Houtu's Shock—This Guy Even Dares to Threaten Reincarnation?

Yang Chen's words were not like thunder.

Thunder still had sound, form, and traceable origins.

His words were nothingness, chaos, a form of absolute subversion that directly impacted the origin of the Divine Soul.

BOOM!

The aura within Pingxin Hall, which was connected to the pulse of the entire Primordial World and was so stable and profound that it could bear all things, snapped at that instant!

It was as if a pillar supporting heaven and earth had been removed.

Houtu's Dao body, formed from Pangu's essence blood and harder than divine iron, stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment.

Her eyes, always gentle and compassionate, seemingly capable of holding all the suffering of sentient beings, erupted with the core storm deep within them! Her pupils contracted to the extreme in an instant, then suddenly widened.

Shock?

That word was too shallow, utterly insufficient to describe the tidal wave of billions of feet churning within her Divine Soul at that moment.

How could he know? No, he didn't know, he saw through it! He saw through the essence of her becoming Reincarnation, saw through the boundless danger hidden beneath immeasurable merit that even she dared not look directly at! He... he actually treated her Dao as a Karma that could be traded!

She had envisioned countless possibilities.

She had envisioned Yang Chen greedily demanding Innate Spiritual Treasures, asking the Witch Clan to fight for him, even proposing more absurd and unreasonable conditions.

She had prepared to deal with them all.

But she had never expected that the other party... could actually use such an utterly inconceivable perspective, one that completely broke free from the rules of the Primordial World's games, to tear open her grandest, most sacred, and most secret future aspiration!

Then, he laid bare the bloody dangers and Karma within, which even she was unwilling to ponder, nakedly on the gambling table.

Finally, he affixed a price tag to this aspiration.

A price tag belonging to him, Yang Chen!

Becoming Reincarnation was the only glimmer of hope she, Houtu, had found for herself and the entire clan after realizing the Witch Clan's path was severed.

It was immeasurable merit.

It was also a one-in-nine-deaths chance!

This was equivalent to forcefully carving an opening in the Heavenly Dao's already strict iron curtain of order, using her own life and fortune to establish her own Earthly Dao Reincarnation!

The terrifying backlash and obstruction from the Heavenly Dao during this process, the dangers within, even surpassed the Dragon-Han Initial Tribulation, surpassed the Dao-Demon Conflict!

She thought she had hidden it well.

She thought this would be her ultimate trump card to impress Yang Chen in the future and make him protect the Witch Clan.

But she never expected the other party to not play by the rules at all.

He saw through everything with a single glance!

Not only did he see through it, but he also turned the tables, directly defining her future "investment" as his own "risk and return"!

This man...

Houtu looked at Yang Chen's eyes, which were as calm as undisturbed water. The pride and confidence originating from her Pangu bloodline were, for the first time, invaded by a chilling coldness, shattering inch by inch.

For the first time, she realized that she seemed to have underestimated this young man, who was entangled in immeasurable Karmic Force, from beginning to end.

His slacking off, his shamelessness, his madness...

That was merely the surface.

Was this his true face? Was the rogue who laughed and cursed, seemingly pushed to desperation by Karma, all a disguise? He was not a prisoner tormented by Karmic Force, but a king holding the authority of destruction!

Beneath that seemingly fragile shell lay a cunning heart and Asura's courage that saw through the essence of all things, treated heaven and earth as a chessboard, Saints as chess pieces, and all rules as bargaining chips...

Cooperating with him was not like seeking a tiger's skin.

It was like directly placing her own neck under the sharp teeth of a divine dragon, gambling whether it would bite down.

But...

She had no choice.

Yang Chen was right.

Her path of Reincarnation, from the moment of its birth, was destined to contend with Heaven for its life.

And Yang Chen, this ultimate variable that even the Heavenly Dao had to coax and indulge, not daring to settle accounts with, was undoubtedly her best, perhaps even her only, "talisman" against the Heavenly Dao's resistance!

He was the biggest chip in her gamble.

She had originally intended to win him over gradually, like a frog being boiled in warm water, using "the hospitality of a host" and "future investment."

But he had doused her with a basin of ice water, instantly waking her up.

It turned out that from the very beginning, she was the frog in the pot.

