Balance

Grandmasters clash in the streets of the village of Zhining.

The Balance is a magical phenomenon of unknown origin that keeps the number of grandmaster cultivators in Quain at exactly one thousand. When a grandmaster falls, another cultivator rises up to replace them, and when a cultivator ascends to grandmaster status, an existing grandmaster falls. When a grandmaster is replaced, other grandmasters sense it as something akin to a ripple through the Balance. The Balance keeps competitions between cultivators in Quain fierce.

Mysteries

The origin of the mysterious Balance is unknown, though some legends claim that the Balance was a gift from the Celestial Dragon to the first monarch emeritus. How the Balance is sustained and if or when it will end are also unknown.