When leaving Pangu Hall, Yuanqing heard that the Three Clans of Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin had fought a massive battle. It was said that Shi Qilin of the Kylin Clan and Yuan Feng of the Phoenix Clan, along with someone else, had fought Zulong and injured him. Consequently, the Kylin Clan and the Phoenix Clan formed an alliance and headed to the East Sea to fight Zulong. Anyone capable of trading blows with Zulong alongside Yuan Feng must be a mighty figure indeed.
Presumably, both sides would suffer heavy mutual casualties. Yet, when Yuanqing went to see for himself, he discovered that Zulong was not really injured at all. In the end, after a minor skirmish, both sides withdrew.
Yuanqing thought to practice a moment of reflection: truly, once fame is achieved, the whole world knows you. Well, enough of that; it was time to head to the Western Land, having already wasted a considerable amount of time along the way.
After leaving Pangu Hall, Yuanqing ventured out of Mount Buzhou, departed from Pangu Hall, and journeyed toward the Western Land to challenge the legendary Demon Ancestor Luohou. Yuanqing knew that behind the great war of the Three Clans of Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin, there must be the instigation and sowing of discord by Luohou.
After traveling for tens of thousands of years more, Yuanqing finally arrived at the borders of the Western Land. However, what met Yuanqing's eyes was a scene of utter ruin, desolation, and lifelessness across the Western terrain. Yuanqing knew that the Western Land had originally been imbued with abundant spiritual energy, but during the tribulation of the Dragon and Phoenix, Luohou's wanton destruction had caused the spiritual energy of the Western Land to dry up and become barren. Countless cracks and gullies split the ground, as if slashed by countless sharp blades. These fissures emanated a bizarre aura, and the entire Western realm was suffused with the breath of the Demonic Dao. Yuanqing sighed, remarking that Luohou had turned the Western Land into such a state—words truly failed to express his feelings.
The further Yuanqing walked into the Western Land, the more barren the earth became. After traveling for another tens of thousands of years—when Yuanqing had first entered the Western Land, there were at least still a few ordinary spiritual roots remaining, but now the deeper he went, the vegetation of the Western continent had almost completely withered away.
The plants of the Western Land had nearly all shriveled and died. The once lush forests had turned into bare tree stumps, and the grasslands had lost their former vitality, reduced to a uniform, withered yellow.
As Yuanqing walked slowly deeper into the West, the soil grew increasingly barren, and the weather grew ever more gloomy. The sky above the Western Land was shrouded in a thick layer of dark clouds, preventing the sunlight from piercing through the darkness. The entire sky appeared gloomy and oppressive.
Yuanqing knew that, as the territory of Demon Ancestor Luohou, the Western Land naturally teemed with dense demonic energy.
Until, after Yuanqing traveled for yet another tens of thousands of years, the sky was almost entirely engulfed by black vapor, with demonic energy overflowing everywhere. This demonic energy was like materialized black smoke, permeating the entire space and causing a sense of suffocation and oppression. Not only did it erode the hearts of living beings, but it could also corrupt their primordial spirits.
The rivers that were once crystal-clear to the bottom had by now completely dried up, their riverbeds covered in cracks and gravel, further accentuating the decay and desolation of the Western Land.
As he drew close to Mount Simu, the center of the Western Land, Yuanqing saw that Mount Simu was shrouded in demonic energy, under a gloomy sky, and blanketed in an almost absolute deathly silence. Devoid of any vitality, a massive black river ran through Mount Simu from north to south.
Yuanqing looked at that massive black river, and the sight of it sent lingering fear through his heart. The demonic energy truly soared to the heavens, and within that black river, terrifying entities undoubtedly lurked.
Yuanqing knew that because of Demon Ancestor Luohou, the former vitality and prosperity here had vanished entirely, replaced by endless desolation and lifelessness. In the Dao-Demon War, Demon Ancestor Luohou would detonate the terrestrial veins of the West, leaving them only more barren and utterly devoid of spiritual energy.
The Western land was truly plagued by disaster, Yuanqing could not help but sigh. In wreaking such destruction upon the Western continent, Luohou was taking on a massive karmic burden. Luohou was gambling, betting that he would be the ultimate victor; once he emerged victorious in the end, all these past deeds could be absolved.
Yet Yuanqing knew that a demonic path like Luohou's could never be recognized by the Heavenly Dao, let alone achieve final victory.
With that, Yuanqing took a deep breath and headed toward Mount Simu.