Houtu

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Houtu (后土)
Alias(es)	Little Tu; Empress Houtu; Empress Pingxin 16 97 102
Species/Race	Ancestral Witch; bearer of Pangu’s bloodline and origin essence 26 30
Gender	Female 16
Affiliation	Twelve Ancestral Witches; Witch Clan; Underworld 16 96 108
Occupation/Role	Founder and ruler of the Underworld; overseer of reincarnation; Earthly Dao Master; master of Dijun and Taiyi 96 108 133
Cultivation	Great Dao Saint / Great Dao Master, above ordinary Saints 95 96 121
Residence	Initially Pangu Temple; later her Saint Hall in the Underworld 16 102
Status	Alive; accompanies Wang Shi after his defeat of Hongjun 246

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Great Dao insight; no visible realm change	21	Gains understanding during Hongjun’s first sermon while occupying the front-row cushion Wang Shi gives her. Her cultivation shows no outward fluctuations.
Earth-origin power strengthened	30	Absorbs a Fierce Beast’s blood baleful qi under Wang Shi’s guidance, increasing her earth power while expelling its lingering baleful influence.
Origin laws and Dao comprehension strengthened	56	Makes the greatest progress among the Ancestral Witches during Hongjun’s second sermon; unlike most of her siblings, she comprehends the Great Dao and Heavenly Dao’s principles.
Space–Earth Dao insight	63	Studies “Mount Sumeru Contained in a Mustard Seed” with Wang Shi, learning how the Space Dao and Great Earth Dao can produce vast spaces within tiny particles.
Saint	95	Receives immense merit when the Earthly Dao takes shape and the newly established Underworld begins receiving wandering souls.
Great Dao Saint / Earthly Dao Master	95 96	Merges with the Earthly Dao, reaching a realm above ordinary Saints. Chooses to retain her Ancestral Witch identity and protect the Witch Clan rather than reshape herself into a souled being.

Background / History

Early Life and Wang Shi

Houtu spends most of her early life among the Witch Clan and rarely ventures outside. She accompanies the powerful beings gathered during Wang Shi’s transformation, but pays more attention to the surrounding cultivators than to him. Consequently, when they later travel together as “Little Tu” and “Little Shi,” she does not recognize him as Buzhou Mountain’s Stone Spirit or the Three Pure Ones’ disciple 16.

Their friendship initially encounters resistance from her siblings, particularly Dijiang, who suspects Wang Shi is courting her. Houtu nevertheless seeks his company, invites him to Pangu Temple, and later blushes when he glances at her 16 22 26.

At Purple Firmament Palace, Wang Shi gives Houtu his hard-won front-row meditation cushion. His private intention is to help her escape the future sacrifice of transforming herself into reincarnation. She initially tries to refuse the seat, recognizes that it carries deeper significance, and gains insight from Hongjun’s teaching 21.

Seeking an Alternative to Sacrifice

While studying the Great Earth Dao with Wang Shi, Houtu encounters wandering souls that dissipate, become resentful spirits, or struggle to find shelter. Her wish to give them a home signals the emergence of her destined connection to reincarnation. Wang Shi responds by seeking another way to establish it, beginning with their study of the Western cultivators’ spatial art 63.

Houtu eventually becomes overwhelmed by visions of suffering souls and prepares to transform herself into reincarnation, both to relieve their suffering and protect her clan. Wang Shi refuses to accept an outcome that would bind her to the Underworld forever. He takes her into Chaos to establish an independent Netherworld Origin World beyond the Heavenly Dao’s immediate restraints 94.

Establishing the Earthly Dao

Wang Shi uses the Chaos Bead to develop the new world’s Great Dao while Houtu studies the Three-Lives Netherworld Book. She removes Pangu’s blood from her body and guides its essence into the bead. Together, they establish the Underworld’s laws, yin spirit qi, and land; the completed Earthly Dao opens the way for wandering souls and raises Houtu to Sainthood 95.

Given a choice between retaining her Ancestral Witch body through Earthly Dao fusion or becoming a new souled being, Houtu chooses continued responsibility to the Witch Clan. She completes the merger, becomes Earthly Dao Master, and begins organizing the souls entering her realm 95 96.

The Saints come to congratulate her and contribute practical gifts. Houtu welcomes even former rivals and hosts a ten-thousand-year discussion of the Earthly Dao 97.

Reforming the Underworld

Travel through the Chaos Bead exposes Houtu to unfamiliar clothing, technology, and social models. She rejects the idea that an afterlife must be gloomy, declaring that she wants souls to enjoy living in the Underworld 107.

After the Witch Clan relocates there, she appoints her eleven siblings as Yama Kings and gives clan members administrative responsibilities. Wang Shi helps train them in the realm’s laws and organization 108.

Her reforms later expand into assembly-line artifact production, modern academies, and systematic cultivation research. Dijun’s visit convinces him that his own Demon Realm is underdeveloped; Houtu accepts both him and Taiyi as disciples and proposes cooperation between their realms against the Dark Forces 130 132 133.

