Entering Penglai Immortal Island, Long Zang felt the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surge like a tide.

"What should the Phoenix Clan do next?"

Yuan Huang's voice carried a hint of inquiry. She wanted to know, in Long Zang's eyes, where her clan should go from here.

Long Zang looked at her and revealed a faint smile. "Learn from the Ferocious Beast Clan. You can establish a Phoenix Divine Dynasty, or open a sacred land. Conquering the Great Desolation isn't realistic, but ruling one region is no problem. Especially for your Phoenix Clan—you hold the advantage of terrain."

His words made Yuan Huang nod.

Indeed, the Southern Region was covered in volcanoes, filled with Southern Bright Li Fire.

Except for a very few races that could withstand this flame, the vast majority of the Ten Thousand Races of the Great Desolation dared not set foot here.

This land was, by nature, the Phoenix Clan's home ground.

As long as they held this domain, they could stand undefeated.

Long Zang suddenly rose, smiling freely. "I'm going to take a walk. Maybe I'll head to the Infinite Sea Domain and see if I can find the legendary Three Immortal Islands."

His tone was calm, but the casual air of "if I find them, I'll settle there" made Yuan Huang pause.

For beings of their level, a million years in seclusion was but a moment, and a journey of millions of years was no different from a mortal walking a mountain path.

Romantic attachments? In the eyes of a Supreme Expert, they were nothing but burdens.

So Yuan Huang did not hold him back. She only silently watched his departing figure.

After Long Zang left, Yuan Huang immediately contacted Ancestor Dragon and First Kirin.

But she did not mention what Long Zang had said. She only stated plainly that she had no intention of moving against the Ferocious Beast Clan again, and wished only to guard the Southern Region.

Ancestor Dragon and First Kirin were naturally unwilling to accept this. They pleaded earnestly, urging her to join forces and wipe out the Fierce Beast Royal Court in one strike.

Yet no matter how they tried to persuade her, Yuan Huang remained unmoved.

She understood clearly that even with the three clans united, the cost would be unbearable.

Moreover, she had been awakened by Long Zang and no longer wished to walk that old path of blood and fire reincarnation.

Ancestor Dragon and First Kirin could only give up in helplessness.

Without the Phoenix Clan's involvement, destroying the Ferocious Beasts was still possible, but the price would leave them equally crippled—a loss not worth the gain.

At the same time, within the Fierce Beast Royal Court.

Shen Ni's eyes held a trace of surprise.

He had thought the three clans had already mobilized their armies, ready for the final assault.

But now, the storm had suddenly calmed.

"Was it you?"

He looked toward the Southern Region, and the figure of Long Zang surfaced in his mind.

This anomaly, this variable, seemed to have bought the Ferocious Beast Clan a moment to breathe.

He knew well that his race was only one step away from annihilation.

The Three Innate Races halting their advance was like charcoal in the snow.

Yet at the same time, a heavy shadow rose in his heart.

If it truly was Long Zang pulling the strings behind the scenes, then this man was more terrifying than he had imagined.

Shen Ni pondered for a moment, then turned his gaze toward the Western Land.

"Luohu... it seems your schemes have failed."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

Deep within a divine mountain in the West.

Luohu sat cross-legged, his expression dark as thunderclouds.

His original plan had been to use the three clans to destroy the Ferocious Beasts, then secretly stir up conflict and trigger the second Immeasurable Calamity.

But who could have guessed that one word from Long Zang would make Yuan Huang withdraw from the board!

Everything had deviated from its course.

"Bastard!"

Luohu ground his teeth, rage blazing in his heart.

If not for Long Zang meddling, his chess game would have already been set.

Now, he could only lay his pieces anew.

At another divine mountain Dao Field.

Hongjun sat silently, a fragment of a broken Jade Plate above his head radiating boundless mysterious light, while immortal radiance interwove behind him, countless worlds of the Immortal Dao revolving and emerging.

The immortal light shone, as if eternal.

