Taiyi rushed to the Demon Court in a blaze of urgency.
The moment he saw the Southern Heavenly Gate smashed to pieces and Demon Clan members wailing across the ground—
Rage surged within him as he roared, "Witch Race..."
"Wait! Saving the demons comes first." Qing Xuanzi's voice was even louder than Taiyi's, and he added a little force to it.
Dijun and Taiyi, whose anger had been at its peak, strangely calmed down.
Looking more closely, they saw that everyone was wounded, but no one had died.
They immediately realized they had been set up. Both the Witch Race and the Demon Clan had been played.
In the primordial world, not everything could be said aloud, especially during such a sensitive time.
The Heavenly Dao had a little ledger, and it recorded every word.
By all reason, Taiyi should have gone on to say: The Demon Clan and the Witch Race shall never coexist.
But Qing Xuanzi had forcibly cut him off.
Once Dijun and Taiyi had calmed down, they cast Qing Xuanzi grateful looks.
"Speak. What happened?" Dijun grabbed the great demon who had delivered the message and asked in a low voice.
"Eastern Emperor, those barbarians heard that Your Majesty had gone to the Taiyin Star to seek a marriage alliance, so they came here to vent their anger."
Qing Xuanzi frowned and walked over. "Who said that? Or did you hear it yourself?"
"In reply to Sage Qing Xuanzi, I heard it with my own ears."
Qing Xuanzi found this matter extremely strange. The Demon Emperor was marrying a wife—what did that have to do with the Witch Race?
Everything about this reeked of a conspiracy.
He turned to Dijun and Taiyi. "The Demon Emperor and Eastern Emperor are busy, so I will not disturb you further. I will return and investigate this matter. I will certainly give the Demon Clan an explanation."
"Many thanks, Sage Qing Xuanzi."
Before leaving, Qing Xuanzi casually remarked as he passed Taiyi, "The Eastern Emperor Bell will be returned before long."
Before Taiyi could react, Qing Xuanzi vanished.
Nüwa paid no attention to Dijun and Taiyi and left on her own. She still had things to do.
She had already extracted a trace of the Heavenly Dao's origin. All that remained was to wait for Qing Xuanzi to cast his spell.
Dijun kept feeling that Qing Xuanzi's final remark had been strange, almost no different from meaningless nonsense.
But would Qing Xuanzi ever say something pointless?
The answer was obviously no.
Therefore, there had to be some hidden meaning in those words.
Qing Xuanzi appeared directly in the Ancestral Witch Land.
Without saying a word, he walked into Pangu Hall.
"Brother Qing Xuanzi is angry. Big Brother Dijiang, it's all your fault." Houtu spotted Qing Xuanzi at once, his face stern as he entered in a foul mood.
"Ah, it was my fault. I don't know what came over me then. My head got hot, and I charged in." Dijiang spoke somewhat dejectedly.
But Zhurong's words awakened them. "Perhaps it was Heaven's will. Brothers, don't you think so?"
"Heaven's will? Yes, yes, Heaven's will." Gonggong did not realize that Zhurong had spoken the truth directly. He merely took it as an excellent excuse and echoed him.
He did not stop to think that the Witch Race did not even possess primordial spirits. What Heaven's will could they possibly speak of?
As the Ancestor Witch of Time, Zhuo Jiuyin vaguely felt that Zhurong's words made a great deal of sense.
He called out, "Brothers, since Brother Qing Xuanzi has already come, if we were wrong, then we should go in and accept our punishment. We do not have primordial spirits, so how could we divine gains and losses?"
"Yes, yes. At worst, it's just a beating." After saying that, Zhurong stepped directly into Pangu Hall.
Yet after entering, he found that it was nothing like the Pangu Hall he remembered.
Everything was gray and hazy, with nothing in sight except a Daoist in green robes standing at the center.
"Huh? Brother Qing Xuanzi, where is the Blood Pool? Did I enter the wrong place?" Zhurong asked in astonishment.
