Bright Cold Realm

Overview

Before the times of the Ascension Gate, if one practiced ordinary Immortal or righteous cultivation methods, they would ascend to the Bright Cold Realm. The Bright Cold Realm is currently connected to the Ascension Gate of the Head Realm thanks to the work of Yang Su-jin. The True Devil Realm is adjacent to the Bright Cold Realm and is at war with it.

In the Bright Cold Realm, there is one Sacred Vessel Sacred Master (White Cloud Sacred Master, Baek Woon of the Tall Tree Race, part of the Heaven Tribe), five Star Shattering Esteemed Ones, one Star Shattering Heart Tribe Esteemed One (Jang Ik), and Integration Grand Cultivators are scarce, ranging from several to only one or two per race. Humans are considered to be one of the strongest Tribes, possessing 7 Integration Stage cultivators. 50 Entering Nirvana stage beings made a contract with Blood Yin to remain entrenched in the Astral Realm. The Star Shattering cultivators were off-world searching for Yang Su-jin's Decaying Corpse Realm, the Lightning Sacred Sea, at the starting point of the Astral Realm.

The Bright Cold Realm is incredibly vast. A single Sky Island of the Human Race alone is just slightly smaller than the continent of the Head Realm. There are many such islands in just the territory of the Human Race, let alone the Heaven or Earth tribes. They also have multiple Flying Immortal Platforms to accept those that have ascended from the lower realms, for example, the one that Seo Eun-hyun ascends to in the Heaven-Earth Palace.

The Bright Cold Realm is divided into the Chaos Realm (亂界) and the Stable Realm (安界):

• Chaos Realm (亂界): The Chaos Realm has celestial energy so twisted it makes it hard for normal living beings to live, and the laws are so twisted it resembles a fiendish place. The Chaos Realm is about the size of a galaxy. It is known that The Heart Tribe lives within the Chaos Realm.
• Stable Realm (安界): The Stable Realm refers to the land where celestial energy is stable and normal living beings can thrive. The entire Stable Realm is slightly larger than size of the solar system on Earth

History

This is a legend known only to a few. Long ago, before the Blood Yin Realm and the True Devil Realm were separated, True Devil, Nether Ghost, Ancient Force, Purple Gold, and the Vast Cold Realm were all considered equal Middle Realms. However, after the Ancestor of the Dragon Race ended the war with the True Devil Realm, the Vast Cold Realm lost its ancestor and became a world coveted by the other Middle Realms.

One day, the leaders of the Vast Cold Realm convened to discuss their dire situation. They realized that if things continue as they did, the Vast Cold Realm would be completely plundered by the other Middle Realms. So, they decided to rename the realm.

They sought a divine mandate (fate) from the heavens to bestow the Vast Cold Realm with the most auspicious name... and thus, the Vast Cold Realm was given the name Bright Cold, symbolizing [light].

Since the Bright Cold Realm was bestowed with the name [light], it has always been followed by heavenly fortune. After renaming the realm, the Bright Cold Realm became one of the strongest Middle Realms alongside the Blood Yin Realm. This is an ancient tale explaining the importance of names passed down in the Bright Cold Realm. However, in recent times, it has been renamed the Vast Cold Realm.

Current Structure

There are 3 major tribes in the Bright Cold Realm. They are the Heaven Tribe, the Earth Tribe and the Heart Tribe. There are an enormous amount of races in the Bright Cold realm, so they are instead divided by the characteristics of the races.

The Heaven Tribe are those who find rituals suitable for their race, offer sacrifices to the heavens, and possess the eyes to read celestial energy. The Human Race is included in this category.

The Earth Tribe are those who train their bodies, pushing physical limits to awaken certain senses, possessing the eyes to read the spiritual energy of the Earth. Mostly, the demons born from beasts make up the absolute majority.

The Heart Tribe, broadly speaking, refers to those capable of reading emotions and the very essence of sentient beings, their heart essence. By mastering what the Heaven Tribe and Earth Tribe call the Heart Path Method, they can perceive the colors of emotions and, furthermore, read minds themselves.