Expeditions into Darkness

Despite initially warning Wang Shi against entering the darkness, Houtu later charges into it herself. Other Saints follow out of concern for her safety. When Wang Shi finds them, she is guarding the group and negotiates with the bull-headed Darkness God, Heracles, to remove dark power from the Saints in exchange for spreading his faith 133 138 139.

On Noka Star, she supports Wang Shi against a hostile armored goddess and reveals an enormous giant form. Their battle threatens the star, and both combatants dismiss the Noka God’s attempted intervention 143.

Her protection of fellow Saints during dangerous expeditions strengthens her reputation. Later, she uses that standing to defend the secrecy surrounding the Chaos Bead and promises access to other-world coordinates only if the Primordial World faces a genuine crisis 192.

System Lifeforms and the Saints’ Betrayal

After noticing her siblings’ distracted behavior, Houtu learns that Xuanming is being tormented by an unseen entity demanding that he bind with it. She exposes an octopus-like creature with her Great Dao Eye and tears it free, accidentally extracting a bloodied needle and leaving Xuanming unconscious. Alarmed, she seals the creature and urgently calls Wang Shi 229 230.

Their investigation traces other infected residents to the Underworld’s Demon Abyss, where a cavern is packed with System Lifeforms. Houtu searches the Great Dao’s records to establish the victims’ shared movements 232.

When Wang Shi’s identity as a transmigrator is exposed, Houtu is hurt that he concealed it from her. She nevertheless rejects the Saints’ demand to surrender him, defends his contributions to the Primordial World, and keeps the attackers outside through the Underworld’s laws. When her siblings restrain her from aiding him, she tears a System Lifeform from Dijiang’s head 236 237.

Houtu remains beside Wang Shi afterward, supports the title “Dao Venerable” for him, and accompanies him to confront the Three Pure Ones’ Myriad Immortals Formation 246.

Appearance

• Early presentation: Described as a young woman; Wang Shi considers her clever, kind, and adorable 16 62.
• Other-world fashion: Appears with a thick layer of mud on her face and unfamiliar clothing, identifying her outfit as the latest “Mortal World Wedding Dress” purchased with spirit stones 107.
• Combat form: Can transform into an enormous giant whose divine might astonishes the armored goddess of Noka Star 143.

Personality

Houtu’s early defining traits are kindness, curiosity, and warmth. She enjoys traveling with Wang Shi and is quick to welcome him despite her siblings’ suspicion. Her compassion for homeless souls becomes the central motivation behind founding reincarnation, while loyalty to her kin determines her choice to remain an Ancestral Witch 16 21 63 95.

Ruling the Underworld makes her more confident, informal, and outspoken. She enthusiastically embraces fashionable clothing, elaborate meals, and practical reforms, sometimes behaving so boisterously that Wang Shi hardly recognizes the reserved young woman he remembers. Her pride in the Underworld leads her to criticize Dijun’s leadership bluntly, but she is willing to teach him once he acknowledges its achievements 107 108 130 132 133.

Her attitude toward warfare depends on its purpose. She advocates industrial preparation and acquiring resources to resist the Dark Forces, yet later expresses dislike of slaughter and recognizes its damaging effects on entire races. Although accustomed to death professionally, she still panics when her family or friends are endangered 133 223 230.

Abilities & Skills

Earth and Great Dao Comprehension

Houtu is exceptional among the Ancestral Witches for her ability to understand the Heavenly Dao, study the Great Dao, and cultivate Dao arts 56 63.

• Possesses an unusually strong Pangu bloodline and senses the familiar origin power within Fierce Beasts 30.
• Strengthens her earth-origin power by absorbing blood baleful qi and expelling its harmful residue 30.
• Studies the combined Space and Great Earth Daos through the mustard-seed spatial art 63.
• Develops her understanding of fate through the Three-Lives Netherworld Book 95.

Earthly Dao Authority

Fusion with the Earthly Dao elevates Houtu above ordinary Saints and gives her authority over the Underworld and reincarnation 95 96.

• Gathers wandering souls, assigns them settlements, and establishes the Reincarnation Gate 96.
• Detects the Three Pure Ones as soon as they enter her realm and instantly transports herself and Wang Shi to greet them 96.
• Controls the Underworld’s laws to prevent hostile Saints from entering 237.
• Can search the Great Dao’s records of individuals’ past movements; detailed searches are time-consuming and may require world origin 232.

Great Dao Eye and Parasite Removal

Houtu’s Great Dao Eye reveals the otherwise invisible creature attached to Xuanming 229.

• Coats her palm in Great Dao Origin to seize the entity 229.
• Seals the removed creature inside a bottle made from Great Dao Origin 230.
• Later removes a System Lifeform directly from Dijiang 237.
• Extraction can injure or incapacitate the host: both Xuanming and Dijiang lose consciousness 229 237.

Giant Form and Physical Combat

Houtu’s giant transformation releases enough divine power to frighten another Main God and threaten her divine domain 143.

• Battles the armored goddess after the latter merges with a river of stars 143.
• Shields fellow Saints with her body during their struggles against darkness 192.
• Is not beyond danger: Wang Shi warns that activated dark corruption could disrupt even a Great Dao Saint’s control of her body 132.

