From then on, the Ancestral Witches and the billions of members of the Witch Race in the Ancestral Land of Mount Buzhou noticed that the Time Ancestral Witch, Zhu Jiuyin, had changed completely.
In the past, although Zhu Jiuyin was the Time Ancestral Witch, his temperament had not been much different from that of the other Ancestral Witches. He had been just as fierce and boorish, impulsive and domineering. But after he had absorbed the memories of the hundreds of thousands of books in his mind, Zhu Jiuyin became an entirely different person.
His temperament gradually grew calm and detached, steady and measured. Combined with the nature of the Law of Time, it also gave him an air of profound mystery, as if he were impossible to fathom.
As I said, if they hadn't been able to sense the closeness and familiarity that came from Zhu Jiuyin's bloodline sharing the same origin as theirs, along with the Merit of Opening the Heavens that kept evil at bay and made him immune to all magic, Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches might have thought that some supreme expert had possessed Zhu Jiuyin!
In turn, this change in temperament meant that Zhu Jiuyin didn't tell the other Ancestral Witches everything he knew.
Pangu Hall could shield them from the senses of the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun, but the Ancestral Witches had to leave Pangu Hall from time to time. Given the other Ancestral Witches' temperaments, getting them to keep a secret would be incredibly difficult.
Now that it was clear the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun were targeting the Witch Race, and even intended to wipe it out entirely, Zhu Jiuyin felt that he couldn't be too cautious.
From that moment on, Zhu Jiuyin repeatedly urged the Witch Race to stop vying with the Demon Race for supremacy and to ignore the turmoil beyond the Ancestral Land of Mount Buzhou. They should simply lie low.
As one might expect, this suggestion was met with unanimous opposition from the other eleven Ancestral Witches, including Houtu. In fact, hardly anyone in the entire Witch Race supported him.
Zhu Jiuyin wasn't dejected or disappointed. As an Ancestral Witch, he understood all too well the beliefs of the other Ancestral Witches, and indeed, the entire Witch Race: We Ancestral Witches are of the Orthodox Pangu Lineage, Pangu's closest descendants. We bear the duty of eliminating the Primordial World's Turbid Qi and restoring its leylines, so our Witch Race naturally ought to rule the Primordial World.
Before, Zhu Jiuyin had shared that belief. But only after stepping beyond the Ancestral Witches' old way of thinking did he realize how laughable it was.
There was one fatal flaw in their reasoning: neither the Ancestral Witches nor the Witch Race as a whole seemed to have considered what they would do if the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun disagreed.
In the Ancestral Witches' eyes, they were of the Orthodox Pangu Lineage, born with an immense amount of Merit of Opening the Heavens. In the entire Primordial World, aside from the Three Pure Ones, there were no Innate Demon Gods with a better origin than theirs.
As long as they could defeat the Demon Race, then even if the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun were displeased, all they could do was watch helplessly as the Witch Race became the overlord of the Primordial World.
How should I put it? Perhaps only Houtu, hundreds of Yuanhui from now, would understand just how laughable the Witch Race's thinking was.
Seeing his advice and suggestions rejected by the Ancestral Witches, including Houtu, and by nearly the entire Witch Race, Zhu Jiuyin, whose temperament had already begun to change, didn't insist on persuading them. Instead, he tried a subtler, more effective approach: Fine, you won't listen to me. But what if I can predict the future course of the Primordial World accurately, every single time?
More often than not, facts spoke louder than words.
So when Zhu Jiuyin successively predicted that Hongjun would preach three times at the Purple Heaven Palace; that Zhun Ti and Jie Yin would swindle and seize Hong Yun and Kunpeng's Saint Positions; that the Witch Race would gain nothing from attending the lectures at the Purple Heaven Palace; that Nuwa, Fuxi, and Kunpeng would all join the Demon Race; and that Hongjun would take the Three Pure Ones and others as disciples and grant them Saint Positions, among a series of other major developments...
Even Dijiang, the most forceful of the Ancestral Witches; Zhurong, the most hot-tempered; and Gonggong, the most reckless, gradually began to take Zhu Jiuyin's predictions seriously and believe in them.
Throughout this process, Zhu Jiuyin continued to urge the Witch Race at every gathering to give up its struggle with the Demon Race for supremacy.
As ironclad facts kept proving Zhu Jiuyin right, Dijiang, the other Ancestral Witches, and the billions of members of the Witch Race gradually shifted from firmly rejecting his proposal that they abandon their struggle with the Demon Race to regarding it with growing uncertainty.
Only then did the Ancestral Witches, including Dijiang and Houtu, realize that Zhu Jiuyin must have seen something in the River of Time. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why his attitude toward the struggle between the Witch and Demon Races had changed so drastically.
Whether Ancestral Witches or ordinary members of the Witch Race, they simply lacked primordial spirits and couldn't divine the secrets of heaven. Combined with the influence of Turbid Qi, this made them seem rather dim-witted in the end. But that didn't mean that Dijiang, Zhurong, and the other members of the Witch Race were fools.
Could fools compete with Di Jun, Tai Yi, and countless trillions of demons for supremacy over the Primordial World?
The Ancestral Witches were straightforward by nature, so they naturally said whatever was on their minds.
But when Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches questioned him, Zhu Jiuyin settled all their inquiries and doubts with a single sentence: "It's all arranged by Father God!"
Well!
At that, even Dijiang, the leader of the Twelve Ancestral Witches, was left speechless.
It couldn't be helped. In principle, the Ancestral Witches shouldn't have been swayed by a single sentence from Zhu Jiuyin. The problem was, Zhu Jiuyin had the principle on his side now.
Of course, the most important reason was that Zhu Jiuyin had consistently proved himself right with ironclad facts.
Just imagine: if Zhu Jiuyin had said from the very beginning that it was all arranged by Father God, how many people, including the Ancestral Witches, would have believed him?
Principles were one thing, but facts were the foundation!
And once principle and fact came together, they formed an ironclad rule that could scarcely be overturned.
By this stage, the entire Witch Race was, in effect, ready to follow Zhu Jiuyin's advice and abandon its struggle with the Demon Race for supremacy!
But just then, Zhu Jiuyin changed his mind.
As if! Back when I'd earnestly tried to persuade you, not one of you believed me, and not one of you was willing to listen. Now ironclad facts have proved me right, and you think you can brush me off with a mere agreement to stop competing with the Demon Race?
Sorry, that was the price dozens of Yuanhui ago.
So Zhu Jiuyin raised the stakes: "I no longer just want you to agree to stop competing with the Demon Race. From now on, whenever the Witch Race makes a decision, I want the highest decision-making authority."
The moment Zhu Jiuyin made this demand, the Ancestral Witches present and the hundreds of Great Witches all turned to look at Dijiang.
Clearly, Zhu Jiuyin's words could almost be seen as a direct challenge to Dijiang, the leader of the Witch Race.
At that moment, Dijiang himself stared blankly and pointed at himself, thinking, Oh no, this is aimed at me.
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