The earthshaking war in the South Sea finally ended. No one had imagined that the former Water Marquis Meng Zhang's dying blow would turn a resounding victory into a costly one. The Four Rivers and Mysterious Spirit forces suffered heavy losses, but the South Sea Dragon Clan suffered even more grievously. A postwar reckoning revealed that the number killed in the South Sea Dragon Domain during the battle on the third day of the second month far exceeded their total dead from the preceding months of warfare.
Still, a "field of battle" was, after all, a "place where corpses lay." In a war that shook heaven and earth, such casualties were hardly beyond reason. Remembering the dead brought sorrow, certainly, but looking toward the future did not necessarily reveal only darkness. The old order had approached decay; without this wildfire sweeping across the plains and crushing the rotten wood, those corrupt old institutions and relationships might never have vanished on their own.
A careful reckoning of the war's merits, faults, gains, and losses showed that the greatest beneficiary of the South Sea Battle was not the Four Rivers, which had taken the lead. The Mystic Spirit Cult, or the Mysterious Spirit Monster Race, emerged as the war's greatest winner.
For these members of the Demon Race, although they had lately styled themselves the "Spirit Race," imitated human powers by founding a religious order, and united in vigorous efforts to prosper, the apparent improvement could not conceal one truth: the image of "evil monsters" formed over thousands of years remained difficult to change.
To take just one example, when the Mystic Spirit Cult was founded to revive the Demon Race, choosing its leader proved troublesome. However many outstanding talents arose among them, however plentiful those blessed with both wisdom and courage,