Cheng Xinzhan stayed in Chiyou Cave for two months, questioning the old stronghold chief carefully about conditions in the Southern Wastes and consulting many local gazetteers, atlases, and biographies concerning the region. Once he had learned enough, he left Chiyou Cave and traveled south into the Southern Wastes.
The Southern Wastes had not always been called the Southern Wastes. The region had originally been known as "Eight Gui." "Eight" was a number signifying abundance. Eight Gui meant groves of osmanthus, referring to the many osmanthus trees that grew there. "Eight Min" was similar: eight meant many, and Min meant snakes, saying that the land of Eight Min held many snakes.
Eight Gui had originally been a fine land of clear waters and verdant mountains. But in the closing years of Later Tang, a towering demonic immortal, Shibi Elder, had burst onto the scene, establishing the Asura Palace in Eight Gui and spreading the Blood Asura Path far and wide. From then on, weapons clashed ceaselessly across Eight Gui, the flames of war raged, and peace was nowhere to be found. In time, the region was almost reduced to bare earth. The Gui-Liu-Wu Forests, clear waters, and green mountains were gone, leaving only desolation, and so later generations called it the "Southern Wastes." Because of Shibi Elder's mighty powers and his indulgence of demons' atrocities, the region had remained a paradise for the Demon Cult ever since Later Tang, gradually becoming the headquarters of the Southern Demon Cult. Even after Shibi Elder ascended, it remained a place where hordes of demons entrenched themselves and ran rampant. As the saying went, a house took three years to build but only a single torch to burn down. It had taken the Demon Path little time to turn "the land of Eight Gui" into