At Yi Shuyuan's words, Lu Yuwei covered her mouth, Jiang Lang's eyes widened, and even Xia Linglan's hands trembled slightly.
The living beings of the world and the various Celestial Courts were influenced both by the faith of all beings and by the Heavenly Dao, forming a vital link in the order of heaven and earth.
Celestial Courts differed in scale. The most telling distinction was whether a court's destiny had flourished to the point where it could give birth to a Dao Artifact.
As things stood, different regions had their own definitions of the various Celestial Courts.
Broadly speaking, however, four could be called Great Heavenly Courts. Because their arrangement resembled that of the Four Seas, cultivators of every path habitually divided them into east, west, south, and north, just as they did the seas, even if the courts themselves did not necessarily accept these labels.
The Starwoven Dharma Assembly was being held in the east this time.
Overall, aside from differences in their deities and Divine Names, the Great Heavenly Courts shared similar structures and institutions, reflecting certain commonalities in folk beliefs. These arose in accordance with the patterns of the stars and the Heavenly Dao; the differences lay in the configuration of mountains and rivers.
Naturally, this also provided a basis for inheriting portions of a court's traditions when one Celestial Court replaced another.
Few things between heaven and earth endured forever. Life, death, prosperity, and decline were not hardships faced by mortals alone; even Celestial Courts were not eternally unchanging.
Some exhausted their destiny. Others reaped the fruits of seeds they had sown themselves, such as by interfering excessively in the mortal world. They intended to secure their own prosperity, only for their actions to become the fuse of their destruction years later.
As such examples