Invite Players to a Cultivation World

Her name is Lily Calla, and she is probably either heading to her doom, about to become a celebrated hero, or both.

Less than an hour ago she was diligently teaching the new inner sect members, when she noticed a disturbance.

It was as if all the Qi in the world had suddenly shifted, pointing towards the tainted forest.

Such a thing had only ever happened once before in recorded history, and the calamity it brought is the reason that forest is now forbidden.

If history is anything to go by then a monster has appeared in that forest, and it will continue to spread impurities until it is put down. Even doing that will cause the surrounding area to be tainted.

She has no real choice though. The monster will spread impurities in a much more important area if it's left alive, and of the nearby sects, the only one that can spare a Nascent Soul Expert is hers.

Thankfully, the other leading sects of the Blossom Alliance both sent a Golden Core Expert to support her.

Daisy Stem and Spruce Logger. Both respected Elders she has had the pleasure of working with before.

Now they travel towards the point the disturbance originated, deep in the tainted forest where the impurities are at their densest.

"Perhaps there won't be a monster." Daisy suggests. "We only have one instance of this happening before, and that doesn't count as a pattern."

"We can hope, but we should prepare for the worst either way." Spruce replies.

"You can return if you wish." Lily says. "While your help would be appreciated, it would mean nothing if you were hesitant. In that case there's no reason for you to taint your soul by following me here."

"That's not what I was suggesting at all." Daisy says. "I was just trying to be hopeful. I thought it for the best considering-" Her words are cut of by a grimace.

Lily understands exactly what she means. Being here means impurities are tainting their souls much faster than usual, and it just got even worse.

If this continues, even if they find no monster, their advancement in cultivation will no longer be possible.

It's a high price to pay, but for the sake of protecting their homes, sects, and entire world, they must-

...

What just happened?

One moment she was struggling to keep the impurities outside her soul, and then they were suddenly gone.

Actually Gone!

There are currently no impurities surrounding them for the first time in...

Ever!

Such a thing is known to be impossible. Transferring impurities to leave a place with less than it did is possible by some experts, but the cost is so high that it's never worthwhile.

"Perhaps you were right Daisy." Spruce says, pointing at their destination. "That looks more like a man than a monster, and if he's responsible for removing the impurities then..."

"He could be from a higher realm." Lily finishes Spruces sentence.

They increase their speed, no longer needing to focus on protecting their souls.

As they finally get a good look at the man, they see he is wearing a white robe and has a handsome face.

But the most striking thing is his aura. It's so strong that if he wished it, he could easily make them all kneel just by exerting it on them.

Could this be the legendary Dao Warrior realm? Or perhaps even something greater?

"Apologies, but have you seen a monster appear somewhere around here recently?" Lily asks the man. While she doubts there is any monster now, she does still have a duty.

The man seems confused at first, until his eyes widen in realisation. "I'm guessing the last time you had an otherworldly transfer it brought a blight monster then. You don't have to worry about that, it was just me. My name is Rean Stone by the way. I probably should have thought of a better introduction while waiting for you."

"Then the disturbance we noticed was actually a sign of you transferring?" Lily asks. She may as well be the one to lead as her companions are probably even more terrified of this man's strength than she is.

"That's right!" Rean cheers. "Admittedly, most transfers end up being Blight monsters, so you were right to be worried. What are your names by the way? I've been internally referring to you as Nascent Soul Lady, Golden Core Lady, and Golden Core Man."

"Of course, I am Lily Calla, top Elder of the Petal Sect and proud member of the Blossom Alliance."

"D-daisy Stem, Elder of the Stem Sect. A-also a member of the Blossom Alliance."

"...Spruce Logger. Elder of the Leaf Sect. Also a member of the Blossom Alliance."

"Pleasure to meet you all, and nice to know that alliances actually work in this world. That's not always the case." Rean says. "Daisy, Spruce, you both seem a bit nervous. I guess I forgot how intimidating my cultivation would be to you. I'll hide it now, but if you want to just watch as I talk to Lily, that's fine. I remember when I first talked to someone that much stronger than me. It took an entire day to recover."

"Thank you." Spruce backs away with Daisy, who can only bring herself to nod.

"Is it really that bad?" Lily asks.

