Death... and me

"Back then, the fight for power on this new side was quite harsh," Kafan continued. "Without the main protagonist races of the Universe to get in their way, all the remaining powers went all out to secure resourceful planets."

Kafan then remembered something. "Oh, by the way, this side of the Universe does have an equivalent to the Underworld and the Heavens. It's just that these two were also split back then. Nowadays, both the Heavens and the Underworld on this side are just like the mortal realm on the other side. The 'angels' and 'devils' from both realms have no cultivation whatsoever."

"There is no equivalent to the Realm of Gods?" Roan couldn't help but ask.

"Hum... if there is, it would be our Universal Transition Organization," Kafan answered. "Of course, our Organization is nothing compared to Hyeoumu. In the end, the Realm of Gods is kind of a special case. It is not truly a 'new land' but a living being instead."

Kafan then returned to the previous topic. "Anyway, let me continue. When the fight for power reached its climax, even my Death Spirit Race received quite a few visits. They all wanted my Death Spirit Race to join their side. When we refused, we were attacked because of their fear. After all, even though I can't move due to the agreement, it didn't mean the other Death Spirits couldn't."

Roan understood. "All the powers were in this war for resources and power, hurting each other. How could they leave an untouched Death Spirit Race on the sides without doing anything? Wouldn't that be the same as delivering themselves in a silver plater later on?"

"It was exactly as you said," Kafan nodded. "Of course, the agreement says I can't intervene in the power struggle of the Universe, but it didn't stop me from at least protecting my race. Once the situation got too urgent, I took all the remaining Death Spirits away and secluded myself. Nonetheless, my Death Spirit Race, which was already small to start with, got a really big blow."

Kafan then laughed. "However, Karma is such a weird thing. All these races that came after my Death Spirit Race truly didn't know what was waiting for them. Hahaha!"

"The Chaos Origin Source..." Roan commented.

Kafan nodded. "Exactly! The Chaos Origin Source was on the other half of the Universe. Thus, there was nothing on this side to replenish the cultivation energy of the Universe anymore. During the first thousands of years, no one noticed anything. After all, this side still had all the accumulated cultivation energy from before the split."

"As you can imagine, it didn't last forever. The first sign that the cultivation energies of this side of the Universe were fading was the disappearance of the realm division barriers."

"Realm Division Barriers?" That was the first time Roan heard about it.

Kafan nodded and then explained. "On the other side of the Universe, you have the Realm of Gods, Mortal Realm, Underworld, and the Heavens, right? However, except for the Divinity Realm beings, entering any of these three realms is pretty much impossible. The only solution was the Pseudo-Temporal Paths or the real Temporal Path. That's why each realm saw the entrance of the Temporal Path with such huge importance."

Roan saw where Kafan was coming from. "I see... There is indeed a barrier that separates all four realms on the other side. Naturally, since the Universe was split, this side was supposed to have such barriers as well."

Kafan nodded. "That's pretty much it. However, without the cultivation energies to maintain this division, the barrier finally collapsed. Did you know? Until that point, the Devils, Angels, and Living Beings were completely isolated from each other. This side did not have a Temporal Path, and the Pseudo-Temporal Paths completely disappeared after the Universe split. Only when the division barriers fell down did all three sides get the chance to interact with each other again."

Kafan narrowed his eyes. "This is quite annoying. You know what? For the sake of identification, I'm going to call this place the Living Realm, okay?" Roan nodded and waited for Kafan to continue. "Good. Now we have the Living Realm, Angel Realm (Heavens), and the Underworld Realm. It's easier to talk about the three this way."

"So, how do you think the Living Realm fared after the split?" Kafan asked.

Roan pondered a bit and answered. "The Living Realm was in this war during the last ten thousand years for power, hurting its forces. When the division barrier between realms fell, the Living Realm had very little power to defend against the Underworld and Heavens. Now I understand why you said Karma struck back."

Kafan was happy to hear that. "Hehe! That was exactly the case. Well, to be more specific, the Devils weren't that much better of a condition either. Devils are extremely territorial and like power as much as the Living Realm beings do. The main problem was the Angel Realm (Heavens). You probably already know how the angels rarely get into conflicts against each other, right? That wasn't different back then. So, when the Division Barrier disappeared, the angels had by far the strongest force between the three realms."

"Angels also hate devils to the core, so how could they lose that chance? They immediately acted and attacked the Underworld now that the path was open. The initial years were quite gruesome to the devils... and the Living Realm. You may ask why. That was because the Angels also didn't see the Living Realm with good eyes. Since their advantage was that big, they might as well subjugate the Living Realm to fit their standards."

Roan didn't need to think much to know what happened next. "That's when the Living Realm and Devils allied. Am I correct?"

Kafan confirmed Roan's words. "Correct. Now, all three sides once again entered an even more meaningless war. Do you know what was really dumb? It was the fact that they should have noticed the steady decrease in the concentration of cultivation energies. Still, they continued..."