Within the Divine Flame Sect, it is said that their most powerful 108 Xuantian Holy Maidens were deployed only once, during the Great War of Gods and Demons ten thousand years ago, and have never been used since. That Great War of Gods and Demons was earth-shattering. Across the heavens, earth, gods, ghosts, the Heavenly Realm, the Divine Realm, the Immortal Realm, Demon Realm, and the mortal realm, the casualties during that war, which lasted for several years, reached a staggering one hundred thousand. Truly, it was a colossal catastrophe for both heaven and earth, yet it was also a grand cleansing of the universe. The sects that survived became the most powerful sects, and their patriarchs became the mightiest immortal cultivators. The Divine Flame Sect was one of these preeminent sects.
During that great catastrophe, not a single one of the 108 Xuantian Holy Maidens representing the Divine Flame Sect fell in battle. Instead, that calamity brought them ultimate glory, making them the most formidable entities in the Cultivation World at the time, and creating the legendary myth of the Divine Flame Sect's rise. The founder of the Divine Flame Sect, Patriarch Chiyan (also known as Patriarch Shenyan), enjoyed an immense reputation throughout the Cultivation World, known to almost everyone under the heavens. Not only was his cultivation base extraordinarily high, but his medical skills were also peerless in the Immortal Cultivation Realm. There was no illness in the entire universe that he could not cure, and no immortal elixir or spiritual medicine that he could not refine, for he possessed the most powerful alchemy magic treasure in the Celestial Realm: the Emperor Yan Cauldron.
During that very War of Gods and Demons, the Great Demon Lord of the Demon Realm, Lord Ni Yue of the Nine Dragons Island Plague Demon Star, had unleashed a horrifying plague known as the Heavenly Pox. Tens of millions of beings in the Celestial Realm were infected, creating a scene of utter devastation with wails echoing across the wilderness and tragedies too grim for the human world. Immortals, mortals, and deities alike were practically beyond saving. As countless lives in the Celestial Realm hung by a thread, the heavens, harboring a benevolent virtue and unable to bear the wholesale slaughter of living creatures, saw the leaders of the Taiyin Sect (also known as the Yinyang Sect), the Fúmó Sect, and the Xuanyuan Sect step forward to jointly seek out Patriarch Chiyan, the master of the Divine Flame Sect.
Thereupon, Patriarch Chiyan used his superior-grade magic treasure, the Emperor Yan Cauldron, along with black cohosh supplemented by rare and exotic herbs from across heaven and earth. After forty-nine days of refining, he finally succeeded in producing the Nine Mysterious Life-Sustaining Pill—a spiritual medicine specifically counteracting the Heavenly Pox—thus saving countless common folk in the Celestial Realm.
At that moment, the leaders of the Taiyin Sect, the Xuanyuan Sect, and the Fúmó Sect asked together, "If this Heavenly Pox should unfortunately find its way into the mortal realm in the future, what can be used to cure it?"
At this, Patriarch Chiyan replied, "That is simple. A decoction brewed solely from black cohosh can cure it, and it is the sole miraculous remedy to eradicate the Heavenly Pox."
"Because I am a cultivator, and also a medical immortal dedicated to saving humanity, you should all remember that I possess a treasury of medicine: the Myriad Flower Villa. In my estate, every conceivable rare herb and immortal spirit of this world is present in abundance. Even the Jasper Pool Hundred Flower Immortal Valley and the Vast Cold Moon Palace of the Heavenly Realm cannot compare to my Myriad Flower Villa. Therefore, I am certain there is no immortal medicine in this Celestial Realm that I cannot refine.
"We are all powerful beings living in this immortal realm, so you and I are among the masters of this Heavenly Realm. Regardless of how our sects develop tens of thousands or hundreds of millions of years from now, or whether they still exist, these are questions that our successors must face! Perhaps by that time we will be left with only a wisp of residual soul, or perhaps merely a single will, but we cannot deny that even if we are reduced to a mere wisp of soul or a single will by then, we will still protect our sects, protect the millions of living souls of the Huáxià civilization, forever acting as humanity's guardian deities and patrolling the mortal world on behalf of the heavens."
"As for the spiritual Qi existing in heaven and earth today, it will become increasingly scarce, and may even be completely exhausted. So what? That we were able to cultivate when the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth was abundant is truly our greatest blessing."
"Oh, forget about them! Whatever becomes of our descendants and successors will depend entirely on their own fortune. The entire Celestial Realm is not always smooth sailing; after all, human nature is inherently greedy. Sometimes, people slaughter each other to achieve their own ulterior motives. In the face of self-interest, everything else is fleeting smoke. Only the strong survive, and the weak perish. Possessing one's own powerful cultivation is the ultimate truth!"