Long trails of smoke and blazing fire burned through Emptiness; freed from confinement, molten rock surged toward the ninefold heavens.
Huoyang Commandery was the complete opposite of Shuiyang Commandery. Volcanoes stretched in unbroken chains, and deserts sprawled far and wide. Some places were thick with vegetation, others bore not a blade of grass; some boasted verdant mountains and clear waters, others were barren red earth for a thousand miles.
Its population was only half that of Shuiyang Commandery, yet birds and beasts abounded, snakes, insects, rats, and ants ran rampant, and resources were plentiful.
For precisely this reason, demons frequently appeared in Huoyang Commandery, where their forces were the strongest of the Four Commanderies. In the past, Vajra Temple and the Imperial Court had suppressed them, assisted by local temples and other cultivation factions. These demons had only dared act furtively, never openly committing evil.
Now, taking advantage of the Peaceful Heaven Sect's rebellion, with the government and Vajra Temple stretched beyond their means and the other cultivation factions too busy saving themselves, Huoyang Commandery's demons emerged brazenly. They whipped up wind and waves, harmed the common people, and even gathered in packs to besiege cities, hunt humans, and devour their flesh and blood.
Volcanoes across the commandery also erupted one after another. Thick smoke billowed and lava surged. Demons within the flames drove waves of fire over fertile fields and hid in black smoke to slaughter the common people. Countless living beings died horrific deaths.
As soon as Xuanming entered Huoyang Commandery, he saw Resentment soaring into the sky. His divine sense enveloped ten thousand miles, revealing a vision of hell on earth: vegetation burned, fierce flames scorched the heavens, cries of suffering filled the land, the earth blazed, rivers dried up, the people wept, and all living beings