"There's a big difference between meeting someone three realms above you, and someone four realms above you." Rean explains.

"Three realms above me?" Lily can hardly believe what she's hearing. "You've reached the seventh realm!"

"So you're smart enough to count the Qi-Refining realm, that's not always the case in some places." Rean says. "If you have any questions then feel free to ask. I already expected most of this conversation to be me explaining things."

"Then what are the cultivation realms?" Lily asks. "And how strong are they considered in the higher planes?"

"First I should correct a misunderstanding." Rean says. "The world I'm from is not a higher plane. It admittedly does have much higher cultivation levels, but that's a result of other factors. As for what the Realms are:

Qi-Refining, which is considered so low that even the weakest sects won't accept any as disciples, instead they would provide a public cultivation method and wait for them to get to the next realm.

Foundation building, which is still considered a child by most sects.

Golden Core, considered a slightly older child, it's not that uncommon for people with poor talents to be stuck at this realm for their entire lives, but most people can go further.

Nascent Soul, the common limit for most people, I remember many people say you're not a real adult until you've reached this stage.

Dao Warrior, anyone who reaches this is considered to have some talent, not a lot, but some.

Dao King, most of the lesser sects have one as their Leader

Dao Emperor, that's what I am. Often leaders of medium sects, though in my case I was actually an elder of the top sect in my world.

Earth Realm, my sect leader was at this realm.

Heaven Realm, a legendary figure. Or possibly the head of an invading force that would try to take your land for their own, kill your sect leader, and force you to flee to another world by using a forbidden technique. If it isn't obvious, I'm talking from experience.

Then lastly the Origin Realm, I only know the name. There's probably more beyond it but I have no idea what it would be called.

So does that answer your question?"

Lily blinks. "It certainly does, and a few other ones I had. So you came here to escape an even more powerful sect. Is there any chance they would follow you?"

"That's not going to happen." Rean assures her. "Doing so would be incredibly difficult, they've already gained everything they wanted anyway, and I used a special trick to make it seem like I went to a blighted world. So rather than follow me, they'd be more likely to set up barriers that impede travel between our worlds."

"That's good to know, but what's a blighted world?" Lily asks.

"A world overrun by impurities." Rean says. "I'm sure you know that impurities only ever increase, they inherently multiply and there's nothing that can be done to erase them. They seep into your soul and hinder your cultivation rate. They also weaken the various tools cultivators use, like pills, weapons, formations, anything really."

Lily nods. This is all common knowledge.

"Impurities also cause madness if your soul takes in too much. But the main worry is that places of especially high impurity density will form monsters. We call them blight monsters, or blights, but some places have different names. These blights spread impurities to everything they attack, which is anything alive or otherwise valuable. Even if you kill it, the impurities it was made from will spread to the surrounding area."

"That would be the monster that appeared here a millennia ago." Lily deduces. "But I've never heard of monsters appearing from impurity dense areas."

"That'd be because you don't have anywhere with enough impurities" Rean explains. "This forest technically has enough, but it's too spread out. Anyway, impurity levels rise, and blights make it even worse. Eventually a world will be completely overrun by blights and everyone will be dead. At that point we consider it a blighted world. As no place is free from impurities, this is the eventual fate of all worlds."

"Thats..." Lily doesn't like hearing this at all. One day all her efforts will become meaningless and-

Wait a moment.

"But there aren't any impurities right here." Lily gestures around. "You destroyed them somehow, and don't tell me you just moved them."

"So glad you noticed." Rean smiles. "I am a unique exception, as a certain trait of mine means I can erase impurities. It's not a trait that can be forced, and I am the only person in all the cultivation worlds that has this trait."

"Then that means you can-"

"No I can't remove impurities from your soul." Rean say. "At least not yet. I have an idea, but it's untested and might remove my trait even if it works. So no, I will not."

Lily nods solemnly, holding back her tears. It wasn't ever herself she was going to ask it for.

"I do however, have a proposition you might be interested in." Rean says. 

---

This was a lot of worldbuilding.

I have the problem of having this idea stuck in my head for so long that I'll probably make mistakes in remembering what I have and haven't established yet.

If you wouldn't mind, please ask your questions in the comments. Some things I plan to reveal later, but it will help to know what people are confused by.