Yet the even more suffocating pressure did not come from Tongtian.
It came from Hongjun Daozu, high in the heavens, who had been watching everything all along.
Hongjun's projection showed no flicker of emotion at Tongtian's arrival.
His indifferent gaze remained fixed on Houtu, while the will of the Heavenly Dao tightened around her primordial spirit, layer upon layer of invisible shackles.
That cold will of the Heavenly Dao reverberated deep within Houtu's heart.
If she refused to bow her head, heavenly punishment would descend!
Not only would her Wu Clan be destroyed, but Ye Xuan and Tongtian, who stood before her in protection, would also be swept into an abyss of eternal ruin.
Houtu looked at her elder brother coughing up blood in the distance, then at Ye Xuan and Tongtian Jiaozhu standing before her.
A glimmer of anguished resolve flashed in her eyes.
To preserve the Wu Clan, to preserve Ye Xuan.
Houtu drew a deep breath, straightened her back, and looked directly at Hongjun Daozu in the heavens. At last, she gritted her teeth and yielded.
"I have understood the will of the Heavenly Dao." Houtu's voice carried a desolate, tragic dignity.
She raised her right hand and swore a solemn oath before the Heavenly Dao: "Great Dao above! I, Pingxin, hereby swear that henceforth, I shall never take a single step beyond the Netherworld!"
As the oath rang out, a mournful, ghostly wind swept through the Netherworld Underworld. Di Jiang and the other Ancestral Wu stared with eyes nearly splitting in fury, yet they were powerless to change anything.
With the oath sworn, the oppressive force of the Heavenly Dao finally began to fade. Hongjun Daozu's projection nodded slightly, acknowledging the outcome.
Before leaving, Hongjun gave Ye Xuan, that unpredictable anomaly, a long look, his gaze