The dead end my brothers couldn't see, I saw clearly. But the only glimmer of hope I found for the clan has fallen into the hands of such a person. To be his enemy, my Witch Clan will surely be doomed for eternity. To cooperate with him... is to place the fate of the entire Witch Clan in his hands. Do I still have a choice? No.

Finally.

In the deathly still air within the hall, which had almost solidified, a faint sigh, like the shattering of jade, rang out.

This sigh came from Houtu.

It carried no magical power, yet it held a weight heavier than any divine ability.

It pierced through the eternal solitude of the stone hall, shattered the tense standoff between the two, and signaled the end of a silent game.

Houtu's tensed body slowly relaxed.

It was a release of strength that spread from the deepest part of her soul to every limb and bone. The final string supporting her pride and wisdom as an Ancestral Witch snapped.

The aura of the Earth Element Great Dao, which had been contracted to its extreme in instinctive defense, receded like a tide, returning to its original state of encompassing all things.

However, within this gentleness, there was a hint of unspeakable bitterness and resignation.

The luminous pearls on the hall's ceiling cast a cool, clear light, their shadows distorting on the rough stone walls. On the murals, the majestic figure of Great God Pangu splitting the heavens, now in Houtu's eyes, held an indescribable melancholy.

Father God, your descendants have reached a dead end.

To find a sliver of hope for them, I have no choice.

She slowly lowered her head towards Yang Chen, a noble head that had never truly bowed to any being other than Pangu.

The movement was slow, each subtle shift in angle tugging at the fate of this Witch Clan land, each like the crushing of her innate pride.

Her body dipped slightly.

A complete and solemn gesture, the most ancient rite of the Witch Clan.

This was not merely a formality.

It was an admission.

It was surrender.

It was a complete abandonment of her pride as an Ancestral Witch, placing their positions such that he was above her.

Yang Chen watched silently.

He didn't move, not even the slightest change in the curve of his lips.

He simply watched, with a pure, emotionless gaze, appreciating the scene before him.

A future Lord of the Earthly Dao, one of the most powerful beings in the Primordial World, bowing to him at this moment.

This sense of conquest brought a hint of pleasure to his Dao Heart, tormented by immeasurable karmic force, far more than defeating ten thousand Xing Tians ever could.

Houtu paid no mind to Yang Chen's scrutiny, or rather, she no longer had the energy to.

The moment she made this decision, her personal honor and disgrace were completely stripped from her Dao Heart.

"Fellow Daoist speaks the truth."

Her voice had returned to a calm state, but the gentle warmth from before was gone, replaced by an absolute coolness devoid of all emotion.

This coolness represented a complete submission more than any intense emotion.

"It was Houtu... who was too simplistic in her thinking."

She raised her head, her clear eyes meeting Yang Chen's gaze again. The storm of emotions within them had subsided, leaving only a bottomless abyss.

She no longer pondered how Yang Chen had seen through everything.

Nor did she dwell on how thoroughly she had lost this game.

Those things no longer mattered.

What mattered was that she had seen the reality.

A cold, cruel, yet incredibly clear reality.

Yang Chen, this walking Immeasurable Tribulation, this variable that even the Heavenly Dao feared, was the only key and the only protective charm for her to transform into the path of Reincarnation.

Without him, her grand aspiration would, nine times out of ten, turn into an illusion.

The backlash from the Heavenly Dao, the covetousness of the Saints, the secret machinations of the Great Powers of the Primordial World... any one of these obstacles would be enough to doom her eternally.

But with Yang Chen, this sharpest of spears, standing guard before the Reincarnation Array, who would dare act rashly?

Who would dare risk provoking this madman into completely igniting Karma, dragging the entire Primordial World down with him as he perishes, to obstruct her Dao?

Having thought this through, all her unwillingness and humiliation transformed into justifiable costs.

So be it.

Since the path has led here, any further pride or calculation is useless.

For the Witch Clan, for those countless lonely souls...

This price, I, Houtu, will pay!

She looked directly at Yang Chen, her deep eyes reflecting his excessively calm figure.

She knew that from this moment on, the initiative had completely and utterly shifted to the other party.

The next stage was one of being at the mercy of the victor.

She had laid bare her most core secret, the future of the entire Witch Clan, on this gambling table.

And the other party had not even wagered a single true chip yet.

"Then, may I ask, Fellow Daoist."

She spoke word by word, each one heavy, as if she were using all her strength to push an invisible boulder.

"What is the 'reward' you desire?"