The Red and Blue Fire sect is from the northern region. They used to own one rank 6 secret realm and many rank 5 secret realms. But once they lost the power needed to hold onto what they owned, they had to descend to the lower region.
They had many options to descend to, but the one they picked was the Five Veins Region.
The Five Veins Region that he is at currently descended from one of the grade five secret realms. So that single grade five secret realm had produced five grade four secret realms.
The neighbors of the Five Veins Region on both the east and west are grade four secret realms that are offshoots of the six grade five secret realms above them.
So there were many choices for the Red and Blue Fire sects to invade. If not for the fact that the Purple Flower sect was susceptible to their techniques. The war wouldn't have happened.
Down below in the south is a region of grade 2 secret realms. The secret realms in this region descended from the grade three secret realms that serve as the farms of the five sects in this region.
If the strength of one of the five sects in this region of the world falls, they will have to descend and invade the grade two secret realms in the south.
This will be a serious fall from grace that usually means that they will never be able to rise again. But the alternative is to willingly submit to another sect and be absorbed by it or to continue to stubbornly hold on to something that they can't protect and be destroyed for it.
Not that it is impossible for a sect from a lower region to ascend. Such a thing has happened before. The Beast Training sect is an example of a sect thay managed to rise from the humble background of a rank 2 secret realm to take up control of a rank 4 secret realm.
Of course this achievement wasn't easy. It also took a long time and had a lot to do with luck.
First of all, some people from the Beast Training sect in the grade two region sent people to this place. Those people first formed a cultivation family that subordinated themselves to one of the five sects.
The Beast Training family that they formed used this family as a foothold in the Five Veins Region and used the resources available in this region to grow quietly.
Back in their hometown, it was very rare for them to achieve the third mortal coil. But in the Five Veins Region, they could easily achieve the third mortal coil and even aspire to achieve the fourth mortal coil. So things had improved for them in this place.
They quietly digested the resources they gained access to. Then one day, when the strength of a sect fell, they took the opportunity to attack them and take over their foundation.
In this way, if the Blood Skull sect is to rise to the north, they will either have to produce a single rank 7 cultivator or several rank 6 cultivators before they can lay claim to the territories in the north.
This requirement is very difficult for them to meet in the Five Veins Region, which can only support the growth of rank 4 cultivators. So they will have to send some people to the territories of the north first to gain a foothold.
Once the Blood Skull sect gains a foothold, they will find it easier to achieve the fifth mortal coil and will even be able to aspire to achieve the sixth mortal coil.
After some time, they will produce many cultivators at the sixth mortal coil. Then once the opportunity comes up, they can take over the territory of a rank 6 secret realm and the many rank 5 secret realms that come with it.
All of these were stated in the memory crystal. It was also stated that the Blood Skull sect had already established a foothold in the northern region and even possessed fighting power at the sixth mortal coil.
This was all achieved by the generations of patriarchs of the Blood Skull sect. These patriarchs were geniuses, so he wasn't surprised that they managed to achieve the sixth mortal coil after gaining access to better resources.
Unfortunately, this wasn't enough for them to take over the territory of the Red and Blue Fire sect thay was going to be vacated soon. It was said that this was because they were not the only ones eyeing thay spot.
So their enemy won't be the Red and Blue Fire sect. It will be the many other groups and organizations thay want to replace the Red and Blue Fire sect.
Not only do they have competitors, but some of the competition has also gained the support of powerful sects with rank 7 cultivators. So unless the Blood Skull sect gains support of their own, it is unlikely thay they will earn that slot.
All of this information was enlightening to Arthur. It gave him a lot of data for him to paint a more accurate picture of the world of Ethera and know more about the situation of the Blood Skull sect.
One thing that he noticed was thay it was very difficult for a sect to ascend. He also noticed thay it was very difficult for a sect to fall.
Taking the Blood Skull sect for example, they will need to lose all of the manpower at the fifth mortal coil before their position is threatened. Even then, their greatest enemies will be the other sects, not the cultivation families.
If they lose all the patriarchs at the fifth mortal coil, they will still have many powerful cultivators at the fourth mortal coil thay can wipe the floor with any cultivation family.
Many cultivation families don't even have cultivators at the fourth mortal coil while the Blood Skull sect will still have fourth mortal coil cultivators that are the best of the best and can threaten fifth mortal coil cultivators.