In the four hundred and ninety-fifth year of Ming, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, it was the season of Major Cold.
By then, a full month had passed since True Lord Evolving Transformation destroyed the three fiends and their three cults. It was deep winter at the year's end. Cold winds swept across the Northwestern Land, snow drifted over the Western Sea, and the Yellow River froze. Yet amid this world of ice and snow, the whole of the Two Longs and even the southeastern halves of Western Liang and Hehuang were bustling with festive joy. Lanterns and decorations hung everywhere, and everyone wore a smile, as though they were ordinary mortals welcoming the Spring Festival. Indeed, there was every reason to rejoice.
Longdong had long since been reclaimed in its entirety, and with the destruction of the Profound Yin Sect and Wushaoling's voluntary withdrawal, all of Longxi had been reclaimed as well. The fiends of Western Liang and Hehuang lost their nerve at the news, abandoning their mountains and fleeing into Western Kunlun.
Now, throughout Hehuang, only the Blood God Sect remained standing. It was the Northern Faction's main camp, and its very last refuge and shelter. Western Kunlun had certainly been lively these past few days. A million surviving Demon Soldiers from much of the Northern Faction gathered at the foot of the mountain, weeping and howling to be admitted for refuge. Instead, this left the Blood God Sect at a loss, as though facing a formidable enemy. What if an Incarnation of True Lord Cheng slipped inside? It was not as though that True Lord Cheng had never resorted to such underhanded tricks-he had done it plenty of times! And so those guarding the mountain gates dared not let a single one through.
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