I had to admit, Zhu Jiuyin's warning was absolutely right.
As the saying went, "The human heart is like water; the people's movements, like smoke." Human nature was complex, and people's behavior was shaped by their hearts. So when their hearts changed, their behavior naturally changed with them.
When enough people changed, they formed a collective will.
The Ancestral Witches had gained Great Dao Merit during this time, transforming their innate foundations and greatly increasing their strength. Their heads had started to swell, and the Great Witches below them, along with the countless members of the Witch Race beneath them, naturally felt the same way.
Their thinking was simple enough.
The Ancestral Witch Lords had gained Great Dao Merit and transformed their innate foundations. Surely it wouldn't be long before they became Wu Saints.
By then, the Witch Race would have a full twelve Wu Saints—that meant twelve experts in the Hunyuan Realm!
Just think: Hongjun had distributed only six strands of Grandmist Violet Qi at Purple Heaven Palace. Even if all six recipients became Sages, that would still only make six, right?
Even adding Dao Ancestor Hongjun to the tally would bring the number to only seven.
And even if Hongjun were worth three Sages, that would still only be the equivalent of nine Ancestral Witches.
Twelve against nine—we have the advantage!
With that in mind, the countless members of the Witch Race began to change their attitudes.
Why had the Witch Race been content to lie low before?
Apart from the fact that they truly didn't want to absorb Turbid Qi, or to face the hostility of the Primordial World's living beings, wasn't the most important reason that they couldn't beat Hongjun?
Now that it looked as though the Witch Race was on the verge of surpassing Hongjun, why should they keep lying low?
After all, if they could beat Hongjun to the ground, then what if the living beings of the Primordial World hated them? They couldn't beat the Witch Race, so they'd have no choice but to submit obediently.
Before the Great Dao Merit descended, we lay low. After it descended, we still lay low. Wouldn't that make the Great Dao Merit a waste?
How did that sound? Quite reasonable, wasn't it? And it looked like a lovely prospect, too.
As long as everything went according to plan, the Witch Race could still dominate the Primordial World.
So this way of thinking quickly spread throughout the countless members of the Witch Race.
If Zhu Jiuyin hadn't spotted it and issued a timely warning, then once the vast majority of the Witch Race accepted this mindset, all his plans would have come to nothing.
By then, even if Zhu Jiuyin ordered the Witch Race to stay out of the world, it would be useless.
The countless members below would agree to his face at most, then secretly think: "Lie low or not, the Witch Race is going to dominate the Primordial World!"
Don't think this sort of thing couldn't happen.
Think of the Investiture of the Gods era. Master Tongtian ordered his disciples to shut their cave gates and quietly recite the Yellow Court. Did those disciples listen?
They were still sent out one after another, until in the end, they even dragged Master Tongtian into the fray.
The same would happen to Zhu Jiuyin.
Once the countless members of the Witch Race had completely changed their attitudes and still wanted to dominate the Primordial World, what could Zhu Jiuyin do?
If he intervened, then they would still follow the same old path as the Witch Race in the myths: the Ancestral Witches would die, and the Witch Race would be destroyed.
No, this time it would be even worse than in the myths.
After all, Houtu was still alive in the myths, and she had taken a few Great Witches with her. But if the Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race stirred up this much trouble this time, Hongjun would probably wipe them out to the last one!
Who could blame him, when the Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race posed a far greater threat to the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun than they had in the myths?
And if Zhu Jiuyin did nothing, he would be forced to watch them march to their deaths.
As an Ancestral Witch, as one of the Witch Race's highest leaders, he enjoyed the respect of countless members of the Witch Race every day. If he failed to step forward when it mattered, would he still have the nerve to show his face in the Primordial World?
As the leader of a faction, you could be wicked, or even foolish, but you absolutely couldn't be a coward.
Just compare Tongtian and the Jade Emperor in the myths and you'd understand.
For the sake of his disciples, Tongtian was willing to fight the four great Sages to the death, even at the cost of destroying the Primordial World and losing his Sage status. His name, Master Tongtian, became a legend that would be passed down for generations.
The Jade Emperor couldn't even protect his own sister and daughter. He was the nominal ruler of the Three Realms, an expert at the peak of the Quasi-Sage realm, a transcendent being whom even the Sages were supposed to treat as an equal. And yet almost no great power thought much of him. In the later years, it even got to the point where anyone thought they could take a shot at the Jade Emperor's throne.
When the decision made jointly by Zhu Jiuyin and the eleven other Ancestral Witches was announced throughout the Witch Race, the nascent tide of thought was immediately suppressed.
Zhu Jiuyin had read over a million modern books, after all.
Unlike when Dijiang had managed the Witch Race in the past, he didn't demand that the countless members obey without question simply because their leaders had made a decision.
He merely had Houtu and Tianwu spread the conversation he'd had with the other Ancestral Witches in the Ancestral Witch Hall throughout the entire Witch Race.
"Second Brother, why go to all this trouble? Just order the warriors to keep lying low. Why make such a big deal of it, even letting out so much of what happened in the Ancestral Witch Hall?"
Zhurong was baffled.
Of course, that had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he felt embarrassed knowing word had spread of his admitting he was wrong to Zhu Jiuyin during the Ancestral Witches' discussion.
Zhu Jiuyin smiled faintly, his voice gentle. "Zhurong, you're feeling embarrassed, aren't you? Especially in front of the countless warriors of the Witch Race?"
Zhurong's face turned red. "No, I'm not! Absolutely not!"
Zhu Jiuyin didn't keep arguing with Zhurong about whether or not he felt embarrassed. He continued, "Zhurong, you have to understand. Just like you before, there are plenty of members of the Witch Race whose heads have swelled, who think Hongjun is nothing special and that the Witch Race should take action.
"In this situation, forced orders alone can't truly suppress this way of thinking.
"So what we need to do now is first wake our warriors from their fog of arrogance and make them understand deeply that their opponent is stronger than ever, and their enemy is no pushover. Otherwise, the Witch Race will pay a devastating price.
"But simply telling them this isn't enough. The leaders they consider more authoritative must also recognize their mistakes, so they understand that even an Ancestral Witch has to admit when he's wrong.
"If even the Ancestral Witches make mistakes and have to correct their past errors, then shouldn't you ordinary members of the Witch Race also learn to admit your mistakes and fix your old habits?
"Admitting and correcting mistakes from the top down is far more effective—and sinks far deeper—than trying to start from the bottom."
Zhurong's head was spinning. He couldn't help thinking again: Wait, wasn't the Turbid Qi in my body almost completely cleared away? So why does my brain feel like pig's brains next to Second Brother's?!
Could it be that I was just dumber than Second Brother to begin with? Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Before you continue