"So, if the Witch Race enters the Mysterious Yellow World, I will take my place there as well and govern Mysterious Yellow Samsara. The fate of the Witch Race cannot rest in any outsider's hands... not even yours!"
Yellow Dragon froze.
He looked at Houtu's solemn face, blinked, then blinked again.
A mixture of amusement and exasperation welled up in his chest, and he nearly laughed aloud.
So Houtu had assumed all along that the fallback he had prepared for the Witch Race was the Mysterious Yellow World.
From the start, she had been negotiating with him, offering the Witch Race's withdrawal from the contest for Human Emperor in exchange for their right to live in the Mysterious Yellow World, and proposing to govern reincarnation there herself to counterbalance his influence over them.
It was a complete negotiating strategy, airtight and perfectly reasonable.
The problem was that he had never intended to put the Witch Race into the Mysterious Yellow World in the first place.
"Your Majesty," Yellow Dragon said, a trace of laughter still lingering in his voice, "who said I wanted the Witch Race to enter the Mysterious Yellow World? Who said I wanted to control their fate?"
Houtu's brows drew together slightly. Beside her, Zhurong looked equally puzzled, and the beast fire above his head flickered twice.
Yellow Dragon straightened his robes and composed himself, then said solemnly, "Your Majesty, you just said that the Witch Race's fate cannot rest in any outsider's hands. I agree completely."
"That is why this disciple has prepared two paths for the Witch Race."
Two!
Houtu's eyes, which reflected the reincarnation of all living beings, widened for an instant.
She thought of how she, a Sage presiding over the Underworld, had used her power to calculate countless heavenly secrets before finding