Nine Heavens
Perfect World: The First King of the Immortal Ancient EraContents
Contents
Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Nine Heavens (九天) |
| Type | Realm comprising multiple Ancient Worlds and secret realms 2 16 43. |
| Origin | Formed from the fractured Primordial Ancient World 49 50. |
| Affiliation | Allied with the Immortal Domain during the Immortal Ancient war; the alliance ultimately ended in withdrawal and closed realm gates 23 43 50. |
| Role | Homeland of Lin Yue and the defending forces fighting the Foreign Realm 1 23. |
| Status | Victorious but devastated by the end of the documented war. Only Boundless Heaven and a few smaller worlds remained, while damaged Dao laws threatened future cultivation 50. |
| First Appearance | Chapter 1, “Chaotic Warfare of the Immortal Ancient Era / Reverse Battle” 1. |
Geography and Locations
The Nine Heavens is much smaller than the Foreign Realm and Immortal Domain, but historically produced an unusually high proportion of Immortal Kings and other powerful cultivators 19.
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Qingwei Heaven | An Ancient World devastated by warfare. Lin Yue, Yan, and Yu led reinforcements there and reversed a collapsing battle line 9. |
| Great Red Heaven | The site of the decisive war and the emergence of the Rotten Wooden Box. Also called the Heaven of Parting Hatred, it suffered repeated battles between Immortal Kings 23 30 45 47. |
| Boundless Heaven | Described as the vastest Ancient World of the Nine Heavens when Lin Yue visited. Its distance from the front initially preserved much of its territory and relatively intact laws; displaced longevity families settled there 16. |
| Yin-Yang Realm | Home to the Longevity Lin Family’s ancestral grounds, other longevity families, collateral lineages, and cultivators seeking protection 2. |
| Heavenly Horned Ant ancestral grounds | Located in Boundless Heaven. The injured old Heavenly Horned Ant and the unborn younger ant remained there while Yan and Yu fought at the front 16 18. |
| Border City / Divine City | A major frontline gathering point for reinforcements and military leaders. Its central altar occupied an independent Ancient World containing martial arenas and training secret realms 8 19 20. |
| Imperial Pass | A defensive stronghold outside which the Immortal Domain’s kings established the Heavenly Abyss. The victorious army later carried news of the war’s outcome toward it 50. |
Successive border cities fell during the invasion. The newly built Divine City near the war’s end was surrounded by piles of bones, many left by defenders who had asked that their final strength reinforce the Imperial Pass’s gates 50.
History
Fragmentation and Early Defeats
The war began at the dawn of the Immortal Ancient Era and continued for hundreds of thousands of years, spanning almost the entire era. The Primordial Ancient World fractured, territories fell, and the resulting Nine Heavens endured repeated defeats 43 49 50.
Its defenders suffered catastrophic losses: the True Dragon, Nine-Leaf Sword Grass, Thunder Emperor, and other supreme figures were surrounded and killed. Immortal King Wuzhong disappeared, the Reincarnation Immortal King fell, and a dark invasion brought coordinated betrayals against Immortal Kings and True Immortals 1.
Immortal Domain reinforcements slowed the Foreign Realm’s advance without driving it back. A stalemate developed at Border City, where cultivators of many races continued arriving despite the mounting casualties 8.
Counterattacks and Renewed Hope
The Foreign Realm sent leading young cultivators to destroy the Nine Heavens’ future strength and confidence. He Wushuang attempted to defeat the Heavenly Horned Ant siblings using the Nine Heavens’ own arts, but Lin Yue intervened and defeated him in a battle recognized by the realm’s fortune 3 4 5 6.
Lin Yue, Yan, and Yu subsequently spearheaded the counterattack in Qingwei Heaven. Their victories stabilized the faltering front and drew the attention of the Nine Heavens’ commanders 9 11.
The surviving leadership increasingly viewed Lin Yue as a possible turning point. After he broke the five-hundred-year Supreme shackles and defeated the Immortal Domain prodigy Qi Yuan, Jing Ci urged him to survive and become the Nine Heavens’ own king rather than leave its future dependent on allied rulers 18 19 23.
The Decisive War in Great Red Heaven
The Nine Heavens and Immortal Domain agreed to fight a decisive battle in Great Red Heaven, where Foreign Realm kings sought a mysterious treasure. Nearly the entire Nine Heavens army mobilized, leaving only a small number of Extreme Dao figures to guard the Divine City 23.
The Rotten Wooden Box emerged during the battle and attracted multiple Immortal Kings. Lin Yue and the Kunpeng Woman fought Uya together, but further kings arrived and overwhelmed the defenders. Lin Yue eventually seized the box and escaped through Great Red Heaven’s world barrier, drawing pursuing kings away from the battlefield 30 31 32 34.
After an Immortal Domain queen died in Great Red Heaven, that realm abandoned the battlefield and eventually the Nine Heavens itself. Some departing forces carried away ancient artifacts under the claim that they must not fall into enemy hands 43.
Ten Thousand Years of Resistance
During Lin Yue’s absence, Yan and Yu took up the battle standard and led resistance for ten thousand years. Their growth restored a measure of hope, but prompted Foreign Realm kings to intervene specifically to eliminate them 43.
