Since I wrote about K'un-Lun, it's a good time to discuss the planned worldview setting.
The world background in the book may have a lot of creative interpretation and significant alterations based on my own ideas and understanding.
Please discuss rationally.
Dimensional Rulers
Cyttorak of the Crimson Cosmos, the Hoggoth-Oshtur-Agamotto trinity of the Vishanti (source of white magic), Chthon (source of dark magic)...
This also includes the rulers of Heaven and Hell.
These demon-gods, as Dimensional Rulers, have carved out their own worlds, essentially becoming independent from the Middle Multiverse, making them "free beings."
In terms of xianxia (immortal heroes), this means "leaping beyond the Three Realms, not subject to the Five Elements."
Or, it could be called transcendence.
Dimensional Rulers control their own dimension, unifying their timelines. They are unique across all timelines.
This is equivalent to gathering the power of oneself from infinite world lines into one, and one step forward is an absolute qualitative leap.
Speaking of this, I suddenly recall the movie The One, starring Jet Li.
The protagonist and the villain are the same person. The villain discovered that his power increased after killing his parallel universe selves. To become stronger, he kept traveling through universes to kill the "himself" from different universes.
In the end, only the protagonist and the villain remained, and all the energy of this person from all universes was concentrated in the two of them.
The ending was a showdown between the villain and the protagonist, both being one person.
The point is the unification of power.
Dormammu of the Dark Dimension is also included, but Dormammu found an ownerless Dark Dimension and became its ruler.
True Gods (Skyfathers)
Moving down, the standard for a Cosmic True God (or Skyfather) is the ability to freely control a single fundamental law of the universe.
Thor, upon first awakening his godhood, is just entering this threshold. Above him are Hela, Odin, and others.
The Celestials are also, at the very least, above this level.
The difference in strength between True Gods can be very significant, depending on the extent to which they control the law.
In ancient times on Earth, the native gods and the Cosmic Celestials had a great war.
As the managers and planners of life in the universe, the Celestials believed that the Earth gods might deviate from the trajectory of fate, so they launched an attack.
The result was the defeat of the various pantheons on Earth.
They were essentially wiped out by the Celestials.
The powerful chief gods and god-kings of the Earth's pantheons were True Gods, but their numbers were far fewer than the Celestials.
In this unfavorable situation:
The Norse Æsir found Yggdrasil, the World Tree, which could bear the world. Odin used a branch of the World Tree to forge Gungnir, the Spear of Eternity, and used his authority as the Allfather of Asgard to connect with the World Tree via Gungnir.
Connecting the Nine Realms, the entire realm of Asgard was moved away from Earth.
The Allfather of Asgard could thus utilize the power of the World Tree, which is the Asgardian Force. The Celestials could no longer deal with the Æsir.
However, the power of the World Tree was too immense for even Odin's True God body to bear, which is why he needed to periodically enter the Odinsleep to manage and digest the powerful energy.
Furthermore, True Gods are theoretically immortal. Odin only died because the power of the World Tree was too great for his own body to withstand.
When Odin died of old age, Thor had not yet awakened his own godhood and become a True God, completely unqualified to bear the power of the World Tree.
Thus, the authority of the Asgardian Allfather was severed.
The original plan of the Æsir was to use the World Tree to connect the Nine Realms, allowing the Nine Realms to nourish the growth of the World Tree.
That is why young Odin conquered the Nine Realms, making them submit to the Asgardian Allfather, strengthening and solidifying the Allfather's authority, thereby accelerating the World Tree's growth.
Ultimately, the World Tree would grow into a complete Dimensional World. Perhaps an Asgardian Allfather a generation or two later could become a Dimensional Ruler, leading the Æsir to achieve transcendence.
The Chinese Pantheon and Yuxu Realm
The Chinese Pantheon had Eight Divine Emperors:
Qian (Heaven)
Kun (Earth)
Yu (Space)
Zhou (Time)
Feng (Wind)
Lei (Thunder)
Shui (Water)
Huo (Fire)
They made a desperate sacrifice, evolving their own bodies plus the divine domains of the Pantheon into a dimensional world, creating the Yuxu Realm.
The Eight Divine Venerables are one entity, and they are the Yuxu Realm.
Or, the consciousness of these Eight Divine Emperors is the Heavenly Dao of the Yuxu Realm.
The Celestials would absolutely never dare to trespass into a dimensional world that has an owner.
The Eight Divine Venerables, being a single entity, mean that the integrity of the Yuxu Realm itself is naturally far superior to most dimensions. As it continues to evolve and develop, it is constantly and rapidly growing stronger.
To what extent it has reached, no one knows except the Eight Divine Venerables who are the Yuxu Realm itself.
However, because the Eight Divine Emperors are the Yuxu Realm itself, they are subject to greater restrictions compared to other Dimensional Rulers.
That is why they created the Power of the Dragon (Shenlong Zhi Li).
They also taught the ancient Chinese people the method of cultivating Chi (Qi), and K'un-Lun was established by these qigong masters.
Periodically, K'un-Lun selects outstanding qigong masters who can enter the Yuxu Realm to obtain the Power of the Dragon.
Chi is the energy source of life.
Profound qigong cultivation can indeed extend life.
The eight deities of the Yuxu Realm taught the method of qigong cultivation and the Power of the Dragon for a win-win scenario.
Qigong masters can gain powerful strength to cope with various crises, while also acquiring a path to immortality.
For the Yuxu Realm, qigong masters who cultivate to a high enough level and delve into the laws of the universe can ascend into the Yuxu Realm.
The Yuxu Realm can then gain more law blessings, becoming increasingly perfected and powerful.
The eight deities of the Yuxu Realm even reforged the fragmented divine artifacts of the four Divine Venerables (Wind, Thunder, Water, Fire) after the great battle with the Celestials and bestowed them upon K'un-Lun as its sacred treasures.
Dimensional Goals
Many Dimensional Rulers share this goal, though their methods differ.
Both Black Magic and White Magic require the user to pay a price—it is power loaned out by the Dimensional Demon-Gods.
The goal is to harvest these prices and expand their own dimensions.
The rulers of Heaven and Hell require faith and souls with specific qualities, also to perfect the dimension they control.
Methods like Dormammu's swallowing of different planets and worlds to expand and perfect the Dark Dimension are considered relatively brute-force.
The Yuxu Realm seeks high-quality talent.
Those who can touch the laws of the universe and ascend to the Yuxu Realm all have the potential to break through to True God status.
Heaven and Hell pursue all kinds of souls, which is a matter of quantity—a wide net will always catch some rare souls.
In fact, the defensive barrier established by the Sorcerer Supreme lineage on Earth is relatively lenient towards Heaven and Hell.
This allows entities like Mephisto to frequently walk the Earth via avatars.
This is because Heaven and Hell are slightly different from other Demon-Gods who want to completely swallow the Earth.
These two sides require human souls.
As long as the human race continues to multiply on Earth, they can continuously "cut the leeks" (harvest souls).
Therefore, they share the same stance as the Sorcerer Supreme lineage on the point of ensuring humanity's continued existence.
If necessary, they might even step in to help Earth fend off some Dimensional Demon-Gods.
Correspondingly, the Sorcerer Supreme generally turns a blind eye to some minor activities of Heaven and Hell on Earth.
The difference is that the authority of Heaven is entirely in the hands of "God."
The authority of Hell, however, is divided into several portions, managed by many Hell Lords.