Primordial Era: Starting with the repair of Penglai Immortal Island

The oppressive aura emanating from the Wheel of Reincarnation enveloped the entire underworld, even causing the Yellow Dragon, the Great Emperor of Fengdu, to feel a slight weight on his shoulders.

Directly below the Wheel of Reincarnation, a stunningly beautiful woman with bare feet sat cross-legged.

Houtu Niangniang. She transformed herself into the ancestral witch of the underworld, the true ruler of the underworld.

Huang Long straightened his clothes, stepped forward, and bowed, saying, "Huang Long greets the Goddess Houtu."

Upon hearing this, Houtu slowly opened her eyes.

The birth and death of heaven and earth flickered in his eyes, and the cycle of all spirits was reflected within them.

Her gaze fell on Huang Long, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, revealing a smile that was not quite a smile.

"Oh, so our Emperor Fengdu has finally decided to leave this eerie underworld? That's rare indeed. It's a shame to have the Emperor Fengdu's authority tarnished in your hands."

Huanglong knew perfectly well what Houtu was mocking.

The Emperor of Fengdu was personally appointed by Houtu and was in charge of all administrative affairs in the underworld.

As the Emperor of Fengdu, he is responsible for maintaining the order of reincarnation, judging the good and evil of the dead, suppressing rebellions in the underworld, and commanding the ghost soldiers and generals... In short, he is to do odd jobs for Houtu and manage those trivial matters that are a waste of his time and energy!

However, since Huanglong distributed many powers in the underworld, he has never managed the affairs of the underworld again. Instead, Houtu has been cleaning up the messes for those rough and uncultured witches.

"Your Majesty, your strange and unsettling manner may cause the balance of the underworld's path to collapse, preventing countless spirits from entering the cycle of reincarnation."

Of course, he didn't dare say it directly.

Although Houtu was a sage, she was first and foremost an ancestral witch, and he had seen this ancestral witch throw a punch.

Huanglong had no desire to try receiving an education in love under the six realms of reincarnation.

He suppressed his inner grumbling and spoke seriously, getting straight to the point: "Your Majesty, is the Witch Clan preparing to place all their bets on Chi You?"

Upon hearing this, Houtu's mocking smile slowly faded.

She didn't answer immediately, but nodded slightly, her voice as calm as if she were talking about something unrelated to herself: "That's right. This is the only chance of survival I've seen for the Wu tribe. The Wu tribe has been hiding in the underworld for thousands, tens of thousands of years... but eventually they will need to return to the primordial world. If Chi You wins, the Wu tribe still has a chance to return to the primordial world. If Chi You loses, then it is the Wu tribe's fate."

Huang Long frowned slightly, carefully choosing his words: "But with you in charge and the ancestral witch Zhurong protecting the Wu tribe, they can still slowly survive in this underworld. With you here, the Wu tribe won't be wiped out, so how could they have no chance of survival?"

Houtu chuckled softly.

The laughter carried a desolate quality that seemed to have pierced through endless ages, echoing across the empty wheel of reincarnation, causing the spirits queuing in the distance to grieve deeply.

"Huang Long, you really don't know?"

Houtu raised her head, her eyes, reflecting the countless beings, staring directly at Huanglong. "The primordial world is changing. All things in heaven and earth are changing. What good is it if the Wu tribe hides in the underworld for a while? Heaven and earth are constantly changing. This primordial world is no longer the one where the twelve ancestral witches roamed freely."

"The rules of Heaven are changing, the destiny of the primordial world is shifting, new races are rising, and races that cannot adapt to the changes in Heaven and Earth are dying out. By the time the Witch Clan can be born, this world will no longer be suitable for their survival."

Her voice was exceptionally resolute: "This is the result of my discussion with Zhurong. The entire fortune of the Wu tribe is placed on Chiyou. If Chiyou wins, the Wu tribe will still be descendants of Pangu, the Wu tribe that fought against heaven and earth. If Chiyou loses, the fortune of the Wu tribe will dissipate completely, and all the Wu tribe members will turn into Yin spirits, completely merging with this underworld, and never to emerge from the primordial world again."

Huang Long was startled.

He never expected that Houtu and Zhurong had such a plan!

This isn't betting; this is burning your bridges.

They won; the Witch Clan was reborn.

Having lost, the Wu tribe was wiped out of the primordial world, not even given the chance to eke out a living in the underworld.

This was the most dignified ending that the two ancestral witches chose for the witch clan.

Either live by fighting, or die standing.

There is no option of compromising one's principles.

Huanglong remained silent for a few breaths, then raised his head, looking into Houtu's resolute eyes, and solemnly said, "Your Majesty, if I have a method that can not only preserve the Wu Clan but also give them hope of forging a stronger path, would Your Majesty be willing to try?"

Before he could finish speaking and before Houtu could reply, the land beneath the Six Paths of Reincarnation, which Houtu had personally created to settle the Wu tribe, suddenly trembled.

Like a volcano that has been accumulating for millions of years erupting in an instant, an intensely hot aura, hot enough to incinerate everything, surged out from the gaps in the barrier.

The spirits waiting in line for reincarnation under the Wheel of Reincarnation sensed this aura and let out terrified howls!

The formation instantly fell into chaos, and the judge and the underworld officials scrambled to maintain order!

Tens of thousands of nearby spirits were nearly burned to ashes by the impact of the scorching heat.

The next moment, a figure so intensely hot that it was impossible to look directly at it pierced through the barrier and landed beneath the Wheel of Reincarnation.

The ancestral shaman Zhu Rong.

The appearance of Zhurong and the blazing beast fire raised the temperature of the entire underworld slightly, causing countless spirits to let out mournful howls.

If Houtu hadn't promptly mobilized the source of the underworld to firmly isolate the escaping flames around the Wheel of Reincarnation, those spirits waiting in line for reincarnation would have long been burned to ashes, with no possibility of reincarnation.

The primordial source of the underworld beneath the Wheel of Reincarnation and the sage power of Houtu intertwined to form an invisible barrier, firmly suppressing the surging flames around Zhurong within a radius of a hundred feet.

Zhu Rong ignored Hou Tu.

From the moment he landed, his gaze was fixed on Huang Long.

Those fiery pupils stared intently at Huanglong, his voice rough, hoarse, and urgent: "Is what you say true? That it can lead the Witch Clan down a different path, freeing them from the shackles of this boundless karma?"

Huang Long met those burning eyes and nodded solemnly.

"What method is it? Tell me!"

Huang Long did not answer immediately.

He shifted his gaze from Zhu Rong to Hou Tu, who was sitting cross-legged under the Wheel of Reincarnation.

Zhu Rong, the Ancestral Witch, was very powerful, but in this underworld, he was never the one who could truly make decisions.

"Does Your Majesty remember the witch clan members I took from the underworld?"

Upon hearing this, Houtu's eyes, which reflected the lives of countless beings, narrowed slightly.

Of course she remembered those people!

At that time, he asked Huanglong to bring the Wuren tribe out of the underworld, and Huanglong took the opportunity to ask him for a group of Wuren disciples.

Those witches were just ordinary witches; if they stayed in the underworld, they would eventually die when their lifespan ran out.

When Houtu let them go, she didn't have much hope in her heart.

Leaving the underworld is nothing more than waiting for death in another place.

In the long years that followed, she indeed never sensed any trace of the witch clan in the primordial world again.