The time was just an hour prior to dawn. But Kong Ye's house was abuzz with activity. The master, his three male disciples, and two skeleton soldiers tagging alongside them for lessons—all were wide awake.
Kong Ye shuffled between his meditating disciples with quick steps, muttering instructions whenever he deemed it necessary. Occasionally he would squat in front of the skeleton minions cultivating in the back of the room, where his gaze would rapidly shift between myriad emotions, commonly wonder and caution.
The fruitful cultivation session came to an end after Kong Ye declared that it was time to rest and prepare for the next day's adventures. Mu Ran and Xiao Wu still had to do the invasion missions. So only Han Xuhan and his two minions remained inside the special cultivation chamber with Kong Ye. This wasn’t because he had become a hardworking disciple who wanted to cultivate more, but because the spare bedrooms in the house were now occupied by his martial brothers.
Master and disciple faced each other, seated on luxurious mats and downing cups of spirit-rejuvenating orange tea. The minions busied themselves with cooking something for breakfast. Han Xuhan felt a sense of relaxation and concern at the same time. An entire day and night had passed without him getting into some massive trouble. Compared to his experience so far since the tournament had begun, the encounter with Suyan Chongqing was not even categorized as dangerous in his memory.
"Master, I've been pondering a question for some time now," he said, recalling the previous six hours of lecture and cultivation. "What's the significance of having my dao tower expelled from the heavenly dao domain? I know that having a dao tower in the Totality of Autonomy is a lot more dangerous than the heavenly dao domain. But aside from that, what are the fundamental differences? Both can't be the same, right?"
Kong Ye placed his cup down for a refill, his face reflecting a thoughtful introspection. Han Xuhan patiently sipped on his own cup while he took his time in coming up with the answer.
"When it comes to discourses revolving around mystical phenomena in cultivation, theory and precedents have to be separated, because every problem we face here is unique by the merit of the cultivator's situation, location, history, timing, and characteristics both known and unknown. Theoretically speaking, having your dao foundation expelled from the Heavenly domain is equivalent to losing your job and identity in an authoritarian kingdom. You'll be treated by everyone and everything in that kingdom as a human being with no attachments, abilities, and privileges that the legitimate citizens of that kingdom enjoy."
"Is that better or worse than being a mortal who cannot cultivate at all?" Han Xuhan said sharply. "You’ve been on other... planets and such, master. Those are entirely different civilizations. What's the status of mortals and low level cultivators there?"
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"Depends on how resourceful that region is, really," Kong Ye said without much thought. "Based on resources and the development of the civilizations in a specific stellar region, which is termed a Life Sector, some widespread methods of classification are used by cultivators capable of long distance cosmic travel.
“The one I prefer relies on factors such as used resources, the rate of resource consumption, the potential ceiling of total resources available, the size of the life sector, the number of civilizations occupying it, and the distance these civilizations are separated by—ranging from a few thousand miles to dozens of solar systems. Of course, there are also secondary factors, less common in nature and harder to explain to a layman, such as the development style of each civilization, their cultivation orthodoxy, their historical records, the stability of their society and how compatible they are to higher ranked civilizations, and many more."
Kong Ye paused, watching Han Xuhan's face inquisitively. He expected some confusion and inquiries, as the terminology he was resorting to wasn’t easy to comprehend for a rookie cultivator so far away from developed civilizations of cultivators. But Han Xuhan had nodded along like a chicken, appearing unbothered. Noticing Kong Ye's pause, he said, "What rank is this civilization of ours? And how many ranks are there?"
"We are inside one of the most distant, low-grade Life Sectors of the macrocosm. Resources here are scarce compared to the real world of cultivation. This planet is at the cusp of rank-1," Kong Ye answered. "There are six more ranks above us."
That reply finally seemed to stun the curious first disciple. Feeling oddly satisfied, Kong Ye continued.
"As for the answer to your original question, civilizations that are rich in resources and sparsely spread across their Life Sector are generally very peaceful. Mortals get a fair status, and even low-level cultivators live good lives. Higher-ranked civilizations generally do not intervene too much in these Life Sectors, except sending a few of their own cultivators in to establish sects or clans. This is an ancient practice, aimed at preserving the peace of the macrocosm.
"On the other end of the scale, there are Life Sectors with even fewer resources than this planet, and an oversaturation of cultivators who are desperate to advance. Mortals here... are rarely treated as human beings. Most civilizations like this end up reintroducing slavery to their planet at massive scales. Low-level cultivators are seen as parasites by those standing above them. Only the tight intervention of stronger civilizations through their local sects, clans, and dynasties can contain these factors from creating sector-wide destruction."
"I see," Han Xuhan said, imagining magnificent scenes of prosperity and the brutal visage of war simultaneously in his mind. This was the feeling that he secretly yearned for. This was what he had felt like after discovering his first cultivation novel. Untold stories adorning an endless sea of stars, formed by unstoppable, mysterious forces of nature and man's limitless appetite...
"We have strayed from the topic at hand," Kong Ye suddenly said, interrupting his daydreams. "You wanted to know the difference between having a cultivation base inside Heaven's domain and the Totality of Autonomy. Well, the latter means that you're now an outlaw in the eyes of the macrocosm and most of its laws. You’ve lost the privilege to consume the world's resources and benefit from the process of cultivation. You can't cultivate, you can't break through, and you can't even use the cultivation techniques you mastered once."
Dumbstruck, Han Xuhan said, "But I can still cultivate! How?"
Kong Ye's face was turned overcast. It was evident that he knew why. And the answer was anything but good news. He only stared back at Xuhan with a helplessness that he had never seen in the man's gaze.
"Master...?" Han Xuhan probed again, almost unsure whether he really wanted to know the answer.
"Work out your own conclusions, disciple. And if you ever reach one, keep it to yourself."