There are several domains that are present in the Bright Cold Realm. Each domain is divided by the qualities of the dragon vein.

Heaven Tribe

The Heaven Tribe acquires the ability to read celestial energy by finding their unique ritual method. They can also theoretically obtain the vision of the Earth Tribe by separately training their bodies, and if they acquire the Heart Path Method, they could, in theory, gain the vision of the Heart Tribe. Theoretically, the Heaven Tribe can learn all the methods of the three major tribes. That is why the Heaven Tribe is called the most noble tribe, and why the Human Race of the Heaven Tribe is one of the ruling races of the Bright Cold Realm.

The Heaven Tribe has six major races, which are:

• Tall Tree Race (丈木族).
• Paired Wings Race (比翼族).
• Human Race (人間族).
• Fighting Ghost Race (鬪鬼族).
• Rotting Owl Race (腐鵂族).
• Fungal Bone Race (菌骸族).

These races are divided into three categories: Two Heads (二頭), Two Difficulties (二難), and Two Evils (二惡).

• Two Heads refer to the Tall Tree Race and Paired Wings Race, known for their excellent judgment and symbolism, leading and uniting the Heaven Tribe.
• Two Difficulties refer to the Rotting Owl Race and Fungal Bone Race, known for their unique lifestyles and being the most challenging to deal with among the six races.
• Two Evils refer to the most ferocious and terrifying among the six races, the Fighting Ghost Race and Human Race.

In particular, the Fighting Ghost Race and the Human Race are so ferocious, cruel, and exceptionally skilled in combat that some even refer to the two combined as the Asura Race (修羅族).

Earth Tribe

The True Dragon Alliance of the Earth Tribe was established on the corpse of the Entering Nirvana Dragon Race Ancestor. This corpse was larger than the combined territories of the Human Race, with each part of his body being the size of a continent.

The Earth Tribe has thirteen major races, which are:[1]

• Dragon Race
• Peng Race
• Peacock Race
• Tiger Race
• Fox Race
• Horse Race
• Monkey Race
• Turtle Race
• Phoenix Race
• Shark Race
• Ox Race
• Hungry Ghost Race
• Insect Race

The Earth Tribe operates under the True Dragon Alliance, the Dragon Race and a few other superior large races govern the Earth Tribe. The strongest voice of the alliance belongs to the Dragon Race, and therefore it is built within the Dragon Tribe's territory, and was named the True Dragon Alliance.

Heart Tribe

Compared to the other two tribes, the heart tribe is almost considered a footnote. They are not given the same respect and treatment, as they comprise mostly of slave races. They weren't acknowledged as a proper tribe until Jang Ik managed to reach the stage of Star Shattering, and even now they are hunted down by the other two tribes. This is because members of the Heaven and Earth Tribe are afraid of the strange methods of the Heart Tribe, especially the ability to add another stage of Heavenly Tribulation upon someone else.

There are few 'true' members of the Heart Tribe, as to be considered as a true member of the Heart Tribe, one needs to be an expert at the Third Stage of Manifestation (equivalent to Heavenly Being). There are only ten thousand such beings in the Bright Cold Realm, but there are many liberated slave tribes living in the territory of the Heart Tribe.

References

• [1] Chapter 191 - The 13 major tribes that make up the Earth Tribe True Dragon Alliance included the Dragon Race, Peng Race, Peacock Race, Tiger Race, Fox Race, Horse Race, Monkey Race, Turtle Race, Phoenix Race, Shark Race, Ox Race, Hungry Ghost Race, and Insect Race. Among them, the Dragon Race is considered the most noble, while the Insect Race is seen as the most humble. Originally, the 12 races are descendants of Immortal Beasts with true bloodlines, while the Insect Race simply refers to a collective of all insect-type demon beasts spread throughout the Earth Tribe, so it's natural.