The Nine Provinces Continent, where myriad races stand tall and countless beings thrive, spans billions of miles with oceans covering a tremendous 80%, leaving only 20% as land.
Seen from the distant skies, it resembles a giant water orb, a blend of azure and green, breathtakingly beautiful.
According to records by the Human Race, this realm is known as the Huarong Realm.
It is said to have existed for tens of billions of years, but the exact duration is uncertain due to its ancient past.
The land is divided into nine provinces, namely Qingzhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Binzhou, Xuanzhou, Yunzhou, Huazhou, Youzhou, and Jizhou, which are nine vast territories.
Each province is immeasurably large, encompassing millions of miles.
This is a world for cultivators, where even mortals would find it difficult to traverse a single province in their lifetime.
To the south of Jingzhou Land, there are more than ten thousand islands of various sizes; the large ones are half the size of a province, the small ones only span a hundred miles, and there are countless islets tens of miles across.
This region is the outer area of the Nine Provinces Continent. Being close to the sea, it is rich in aquatic resources, and ordinary people living on the islands in the inner sea make their living by fishing.
I once heard old fishermen claim that terrifying demonic beasts live beyond the outer sea.
They are of various forms, extremely ferocious, and incidents of eating humans occur from time to time, including sharks dozens of meters long and giant turtles the size of a small hill, though it's unclear whether these tales are true or false.
Since then, fishermen have only dared to live within a hundred miles of the inner sea, earning their livelihood through fishing and aquaculture.
Outside the vast expanse of the southern sea islands and the mainland, powerful races like Sea Demons, the Demon Race, and the Barbarian Race can be found.
Qingzhou is located in the southwest of the Nine Provinces Continent, bordered by Jizhou to the north and Jingzhou to the south.
In the areas west of Qingzhou and Jizhou, a mighty Demon Race dwells, inhabiting a vast primordial forest full of numerous mountain ranges and rivers, where towering trees hundreds of feet high are everywhere.
Demonic beasts multiply and survive here, living off Spiritual Trees, Spiritual Medicine, and metal minerals; it's a forbidden land where humans rarely set foot.
Since the birth of the Human Race, a million years have passed, while the Demon Race has proliferated for several million years. They possess longevity far exceeding that of humans, sometimes living several times longer.
The Demon Race's long lifespan, coupled with their robust physiques, make them the favored children of the heavens.
The impressive innate abilities of the Demon Race have always been the envy of human cultivators, yet the difficulties in the Demon Race's advancement are substantially greater than those of humans.
The intellect of low-order monster beasts is similar to that of a young child; only Third Order demonic beasts and above experience a significant increase in intelligence.
For a million years, the formidable strength of the Demon Race has subtly surpassed that of the Human Race.
The Nine Provinces Continent is often plagued by the havoc of the Demon Race, and beast tides attack frequently, with each one posing a life-and-death test for human cultivators.
Thus, the human and demon races have been natural enemies since ancient times.
Beyond Jingzhou to the south and east of Yangzhou and Binzhou lies an extensive sea area inhabited by an even more powerful Sea Demon Race. The land's Demon Race is just a branch of the Sea Demon Race.
It is said that millions of years before the birth of humankind, parts of the Sea Demon Race migrated to live on land.
After a million years of evolution, the sea creatures that came ashore have adapted to life on land, giving birth to many strange and exotic beasts with varying innate gifts.
Today's Nine Provinces Continent has become a place of habitation after tens of thousands of years of wars between the human and demon races, fought by countless mighty beings.
To the north of Youzhou lies a vast area of vast deserts and prairies, where the wild Barbarian Race lives.
They are the offspring of the Human Race and Demon Race, with varying body sizes and bizarre forms, such as two-winged bodies, bovine heads on human torsos, embodying features of both human and demon races, and possessing exceptional talents.
The land of the Barbarian Race abounds with fire and metal attribute Spiritual Objects, making it a paradise for cultivators of the fire and metal attributes.
Meanwhile, Qingzhou, Jizhou, and the Demon Race's lands are rich in wood, metal, and earth attribute Spiritual Objects, while regions like Jingzhou and Yangzhou have a prevalence of water attribute Spiritual Objects.
In the Nine Provinces Continent, Yunzhou and Xuanzhou are the largest two provinces, each of which is bigger than Qingzhou and Jizhou combined.
Yunzhou and Xuanzhou are the central regions of the Human Race, and through hundreds of thousands of years of heritage, these two provinces have become a hub for High Order Cultivators. With prosperous trade and abundant resources, they boast numerous Sect Families, making them a paradise for cultivators.
