacts were destroyed. Efforts have since been made to preserve or restore its Root Artifacts and protect it from further destruction. 206 301 414 449 451 |
| Demon World | Destroyed and delisted from the Void Realm after invasion by the Dragon Person Race; the Underworld can no longer sense its remaining souls. 117 |
| Three-Headed World | Conquered by the Dragon Person Race in a World War; its Dao Protector was killed, its resources were drained, and massacre zones became known as Shattered Zones. The plane's weakest World Barrier lies near the place where its Mortal World Qi first emerges. 239 244 |
| Dragon Person World | A heavily industrialized plane that mass-produces weapons and war implements while expanding through systematic World Wars. Its accumulated Mortal World Qi has raised its cultivation rules enough to permit Core Formation breakthroughs, although the world cannot yet safely withstand that power. 462 467 |
| Holy Dragon Realm | A plane inhabited by the Holy Dragon Race; it was found shrouded in corrosive black Contamination. 459 460 |
| Wing World | A plane inhabited by the Winged Race, whose Dao Protector recalled the era when the Human World served as the center of interplanar exchange. 457 |
| Other conquered planes | The Dragon Person Race maintains or has maintained passages to numerous planes, including Sea Fork World, Three-Eyed World, Madman World, and Minotaur World. 241 |
Relation to the Real Realm
The Real Realm is a far larger universe of stars, planets, nebulae, and galaxies rather than another ordinary Void Realm plane. Its world rules are higher-level, more complete, and more solid. 167 343
- Void Realm cultivators who enter the Real Realm lose abilities that depend on the Void Realm's weaker rules, including ordinary Spiritual Sense, unrestricted flight, and easy spatial destruction. 342 343
- Artifacts and resources brought from the Void Realm are weakened by the Real Realm's environment; a Storage Ring, for example, becomes an ordinary Dharma Artifact without independent storage space. 343
- Void Realm Immortal Artifacts are generally reduced to high-level Dharma Artifacts in the Real Realm. A Super Immortal Artifact, however, can retain enough quality to function as a Spirit Treasure and preserve its Artifact Spirit. 343 356
- Divine Abilities are powers the Void Realm cannot normally bear. Their use can collapse surrounding time and space or threaten to shatter an entire plane. 293 294
- Cultivators whose power exceeds the Void Realm's theoretical limit can enter a state of Unity of Heaven and Man, resonating with the world itself. 296
- Ascension to the Real Realm can occur through Martial Void-Breaking, the Ascension Path, or guidance from a powerful Real Realm being. The Ascension Path in the Desolate Ancient Secret Realm was monopolized by its inhabitants, who used it to obtain knowledge, cultivation methods, and technology from the Real Realm. 304 309 321 323
- Ascending to the Real Realm through the ordinary boundary has become extraordinarily difficult. The Great Demon repeatedly broke the boundary but was driven back by a mysterious force he believed to be deliberate interference from the Real Realm. 304
- The Real Realm formerly transmitted information to major Void Realm planes with relative convenience, even though physical travel between the two realms remained difficult. 466
- The Real Realm's Contamination was transferred into Void Realm planes partly because the World Barriers isolate the disaster and prevent it from spreading between planes. 466
Projections into the Void Realm
Even Immortal Kings and Immortal Emperors cannot ordinarily enter the Void Realm directly. The Star Ape clan's Void-Piercing Divine Altar can force a false breach, but only one Real Realm projection can pass through it. 410 412
- A projection cannot directly touch Void Realm matter, but retains its cultivation, abilities, and Divine Abilities. 413
- Its power must remain below the Void Realm's tolerance, or the surrounding space may collapse. 413
- Opening the false breach used the combined energy of ten shattered stars. 412
- Once a projection returns to the Void Realm, abilities suppressed by the Real Realm's rules, including Spiritual Sense and unrestricted flight, become available again. 413
- A projection's arrival does not make the Real Realm itself accessible to ordinary Void Realm beings; the projection is an exceptional connection rather than normal interplanar travel. 410 413
Underworld
