"He's the Heavenly Dao! If none of you truly had any intention of rebelling against the Heavenly Dao, how could a little incitement from someone else have made you all take action?"
"What if Hongjun really was just trying to prevent trouble before it happened?"
"What if Hongjun really reached the point of attaining the Great Dao? Would we stop him then? And if we did, what if he failed to attain the Dao? Snuffing out even the slightest possibility of failure-isn't that the highest form of mending the roof before the rain?"
Houtu did not refute their arguments one by one. Instead, she calmly laid out one possibility after another.
Without a doubt, her words struck straight at their hearts. Their psychological defenses collapsed outright.
Just then, Tongtian suddenly looked up, and a scene appeared before his eyes.
"Dao Ancestor, cheers! I've fulfilled my mission and finally dealt with all those disobedient, unstable elements. You'll have to give me a reward, Dao Ancestor."
In the void, Lin Tian raised his cup to Hongjun with a broad smile.
"Excellent, Lin Tian. Excellent indeed. To think you could make them throw down their helmets and abandon their armor with nothing more than a paltry bit of profit. That tongue of yours is worth half a Heavenly Dao!"
Hongjun smiled with even greater satisfaction as he clinked cups with Lin Tian, his eyes brimming with admiration.
"They were the greedy ones. Human nature, the seven deadly sins-they had every last one. They can't blame me for showing no mercy."
"Aaaah! This isn't real!"
"Lin Tian would never collude with Hongjun like a wolf and a jackal!"
Tongtian shook his head furiously, finally wiping away that lifelike scene before his eyes. He simply refused to believe that possibility. It was too fucking terrifying.