Lu Jun's question was like thunder from the Ninth Heaven, exploding deep within Houtu's consciousness.
That sentence—"Can you represent the entire Witch Race?"—carried an icy edge, piercing straight through her earlier, unhesitating promise and striking the reality she least wished to face.
Houtu fell silent.
Her enormous body seemed to solidify into an ancient boulder amid the Chaos Gas Flow.
Those eyes, once filled with hope and wisdom, were now shrouded in heavy gloom and unprecedented alarm.
Lu Jun's question was like a key, instantly opening the floodgates of understanding she had deliberately avoided regarding the Witch Race's nature.
Was the Witch Race worthy of trust?
Big Brother Di Jiang's ambition and tyranny, his declaration that the Prehistoric World was the Witch Race's hunting ground, still rang in her ears.
Zhu Rong's fiery violence, Gong Gong's untamable arrogance, She Bishi's vindictiveness...
Could those marks branded deep into their bloodline truly be erased by a single sentence from her: "They are worthy of trust"?
Golden Crow Patrols the Sky, Ten Suns Across the Sky, scorching the land and leaving countless Witch Race members dead and wounded—the blood-deep enmity had long fused into the marrow of every Great Witch and Lesser Wu.
The flames of hatred could never be extinguished by a single strategic concession. They were more like a volcano forcibly suppressed; once it gained greater power, its eruption would only become more terrifying!
She could even clearly "see" what Di Jiang, Zhu Rong, and the others would do if the Witch Race gained the blessing of Earthly Dao Fortune and its strength surged because she became Incarnation Reincarnation.
They would see it as the favor of Pangu Father God, as a heaven-sent opportunity for the Witch Race to completely dominate the Prehistoric World!
They would see the Demon Race's retreat as weakness, as the perfect chance to settle all old scores and erase the Demon Race from the Great Desolation Landscape!
Bullying others with their power!
Exterminating them completely!
Lu Jun's worries were not baseless. That was almost certainly where the Witch Race would head under the instinctive drive of its bloodline!
Could she represent the entire Witch Race?
The thought filled Houtu with a bone-deep chill and helplessness.
She was one of the Twelve Ancestral Witches and held a lofty position, but the Witch Race was not ruled by one voice.
Major decisions, especially those involving their relationship with a mortal enemy like the Demon Race, required discussion among the Twelve Ancestral Witches and even the support of many Great Witches.
Di Jiang's prestige, Qiang Liang's valor, Xuanming's cold severity...
Which one of them would easily abandon their hostility toward the Demon Race?
Which one would accept peacefully coexisting with their "sworn enemies"?
She, Houtu, might possess compassion, but that was precisely why she was one of the relatively "gentle" members among the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
When it came to the fundamental interests of her race and blood-deep vengeance, her voice seemed so weak.
She could not represent them!
That realization was like a heavy millstone, crushing the faint hope that had just arisen.
She could not even persuade the other Ancestral Witches to stop pursuing the Demon Race. How could she guarantee that, after she became Incarnation Reincarnation and the Witch Race rose to power, they would not become even more ruthless?
Her so-called guarantee was as pale as a phantom before the cruel will of the race and the instincts of their bloodline.
Having understood all this, Houtu's gaze toward Lu Jun changed completely.
The shock and admiration had not vanished, but they sank deeper, replaced by profound understanding born of shared feeling.
At last, she understood where Lu Jun's deep hesitation and the heavy indecision in his eyes came from.
This was not merely concern for her personal destiny. It was a terrifying projection of the entire Great Desolation Landscape, the struggle between the Heavenly Dao and Earthly Dao, and the survival or destruction of countless living beings!
Lu Jun bore Karma ten thousand times heavier than she had imagined.
He had to worry not only about Dao Ancestor Hongjun's Heavenly Dao backlash and the possibility of implicating the entire Demon Race.
He also had to worry that the Earthly Dao power he had kindly guided into growth would instead become the Witch Race's butcher's blade against the Demon Race, a tool for Heavenly Dao Hongjun to kill with another's hand and accelerate the collapse of the Prehistoric World!
That insight and foresight filled Houtu with reverence even amid her alarm.
"How can I make the Sixth Prince believe in my Witch Race?"
Houtu's voice lowered, carrying unprecedented solemnity and a faint, nearly imperceptible plea.
She no longer tried to make empty promises. Instead, she sought a practical path forward.
