"Houtu, your opportunity to attain the Dao has arrived. If you do not transform into Reincarnation now, when will you—!!!"
Rumble...
Dao Ancestor Hongjun's rolling thunderous voice suddenly descended from the Outer Heavens of Chaos, exploding within his sea of consciousness. Chen Xuan's head immediately buzzed as though deafening thunder had struck, jolting him awake.
"So big... so white... Did I transmigrate?"
"And I even transmigrated into the Primordial World?!"
"Even more absurdly... it seems I transmigrated into some woman's body? ⊙∀⊙!"
As Chen Xuan gradually regained consciousness, his feelings were a tangled mess of shock and fear.
Lowering his head, he saw towering, majestic peaks rising and falling before him, blocking his view so completely that he could not see his toes.
Looking around again, all he could see were mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The sun and moon had lost their light, heaven and earth were shattered, and the world trembled violently!
Every scene before him...
Was filled with the signs of an endless world-ending calamity!
"This is—the Witch-Demon Calamity!"
Chen Xuan seemed to have figured out the general situation, and cold sweat instantly drenched his back.
All because he had read some trashy female-oriented novel in his previous life and carelessly made one sarcastic remark, he had somehow transmigrated here.
Transmigration was one thing...
But he had actually transmigrated into the body of Houtu, the Ancestor Witch of the Great Earth, one of the twelve Ancestor Witches!
Were they symbiotic?
Or was he... a parasite?
Chen Xuan was utterly speechless about it. He simply could not make sense of it.
"Your opportunity to attain the Dao has arrived. If you do not transform into Reincarnation now, when will you!"
"..."
The reverberating voice continued to echo endlessly through his mind, rising and falling without pause, shaking Chen Xuan until he became increasingly irritated.
That old bastard Hongjun...
He was annoying as hell!
This was the time of the second great war between the Witch and Demon clans.
As the countless Witch Clan armies marched beneath their iron hooves, with a hundred thousand banners advancing to attack the Demon Clan's Heavenly Court.
A graceful, beautiful figure stood frozen in place. A trace of conflict surfaced in her lovely eyes, while her exquisite, peerlessly beautiful face was filled with sorrow.
It was as though she were caught in an inner struggle!
At this moment, Ancestor Witch Houtu did not know what choice she should make!
Previously.
Ten suns had hung in the sky, the Golden Crows had ravaged the Primordial World, and countless living beings had suffered while the people were left destitute.
The great witches Kuafu and Dayi had both tragically perished!
Whether it was the Witch Clan or the Demon Clan.
Or even the Human Clan.
The spirits and resentful souls of countless beings had poured into the endless Nether Sea of Blood.
Some souls had nowhere to return to and drifted homelessly.
Others had no place to rely upon, eventually scattering into nothingness and vanishing forever!
As a result...
The countless wandering souls within the boundless Nether Sea of Blood had filled it to the point of overflowing!
Thus, Ancestor Witch Houtu possessed immense compassion. She grieved for heaven and earth, embraced all things with great virtue, and loved all living beings. She truly could not bear to watch the myriad beings remain without a home for their souls or a place for their spirits.
And so she sensed...
That her opportunity to attain the Dao and become a saint had arrived!
But under such circumstances, how could she abandon her kin and transform into Reincarnation alone to attain the Dao and become a saint?
One had to know that the Witch Clan was born flawed and could not cultivate primordial spirits.
Although Houtu was exceptionally gifted, she possessed only a single incomplete fragment of a primordial spirit.
If she wished to transform into the Six Paths of Reincarnation and guide the countless wandering souls onward, she could only abandon her Ancestor Witch body!
If that happened, one of the twelve Ancestor Witches would be missing, and they would no longer be able to form the Twelve Capital Celestial Evil Formation to continue resisting the Demon Court!
"What... should I do?"
On one side lay loyalty, sincerity, and responsibility toward her clan.
On the other lay the great righteousness of saving all living beings and considering the greater good.
Just as Houtu fell into confusion and did not know what to do.
Above the thirty-three layers of heaven, the battle cries of the Witch and Demon clans shook the universe, while countless Witch Clan warriors fought amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
She gazed intently at the battlefield. One great witch after another lay bloodied and broken, while the anguished cries of her clansmen pierced her heart.
Several times, she wanted to take a step forward and enter the battle, lending the Witch Clan even a small measure of aid.
However...
The next moment, from the corner of her eye, she saw the Netherworld, where countless wandering souls drifted without support and continuously dissipated like smoke. Scene after scene stabbed into her eyes, filling her with unbearable grief.
