Wutian Demon lingered at the edge of the Phoenix Clan's territory for a long time before finally looking away from the curtain of li fire. The Phoenix Clan and the Undying Volcano were natural counters to the Devil Dao. The crimson-gold curtain of fire stretched across his path, burning, purifying, and dispersing any demonic energy that approached it from the outside in. Even as Wutian Demon continually expanded the reach of his laws, the curtain held him beyond the boundary, preventing him from advancing another step. He turned slightly, redirecting the spread of his laws away from the Phoenix Clan's territory and toward the rest of the Southern Continent.
Besides the Phoenix Clan of the Undying Volcano, the Southern Continent held two great sects founded by Old Ancestor Wuxing and Yin-Yang Ancestor. The Five Elements lineage occupied the southeast, its foundations built upon the Five Elements Law. After the Primordial Wilderness's ascension, that region had become a Law Continent where five elements power cycled without end. The Yin-Yang lineage occupied the southwest, its foundations built upon Yin-Yang Law. After the ascension, it too had coalesced into a Law Continent where Yin-Yang Qi flowed ceaselessly. Separated by several Great Thousand Worlds, the two stood like mighty, mutually supporting strongholds anchored to the Southern Continent's network of laws.
Wutian Demon divided his forces into two columns. The first consisted primarily of demonized cultivators from the Western Continent, commanded by the demon general whom demonic corruption had previously raised to the Hunyuan Grand Unity Golden Immortal eighth heaven. They charged straight toward Old Ancestor Wuxing's sect. The second combined cultivators of the Northern Darkness Sect with members of several Western Continent races. Led by Kunpeng's senior disciple, they stormed toward Yin-Yang Ancestor's sect. Both columns arrived almost simultaneously. Dark-gold demonic energy and the