In Black Tortoise's account, Zhang Chi gained a new understanding regarding the division of the world into the Five Continents.
In the Golden Cauldron Secret Realm, the explanation Zhang Chi received was that the war between the Three Ancient Clans was so devastating that it destroyed Heaven and Earth, leading to chaos in the Earth Qi. The Sacred Beasts had no choice but to descend to the mundane world to regather the Earth Qi and used five cauldrons to stabilize the Five Continents.
However, according to Black Tortoise, it wasn't the Three Clans of dragons, phoenixes, and qilins that caused the world to split; the real culprit was an inexplicable gray mist that emerged.
This version of the story actually made more sense.
Zhang Chi had always harbored doubts about the story of the Three Clans destroying the world.
Wars indeed bring turmoil, but seldom do evenly matched wars lead to the annihilation of a clan.