After Tongtian left Mount Kunlun, Laozi also settled on Mount Shouyang because of Xuandu. He built the Eight Scenic Palace as his new place of cultivation. Every day, he expounded the Dao to Xuandu, and in his spare time, he fired up his furnace to refine pills.
With that, the Three Pure Ones officially parted ways, each settling in a different place.
Naturally, such a momentous event as the Three Pure Ones splitting up sent shock waves through the living beings of the Primordial World.
But while some were astonished, others were delighted.
Especially Jieyin and Zhunti, the two sages of the Western Lands. The Western Lands were impoverished, and despite having founded their sect long ago, they had taken in very few disciples. In fact, most were beings "destined for Buddhism" whom they had brought over from the east.
After all, although the Witch Race and Demon Race fought for supremacy in the east, Primordial Heaven and Earth was now as steady as a mountain. Unless Primordial Heaven and Earth itself was destroyed, it could repair any damage on its own. With Hongjun presiding over it as well, the east had remained prosperous.
Thus, Zhunti and his fellow sage coveted it greatly. Yet with the Three Pure Ones in the east, they dared not openly challenge them. They only dared to make small moves in secret, quietly bringing eastern beings with promising potential into their fold and taking a few spiritual treasures and plants back to the Western Lands along the way.
But the Western Lands had endured the struggle between the Dao and the demons, leaving their spiritual roots, mountains, and rivers utterly ravaged. Restoring them was no overnight task; it would take a very long time.
Thus, making the Western Lands as prosperous as the east was