Chapter 142: Becoming Shackles

Seeing Zhou Yi nod, Hou Tu's bare hand lightly stroked the Sea of Blood's rock wall, the dark‑red crystal reflecting her solemn face: "When the myriad fires self‑detonate, they will scorch away clouds for eighty thousand li, even Zhenyuanzi holds the shattered Earth Scripture and swears an oath to the Heavenly Dao…."

Before the words finished, she suddenly realized something, fixed her gaze on that leaping strand of remnant soul.

"The Heavenly Dao still retains fifty, allowing one to slip away." Zhou Yi flicked his hand to gather the remnant soul, and twelve brilliant star rays burst from his fingertips, the very power of the celestial stars he had used earlier against the Chaos Bell:

"This You Ming Blood Sea gathers the world's utmost yin qi; there may be a method to reshape souls, but now, I have another insight."

Surprise flashed in Hou Tu's eyes; she distinctly saw those star lights faintly outlining the phantom of the Six Realms of Reincarnation.

How could this Human Race cultivator, seemingly only at the Taiyi realm, provoke her to comprehend a chance she had not attained in a hundred thousand years?

From the depths of the Sea of Blood came a deep, muffled Boom—, as if the will of some ancient existence was awakening.

"Companion, do you know, when we just opposed the Chaos Bell…" Zhou Yi suddenly aligned his fingers like a sword; the star rays traced a profound path in the void, faintly resonating with a presence deep in the Sea of Blood, "I have glimpsed a variable that does not belong to the Heavenly Dao."

The You Ming Blood Sea churned with dark‑red waves, and those ownerless lone souls bobbed and wailed amid the scarlet, turbid surf.

Zhou Yi stared at this eternally restless nether realm, his fingertip lightly tapping the jade pendant at his waist: "As you see, countless obsessions are trapped in the Sea of Blood, unable to be released; if there were a pure land that could cleanse the soul's rancor…"

His voice suddenly deepened, like a bell ringing through time and space: "Perhaps it could create a chance for the cycle of life and death, allowing the Path of Rebirth to reappear in the world."

When the words "Path of Rebirth" resonated in the turbid qi, the Twelve‑ribbon crown of the Hou Tu Ancestor Shaman burst forth with dazzling divine light.

The Ancestor Shaman who wields the Way of the Earth stood stunned on the spot, and ripples of space arose around her.

She repeatedly murmured "Path of Rebirth," and mysterious Dao sigils appeared on her jade‑colored face; beneath her, the Sea of Blood solidified into a crystalline spider‑lily pattern of the other shore.

Zhou Yi outwardly waved his hand lightly as if carefree, while the fingers hidden in his sleeve unconsciously brushed the fabric.

"The Dao before my eyes does not recognize the Dao; thank you, Companion, for your enlightening words." Hou Tu suddenly performed a deep bow to the ground, and the star‑laden necklace hanging from her hair quivered in resonance with the Sea of Blood.

A blood‑colored mark at her brow swirled with the mystic light of the Six Realms, and she said, "Using my true Ancestor Shaman form as a bridge, and the You Ming Blood Sea as the source, we shall forge the return path for all beings."

Zhou Yi felt a slight tremor in his heart; he clearly saw the shamanic turbid qi surrounding Hou Tu transforming into pure cyclical power. Suppressing his doubt, he spoke, "This is destiny's return, yet the nascent cycle may require great cause and effect."

Before he finished speaking, Hou Tu stepped upon the crimson waves and rose into the air.

"Companion, look." She swept her wide sleeve, and countless vengeful soul obsessions gathered in her palm, forming a phantom Six‑realm wheel, "What these souls lack is not a vessel, but pure water that washes away past dust, a spiritual guide to renew cause and effect."

From the depths of the Sea of Blood came a thunderous Boom—, and twelve drops of Ancestor Shaman's essence blood formed towering pillars that rose from the earth.

Zhou Yi suddenly realized that Hou Tu intended to emulate Pangu's act of opening the heavens. He raised his hand and presented his innate spirit treasure, and twelve grades of fiery red lotus blossomed in the turbid waves: "If we use the red‑lotus fiery blaze to burn away sins, and then draw the Forgetting River's pure water to cleanse the dust of the past…"

Before the words finished, a golden pillar that pierced heaven and earth rose from the depths of the Sea of Blood, and the merit of the Heavenly Dao poured down like an inverted Milky Way, cascading.

"Companion, you are absolutely right; establishing the reincarnation system is far from easy."

