Chapter 452

Nüwa's intellect cannot be underestimated; she only occasionally shows a woman's kindness, not enough to be ruthless, so it's inevitable she will capsize in the scheming of that old yin.

Fortunately she has a brother—Fuxi the Great Sage, renowned throughout past, present and future, the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds for his heavenly calculations; with him around, no one can scheme against Nüwa.

However, the siblings are not on good terms; they are currently in a cold war, and Nüwa's innate external brain has temporarily gone offline.

But—

Isn't it that Fengxi has taken over?!

"For the schemes and plots that Empress Nüwa understands but cannot execute, I will carry them out in her stead!"

Fengxi had a solemn look.

Bearing a sense of mission, he exhausted his energy and racked his brains, calculating how to break through this grand strategy against the Demon Race.

Of course, as he thought, Fengxi felt a headache.

After all...

Just as he often says—

As long as one's thinking dares to slip, there will always be more methods than difficulties.

Putting himself in the shoes of the Heavenly Court's emperor, Di Jun, and thinking without any scruples, he found there were far too many ways to counter the Wu Clan's current scheming.

"Does Di Jun care about his own children or not?"

"In other words, for Pangu's success, what could he sacrifice?"

Fengxi distilled the key points of many problems.

However, as soon as these key points were distilled, his temperament honed over recent years as regent wielding great authority immediately gave him the answers.

A qualified emperor, when… ruthless!

Or, while still affectionate, he would never limit himself to one person or family, but look to all beings under heaven, bestowing grace upon the myriad peoples.

"—Sages are often without personal motive, taking the people's hearts as their own."

Facing such an opponent is the most trying.

Because ordinary schemes and plots are almost entirely useless.

You killed my children?

Fine, kill them if you will.

"—I'll just be reborn."

"—After all, I only need a prolific exemplar to maximize the benefits of humanity, guide humanity to reproduce as much as possible, develop purposefully, create value… and incidentally extend my own authority, adding bricks and tiles to Pangu's great undertaking."

"—As for this exemplar, which batch of children is it… would I care?"

"—I myself am eternally present; even if heaven and earth perish, I will not die, and with billions of wealth, there's no turn for the crown prince to inherit!"

……

Fengxi felt that if Di Jun were shameless, the above conversation would be all too likely to happen.

Against such a shameless opponent, ordinary means really can't do anything to him.

In a certain sense.

Assassinating his children is a makeshift measure—at least it can cause some delay.

Unfortunately, this only treats the symptoms, not the root cause.

Moreover...

"Indeed, looking at it this way, the method of assassination has many flaws." Fengxi took a deep breath and said to the ancestral witches, "Moreover, those true heroes who can bear the weight of the crown and stand upon the throne are hardly ever those who win victory through schemed assassinations."

"Hmph..." Gonggong the ancestral witch suddenly snorted coldly, seemingly very dismissive, with strong objections.

This left Fengxi bewildered—had he said something wrong?

"It's fine, don't worry about it." At the crucial moment, Di Jiang Zu Wu laughed and spoke, easing the atmosphere, and said to Fengxi, "Brother Dragon Ancestor, I merely recalled an unpleasant past."

"In the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity, the Dao-Demon Strife, the Dragon Lord was set up and assassinated by the Rahu Demon Ancestor, forced out—this is a public case, an ironclad case."

Di Jiang Zu Wu smiled warmly: "Thus the Dragon Lord became the highest-status figure who died in battle among the innate divinities of that era; despite his lofty ambitions, they came to naught in an instant."

"On the contrary, the Phoenix Divine Lord, who focused on healing, defense, and resurrection, though wounded many times but never killed under the Rahu Demon Ancestor's rampage across Honghuang, after enduring trials, her forces finally defeated the evil demonic forces, brought peace to the world, and allowed the innate divinities' faction to command the Honghuang universe for an entire era."

"This matter, in fact, perfectly illustrates the principle you just spoke of."

"Assassination can make people afraid, make them fearful—but this only applies to ordinary characters."

"True heroes can conquer themselves, face life and death head-on, remain calm before anything… assassination won't frighten them; instead, it will ignite their fighting spirit, they will fight to the end and never yield."

