Hou Yi's Unease, Firelight on the Horizon

Hou Yi led the group back to the Hou Tu Tribe.

Hou Tu was still in the Pangu Temple beneath Buzhou Mountain, so for now, all matters within the Hou Tu Tribe fell to him to resolve.

The Witch squad set down the elephant demon corpses they had brought back, and the other Witch squads that had gone out returned one after another.

Seeing the hundreds of elephant demon corpses behind Hou Yi, envy was written plainly on everyone's faces.

"Great Witch Hou Yi has quite the haul this time."

Hou Yi laughed heartily, speaking with a cheerful tone: "Yes, I happened to run into an Elephant Demon Group this time. We'll be eating well tonight!"

Among the Witch Race, food was not privately owned. All prey brought back from hunts went into the tribe's storehouse, only to be taken out when it was time to eat.

But since Hou Yi's catch was substantial this time, he decided to take out a portion first to reward everyone.

The pressure on those who had joined the Hou Tu Tribe was considerable, so this would also help them relax a little.

Indeed, the recent relative weakness of their Witch Race, coupled with the sharp decline in demon numbers across the Primordial Wilderness, had made their spirits increasingly tense.

Hearing Hou Yi's words, a faint smile appeared on everyone's faces.

Only Hou Yi, for some reason, suddenly felt a pang of unease in his heart.

He unconsciously cast his gaze toward the center of the Primordial Wilderness.

There, a towering peak that pierced heaven and earth stood, the sole connection between sky and ground.

This was Buzhou Mountain, which had stood in the Primordial Wilderness for countless years.

It was formed from Pangu's spine, the place of origin for their Witch Race, and the finest spot for all Witches to gaze upon the majesty of the great god Pangu.

At the foot of Buzhou Mountain lay their sacred ground, the Pangu Temple.

The Ancestral Witches were there now.

Hou Yi stared toward Buzhou Mountain for a long time, trying to calm the unease in his heart.

But no matter how much time passed, the turmoil in his chest only grew fiercer.

"Great Witch Hou Yi!"

A call roused Hou Yi from his unease.

Hou Yi looked at the person approaching.

"What is it?"

"The elephant demon meat has been cooked. Won't the Great Witch come and have a taste?"

"No need. You all eat. I'll go take a look around."

Since Hou Yi had said so, the other Witches left on their own to enjoy the meat.

As for Hou Yi, he carried the Divine Bow on his back and began patrolling around the tribe alone.

Their Hou Tu Tribe did not have many people. This was mainly because their Witch Race did not rely on natural reproduction like other races.

They depended on the Blood Pool in the Pangu Temple.

But even now, the Witch Race had not yet figured out how the Blood Pool worked.

All they knew was that the Blood Pool would periodically generate a batch of Witches.

These Witches would then be assigned to different tribes by the twelve Ancestral Witches.

Ancestral Witch Hou Tu preferred quiet and did not want to lead too many Witches, so each time Witches were distributed, she never asked for many new ones.

Thus, every Witch tribe had a small population, and their Hou Tu Tribe had even fewer.

For this reason, the territory of their Hou Tu Tribe was not very large either.

But though the population was small, every single Witch was an elite among elites.

Hou Yi made a full round and found nothing amiss.

Just as he was trying to reassure himself that the earlier unease might have been a mere illusion, a streak of firelight flashed across the sky.

That firelight instantly seized his attention.

Staring at the flame, Hou Yi even felt the temperature around him rise.

"Something's wrong!"

Hou Yi immediately shouted at the top of his voice.

This shout was meant to alert the other Witches in the tribe.

Hou Yi's voice was highly distinctive. As soon as it rang out, the entire Hou Tu Tribe stirred into motion.

"What's happened, Great Witch Hou Yi?"

A Witch rushed over, saw Hou Yi staring alone at the sky, and quickly asked.

Hou Yi had no mood to explain much and simply roared.

"Go have someone activate the Protecting Formation!"

Seeing the extreme seriousness on Hou Yi's face, the others dared not ask further. They hurried back and, following Hou Yi's orders, activated the Witch Clan Protecting Formation of their Hou Tu Tribe.

Soon, a light screen rose from the ground, forming a semi-circular lid that enveloped the entire Hou Tu Tribe.

Hou Yi relaxed slightly for the moment.

Their Witch Clan Protecting Formation was jointly created by the twelve Ancestral Witches; no existence below the Quasi-Sage level could possibly break it open!

At the same time, Hou Yi saw the fiery light in the sky suddenly stop.

It then transformed into twelve points of light, heading in different directions.

One of them was coming straight toward their Hou Tu Tribe.

Hou Yi's heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, this was aimed at their Witch Clan.

The directions of the other eleven points of light were also where the Witch Clan tribes were located!

But now Hou Yi couldn't spare a thought for the lives of others.

He never expected that his uneasy premonition would come true; Hou Yi wished he could slap himself twice.

Yet since things had come to this, thinking about it was useless.

Hou Yi reached behind his back, drew his Divine Bow, and swiftly shot an arrow toward the direction the point of light was charging in!

The Divine Arrow streaked across the sky with golden light.

But this time, the arrow that had never failed before met with defeat.

Hou Yi refused to believe it; this time, he shot nine arrows at once.

The golden light of the nine Divine Arrows nearly illuminated the entire sky!

This time, Hou Yi used all his strength!

He stared fixedly at his Divine Arrows and the point of light in the sky.

Soon, the two collided.

The golden light of the Divine Arrows burst open, mingling with the point of light, making it impossible to tell whose radiance it was.

This time, the point of light paused temporarily.

Hou Yi let out a relieved sigh.

But soon, the point of light advanced again, moving much faster, as if plummeting toward the ground.

Finally, just as the point of light was about to descend to the ground, Hou Yi made out its true form.

It was an army of the Demon Race!

Leading them were two Demon Gods!

One of them had nine heads and a body like a serpent.

The other had a head like a sparrow, a single horn, a leopard-patterned body, a snake's tail, and a deer's torso.

They were Nine Infants and Fei Lian, two of the ten great Demon Gods of the Demon Race.

After they descended, Hou Yi also saw his ten arrows.

One had struck one of Nine Infants' heads, while the other nine were embedded in the bodies of nine Demon Race Primordial Unity Golden Immortals.

Those nine Primordial Unity Golden Immortals had clearly lost all signs of life.

As soon as Nine Infants landed, he roared angrily, "Which damned brat did that! Come out and die!"

He then yanked Hou Yi's Divine Arrow from his head and threw it to the ground.

This Nine Infants was now also a Great Luo Golden Immortal Peak-level existence.

Though he hadn't severed a corpse, he wasn't far off.

So taking one of Hou Yi's arrows head-on only left him slightly injured, unlike those nine Primordial Unity Golden Immortals who died instantly.

Hou Yi naturally knew these Demon Race beings had no good intentions here, but he showed no fear.

He stepped forward and shouted from behind their Witch Clan Protecting Formation.

"It's your grandpa Hou Yi!"

As he shouted, he secretly instructed the Witch Clan within the tribe to prepare and organize for battle.

Although the Demon Race brought by Nine Infants and Fei Lian was numerous—roughly five times the population of their tribe at a glance—if it came to a real fight, their Ancestral Witches might not necessarily lose.

Nine Infants snorted coldly, the pain from one pierced head making him even more irritable.

"Striking from the shadows in the dark—your Witch Clan is truly vicious!"

Hou Yi shot back without restraint.

"Right back at you, not a patch on your Demon Race's cunning and treachery!"

Nine Infants burned with rage and was about to argue further with Hou Yi when Fei Lian stopped him.