As the Human Race continued to grow stronger, the resources of the seven provincial lands were no longer sufficient for the proliferation of Human Cultivators.
The lands of Qingzhou and Jizhou had been gradually conquered from the hands of the Demon Race over tens of thousands of years.
With their complex terrains and numerous unknown spiritual veins, mineral ores, and Spiritual Medicines, they attracted many adventurers who came in search of treasures and experiences, making these lands a prime destination for numerous cultivators' adventures and treasure hunts.
To date, the population of the Human Race numbers in the hundreds of millions, with 99% being ordinary mortals.
It is not easy for a cultivator to be born, as only those with a Spiritual Root can cultivate. Among the offspring of mortals, only one in ten thousand may be born with a Spiritual Root, and the vast majority possess the most common Four Spirit Roots or Five Spirit Roots, which without extraordinary opportunities, make Core Formation unlikely in their lifetime.
However, children born to cultivators have a much higher chance of possessing a Spiritual Root compared to mortals, and their Spiritual Roots tend to be superior. The likelihood of having Three or Four Spirit Roots is not small, and with proper nurturing, Foundation Establishment becomes hopeful.
For those with a Single Spirit Root, the path of cultivation is much easier. Barring any premature demise, reaching the Golden Core Stage is almost assured, and the prospects of attaining the Nascent Soul Stage are very hopeful.
Of course, the quality of one's Spiritual Root is not a definitive factor on the path of Dao and does not determine the ultimate limit of a cultivator.
Many favored sons of the heavens have perished prematurely or collapsed midway, while numerous cultivators of average aptitude have defied the odds and reached the pinnacle among humans.
Legend has it that, hundreds of thousands of years ago, an ancestor of the Human Race with Five Spirit Roots ascended to the Divinity Transformation Stage within a millennium and successfully ascended, a feat not commonly seen in a million years, yet not unprecedented.
The path of cultivation is inherently an act of defiance against the heavens, and with each advancement comes numerous perils and trials. The consequences range from a fallen state to death on the spot.
Even so, this does not diminish the cultivator's longing for immortality.
In the Cultivation World, the realms of cultivators are divided into Qi Refinement Realm, Foundation Establishment Stage, Golden Core Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, and Divinity Transformation Stage.
Both the Qi Refinement Realm and the Foundation Establishment Stage are divided into nine levels, with levels one to three being the early stage, four to six the medium stage, and seven to nine the late stage, followed by the Great Perfection Realm.
After entering the Golden Core Stage, the realms are directly divided into the early, medium, late, and Great Perfection Realm.
In the Huarong Cultivation World, the Demon Race and Barbarian Race cultivate their bodies, while Human Cultivators cultivate Spiritual Power.
Mortals have a lifespan of over sixty years, with eighty being considered old age. The lifespans for the Qi Refinement Realm is one hundred and twenty years, the Foundation Establishment Stage two hundred and fifty-odd years, the Golden Core Stage over five hundred years, the Nascent Soul Stage around one thousand two hundred years, and the Divinity Transformation Stage over three thousand years.
Upon reaching the Golden Core Stage, one has the abilities to soar through the skies and reshape landscapes and is considered among the ranks of High Order Cultivators.
The longing for power becomes an ever deeper obsession.
The division of realms for the Demon Race and Barbarian Race corresponds to those of Human Cultivators, with Monster Beasts from first to fifth order, each also divided into early, medium, and late stages.
First Order Monster Beasts correspond to cultivators at the Qi Refinement Realm, while Second Order corresponds to those at the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Third Order Demon Beasts have fully awakened Spirit Wisdom, corresponding to the Golden Core Stage; Fourth Order Demon Beasts can transform into human form, with divine skills on par with Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators; those at the Divinity Transformation Stage of the Demon Race are not much different from humans.
Tens of thousands of years ago, Jizhou and Qingzhou were still territories of the Demon Race. The Human and Demon Races waged war for over a hundred years, with even Nascent Soul Stage experts falling by the dozens and countless lower-order cultivators killed or injured.
It is said that even Divinity Transformation Stage old monsters suffered casualties, though it's unclear whether this is true.
Since then, the Demon Race willingly ceded the two provinces as a buffer zone.
Moreover, compared to the vast expanse of the Demon Race's territories, the areas of Qingzhou and Jizhou are not large; these two provinces are but a drop in the bucket for the Demonic Lands, barely worth mentioning.
For nearly ten thousand years, humans and demons have coexisted relatively peacefully. Beast tides occur from time to time but on a small scale, mostly involving Low-order Monster Beasts invading the borders of the Human Race, causing no significant damage to the foundation of both races.
Over tens of thousands of years, both humans and demons have exercised restraint, recuperating and propagating.