The Underworld's Domains extend across many star systems and encompass the Void Realm's planes. When living beings die, an Underworld Domain draws in their souls and sends them to the Soul Sea. 435
- Underworld Domains are additional spaces outside ordinary worlds that can be entered by souls but normally not by living beings. 435
- The Underworld Domain does not affect the physical world; its sole purpose is collecting souls after death. 435
- Powerful beings may delay or evade the Underworld's detection, but such cases are rare. 117
- A destroyed and delisted plane, such as the Demon World, cannot be sensed by the Underworld; its dead may therefore remain as wandering souls. 117
- Dragon Person souls are especially affected because they can naturally persist after bodily death unless their cultivation is insufficient to resist an Underworld Domain's pull. 435
- The Underworld's reach into the Void Realm predates the known understanding of the Real Realm, and even powerful Real Realm cultivators may find it difficult to affect or enter the Void Realm while the Underworld can already encompass it. 435
- Special Underworld methods and tokens can transmit information through Inner Space without regard to ordinary distance in the Void or Real Realm. 602
History
Thirty thousand years ago, the Human World was the core of the Ten Thousand Worlds. Planes communicated, exchanged resources, and pursued the Dao together under the influence of the Human Emperor Palace. 206 457
During this era, major Void Realm planes could communicate with the Real Realm and transmit information with relative convenience. Powerhouses from the Human World and other major planes were said to have ascended to the Real Realm in an endless stream. 466
The last Human Emperor publicly declared that victory in the World War would allow the entire world to attain immortality. This claim drove the Void Realm into prolonged wars for Mortal World Qi, resources, and the possibility of raising a plane's cultivation limit. 231 466 467
The stated promise concealed a deeper objective. After the Real Realm began transferring Contamination into Void Realm planes, the Human Emperor sought to gather the Mortal World Qi of many planes, create a final refuge, and resist the Real Realm rather than accept the Void Realm's eventual contamination. 466
The Human Emperor's death did not end the conflict. The Dragon Person Race, described as the Human Emperor Palace's loyal contingency, continued the World War and expanded across numerous planes for thirty thousand years. They had been tasked with destroying the Demon Race and continuing the World War after the Human Emperor's death. 467 462
The Dragon Person Race treats conquest as the beginning rather than the end of a World War, developing captured planes into resource-extraction zones, supply depots, and territories for further expansion. At one point, it was capable of waging war against four Void Realm planes simultaneously. 170 462
The Dragon Person Race's method of warfare includes draining conquered planes of resources, establishing industrial facilities, maintaining World Passages, and extracting Longevity Source from their Earth Spirits. 241 462 467
The Human World has since lost its former central position. Its four Root Artifacts were destroyed, its plane entered an apocalyptic collapse, and its surviving factions have sought to hide its remaining foundations from the Black Hand and other external threats. 414 449 451
Contamination
Contamination manifests as thick black fog that causes decay and corrosion. It has been observed within Void Realm planes, including the Holy Dragon Realm. 459
- The Real Realm's Contamination problem became so severe that some Immortal Emperors cooperated to divert it into the Void Realm. 466
- The diversion of Contamination into the Void Realm was also described as having occurred during the Great Uprising, when Alien Race forces sealed the disaster within the lower realm. 529
- World Barriers can contain Contamination within individual planes, making Void Realm planes useful as isolated containment zones. 466
- A plane whose Mortal World Qi has been completely drained can no longer communicate with the Real Realm and therefore cannot be used as a Contamination-sealing pool. 466
- The Human Emperor's World War was ultimately intended as resistance against this use of the Void Realm as a dumping ground. 466
- The Contamination's arrival is not necessarily predictable. Preparations for its expected descent can be disrupted, causing a plane's anticipated contamination event to fail to occur at the expected time. 605