Demonic Tribulation.
This was the most terrifying legend in this world.
Once the Ninefold Heavenly Firmament was breached by Heavenly Demons, the countless Heavenly Demons that had long lingered in the Nine Heavens Beyond the Domains would seize the chance to descend. That would be the true end of all cultivators.
Such a thing had happened only once before, when the Ancient Heavenly Court fell. At that time, heaven and earth split apart, cracks appeared in the Ninefold Heavenly Firmament, and endless Heavenly Demons howled down from the edge of the Southern Sky Wilderness. There had been twelve Dharma-Ending Lords among those who descended by that means.
Fortunately, most of the great powers of the Ancient Era had witnessed the might of the Primordial Demon Gods. After expending tremendous effort, they finally slew the descended Dharma-Ending Lords one by one under the leadership of Mysterious Capital Palace.
Of course, the price they paid had been grievous beyond measure.
Many great powers, already wounded by the fall of the Heavenly Court, perished as a result. Until Sword Cultivation rose to prominence, the entire cultivation world had remained shrouded in bleak clouds and gloom.
The ecology of the Southern Wastes had changed from that day onward. The Heavenly Demon invasion had permanently transformed this land. Although the Ninefold Heavenly Firmament later recovered and severed its connection with the realms beyond, the spreading influence of the Heavenly Demons still turned this place into the stronghold of the Great Wilderness Demon Cult.
The cultivators of the south worshipped the Primordial Heavenly Demon and the various Dharma-Ending Lords beneath him. Their ways bore many similarities to those human cultivators who had served the Demon Gods in ancient times.
It was also from then on that the original name "Southern Heaven" gradually became "Southern Wastes" or