"I read it!" Ji Qing replied. "Before coming to Houtu Village, I specifically looked through it!"
"Why were you reading the witch canon?" Ruo Hong asked curiously. "When the Witch King ordered us to come to Houtu Village, he never said he was returning to Great God Houtu's embrace! How did you know he would go to the netherworld?"
"Alas, Ruo Hong!" Ji Qing sighed. "Jianji and the young Ji Man of Houtu Village went to Witch God Ridge decades ago. And as early as fourteen years ago, that young Ji Man had been living alone in Witch King Village. He had not stepped out of Witch God Ridge in all these years!"
"Oh? Really?" Ruo Hong froze, then asked in surprise, "If that's the case, then it really is possible!"
"What do you mean, possible? The Witch King has already returned to Great God Houtu's embrace!" Ji Qing sneered. "And let me tell you, the Witch King sent witches to Houtu Village a hundred years ago. They even investigated the area within ten thousand li of Houtu Village..."
"There's no point in saying that!" Ruo Hong said impatiently. "That's all hindsight. The Witch King had us wait at Houtu Village, and now that he has gone to the netherworld, naturally everything you said is right! The problem now is, why hasn't the new Witch King appeared yet? Great God Houtu of Houtu Village has only revived halfway; surely the Great Gods of our other eleven villages have likewise only revived halfway. What should we do now? We've prayed for a full day and night—why is the new Witch King still nowhere to be seen?"
"There is no need to say it," Ji Qing said flatly. "Something must have gone wrong when the new Witch King was being born. Otherwise,