Qing Xuanzi said nothing. He silently waited for all the Ancestor Witches to enter Pangu Hall.
"Wow, Brother Qing Xuanzi, how did you do this?" Houtu entered second. She looked around curiously, but could not make out Pangu Hall's usual appearance at all.
Dijiang, Xuan Ming, Zhuo Jiuyin, and the others entered one after another.
All of them were curious how Qing Xuanzi had managed it.
Not one of them worried that Qing Xuanzi might have ruined Pangu Hall.
"Everyone is in?" Qing Xuanzi said flatly.
Dijiang looked at all his brothers gathered there, stepped forward, and said, "Brother, I was too impulsive over this matter. I accept punishment."
"Accept punishment? How would I dare punish Ancestor Witch Dijiang?"
The Ancestor Witches could all hear that Qing Xuanzi was truly angry. He had never spoken to them in such a tone before.
"The Witch Race is Great God Pangu's only surviving bloodline in the primordial world. Do you know why I say that?"
"Because you inherited not only Pangu's blood essence, but also the Great Dao he carried."
"Do you know? The Witch Race stands at the brink of disaster. The day of your extermination is right before your eyes, yet you still act with such recklessness."
"How will you face Great God Pangu? If Pangu learned of this, he would surely be disappointed—perhaps even despairing!"
After venting his anger, Qing Xuanzi calmed himself before continuing slowly, "I originally thought that, in the primordial world, aside from humanity, the ones who could help me and put my mind at ease would be the Witch Race. I never expected you to be the first to drag me down."
"Great God Pangu once said that his descendants might lack primordial spirits in the future, and that I should look after you more."
"But from what I see, it is not merely that you lack primordial spirits. You practically lack brains. The Demon Clan calls you barbarians, and they are right."
"For example, this time, you heard one rumor, your heads got hot, and you charged in? What does the Demon Emperor marrying a wife have to do with you?"
"Do you know how the ferocious beasts went extinct? By acting exactly as you do—killing indiscriminately without asking right or wrong."
As he spoke, Qing Xuanzi's emotions rose again. The Ancestor Witches' actions were simply too barbaric. They never used their brains at all.
They did whatever popped into their heads.
He knew the Heavenly Dao was plotting behind this. At the same time, he knew that when the Heavenly Dao plotted against the Witch Race, it would not need to use its brain either.
Because the Heavenly Dao knew this trait of the Witch Race as well.
If the Ancestor Witches had used even a little thought, this would have been an excellent opportunity.
They could have used the Heavenly Dao's childishly transparent tricks to seek benefits for the Witch Race.
As long as they had even a little sense, it would have been easy.
After remaining silent for a long time, Qing Xuanzi sighed. "Brothers, perhaps my words today were a little harsh."
"Ah, Brother Qing Xuanzi, our Witch Race has wronged you. We have failed your painstaking efforts." Dijiang regretted it now, regretted that burst of impulsiveness.
He regretted not taking Qing Xuanzi's words—impulsiveness is the devil—to heart.
"Enough, Big Brother Dijiang, brothers. The Witch Race truly does not have much time left. If you listen to me, I will set rules today. If you do not, I will leave at once."
Qing Xuanzi spoke. He felt that rules were needed to restrain them. Otherwise, once everything reached the point where it could no longer be controlled, it would be too late.
"Brother Qing Xuanzi, say no more. We will listen to you. Today, I swear before Father God Pangu: if I violate Qing Xuanzi's rules, I shall never return to Father God's embrace."
The other Ancestor Witches also swore their oaths.
For the Ancestor Witches, swearing before Great God Pangu that they would never return to Pangu's embrace was the harshest oath possible.
Qing Xuanzi nodded in satisfaction and said, "In that case..."
Before he could finish, he suddenly cursed, "Heavenly Dao, shameless bastard! Can't you feel comfortable unless you stir up trouble?"
Before you continue