Save her clan, and the common people would suffer while souls had nowhere to return; transform into Reincarnation, and the Witch Clan would perish, unable to change the situation!
For a moment, the mysterious radiance around Houtu flickered between bright and dim. Her jade fingers clenched until they turned white, and her pearly teeth lightly bit her crimson lips as she fell into an impossible dilemma.
This was simply too difficult!
"Houtu, what are you still waiting for?"
"If you do not transform into Reincarnation now, when will you?!!"
"The living beings of the Primordial World need you!"
"The bigger picture, the bigger picture!"
"Fellow Daoist Houtu, I hope you will place the greater good first. What should be abandoned must be abandoned; what should be decided must be decided!"
Just as Houtu hesitated, caught in endless conflict.
Following Hongjun's words, the lingering Dao voices of the six saints of the Heavenly Dao continuously echoed toward her.
They repeatedly urged Houtu to evolve the Six Paths of Reincarnation.
Among them, some harbored selfish motives, while others possessed righteous intentions.
Yet the saints had chosen to throw this impossible dilemma upon Houtu, a woman, and force her to decide!
Under the urging of voice after voice.
After pondering for a long time.
A resolute glint finally flashed through Houtu's eyes, as though she had made some grave decision!
She let out a faint sigh.
Reluctantly, she looked toward that vast ancient starry sky. Crystal tears fell from the corners of her eyes with soft patters, and she wept silently, so pitiful that any who saw her would ache for her.
Then she murmured softly, "My elder brothers, elder sister... and the countless warriors of the Witch Clan... once Houtu leaves, I will no longer be of the Witch Clan. No matter what fate awaits the Witch Clan, whether victory or defeat, I only hope to preserve one final thread of hope for our clan and safeguard one last spark to pass on. Then... I will not have betrayed the Witch Clan."
After saying that.
Houtu stepped forward, taking that heavy step as though facing death without fear!
She looked every bit like someone embarking upon a tragic final journey!
"Ancestor Witch Houtu, do not transform into Reincarnation!"
"This is all a deception!"
"If you evolve Reincarnation, it still will not change the Witch Clan's fate of destruction. It may even make things far worse!"
At that moment, Chen Xuan truly could not bear to watch any longer. He hurriedly spoke up to stop her and warn her.
After all.
If Houtu truly abandoned her physical body and evolved the Six Paths of Reincarnation, then...
As someone bound to her in a symbiotic relationship, he would share both prosperity and ruin with her!
Being trapped eternally within the Netherworld's Six Paths without ever seeing daylight would still be the better outcome.
If things went badly, even his consciousness might be completely erased!
"?????" (What was that sound?)
Do not transform into Reincarnation?
This was all a deception?
Even if she went through with it, she still could not alter the Witch Clan's fate of destruction, and things might become even worse?
Hearing this, Houtu's delicate body stiffened. Astonishment appeared on her face, and she subconsciously asked, "Who are you? Why are you inside... my body? And what do you mean by what you said? Why do I not quite understand?"
"My name is Chen Xuan. I came from another world and accidentally occupied your body, becoming symbiotic with you. But do not worry, I will not harm you. Once I find a way in the future, I will separate myself on my own."
"In short, right now, you... must! absolutely! not! transform! into! Reincarnation!"
Chen Xuan explained.
And he emphasized once again—she absolutely must not transform into Reincarnation!
There was no other reason.
Having read countless Primordial World novels in his previous life, Chen Xuan naturally knew every turn the Primordial World's script would take.
As well as the Witch Clan's tragic ending!
The so-called Heaven and Earth Great Tribulation and the conflict between the Witch and Demon clans were nothing more than a monstrous deception laid down by Dao Ancestor Hongjun to conceal the truth from heaven itself!
On the surface, it was a scheme against the Witch and Demon clans, but in truth... it was also a scheme against the Earthly Dao!
Only by driving the Witch-Monster Calamity forward, plotting against the Witch and Demon clans, and suppressing the authority of the Earthly Dao could the Heavenly Dao reign supreme alone from then on!
Chen Xuan had transmigrated here, lived two lives, and now suffered this disaster for no reason at all. Naturally, rage burned in his heart.
How could he possibly watch helplessly as Ancestor Witch Houtu acted foolishly, fell for the Heavenly Dao saints' instigation, abandoned her body to transform into the Six Paths of Reincarnation, and drag the Witch Clan down into a state of eternal damnation?
Of course he could not!
Before you continue