Damn it, she tricked me into talking.
A sense of helplessness welled up in Xu You. He was already powerless against a mere Quasi-Sage.
If a Sage descended, a single glance would probably be enough to destroy him.
Meanwhile, Houtu repeatedly mulled over the word "reincarnation."
The Primordial World had long been embroiled in struggles for supremacy, leaving wronged souls everywhere with nowhere to go.
She had indeed intended to see whether she could find somewhere to gather these restless dead.
But it had only been a notion.
Yet after hearing the word "reincarnation" today, her idea grew increasingly clear.
Not even the other Ancestral Witches knew about this.
This little dragon before her really did know a thing or two.
That was also why she had secretly sheltered this little dragon, to the point that no other great demon or witch had ever appeared along this stretch of river.
With a Quasi-Sage presiding here, no one dared provoke her.
What Houtu lacked was a direction.
But the great god Pangu had fallen. Even though they had a certain connection to him, they could not seek his advice directly.
As for Hongjun.
That went without saying. He had never thought much of the Witch Clan from beginning to end, nor had he ever intended to take any member of the Witch Clan as a disciple.
A disciple?
After all, Hongjun was somewhat afraid of Pangu.
The entire enormous Witch Clan could only act according to its own understanding.
And this dragon before her came from the Dragon Clan.
As a former overlord, the Ancestral Dragon had been just one step away from taking that final step.
Even after bringing about a boundless killing tribulation, he could still withstand it through his own strength and shelter the Dragon Clan.
Compared with the Witch Clan after the war between the witches and demons, whose members had almost all died, it was clear that there were differences even among Quasi-Sages.
Houtu believed that this little dragon had not joined the Four Seas but had instead hidden within the Primordial World Continent, even stealing the merit of heaven and earth.
Clearly, he knew something.
"If you tell me what you know."
"You will earn the goodwill of my Witch Clan."
Xu You smiled bitterly. What damn use is the Witch Clan's goodwill?
It would be better if you, a future Earthly Dao Saint, could help me sort out my troubles.
Xu You did not want to speak, because he knew Houtu would definitely succeed.
She would become an Earthly Dao Saint.
However, because she lacked Primordial Purple Qi, she could not attain the Dao. Only through the towering merit of transforming herself into reincarnation would the Heavenly Dao grant her an unofficial seat.
The Heavenly Dao Sages who possessed Primordial Purple Qi truly attained great freedom, able to roam anywhere between heaven and earth.
An Earthly Dao Saint, however, was bound to reincarnation and could only remain within the Underworld, unable to walk the heavens and earth of the Primordial World.
For Houtu, that was enough.
But if he gave her information about the Primordial Purple Qi, what would he do?
That was precisely what Xu You was struggling with.
The Heavenly Dao numbered fifty.
Hongjun certainly had not obtained so little Purple Qi, yet he had only distributed seven strands.
They had produced the six great Sages.
Ancestor Hongyun had obtained the remaining strand, but his luck had been rather poor, and Kunpeng had ambushed and killed him.
If Xu You wanted to become a Sage, then that strand of Primordial Purple Qi was something he had to obtain!
There was no harm in telling Houtu about transforming herself into reincarnation. With her current strength, she could do it right now.
But if she possessed Primordial Purple Qi, Houtu would no longer be confined to the Underworld and would stand on equal footing with the six Sages.
Moreover, Houtu would possess merit that washed things away, control reincarnation, and be a descendant of Pangu.
She would be nothing like those two from the Western Sect who had taken out loans to become Sages.
With all those buffs stacked on her, it felt as though she could even take on Hongjun.
The Twelve Heavenly Gods and Fiends Great Formation constructed by the twelve Ancestral Witches.
It could condense a phantom of Pangu's true body, with might on par with a Heavenly Dao Sage.
If Houtu presided over it after becoming a Sage, would you be afraid of the Pangu phantom it summoned?
I, for one, am a little afraid.
"Crack!"
At some point, a small leather whip had suddenly appeared in Houtu's hand.
Xu You: ?
What is this supposed to mean?
"This is a magic treasure of my clan. Since our clan does not cultivate the primordial spirit, it specifically strikes the flesh. It is a magic treasure we use to punish clansmen who make mistakes."
"I happened to bring it along today. Just as well-if you refuse to talk, heh heh~"
Houtu had already been in a rather bad mood. Several clansmen had disobeyed her and run off without permission to stir up trouble.
She had given them a harsh punishment.
Then she had come out to clear her head, only to stumble into an unexpected delight.
This was another of Houtu's headaches.
The Witch Clan had no primordial spirits and could not cultivate the Dao, which also meant they could not cultivate spells.
"If it were the Demon Clan, they would already have subjected you to a brutal soul search."
"Only a Hunyuan Golden Immortal like me would be this easy to talk to."
Houtu looked fierce, but if she would just put down the whip, anything could be discussed.
That was the trouble with ancient times: whips were the most common tools for punishing clansmen.
Xu You kept feeling as though some strange trait was about to awaken.
He cast all other matters out of his mind.
Staring at the little leather whip, his small face taut, he said, "Don't push me!"
Crack!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The little leather whip in Houtu's hand lashed the ground, making Xu You's eyelids twitch.
"I, Houtu, am not unreasonable. But you, a dragon, have actually hidden yourself in my Witch Clan's territory. If Dijiang were to learn of this, I'm afraid~"
"Six paths?"
"Reincarnation?"
Gu Yuena was cultivating quietly. At the same time, the images on the sky screen over the Douluo Continent had shifted to Xu You and Houtu.
When the Soul Masters of the Douluo Continent heard those words, they were utterly bewildered.
"Gathering souls!"
This made countless Soul Masters across the Douluo Continent feel their scalps prickle.
Only normal Soul Masters cultivated Soul Power.
But toying with souls, and even wanting to gather them for one's own cultivation.
If that was not an Evil Soul Master, what was?
Slaughtering living beings and plundering souls.
The mighty beings of the Primordial World shown in the images were actually so cruel.
"Evil! This is truly too evil."
"What Sages of the Primordial World? These are clearly evil gods, demonic gods! Gathering souls-isn't that an Evil Soul Master's method?"
"So this Primordial World isn't some Divine Realm at all. It's a demons' den, a demon realm."
A powerful being of the Primordial World actually wanted to gather the souls of the entire Primordial World Continent.
And use them to attain her own seat as a Sage.
Quite a few people felt their hair stand on end.
Meanwhile, the Far North of the Douluo Continent had now become the headquarters of the Holy Spirit Cult.
Within a dim, eerie hall, the Holy Spirit Cult's leader and deputy leader, Darkness Holy Dragon and Ghost Emperor, were both present.
Watching the images on the sky screen, the two exchanged looks.
What they had pursued all their lives was to break free of the constraints of Douluo's heaven and earth and build a Divine Kingdom of Death.
That was why the Holy Spirit Cult had always wrought slaughter.
In truth, they were not certain whether they could actually establish a Divine Kingdom of Death.
But this was indeed their only way to become gods.
Now they saw that another world also seemed to want to create a Divine Kingdom of Death.
"Refining souls-isn't that precisely the Divine Kingdom of Death we've been pursuing?"
"So we haven't taken the wrong path."
"Kekeke! The Divine Kingdom of Death is real!"