The Human Heart is Like Water, Moving Like Smoke; Correction Must Start from the Top

It must be said that Zhu Jiuyin's warning was entirely correct.

The saying goes, "The human heart is like water, and the movements of the people are like smoke." Human nature is complex, and human behavior is influenced by the heart; thus, when the heart changes, behavior naturally follows.

When enough people change, a collective will is formed.

As the Ancestral Witches experienced a transformation in their foundations and a massive surge in strength after receiving Great Dao Merit, their mindsets became arrogant. Naturally, the Great Witches below them and the billions of the Witch Race followed suit.

Their logic was simple.

Since the Ancestral Witches had obtained Great Dao Merit and transformed their foundations, the time for them to achieve the status of Wu Saint could not be far off.

By then, the Witch Race would possess twelve Wu Saints—twelve powerhouses at the Hunyuan level.

Consider that Hongjun only distributed six strands of Grandmist Violet Qi in Purple Heaven Palace. Even if all six recipients became Sages, that would only be six, would it not?

Under such circumstances, even adding the Dao Ancestor Hongjun himself, that would only be seven.

Taking a step back, even if one Hongjun could match three Sages, that would only be equivalent to nine Ancestral Witches.

Twelve against nine—the advantage was theirs!

With this mentality, the mindset of the billions of the Witch Race shifted.

Why had the Witch Race chosen to lie low in the past?

Aside from the fact that they truly did not wish to absorb turbid energy and were hostile toward the creatures of the Primordial World, was the most important reason not that they could not defeat Hongjun?

Now that they could clearly see the trend of the Witch Race surpassing Hongjun, why should they continue to lie low?

After all, if Hongjun were beaten into the dirt by them, what did it matter if the creatures of the Primordial World were hostile? If they could not defeat the Witches, they would naturally have no choice but to submit obediently.

If they lay low before the Great Dao Merit descended, and they still lay low after it arrived, would that merit not have been for nothing?

How about that? It sounded quite correct, and it looked quite promising, too.

As long as everything went according to plan, the Witch Race could still dominate the Primordial World.

And so, this line of thought spread rapidly among the billions of the Witch Race.

Had it not been for Zhu Jiuyin's timely discovery and warning, once this ideology had been accepted by the vast majority of the Witch Race, all of Zhu Jiuyin's calculations would have come to nothing.

At that point, even if Zhu Jiuyin strictly ordered the Witch Race not to emerge, it would have been useless.

The billions of the Witch Race below would have agreed on the surface at best, while secretly thinking: "To hell with lying low, the Witch Race shall dominate the Primordial World!"

Do not think such a thing could not happen.

Think back to the Investiture of the Gods era, when Tongtian ordered his disciples to seal their caves and quietly recite the 'Yellow Court'. Did those disciples listen?

They went to their deaths one by one, and in the end, they even dragged Tongtian down with them.

The same applied to Zhu Jiuyin.

Once the mindset of the billions of the Witch Race had completely changed and they remained intent on dominating the Primordial World, what could Zhu Jiuyin do?

If he intervened, they would simply follow the old path of the Witch Race from the myths; the Ancestral Witches would die as they were destined to, and the Witch Race would be annihilated.

No, this time it would be even more miserable than in the myths.

After all, in the myths, Houtu was still alive, and she had taken several Great Witches with her. But if the Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race caused such a massive stir this time, Hongjun would likely exterminate them all.

After all, the threat the Ancestral Witches and the Witch Race posed to the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun was far greater than in the myths!

And if he did not intervene, he would be watching them walk to their deaths.

As an Ancestral Witch, as the highest leadership of the Witch Race, enjoying the reverence of billions of the Witch Race daily, how could he show his face in the Primordial World if he did not step up at a critical moment?

As the top leadership of a faction, you can be evil, you can even be stupid, but you absolutely cannot be spineless.

One only needs to compare Tongtian and the Jade Emperor from the myths to understand this.

For the sake of his disciples, Tongtian risked the destruction of the Primordial World and cast aside his Sage status to fight the four Sages to the death, leaving behind a legacy of fame that would be praised for generations.

The Jade Emperor could not even protect his own sister and daughter. Despite being the Lord of the Three Realms and a powerhouse at the peak of the Quasi-Sage realm—an existence so transcendent that even Sages had to treat him as an equal—hardly any great power respected him. In the later stages, even any random person felt they could compete with him for the Jade Emperor's throne.

When the resolution jointly made by Zhu Jiuyin and the eleven Ancestral Witches was communicated throughout the Witch Race, the budding trend of thought was immediately suppressed.

Zhu Jiuyin had, after all, read over a million modern books.

He did not act as Dijiang had when managing the Witch Race, demanding absolute and unconditional obedience from the billions of the Witch Race simply because a resolution had been made at the top.

He simply had Houtu and Tianwu broadcast his conversation with the other Ancestral Witches in the Ancestral Witch Hall directly to the entire Witch Race.

"Second Brother, why go to such trouble? We could have just ordered the boys to continue lying low. Why make such a fuss, even revealing so many things from the Ancestral Witch Hall?"

Zhurong did not understand.

Of course, this had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he felt embarrassed that his admission of fault to Zhu Jiuyin during the meeting in the Ancestral Witch Hall had been leaked.

Zhu Jiuyin smiled faintly, his tone gentle: "Zhurong, are you feeling a bit embarrassed? Especially in front of the billions of the Witch Race boys?"

Zhurong turned bright red instantly: "No, not at all, absolutely not!"

Zhu Jiuyin did not continue to bicker with Zhurong over whether he felt embarrassed or not. He continued: "Zhurong, you must understand that there are actually many clansmen who, like you before, have had their mindsets drift, thinking that Hongjun is nothing special and that the Witch Race should take action.

Under such circumstances, relying solely on coercive orders cannot truly curb this line of thought."

Therefore, what we must do now is first awaken our lads from their haze of arrogance and conceit. We must make them deeply understand that our opponent is unprecedentedly powerful and the enemy is by no means simple; otherwise, the Witch Race will surely pay an absolutely tragic price.

However, merely informing the lads of this is not enough. It is also necessary for the higher-ups, who hold more authority than them, to recognize their mistakes, thereby letting them know that even an Ancestral Witch must admit it when they are wrong.

Since even an Ancestral Witch can make mistakes and must correct past errors, shouldn't you ordinary members of the Witch Race also learn to admit your faults and correct your past shortcomings?

Admitting and correcting mistakes is far more effective and impactful when starting from the top rather than the bottom.

Zhurong felt his head buzzing. He couldn't help but think, That's not right. I remember that the turbid energy in my body had been basically cleared out. Why does my brain feel like a pig's brain compared to Second Brother's now?!

Could it be that I was always dumber than Second Brother? Impossible, absolutely impossible!

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