Industrial and Cultivation Reform

Houtu combines other-world ideas with the Underworld’s cultivation resources 130 192.

• Installs assembly lines intended to mass-produce spiritual treasures and magical artifacts 130.
• Establishes academies to analyze cultivation methods, Dao arts, and the Great Dao, aiming to train cultivators in batches 130.
• Produces spiritual-power-replenishing pills in quantity 131.
• Manufactures Judge’s Brushes as standardized Houtian Spiritual Treasures; production depends on sufficient spiritual materials 133.

Underworld Governance

Institution / Policy	Function
Reincarnation Gate	Returns purified souls to life. Their next form is randomly selected and may belong to any race or even be a plant, preventing favoritism 96.
Twelve Yama Halls	Administrative structure established by Houtu, with her eleven siblings appointed as Yama Kings. Each hall anchors a city and surrounding kingdom 108.
Soul evaluation and promotion	Assesses souls’ lives and selects worthy candidates for official or military service 108.
Eighteen Levels of Hell	Confines the worst offenders until their sins are expunged and they genuinely repent 108.
Contribution requirements	Souls must contribute to the Underworld before reincarnation; later arrangements allow those who complete their sentences to remain or be reborn 108 130.
Modern civic rules	Includes transport, offices, cultivation facilities, and training classes. Unrestricted flight is permitted only during wartime 182.

• Houtu restrains the Witch Clan during Dijun’s heavenly wedding rather than attend, helping temporarily ease Witch–Demon tensions 99.
• She fears that refusing to withdraw from the rising Human Race will doom her people and supports their relocation to the Underworld 103 108.
• Her prolonged absence has consequences: the Underworld falls into disorder during her thousand-year journey with Wang Shi 211.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Array Plate — Chooses Houtu at Treasure Distribution Cliff after her sincere request draws a response from more than half the treasures present. Its specific powers are not described 82.
• Three-Lives Netherworld Book — Studies it while the Underworld’s Great Dao develops, deepening her understanding of fate 95.
• Chaos Bead — Wang Shi’s treasure and a foundation of the new Underworld; Houtu uses it for other-world travel and later holds it in her custody 95 107 193.
• Great Dao Origin bottle — Creates it to contain the System Lifeform extracted from Xuanming 230.
• Judge’s Brushes — Standardized, batch-produced Underworld treasures; gives one each to Dijun and Taiyi upon accepting them as disciples 133.
• Expedition supplies — Gives Wang Shi nearly half her available resources, including pills, snacks, formation materials, and other necessities 131.

Gifts Received After Ascension

Giver	Gift / Purpose
Three Pure Ones	Yin-loving Netherworld Flower Mandalas, inspiring her to plant them throughout the Underworld 97.
Nuwa and Fuxi	A protective innate formation 97.
Western Sages	A palace containing the Eighteen Levels of Hell 97.
Luohu	A rare space crystal to reinforce the Underworld’s fragile boundaries 97.
Hongjun	A stele apparently capable of anchoring the Underworld’s providence, together with an invitation to Purple Firmament Palace 97.

Relationships

• Wang Shi / Little Shi — Closest companion and principal collaborator in establishing the Underworld. Their mutual attraction is suggested by meaningful glances, her shyness, and their concern for one another, but they are not explicitly established as spouses or Dao companions. She remains loyal after learning he is a transmigrator 21 22 26 30 95 236 237.
• Dijiang — Protective eldest brother who initially distrusts Wang Shi. Later seeks Wang Shi’s help when Houtu becomes distressed and serves as a Yama King. Houtu forcibly removes his System Lifeform during the Saints’ siege 16 94 108 237.
• Xuanming — Sibling who prevents interference with her meditation cushion and later privately reveals the entity tormenting him. Her attempt to free him begins the investigation into System Lifeforms 21 229 230.
• Other Ancestral Witches — Family whose protection drives her decision to retain her Witch identity. They become central to the Underworld’s administration 95 108.
• Dijun and Taiyi — Former opposing-faction leaders who become her disciples after witnessing the Underworld’s reforms. Their apprenticeship links the Demon Realm with her development and defense plans 132 133.
• Three Pure Ones — Former rivals over the Pangu Orthodox Lineage who congratulate her ascension and study the Earthly Dao. Their later hostility toward Wang Shi places them in conflict with her 97 237.
• Hongjun — Initially treats him respectfully and accepts his congratulatory gift. Later identifies herself as another Great Dao Saint whom he may fear and refuses his demand to surrender Wang Shi 97 133 237.
• Fuxi — Fellow listener to Hongjun’s sermons whom she addresses as Senior Brother. Welcomes him before his reincarnation and later accompanies him and Wang Shi 102 246.
• Luohu — Contributes to Underworld security, but Houtu later indicates that they have little personal connection or friendship 97 211.

Notable Quotes

“We'll build our Underworld to look like heaven, so everyone will love coming here.” 107

“Resources are everything in war. Only with enough resources can we defeat the enemy.” 133

“Whether you're a native here or not, I don't think you harbor any ill intentions.” — To Wang Shi after his origins are exposed 237