"The Rahu Demon Ancestor relied on assassination to act ferociously, attempting to terrorize people's hearts with terror attacks, but evil does not prevail over good; ultimately, he was defeated by the innate divinities representing justice."

"This is something we need to think deeply about, taking history as a mirror."

Di Jiang Zu Wu sighed, making Fengxi's expression odd—among those who previously shouted for battle and killing loudly, it seems you have a share, right?

Now you switch camps so naturally?

Job-hopping…… such decisive straightforwardness?

Fengxi felt he somewhat couldn't grasp the thought processes of the top experts.

However.

Regardless of how severely Di Jiang Zu Wu's principles have eroded, just a moment ago he was the most radical of the radicals, shouting to kill Di Jun's sons and even abduct others' daughters… yet his arguments still have supporters!

"Yes, yes..." Jiemang, Qiángliáng, Xizi and several other ancestral witches nodded repeatedly in agreement, their faces showing approval, as if Di Jiang's words exactly suited their tastes.

In contrast,

Gonggong, Zhujiuyin, and Tiānwú these ancestral witches all had their mouths twitching wildly, as if suppressing some impulse.

Fengxi watched this scene, and suddenly an insight dawned on him, understanding the underlying situation.

"It should be that the Dragon Ancestor Divine Lord's death was not simply an assassination by the Rahu Demon Ancestor……"

"Perhaps behind the scenes there were some pushers who made this leader kick the bucket."

"Forget it… I'd better not uncover someone else's scar……"

Although I and some of the Dragon Masters dislike each other, and by extension I hate their house and crow, I also don't look too favorably upon the Dragon Ancestor.

But the situation of human-dragon cooperation and mutual benefit should not be ruined by me, a newcomer who has just entered the decision-making level.

The first shot cannot be fired by me.

When the second shot comes, I'll kill the other side.

Fengxi's plan having been decided, he brushed it over, speaking vaguely, "What Di Jiang Zu Wu said makes sense... so we need to find another way besides assassination."

For example, find the deepest root of the contradiction!

Huh? Tell me more. Houtu Zu Wu encouraged Fengxi while displaying her authority, one hand suppressing Gonggong's voice on this side, the other hand pressing down on Di Jiang's voice.

Heavenly Emperor Di Jun wants to bind the multi-birth strategy with his children to achieve star creation... then we can strike at the heart! Fengxi waved his hand forcefully, "Who gave Di Jun such troublesome capital?"

It is the Heavenly Court's Grand Minister of Destiny—Donghua Emperor!

This strongman advocating reform, precisely through his sweeping the universe, intimidating the myriad spirits and monsters of the Demon Race, and repeatedly reorganizing the foundation via the immortal Dao platform system, did the reform initially show results, gathering enormous human benefits.

It enables the Heavenly Court to gradually cultivate an emerging class to replace many old stubborn forces' influence, letting the Heavenly Court enter a more efficient, wholesome cycle.

If... I mean, if.

If we could win over this big figure of the Heavenly Court and have him speak out on this matter... could it affect Di Jun's plan, letting the Demon Race's multi-birth strategy be decoupled from his offspring?

Fengxi asked.

The Zu Wu present began to exchange opinions in low voices, considering from all aspects.

Soon, a result emerged.

Given Donghua's prestige accumulated in reform, it is certainly possible, able to impeach Di Jun's "wrongdoing".

Zhu Jiuyin affirmed.

But... what gives him the right to do this?

This Time Zu Wu shook his head.

Fengxi listened, initially lacking some confidence, but soon he firmed his belief and spoke loudly, "Lady Nüwa, if I recall correctly, the Donghua Emperor and my Wu Clan have cooperated, right?"

Not bad, you were also a participant back then. Houtu nodded.

Since there was cooperation, can we use this as leverage to win him over, push forward the plan we agreed upon back then, attack from inside and out, and cause the Heavenly Court to collapse? Fengxi asked.

Houtu hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said, "This... times have changed, the present is not the past; I don't know if I can still get Donghua to cooperate."

