Important Information

This page contains important information related to Transcending The Nine Heavens. I highly recommend that you do read this before beginning to read the translations.

1. Overview of the world

Before the very first Master of the Nine Tribulations Sword, a man was responsible for the current state of the Nine Heavens Continent. The Nine Heavens Continent was originally a single piece of land. That man used the Nine Tribulations Sword to reform the Nine Heavens Continent, separating it into nine equal layers (each race occupying their respective layer, with the Human race at the very top). However, those nine equal layers turned out to be unstable, resulting in the collapse of the top eight layers, crushing a huge portion of living creatures beneath them (also causing some races to disappear from the Nine Heavens Continent). Since Humans mostly resided top layer, they therefore became the most common living species on the Nine Heavens Continent.

Following that disaster, that man once again used the Nine Tribulations Sword to reform the nine layers, which resulted in the current state of the Nine Heavens Continent — Lower Three Heavens, Middle Three Heavens and Higher Three Heavens. The Lower Three Heavens is the smallest layer, while the Middle Three Heavens is slightly larger than the Lower Three Heavens. The Higher Three Heavens is the largest of the three layers. After that, the man separated the Nine Tribulations Sword into fragments across the Nine Heavens Continent, and left.

It would later be known that the man came from the Nine Heavens Palace, which is a realm beyond the Nine Heavens Continent.

Examples of races which disappeared during the disaster include the Dragon race, Phoenix race, and Elf race. Races such as the Demon race and the Three Stars Saint Clan (which is a race of Lesser Devils) were sealed by the mysterious man in an unknown part within the Nine Heavens Continent before he left. The seal would begin to weaken as Masters of the Nine Tribulations Sword progressively find the sword fragments.

2. Fragments of the Nine Tribulations Sword

The Nine Tribulations Sword has a total of ten fragments. Seven of those fragments are core fragments, while the other three are accompanying fragments. Those three accompanying fragments cannot be merged with the core fragments of the sword unless all seven core fragments are found and combined.

Core Fragments:

Sword Point

Sword Edge

Sword Spine

Sword Collar

Sword Guard

Sword Hilt

Sword Pommel

Accompanying Fragments:

Sword Tassel

Sword Essence (The Sword Essence is usually shown to be an orb of energy spiraling around the sword)

Sword Soul (The Sword Spirit and Sword Soul are two entirely different existences. The Sword Spirit is not a sword fragment)

3. Types of energy

Listed here are the types of energy used within the novel.

Martial Energy — Energy that is used during execution of martial arts techniques. There are different kinds (ranging from Sword Energy, Sabre Energy, Suicide Techniques, etc.), but they are all generally categorised as Martial Energy. Martial Energy flows through a person’s Meridian Channels within that person’s body.

Medicinal Energy — Energy that is bestowed by Spiritual Medicines. Usually used in the healing of injuries. Medicinal Energy also flows through a person’s Meridian Channels within that person’s body.

Soul Energy — The spirit and soul are two different things in the novel. To make it easy to understand, the soul is a collection of energy that is part of a person’s spirit. If a person’s soul is completely consumed by another soul, then it will be equivalent to the former having his spirit consumed. Typically, the amount of soul energy is relative to a person’s mental strength.

Luck Energy — Mysterious energy that affects a person in various ways. It exists in the novel, and the amount of Luck Energy a person has is usually determined innately (in simple terms, destiny and fate).

4. Martial arts cultivation

A martial skill usually consist of both a Verse and a Movement. A Verse is a formula that teaches the flow and release of energy in a body. A Movement is a series of physical actions. Both are required in order to learn a martial skill, as they complement each other.

In the novel, each of the Nine Tribulations Sword core fragments contained four Verses along with the Sword Tassel, and their corresponding movements were demonstrated by the Sword Spirit.

Within the Nine Heavens Continent, the level of martial arts cultivation is separated into tiers, with each tier consisting of nine grades. Before a practitioner is able to advance to the next grade or tier, he or she will encounter ‘limits’. Only after breaking through those limits would he or she be able to achieve the next stage of cultivation. Usually, large bursts of energy are given out when a person manages to break through the limit and achieve the next stage of his or her martial cultivation. The ‘limits’ are actually ‘martial energy gaining access to more meridian channels within the body’. Breaking those ‘limits’ are basically ‘unclogging the meridian channel bottlenecks’ within the body for the martial energy to flow.

As an example, within the Nine Heavens Continent, martial arts cultivation has the following tiers, while each tier consist of nine grades:

[Martial Arts Practitioner]	[Sword Practitioner]	[Sabre Practitioner]
Martial Arts Pupil	Sword Pupil	Sabre Pupil
Martial Arts Warrior	Sword Warrior	Sabre Warrior
Martial Artist	Sword Artist	Sabre Artist
Martial Arts Master	Sword Master	Sabre Master
Martial Arts Great Master	Sword Great Master	Sabre Great Master
Revered Martial Artist	Revered Sword Artist	Revered Sabre Artist
Martial Arts King	Sword King	Sabre King
Martial Arts Majesty	Sword Emperor	Sabre Majesty
Martial Arts Gentleman	Sword Gentleman	Sabre Gentleman
Martial Arts Saint	Sword Saint	Sabre Saint
Supreme Martial Artist	Supreme Sword Artist	Supreme Sabre Artist

5. Important characters

To be filled later.