However you looked at it, the spread and invasion of Turbid Qi was still in its infancy at this stage.
For the vast Primordial World, it was basically like tossing a handful of sand into the ocean.
But Turbid Qi was to the Primordial World what the flu was to human society.
Both started out affecting only a small number of people or living beings. But if you let them spread unchecked, then, just as every outbreak of flu would sweep through all of human society at terrifying speed, once Turbid Qi fully developed, it would spread and invade far faster than any living being in the Primordial World expected.
So, at least for now, after thirty thousand years of development, Turbid Qi still seemed to have had only a very slight impact on the Primordial World.
But its spread and invasion grew exponentially. Stretch the time scale to three hundred thousand years, or even a million, and it would inevitably become a disaster sweeping across the Primordial World.
For now, let's shift our view to the Ancestral Land of the Witch Race.
One had to admit that all living beings were fundamentally lazy and averse to work, even the Witch Race, who fought against Heaven and Earth.
Or rather, if you could live well just by lying around, who the hell would want to work?
At first, most of the Witch Race, including the Ancestral Witches, weren't used to it.
They couldn't help it. It was like a workhorse who'd been pulling twelve-hour shifts six days a week suddenly having nothing to do.
But after a few days in that state, it was simply too wonderful.
The Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race were just like that.
From then on, they no longer had to deal with the rights and wrongs of the outside world, nor did they have to face the hostility and rejection of non-Witch Race beings.
Of course, most importantly, the Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race could finally stop shouldering the duty of absorbing Turbid Qi.
Because of its nature, whenever an ordinary member of the Witch Race or an Ancestral Witch absorbed Turbid Qi, they suffered a pain that cut to the bone and even reached into their souls.
And to ease that pain, they could only use the qi and blood of other living beings to counteract it.
So, in essence, the reason the Witch Race hunted so many demonic beasts and even members of the Demon Race was that demonic beasts, members of the Demon Race, even every blade of grass and every tree—all living things, to some degree, represented the vitality and fortune of Heaven and Earth.
At its heart, the Witch Race hunted those demonic beasts and members of the Demon Race to use the vitality and fortune bestowed by Heaven and Earth to fight the Turbid Qi, which represented destruction and ruin.
But now, once the Witch Race gave up their duty of absorbing the Turbid Qi of Heaven and Earth, they naturally no longer had to endure the pain that came with it.
At once, from the Ancestral Witches down to ordinary members of the Witch Race, they all felt a comfort they had never known before.
It was truly pitiful. From the moment they were born until now, even the Ancestral Witches had hardly known a single good day.
Or rather, from the moment they gained consciousness, everyone in the Witch Race, from the Ancestral Witches down to the ordinary members, had absorbed the Turbid Qi of Heaven and Earth every single day. That meant they hadn't gone even one day without enduring that pain that cut to the bone and reached into their souls.
That was why the Witch Race acted rashly and domineeringly, like a band of reckless brutes. They were in so much pain that living beings naturally had little energy left to think about anything.
That was also why the Witch Race weren't afraid of death. For those who had to endure pain every day, death might have been a kind of release.
But since absorbing Turbid Qi had been a duty given to the Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race by Pangu before he created Heaven and Earth, the Witch Race—who had always treated Pangu's will as a supreme decree—had never slacked off, not even for a single day.
But now, Zhu Jiuyin had somehow traveled to the lower reaches of the River of Time and, even more luckily, glimpsed the Witch Race's future. Naturally, everything was different.
It came back to the same question: why should they?
We, the Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race, had been easing the greatest hidden danger in the Primordial World and bearing it on behalf of the Primordial World's living beings.
And yet neither the Primordial World nor its living beings had ever treated the Witch Race kindly.
"Just because it's always been this way, does that make it right?"
That was a line Zhu Jiuyin had seen in those million modern books, and he thought it was profound.
"And I think Father God Pangu would feel heartache if he could see everything the Witch Race has been through. He said the Witch Race were his children too—and the most filial ones at that!"
"So, was it because Father God couldn't bear to watch that I was granted that miraculous journey through time?"
Seeing that the Witch Race's greatest worry had vanished and their tragic future seemed to have passed, Zhu Jiuyin settled down and thought deeply. He couldn't help murmuring to himself.
What Zhu Jiuyin didn't know was that after thirty thousand years of living at ease, from the Ancestral Witches down to ordinary members of the Witch Race, they had all come to submit to him wholeheartedly as their new leader.
In any world or form of society, being able to lead your people to a good life carried a natural sense of righteousness and authority.
Once the billions of members of the Witch Race no longer had to shoulder the duty of absorbing Turbid Qi—and, more importantly, no longer had to endure the pain of absorbing it—their personalities grew much more cheerful and lively.
If beings from the outside world could see the state of the billions of members of the Witch Race now, they would definitely rub their eyes in disbelief.
Everything was different. It was all different.
Once the Witch Race had set down the greatest burden weighing on their heads, even the Witch Race, who had always been considered brainless, began to enjoy thinking.
The Witch Race were the native beings closest to the laws of the Primordial World. Once they were no longer affected by Turbid Qi, their advantage in comprehending and controlling the laws finally burst forth.
Zhu Jiuyin had already noticed for himself that, over the past thirty thousand years, the Witch Race had cultivated no more slowly than they used to in a hundred thousand years.
By that reckoning, their cultivation speed had more than tripled.
More importantly, this was only the beginning.
Zhu Jiuyin discovered that, once the Witch Race stopped absorbing the Turbid Qi of Heaven and Earth, the Turbid Qi already inside their bodies slowly began to be digested by their flesh.
As the Turbid Qi within them diminished—or rather, as it slowly merged into their flesh and blood—the Turbid Qi that had shrouded and covered their souls also began to dissipate.
This discovery left not only Zhu Jiuyin stunned, but also Dijiang, Houtu, and the other Ancestral Witches, who could barely contain themselves.
"Father God above, if things keep going like this, could our Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race one day give birth to Primordial Spirits too?!"
That was Houtu's cry of astonishment.
But that cry struck Zhu Jiuyin's soul like a bolt of thunder, suddenly making him understand many things.
For example, why, in the myths of the Primordial World, Houtu had not only survived after sacrificing herself to create Reincarnation, but had also given birth to a Primordial Spirit and attained the honored position of Spokesperson of the Earthly Dao!
Before you continue