Great Red Heaven fell completely, and attacks breached its boundary toward other Ancient Worlds. Even Boundless Heaven, previously sheltered from the main fighting, was invaded. Damage to the Nine Heavens’ laws left king-inflicted wounds in space unable to heal normally 43.
Victory and Isolation
Lin Yue returned from the Boundary Sea with the might of an Immortal King giant. His destruction of an enemy king renewed the defenders’ faith, and the Nine Heavens openly acclaimed him as their own king 44.
The ensuing battles devastated Great Red Heaven; Wu Shang’s halberd split the world during his confrontation with Lin Yue. Although Lin Yue’s primordial spirit was destroyed in the coordinated assault, he later rose again when the Willow Deity was endangered 45 47 49.
The Foreign Realm withdrew after five Immortal Kings were slaughtered near the war’s end and others were driven away or fled. Its forces abandoned even the invaded territories of Boundless Heaven 50.
The Immortal Domain then established the Heavenly Abyss outside the Imperial Pass and closed its realm gates. Yan and Yu brought the surviving army home and announced victory, prompting celebrations across the Nine Heavens. Lin Yue remained unable to awaken, and the people continued waiting for their king 49 50.
Dao Laws and Cultivation
| Period | Condition | Consequences |
|---|---|---|
| Early documented war | The rules of heaven and earth were still considered complete 1. | The Nine Heavens retained the ability to counterattack, although the enemy had already penetrated many of its techniques 1. |
| Prolonged attrition | Immortal deaths and declining realm fortune threatened the integrity of its Dao laws 9. | Yu warned that continued losses could impair cultivation for later generations 9. |
| Late war | Dao laws were damaged and the void’s recovery weakened 43. | Spatial wounds leaked chaotic energy; the world could no longer imprint certain secret arts normally 43. |
| After the Immortal Domain’s closure | Cultivators increasingly struggled to sense the Great Dao 50. | Divine-ability runes became harder to condense, and powerful ancient arts weakened 50. |
- Cultivation research: The Divine City maintained training secret realms created by True Immortals and Immortal Kings to study and counter Foreign Realm methods 20.
- Five-hundred-year shackles: Becoming a Supreme Dao Venerable before five hundred was regarded as forbidden by a longstanding limit. Lin Yue’s breakthrough demonstrated that it could be overcome 17 18 24.
- Heavenly Abyss: The remaining leaders accepted its protection out of necessity, but regarded it as making the Nine Heavens the Immortal Domain’s final defensive line rather than restoring a dependable alliance 50.
Notable Defenders
| Defender or Group | Connection to the Nine Heavens |
|---|---|
| Seven first-generation border kings | The Human King, Vermilion Bird King, Fire King, Stone King, Azure Dragon King, Kunpeng King, and White Tiger King guarded the Border Wasteland and ranked among immortal dao kings 19. |
| Immortal King Wuzhong and Six Paths Reincarnation Immortal King | Supreme defenders whose loss severely weakened the realm’s military strength and standing with the Immortal Domain 1 19 20. |
| Willow Deity | The Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit, renowned for entering and leaving the Foreign Realm nine times. Returned to confront the kings who attacked Lin Yue 19 47 49. |
| Ten Fiends | Beings whose combat prowess rivaled kings. Their reputation became a source of confidence for the Nine Heavens’ younger generations 18 19. |
| Lin Yue | Rose from a frontline youth to the realm’s acclaimed king and spiritual pillar, bringing the decisive victory 1 44 49. |
| Yan and Yu | Heavenly Horned Ant siblings who led ten thousand years of resistance and brought news of victory home 43 50. |
| Jing Ci | The old quasi-king who led the army’s mobilization and entrusted Lin Yue with the hope of a native king 23. |
| Snow Linglong | The Snow Tribe’s Ice Lord, an immortal dao defender who killed several Foreign Realm immortals and numerous Extreme Dao fighters 19. |
| Longevity Lin Family | A house praised for wartime loyalty. Its injured ancestor Lin Zhong had killed two Foreign Realm Supreme Dao experts; Lin Yue and other clansmen continued fighting in its name 8 9. |
Relations with Other Realms
- Foreign Realm — Principal invader. Its forces used prolonged attrition, attacks on promising juniors, and coordinated encirclement of powerful defenders to dismantle the Nine Heavens’ resistance 1 3 4 49.
- Immortal Domain — Longstanding ally with divided motives. Some lineages fought and died alongside the Nine Heavens, while others exploited the war to seize scriptures, ancient artifacts, and valuable Dao seeds. Its eventual withdrawal left the Nine Heavens isolated 23 24 43 50.
- Heavenly Horned Ant Clan — Regarded the Nine Heavens as its homeland after leaving the Immortal Domain. Accounts of its displacement varied, but the clan’s loyalty to its adopted world was explicit 20.
Wartime Traditions
- True Dragon war horns: Horns taken from dragons who died defending the Nine Heavens were fashioned into instruments capable of announcing reinforcements across world barriers 24.
- The Ten Fiends’ reputation: Their title originated among Foreign Realm descendants of those they had slain, then spread through the Nine Heavens as a means of raising morale 18.
- Child defenders: By the final years, children thirteen or fourteen—and some younger—patrolled the Divine City because so many adults had been sent to the front 50.
- Victory liquor: Veterans welcomed the returning army with bowls of strong liquor. Yan remembered that Lin Yue should have been the first to drink 50.