Heqart was a world of cultivation, a land filled with people of all types, a land that held many dark secrets.
It was the mother of the 4 great races - the Humans, the Daobeasts, the Merfolk and the Demons.
After the human VioletSpear had reached the epitome of cultivation in the Overworld, the human race began to dominate and conquer the lower worlds, Heqart was no exception, in the last 500 years, the three other races have been driven into hiding and isolation in remote places.
The only threats to mankind that remain are internal conflicts and wars waged both openly and in secret by the various sects and clans competing for resources, land and power.
Heqart was a large mass of land with water on all sides, the land was divided into Northern, Southern, Central, Eastern and Western regions.
The West was the last remaining stronghold for the Daobeasts and Merfolk, their survival was largely due to the constant internal strife among the humans over the conquered regions.
The demon race had been eradicated after the North was captured in the year 6775, the surviving few were enslaved by the great sects and used for alchemical experimentation and training new disciples.
It was at this time that all the sects in Heqart received orders from the Overworld to eradicate Otherworlders, remnant souls from the beyond that began to arise in various parts of Heqart though the number of cases could be counted on one's hand, the ones that survived long enough caused a lot of death and destruction before being put down.
To weed them out early, the sects designed unique glyphs onto the awakening stones, these stones would light up with dancing flames when placed in contact with a person harbouring an otherworlder's remnant soul.
This was what Mei's father had told her about their world, long before he had sacrificed himself when the human sects had discovered their hiding place.
She belonged to the Great Clan of Nox, an illustrious demon clan of the North that wielded power over the shadows, darkness and night. They were the last to fall when the human sects invaded the North. She and her father managed to survive the next decade in hiding, the rest of her clan had fallen in battle. Her memories of her mother and siblings were faint, she had been a mere child when the battle that destroyed her home took place.
Demons were ruthless beings that lead unrestrained lives, what they held most precious to them was their freedom, to lose it was worse than a terrible death, to live like that is like having worms writhe in your flesh every moment, an irreconcilable hatred grew in her toward those who had taken what was hers, with time she learnt to turn it into a reminder burned into her very soul of what she must take back, it helped her stay alive.
They had lost everything because they were weak, there wasn't anything to complain about, they would have destroyed the humans themselves had the situation been reversed. But being on the end that experiences it is quite different from understanding it logically.
The night would show her dreams of a world that could have been different, a world that hadn't taken everything away from her.
When her father had sacrificed himself, he was still ruthless, cold and unshaken, despite all the fleeing and hiding, he was decisive as he pushed her into a portal to the unknown before the enemy's spear pinned down his shadow and lopped his head off.
The portal dropped her into a dark forest in the middle of nowhere, the only things on her were tattered human clothes and her clan's heirloom a silver ring engraved with a crescent moon.
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She didn't have any wounds, but felt a bit dizzy from the portal's space distortion, she quickly settled into a meditative state while recalling the recent events. Not having any plan other than to survive, she used the ring to disguise herself as a human so she could live among them biding her time until the day she could take back all she had lost.
As Mei wandered through the forest while calculating her future path from here on out, she heard sounds of footsteps, she hid among the shadows as she observed some humans dressed in peasant clothes carrying a corpse, she observed as they put the corpse down before leaving while muttering something about Otherworlders.
After they left, Mei approached the corpse cautiously from the shadows, her feet not making the slightest sound. She looked at the corpse before her, a young human male in an attire similar to the men who brought his corpse, he appeared dead and his pale skin was covered in wounds. She felt a premonition of danger, the night whispered to her that the human wasn't truly dead, she retreated and watched, months passed by, she subsisted on the beasts in the forest while improving her cultivation, she would have left long ago if not for what the night had whispered to her.
After about 10 months, Mei was frightened to see the decomposed corpse regenerating, she retreated further away while observing the strange sight. Soon the human awoke, he appeared to be in a daze as he stared blankly into the darkness before falling into a deep trance.
Perhaps the stories she heard of Otherworlders weren't so far fetched after all. Perhaps fortune has finally decided to spin the wheel in her favour. The being before her would kill her or help her plunge this damned world into chaos and horror. What did she have to lose anymore anyway, might as well submit to death than live a life of hiding and cowardice.
Cultivation wasn't an easy thing, to rise above the shackles of mortality, one had to go through many trials, these trials involved conflict with others, why is conflict necessary you may ask, it is because resources are limited and the resources required to progress only increase with each breakthrough, in conflicts there are always losers even if a definite winner doesn't emerge.
To be damaged and broken is common, many a times one has to put everything on the line to keep moving forward or else the repercussions from the enemies one has created along the path will be one's doom.
To strive against heaven, earth and oneself, to strive despite the sheer hopelessness of it all, to strive to take a step ahead even if it's in vain, that is the essence of cultivation.
What is it that separates the righteous and the demonic, both seek to break free of their shackles, the righteous bend and bow to the heavens that thrust them into this miserable existence, the demonic refuse to yield neither to the Gods nor the heavens.
Why must one be subservient to the divines, simply because they are more powerful and one is but an insignificant ant in their presence, is one's existence merely to conform to the whims and fancies of superior beings.
The wild untamed beasts that we are, are forced into the yoke like cattle, to plough the fields and be exploited for the so called greater good of the herd.
The difference between the righteous and the demonic is both nothing and everything, a question of one's perspective, it lies in the interpretation of life. To one the heavens have graced them with life, law and safety; to the other they have been forced into a life they never asked for, shackled by laws and having one's agency stripped away for the greater good.
Such perspectives are false dichotomies, the righteous too have moments were they cannot help but question their infallible divines, the demonic too take benefit from their shackles, perspectives arise in the mind but only changes and adaptation allow one to go further on the path.
The insignificant being cannot bend for too long to lose itself in the herd nor should it be obstinate in resisting what it's incapable of resisting at the moment and be trampled by the herd. It must not stop striving nor strive in a foolish manner. It must bide it's time, changing, evolving, until it can trample the very heavens that dared to create and restrain it.
This is the path of Red Cultivation.