Five days.
Five solid days of sitting on a flying sword, watching forests and plains scroll by underneath like the world's slowest loading screen. They'd finally left the Demon Beast Forest behind. Now they were flying over what Qingxue called "civilized territory," heading full-speed toward the sect.
Alexei leaned slightly to the side, peering down at the landscape several thousand meters below. The sky was clear, visibility perfect, and from this height he could make out roads, settlements, even individual buildings if he squinted.
It was almost peaceful. Which immediately made him suspicious, because nothing in this world had been peaceful so far.
"This area falls under Verdantree City's jurisdiction," Qingxue said, slowing the sword slightly when she noticed his interest. "Those small clusters you see scattered around aren't villages or towns. They're gathering points where independent cultivators trade resources."
"Independent cultivators?" The term sparked recognition. "You mean like... freelancers? People not affiliated with sects?"
"Exactly." She nodded. "Any cultivator who doesn't belong to a clan, sect, or imperial court falls under that category. Though honestly, there aren't that many in the Eastern Territories. According to the Immortal Alliance's census from ten years ago, the total was only around one hundred and thirty thousand."
Alexei did some quick mental math. "That's... actually not a lot. Like, at all."
"The Eastern Territories lacks spiritual energy," Qingxue explained, clearly settling into teacher mode. "Resources are limited. Most people in this region don't cultivate, they practice martial arts instead. A martial artist at peak strength can match a Foundation Establishment cultivator in combat, but they hit a hard cap there. And in the mortal kingdoms, aside from cities near major sects, most regular people barely know cultivators exist. Some smaller nations have never even seen one. They think we're myths."
She paused, then added with a slight smile, "Cultivators prefer it that way. We avoid mundane entanglements when possible. No point exposing ourselves unnecessarily."
Alexei absorbed this information with mixed feelings. On one hand, it explained a lot about why the Silkspore Basin had been so deserted, cultivators avoided shitty areas with no resources. On the other hand, it painted a picture of a world where superhuman power was rare enough to be legendary. Which meant when he inevitably ran into cultivators, they'd be proportionally more dangerous.
"You mentioned the Eastern Territories. Are there other regions?"
"Several." Qingxue's tone warmed slightly, she seemed to enjoy explaining things. "The Eastern Territories is also called the Eastern Spirit Domain. Spiritual energy is thin here, but it's protected by human destiny, which means it's safe. Over eighty percent of the human population on the entire Profound Sky Continent lives in the Eastern Territories. To the southwest lies the Obsidian Domain. Northeast is the Frostpeak Domain. Both are human-controlled but lack the destiny protection. They make up for it with much denser spiritual energy, that's where you'll find most of the top-tier sects. Cultivators are common there."
She gestured vaguely toward the horizon. "Then there are the demon territories: the Mountain Domain and the Hollow Sea Domain, collectively called the Demon Wilds. And south of the Eastern Territories is the Ashen Wastes, an ancient battlefield. Spiritual energy there is even thinner than here, and it's extremely dangerous. Oh, and the domains are separated by oceans with almost no spiritual energy. Anyone below Dharma Aspect realm can't cross them. So you're basically stuck in whatever region you're born in unless you're incredibly powerful."
Alexei's eyes lit up. Geographic restrictions, and multiple distinct regions with different power levels and cultures... This was textbook RPG world-building.
"How big is the population here? In the Eastern Territories, I mean."
Qingxue thought for a moment. "I don't know the exact total, but the Aurelon Dynasty, where our sect is located, has a population of about 3.3 billion."
"Wait, what?" Alexei blinked. "How many?"
"Three point three billion."
He let out a low whistle. That was more people than Russia had back on Earth.
"It's just one kingdom," Qingxue continued, clearly pleased by his reaction. "The Eastern Territories also has the Sunforge Dynasty and the Stormveil Dynasty. Plus up in the Frostpeak Domain, there's the Divine Cloud Dynasty ruled by the Divine Cloud Empress."
"Those three are all comparable in size to Aurelon. And beyond the four major powers, there are three hundred and seventy-one smaller nations scattered across the Eastern Territories, Obsidian Domain, and Frostpeak Domain. Their combined population is at least as large as the four dynasties."
Alexei did more mental math and felt his brain short-circuit slightly. If each major dynasty had roughly three hundred million people, and the smaller nations combined had a similar number, that meant...
"There are over twenty-six billion people..." he said slowly.
"At minimum," Qingxue agreed. "And that's not counting the Demon Wilds or the Ashen Wastes, which don't exactly take censuses."
"Okay," Alexei said after a moment. "That's pretty cool."
Qingxue smiled at that.