Hou Tu Ancestor Shaman gathered the bone ornaments hanging at her waist up to her shoulders, looked at the churning turbid waves of the You Ming Blood Sea, and said, "If you have leisure, Companion, would you accompany me to the Wu Clan's sacred land at the foot of Mount Buzhou for a discussion? Many details still require careful deliberation."

Zhou Yi gazed at the scene before him, starkly different from the legends, while his fingertip unconsciously brushed the jade pendant at his waist.

He clearly recalled that ancient texts recorded that the Hou Tu Ancestor Shaman attained sudden enlightenment here, using the true shamanic form to evolve the Six Realms of Reincarnation.

But now this woman clad in a dark‑colored shamanic‑patterned robe was earnestly discussing with him how to mobilize the power of the Twelve Ancestral Witches to jointly construct a reincarnation platform.

When the Hou Tu Ancestor Shaman casually tore the fabric of space to forge a teleportation array, Zhou Yi only then realized he had been deceived by folk tales for a full twenty‑seven years.

Those so‑called "sorrowing the heavens, pitying humanity, sacrificing oneself to become reincarnation" legends appeared utterly pale and laughable before the true Wu Clan.

"Please." The Hou Tu Ancestor Shaman opened a void passage woven from twelve stellar chains, and as she turned, the iron bracelet forged from Yu Qiang's cold steel jingled.

Zhou Yi stared at the Ancestor Shaman mark at her brow, swirling with the Earth's law, and suddenly realized that the so‑called "embodying reincarnation" might merely be a tragic trope fabricated by later scholars.

Moving through the chaotic gale, Zhou Yi tentatively raised the notion of Reincarnation and Rebirth.

Hou Tu Ancestor Shaman chuckled lightly at his words, and the earth‑colored threads of law twining around her fingertips suddenly solidified into a phantom Six‑realm wheel: "Is that what you mean, Companion? When I observed the Sea of Blood's tides three days ago, I indeed gained something, but …"

She casually crushed the wheel, and the shattered specks of light turned into countless racing Wu Clan battle souls, "Why must one sacrifice one's own body as an offering?"

When the towering pillar of Mount Buzhou crashed into his view, Zhou Yi finally understood how absurdly wrong he had been.

At the foot of the mountain, the Wu Clan's sacred land stretched for ten thousand li, where twelve Pangu Halls, like constellations, guarded the central altar.

The Wu Clan warriors who traversed there, even the weakest could crush mountains with bare hands, let alone the hundreds of great shamans whose bodies were enshrouded in the power of law.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Hou Tu Ancestor Shaman brushed away the mist of the mountain‑protecting formation, revealing the twelve legions of the Great Heavenly Deity Formation training within the sacred land, "We were born from the divine father's heart‑blood, and from birth we can wield the authority of heaven and earth."

She suddenly raised her hand to intercept a chaotic thunderbolt striking Zhou Yi, and with a flip of her palm she molded the raging energy into a warm sphere of light, "But this gift…" The sphere shattered in her palm into stardust, "is also a shackles."

Within the Wu Clan's secret realm, Hou Tu's fingertips, entwined with chaotic aura, whispered, "Our people are born with blood‑line power, yet this gift has also become a shackling constraint."

Her fingertips suddenly burst with twelve stellar rays, "After reaching adulthood, even a half‑inch of progress is as hard as scaling the heavens, like a tiger locked in an iron cage."

The difference between the Human Race and the Wu Clan is like rock versus flowing water. As the Wu Clan slowly sediments over the long river of ages, the Human Race has already spread across the Honghuang like countless stars.

Hou Tu waved her hand, conjuring two light silhouettes: on the left, a bronze colossus piercing the clouds; on the right, vines that kept growing.

"Although the Human Race is as fragile as seedlings, it holds the potential to break through the soil and reach the heavens. Now the Zhetian Imperial Method is like spring wind and rain…"

The bronze hourglass on the stone table suddenly reversed; Hou Tu gazed at the flowing sands of time and sighed lightly, "It takes a hundred years for a Wu Clan warrior to mature, while the Human Race has already cycled through three generations. Among the countless sparks of life, a few stars will always burst forth to illuminate heaven and earth."

She suddenly rose, and as her robes billowed, Zhou Yi vanished within the ripples of space.

The Wu script totem before the Pangu Hall suddenly lit up; Zhou Yi had not yet seen the interior of the hall, when two mountain‑like figures already stood before him.

On the left, a great Han figure roared with crimson flames, each step leaving a fire mark on the black‑iron floor tiles; on the right, a figure encircled by nine water dragons, whose cold aura turned the air into ice crystals.