After this battle, Nuwa returned to Heaven Beyond Heaven and entered seclusion, paying no heed to worldly affairs.
Saint Nuwa, the Demon Race's strongest fighter, no longer ventured out.
The Witch Race's Sage Houtu had also transformed her body into the Yellow Springs.
The two races could be said to have fought a battle between evenly matched opponents.
Heaven and earth had collapsed.
The Three Realms had been divided.
This battle lasted over a hundred years.
After more than a hundred years.
Several Ancestral Witches fought desperately against Di Jun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi.
Eastern Emperor Taiyi detonated the Chaos Bell in his grasp, perishing together with the Ancestral Witches.
Di Jun was also beaten to death by the witches who surrounded him.
The battle between Quasi-Sages swept across the entire Primordial World. Blood flowed in rivers, and baleful Qi spread in all directions.
The entire Primordial World lay in ruins, returning to the same bleak state it had been in during the First Dragon-Han Tribulation.
Not even one in ten living beings survived!
Most of the other ancient witches and demons also perished.
Those who remained either went into hiding or pledged allegiance to the Sages.
Because of this, the Witch and Demon Races completely lost the strength to contend for supremacy over the Primordial World.
After the great battle.
The entire continent was a scene of desolation.
Every race needed to build up its strength until the next great tribulation began.
Mu Chen's clone stood on an abandoned battlefield.
His eyes held pity.
The Witch and Demon Races had believed themselves the strongest, but in truth, they had ultimately been nothing more than pawns of the Heavenly Dao.
Even Sages could only preserve themselves during such a great tribulation of heaven and earth.
"Alas, who knows when I'll truly be free of all restraints?"
Mu Chen sighed.
Then his figure slowly vanished from the spot, returning to the sea of clouds to resume his seclusion.
He was still far too weak!
He would never leave seclusion before becoming a Sage!
After that.
The Witch Race vanished completely from the Primordial World.
The mighty figures of the Demon Race also died out, and the remaining demons became like rats crossing the street, with everyone crying out to beat them.
The Sages gradually began supporting the Human Race in taking its place as the protagonist of the Primordial World.
The destitute remnants of the Demon Race became the Human Race's sworn enemies upon the earth.
This, too, was deliberate on the Sages' part.
They wanted to improve the Human Race's fighting strength.
Thus, humans and demons began opposing one another across the Primordial Continent.
At this point.
The Great Witch-Demon Catastrophe came to a complete end.
Ten thousand years later.
"Congratulations, host, on completing the ten-thousand-year fishing mission. You have obtained the divine ability Fiery Golden Eyes."
Mu Chen opened his eyes amid his seclusion.
His eyes turned golden, and wherever his gaze fell, no demon or evil being could hide.
This was of little use to Mu Chen, who was now a Daluo Golden Immortal.
Still, it would be quite good to pass on to Long-Armed Ape in the future.
Over these ten thousand years, his cultivation realm had not improved much.
At the Daluo level, advancing one's realm required not seclusion above all, but a sudden moment of enlightenment.
Fortunately, Mu Chen was in no hurry.
There was still plenty of time, after all.
He could keep lying low!
Nothing else had happened during these ten thousand years.
Only two sacred sayings from Hongjun had suddenly begun circulating among the Sages of the Primordial World.
They were...
"The Dao is not imparted to nonhumans."
"The teachings are not imparted to six ears."
Supposedly, Hongjun had said these before entering a certain lengthy seclusion.
For a time, countless living beings throughout the Primordial World discussed them.
Mu Chen was also taken aback when he heard the news, before understanding.
The Dao was not imparted to nonhumans.
This meant that the profound mysteries of the Great Dao were to be imparted only to the Human Race.
This was also Hongjun's hint to the six Sages: it was time for the Human Race to rise, so they should hurry up and do whatever needed doing.
As for the teachings not being imparted to six ears, that was even simpler.
Six-Eared Macaque must have secretly used his six-eared divine ability to eavesdrop on the preaching of the Dao, angering Hongjun.
At the thought of Six-Eared Macaque.
Mu Chen could not help chuckling.
This little monkey truly had heaven-defying audacity, daring to eavesdrop on Hongjun preaching the Dao.
Yet he had been punished.
Only when Buddhism grew powerful during Journey to the West would anyone dare take him as a disciple.
This also explained why Six-Eared Macaque had lived so long, yet could only fight Sun Wukong to a draw.
These two sayings were like a tiny splash falling into the now-peaceful Primordial World.
They stirred a few ripples.
Then slowly subsided into silence again.
One day.
Mu Chen was fishing in seclusion.
A small boat drifted over the sea beneath his feet.
A human wearing a bamboo hat stood aboard it.
He shouted.
"May I ask where the immortal is!"