"The Heavenly Mechanism has changed?" Hongjun murmured to himself, a trace of doubt flickering in his eyes.

"I wonder if it's for good or ill."

But soon, his expression returned to calm.

He understood the grand trends of the Primordial World better than anyone.

The Great Dao has fifty paths, the Heavenly Dao holds forty-nine, and the One That Escapes remains.

What is called a change in Heavenly Mechanism is merely that minor currents may shift, but the great tide cannot be shaken.

The cause and effect of the Primordial World were inherently peculiar.

It was not "cause then effect," but "effect then cause."

The outcome was already fated; the process merely added bricks to the edifice of that result.

The cause could change, the process could differ, but the final effect would inevitably be that result!

Thus, though Hongjun was somewhat surprised, he was not flustered in the slightest.

He understood in his heart:

What must happen will inevitably happen.

The effect that must be born will still be born!

The Endless Sea of the Primordial World stretched vast and boundless, waves crashing against the stars as if without end.

Compared to the struggles of myriad races on land, this sea was almost exclusively the domain of the Dragon Clan.

They had entrenched themselves here, amassing endless wealth and might over billions of years, unshakable by any force.

Long Zang walked alone above the sea; waves surged beneath his feet, yet could not splash a single droplet onto his toes.

His direction had no purpose; he merely followed his heart.

In others' eyes, such aimless wandering might seem a meaningless waste.

But to Long Zang, this was the method that suited him best.

He had no Primordial Spirit, unable to deduce the Heavenly Mechanism; he could only rely on his own perception, bit by bit, to capture the traces of heaven and earth.

It was clumsy, yet it was his unique stubbornness.

Hundreds of thousands of years passed like this.

To mortals, that was an unimaginably long span; but to a Supreme Expert of the Primordial World, it was but a snap of the fingers.

In these endless Years, the Ferocious Beast Clan's momentum had long since waned, forced back by the Dragon Clan and the Qilin Clan, shrinking into the Ancestral Court to barely survive.

New beings rose continuously, new legends gradually replacing the old blood and fire.

And Long Zang still searched.

Until one day...

Above the East Sea, the void trembled faintly, rippling with a trace of spatial fluctuation.

The fluctuation was so subtle that without Long Zang's profound realm, it would have been impossible to detect.

His eyes lit up, a smile spreading across his face: "After hundreds of thousands of years of waiting... finally found it!"

His method was simple.

Others would deduce, would seek formations—he could not.

His method of breaking through was also simple:

First step, pick up his weapon.

Second step, gather strength.

Third step, smash down!

To others, such crudeness seemed absurd, but in Long Zang's hands, it was the most direct and effective answer.

The void collapsed, and a concealed immortal island revealed itself.

The island shifted restlessly, as if deliberately avoiding the world.

Long Zang sneered: "So it's a moving immortal island—no wonder I couldn't find it."

He strode boldly into it.

This was one of the legendary Three Immortal Islands... Penglai!

The Three Immortal Islands were formed from fragments of Chaos when Pangu split heaven and earth, shrouded by the Innate Three Talents Array, concealing heaven and blocking fate—so thoroughly that even Sages could not deduce them.

Thus, they had never belonged to the control of the Primordial World's Heavenly Dao.

Finding this place relied not on heavenly secrets, but on strength and luck.

Entering Penglai Immortal Island, Long Zang felt the world's spiritual energy surge toward him like tidal waves.

Spiritual light flickered among the grass and trees, where countless plant spirits played freely.

Some ginseng had transformed into children, frolicking in the woods; some lingzhi mushrooms exuded an ancient aura, cultivating in stillness.

They belonged neither to the Demon Race nor to the Innate Demon Gods, but to another pure existence... the Spirit Race!

Long Zang's gaze swept across the scene, a faint smile curling at the corner of his lips.

"Truly a paradise beyond the mortal world."

Suddenly, his steps halted, and a strange glimmer flickered deep in his eyes.

An extremely unique aura in the world stirred an instinctive resonance within his body.

That was... the Qi of Creation!