Houtu looked at Lu Chen with a complicated expression.
He had said the Witch Clan would lose. Though she found it difficult to believe, even in a favorable battle, there was no guarantee they would not capsize in the gutter.
Perhaps the Demon Race had some hidden trump card, but what she could not understand was that the Demon Race would not win either.
When two clans fought, there had to be a victor, didn't there?
"Primordial World supremacy has never had a winner. Think of the Dragon-Han Cataclysm. Back then, the Dragon-Phoenix-Qilin Tribes respectively occupied the earth, the skies, and the seas. Their subordinate races were countless. Ancestral Dragon, Origin Phoenix, and Primordial Qilin—there was no such thing as a Sage then, yet each of them stood supreme over the Primordial World. Each possessed towering ambition. But what was the result?
"The Dragon Clan guards the Four Seas, burdened with towering Karmic Sin and fading by the day. The Phoenix Clan guards Southern Li Volcano, while the Qilin Clan has now left scarcely any trace within the Primordial World.
"Tell me, which of them could be called a victor?"
Houtu fell silent.
Of course, they knew the fate of the Three Clans. At that time, the Three Clans' power had spread throughout the Primordial World. Had they not fallen, she and her brothers and sisters would likely still be huddled inside Pangu Hall.
Not to mention claiming such vast territory as they had now.
If the Three Clans had not been defeated, those two three-legged crows on the Solar Star should now have been members of the avian race, charging into battle for the Phoenix Clan.
"The era is different now. They were three clans contending for supremacy. If one clan exceeded the other two in strength, the remaining two would join forces. The three clans balanced one another, but now there are only our Witch-Demon Tribes... Wait, if both of us lose, then could the ultimate victor be the Asura founded by Minghe?"
As Houtu spoke, a possibility suddenly surfaced in her mind. She murmured to herself, finding her own idea increasingly convincing.
"Then before the war begins, we must first destroy Minghe's Asura Clan."
Lu Chen fell completely silent. She would rather believe that the Asura Minghe had created by imitating the Human Race could dominate the Primordial World than believe the Human Race personally created by Nuwa could do so?
"Thank you for the warning."
"No..."
"If it isn't the Asura, who else could it be? It can't possibly be the Human Race, can it? Though the Human Race has recently pioneered Martial Dao, discovered fire, made clothing, and built houses, causing quite a stir, they even somehow awakened the Human Dao.
"But the Human Race's foundation is too poor. Moreover, after several generations of inheritance from the innate Human Race, the innate qi within them has already been completely exhausted. The latest generations are all acquired Human Race, with even their lifespans fixed. How could they dominate the Primordial World?"
Houtu raised an eyebrow as she listed the Human Race's many limitations and flaws.
Lifespan limits were indeed the Human Race's great enemy, but those could be extended through cultivation. What truly made the Human Race powerful had never been individuals, but the entire race's formidable ability to reproduce.
However, Lu Chen would not tell Houtu that.
"Very well. Thank you for your warning. I will keep it in mind. As thanks for your warning, take this as a gift."
Houtu pressed a finger to Lu Chen's brow, and a scripture appeared within his mind.
"Many thanks. I shall take my leave."
Seeing that Houtu did not wish to continue talking, Lu Chen said nothing further. He cupped his hands and turned to leave.
He had said all he could. If Houtu did not wish to listen, that was her own problem. In any case, the kindness of her gifting him Xi Rang at Buzhou Mountain had now been repaid.
"Little fellow, thank you for saying all that..."
Houtu watched Lu Chen's departing figure, narrowing her eyes. An inscrutable smile appeared on her face.
"He cultivated Father God's Nine-Turn Origin Art, and now he has our Witch Clan's Nine-Turn Strength Art as well. Tsk, tsk..."
The expression on Houtu's face returned to normal as she slowly spoke.
"Xing Tian."
As Houtu's voice fell, a brawny man holding a shield in his left hand and a massive axe in his right entered. He dropped to one knee.
"What are the Ancestral Witch's orders?"
"Send a group of our clansmen to contact the Human Race and see what is unusual about them."
"By your command!"
Xing Tian turned and left. After watching his back vanish from sight, Houtu turned and departed as well.
Pangu Hall.
"Younger sister, why did you have eldest brother gather us here?"
The hot-tempered Zhurong immediately spoke.
Gonggong, who had always been at odds with Zhurong, unusually did not retort. He too looked at Houtu with an anxious expression.
He had originally been drilling the High Witches of his tribe and helping them improve their strength. Upon receiving Dijiang's summons, he had cast aside the High Witches in his hands and hurried over.
"Younger sister, speak."
Once everyone had arrived, Dijiang looked at Houtu, his eyes revealing confusion and inquiry. He too did not know what Houtu wanted to discuss so urgently.
After all, he had been actively preparing for war in hopes of wiping out the Heavenly Court in a single stroke.
"It's like this. I think our plan should be changed. The Heavenly Court's banquet is not a good opportunity to strike."
"What?!"
The other Ancestral Witches all stared at Houtu in shock.
"Houtu, explain your reasoning. If you want to stop the war, then convince us."
Zhu Jiuyin stared deeply at Houtu and spoke in a low voice.
"That's right."
"If we make our move on the day of the Heavenly Court banquet, can we truly destroy the Demon Race in one stroke?"
Houtu posed the question, then answered it herself before the other Ancestral Witches could speak.
"No. We simply cannot defeat the Demon Race in that battle. We would only expose our trump cards and put the Demon Race on guard."
????
Dijiang, Zhurong, and the other Ancestral Witches looked at one another, their minds full of question marks.
They recognized every word. Why did the words become so hard to understand when strung together?
If they did not understand, they would ask.
"Why?"
"Because if our Witch Clan defeats the Demon Race and becomes the Primordial World's sole overlord, it would not serve certain people's interests. They will not sit by and watch us destroy the Demon Race. They will certainly intervene. The Witch-Demon Tribes opposing each other and wearing one another down is what serves their interests."
Because Pangu Hall naturally concealed Heavenly Secrets, even Sages could not investigate it. Thus, Houtu had no qualms about speaking here.
"Mm..."
Other than Zhu Jiuyin, all the Ancestral Witches looked bewildered. Zhurong subconsciously scratched his head.
His brain itched.
It felt as though a brain was about to grow.
The Ancestral Witches all turned their gazes toward Zhu Jiuyin.
"Who told you these things?"
Zhu Jiuyin ignored the looks from the other Ancestral Witches and stared fixedly at Houtu as he asked in a low voice.
"Second Brother, you glimpsed all this in the River of Time too, didn't you?"
"No."
Zhu Jiuyin shook his head.
"I previously examined the Space-Time River, but I could not capture any scenes after the war began. I did not pay it much mind at the time, since fragments of the Space-Time River are intermittent and incomplete. But now it seems someone interfered with the River of Time, preventing me from seeing that portion of the scene."
Zhu Jiuyin did not examine the Space-Time River at every moment. Though he was known as the Ancestral Witch of Time, his comprehension of the laws of time was still far from sufficient to attain the Dao. Opening the River of Time consumed a great deal of his own strength, so he only inspected it when planning major matters.
"So what now? Are we not fighting this battle after all?"
Before you continue