---
They flew in silence for a while, the landscape below gradually shifting from wilderness to more settled territory. The scattered cultivator trading posts disappeared, replaced by endless rolling plains dotted with occasional forests.
"We're about a day out from the sect now," Qingxue said eventually.
"Right. The sect." Alexei had been trying not to think too hard about that. "So what's it like? Big mountain compound? Floating islands? Secret valley?"
"Um." Qingxue's ears flattened slightly. "It's more modest than that."
"How modest?"
"Well, the entire sect has eleven members total."
Alexei waited for her to continue. She didn't.
"...Eleven," he repeated.
"One sect master. Seven elders. Three disciples. With you, that'll make twelve."
"Twelve people."
"Yes."
That's not a sect. That's a small office. That's barely enough people for two soccer teams.
"Uh-huh." Alexei decided not to push that particular point. "What about power levels? You said you're the strongest?"
"I am now, yes. Early Dharma Aspect. The Grand Elder, Han Cheng, the current senior disciple, is at early Nascent Soul realm. The sect master, Qin Zhengxing, is at Spirit Condensation peak. The other six elders range from mid to high Spirit Condensation."
"Wait... Current senior disciple? There's a former one?"
"The sect master used to be the senior disciple. When the previous master died, he took over the position. But we kept calling Cheng 'senior disciple' because..." She trailed off, looking embarrassed. "Because there are so few of us that the titles match the elder rankings. It's just easier that way."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"I'm not."
Alexei pinched the bridge of his nose. He was joining a twelve-person organization that was apparently so small they couldn't even manage consistent titles. This was fine. Everything was fine.
"One more thing," Qingxue said, and her tone shifted to something more serious. "I told the sect I broke through from Core Formation to Spirit Condensation. So, don't tell them I'm at Dharma Aspect realm."
Alexei processed this. Over these past days, he had more or less come to understand the cultivation hierarchy of this world. In novels from his previous life, a protagonist only needed to hide one or two minor stages to lie low. Qingxue was straight up hiding one or two major realms?
This was proper xianxia, not some fantasy world could be tossed around like a toy or cultivators could leap multiple realms at will to overwhelm stronger opponents. In the cultivation world, every major realm corresponded to a true elevation of one's very life force. Calling the resulting increase in combat power earth-shaking would not be an exaggeration. Once factors like magical treasures, formations, and talismans were excluded, a higher realm suppressing a lower one was absolute and unquestionable.
Qingxue saw through his thoughts and said calmly, "It's necessary. Before I entered seclusion, my master repeatedly warned me that the cultivation world is dangerous. If you possess treasures without the strength to protect them, you are simply inviting disaster."
"This isn't just about protecting myself. It's about protecting everyone in the sect. And it's what I need you to understand too, Alexei. Small sects without backing have to be extremely careful in the cultivation world. You can never hide too much of your strength. One wrong move, offending the wrong person, obtaining a rare herb in some secret realm, picking up a powerful artifact, and you could bring disaster down on yourself and everyone you care about."
"Especially here in the Eastern Territories. The territory is massive but spiritual energy is scarce. Resources are limited. There aren't enough soul-tracking artifacts to catch murderers, so most cultivators who die in the wilderness just die. People kill for resources constantly. To a powerful cultivator, wiping out an insignificant eleven-person sect would be trivially easy. They wouldn't even leave evidence behind."
Alexei's mind went to some dark places very quickly. At the same time, he felt fortunate. He thought about respawning mechanics. But what about the people around him? What about Qingxue, or the other sect members he hadn't met yet? What about anyone he might eventually care about in this world?
They didn't have respawn points. When they died, that was it. He'd been treating this world like a video game because his abilities were game mechanics. But everyone else was playing for keeps.
Qingxue's expression softened when she saw his face. "I might have been too harsh. These aren't my words, I was repeating what my master told me when I first joined the sect. Every disciple gets the same speech. The cultivation world isn't as terrifying as I made it sound. With my current strength, protecting you would be effortless. As long as you keep a low profile when dealing with other cultivators, you'll be fine."
And she wasn't wrong. Alexei had gathered enough information to understand that Dharma Aspect cultivators were rare as hell in the Eastern Territories, maybe a hundred total across the entire region. With Qingxue backing him, he had better protection than ninety-nine percent of cultivators his age.
He looked up at Qingxue, meeting her concerned gaze, and felt gratitude.
"Thank you," he said seriously. "For the warning. If you hadn't explained all that, I probably would've done something stupid eventually. I won't lie, I still might, but it won't cause a major disaster."
"You're... welcome?" She smiled stiffly. She still didn't know what to make of it. Should she be glad that he wouldn't cause a major disaster?
They lapsed into silence as the sword carried them onward.