She knew that words alone were worthless. Before the terrifying future Lu Jun had revealed, only tangible action could pry open the heavy gates of trust.
Lu Jun watched the complicated light flickering in Houtu's eyes. The Nascent Star blinking at his fingertips seemed to stabilize slightly.
He slowly spoke. His voice remained hoarse, yet it carried an undeniable clarity:
"If you want me to believe you, then at the very least, you must be qualified to persuade the Witch Race to stop the war."
"Not a temporary concession, not a strategic withdrawal, but a genuine consensus for a ceasefire—at least a long-term one."
"You need to let Emperor Di Jun and Lord Tai Yi see the clear desire for peace from the Witch Race's highest ranks, or at least from most of the Ancestral Witches."
"That is the foundation, the minimum threshold for proving that the Witch Race's future actions might be controllable."
He paused. The star at his fingertips began to revolve faster, as though he were deducing countless variables.
"As for what comes next... whether I should tell you the secret of Reincarnation, and how to help you perfect the Earthly Dao without triggering an even greater disaster, I still need to think it over."
"After all, this matter is of tremendous importance. A single move could affect everything. I need time, and I need to see more possibilities."
Houtu lowered her enormous head slightly and fell into thought.
Persuading the Witch Race to stop the war?
The difficulty was no different from making Buzhou Mountain bow its head.
But she understood that this was indeed the only starting point that could allow Lu Jun to see even a sliver of possibility.
This was something she had to attempt—for Reincarnation, for all living beings, and for another possible future for the Witch Race.
"I understand. I will persuade the Witch Race. I will do everything in my power to make them understand the stakes."
Houtu's voice carried the resolve of one willing to smash the cauldrons and sink the boats. She raised her head, her gaze firm.
This was her responsibility. As an Ancestral Witch, as a great being who cared for all living beings, this was a step she had to take.
Lu Jun stared at her. He did not immediately respond to her determination. Instead, softly, as though bearing the weight of a thousand mountains, he asked the final and most fatal question:
"What if you cannot persuade them?"
Houtu's enormous body suddenly shuddered, as though struck by an invisible sledgehammer.
The huge eyes that had just ignited with a trace of resolute fire were instantly swallowed by blankness and bottomless confusion.
Could not persuade them?
That possibility was like the coldest Nether Cold Spring, instantly extinguishing the courage she had just gathered and dragging her into an even darker abyss.
Yes, what if... she could not persuade them?
Big Brother Di Jiang's stubbornness, Zhu Rong's violence, her people's marrow-deep hatred for the Demon Race... the hope of success had always been as faint as a dying candle in the wind.
If she gave everything she had and gambled all she possessed to persuade them, only to receive the cold rejection of the Ancestral Witch Council—or even Di Jiang's disappointed rebuke and Zhu Rong's furious roar...
What would she do then?
The Great Dao of Reincarnation lay right before her, and the wails of countless vengeful souls seemed to echo in her ears, yet her own race held her back so tightly that she could not move a single step!
Becoming Incarnation Reincarnation was her only path to salvation, yet it might utterly turn to nothing because she could not restrain her own people.
It might even bring about an even more terrifying calamity, just as Lu Jun had foretold...
She could not give up Reincarnation!
It was the mission granted to her by the Pangu bloodline, the instinct driven by her compassionate heart!
But if the Witch Race insisted on war, then her sacrifice and her Reincarnation might ultimately become a catalyst accelerating the Demon Race's destruction and even causing the Three Daos of the Prehistoric World to completely lose balance!
Then was she, Houtu, a savior—or an accomplice to the world's destruction?
Nor could she betray the Witch Race!
They were the root of her bloodline, her brothers and sisters!
She could not imagine standing against the will of her entire race.
Two utterly opposing yet equally immense forces tore and collided madly within the depths of her soul.
On one side were countless beings desperately awaiting salvation, and the future of Great Desolation Heaven and Earth.
On the other was the race bound to her by blood, sharing honor and disgrace, and the bond forged by the Twelve Ancestral Witches fighting side by side for hundreds of millions of years.
The overwhelming sense of contradiction nearly tore her apart.
Her heart had never been so chaotic as it was now.
It was as though countless voices screamed and argued within her sea of consciousness. Sensing the monstrous waves in her heart, the Chaos Gas Flow churned and roared violently around her, forming a domain of chaotic storms.
Within that turbulent storm, her enormous figure appeared more lonely, lost, and helpless than ever before.
"I... I don't know either. But... I will give it everything I have!"
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