That trip was fundamentally weird, in a lot of ways. Traveling there was likely moving through physical space, given we could feel the wind when we traveled, but there were also parts of the trip that seemed liminal in nature, like the library of burnt knowledge.Was this is dreaming or in real world with the avatars cloaking us from mortal or low level cultivator view? If we were in dreaming and still needing this type of backing then yeah, it is all going to be local.
I've read plenty of stories and fables where little things like time and space are fluid in the Dream World (or pick a fancy name depending on culture and genre) so would it be impossible for us to be traveling all over thought dreams because the dreams are related even if the physical locations are very far apart?