Nature recovered even more vigorously than Xingyan had expected. He had thought the damage caused by the locust plague would last at least a few years, but he'd underestimated the wonders of Life Energy.
Life here was also far more resilient than life on Earth, whether plant or animal.
Rather than feel disappointed, Xingyan was glad things hadn't turned out the way he'd predicted. He wasn't some mentally disturbed dragon who insisted on living a hard life when he could live comfortably.
It was a good thing the lower levels of the ecosystem could recover as quickly as possible.
The Great Sand Sea, once fairly lively in his memories, was a thing of the past. Whenever Xingyan ventured beyond his own territory, he saw mostly enormous skeletons: Flying Dragon Species, Beast Dragon Species, Fanged Wyvern Species—predators that had once occupied the upper tiers of the ecosystem.
Now, all that remained in the world were their bones. Some monsters had even starved to death rather than dying in fights with other monsters. The Horned Dragon was perhaps the most innocent of them all.
Don't be fooled by the Horned Dragon's fiercely territorial nature and vicious temperament. It would gore any passerby to death, but in reality, it was a herbivore. Desert cactus was what taught it to love.
But the locust plague had eaten nearly every last desert cactus. One could imagine how bitterly those Horned Dragons must have starved to death.
Not even a trace of dried meat remained on the bones. Some lucky monsters might have found their way to the larger chunks of meat, but the locusts had done the final cleaning. If you looked closely, you might even spot tiny, almost imperceptible bite marks on the bones.
Xingyan's great strength had ensured that he survived the disaster.