He is not the same as before. Houtu said slowly, "Back then, what status did Donghua have? He wasn't among the initial major shareholders of the Heavenly Court, and whether joining could get him a Yao Marshal title was a question."

Moreover, on the Wu Clan's side, there are some old grudges; some people dislike him... once the great battle comes, they wouldn't mind killing him offhand.

I expressed willingness to offer him protection and resolve the grudges... thus we reached an agreement.

He pretended to join the Heavenly Court, helping me in the Reincarnation Divine Sect to cut the foundation of the Demon Race's lower stratum, further separating the Demon Race's middle-layer longevity group.

When the day comes that we coordinate inside and out, in one fell swoop we will hollow out the Heavenly Court, then strike with thunder, causing the Heavenly Court to collapse in the shortest time.

However...

Houtu's face showed an expression of not knowing whether to cry or laugh, "He did too well, too successful!"

Fengxi expressed understanding.

Yes.

He did too well!

He was also too successful!

Having done it to the point of reform, by his own power he sorted out the Demon Race's years of chaotic accounts, killing the harmful elements, exiling those to be exiled; true power was in his grasp, the Demon Race's heart was in his grasp!

Nowadays, although the Donghua Emperor is not the Demon Emperor, he is in fact an emperor without a crown.

Having gone undercover to the highest level, just ask if you're convinced!

Fengxi, an incarnation stationed in the Wu Clan's confidential archives, flipping through this Emperor's series of operations in the Demon Race, couldn't help but sigh endlessly—

Donghua Emperor, how can you be so skilled!

What kind of growth experience gave you such skills?

How many bigwigs have you backstabbed and knocked down, becoming stepping stones on your rise?

Fengxi feels a sense of awe toward the Donghua Emperor.

He deeply believes that this Emperor could publish such a book—

"Those Years I Was an Undercover"

Guaranteed to be a bestseller, guaranteed to sell big.

After all, a successful undercover agent at least has one overturned bigwig under his feet... the bigwig, in order to erase this black history of his, would have to desperately buy up the published books.

He is too successful, so it's only natural that he lost control. Houtu sighed, "I have lost control over him."

For such a figure... the agreement we previously signed, he can outright deny it, saying it had no effect at all.

We simply cannot verify whether he has changed heart or turned traitor... Houtu shrugged, "Would he, for the sake of present interests, abandon our past cooperation?"

Fengxi nodded in agreement.

Loyalty and keeping one's word—such things are too hard to put a price on.

People often say—loyalty is merely because the price of betrayal is not high enough.

"Not everyone can be like me..." Fengxi thought of himself, "Faced with a Pangu road unfolding before me, I could still work earnestly for Lady Nüwa without immediately defecting."

"What exactly is the Donghua Emperor's true heart? Aside from himself, how can others find out?"

Fengxi thought thus, but he did not abandon some of his ideas and suggestions.

Even if we cannot be certain, we should still try. Fengxi spoke with firm and powerful tone, facing the Zu Wu present, he spoke freely, "If there is hope, we must strive for it; if there is no hope, we can still prepare early."

All along, the Donghua Emperor has presented himself as an idealist before the world... I think this is a key point worth considering for entry.

Fengxi paused word by word, "For idealists, we can talk to him about ideals..."

Speaking of ideals, is our human race not stronger than the Heavenly Court?

We advocate that man can conquer heaven, believing people should be masters of their own fate… Is this not better than the Heavenly Court's vague Heavenly Dao lackey, playing with things, competing with heavenly selection, survival of the fittest? Ideals ought to be noble tenfold, a hundredfold!

We can do some ideological work with Donghua Dao friends—apart from actual interest exchange.

Ideologically and spiritually, we will win over this comrade, not that former contractual agreement.

Fengxi said this much, but saw that the various ancestral witches had different expressions.

"I think this matter should be handled with extreme caution, requiring serious vigilance." Gonggong Ancestral Witch said softly; he did not directly oppose, but such words already constituted a stance.

Whether he is an idealist remains to be pondered; moreover, what does being an idealist amount to?

Gonggong chuckled, "If his ideal is not entirely the same as ours, rashly introducing him might cause us to fall into disorder."

Furthermore.

If he thinks the Heavenly Court's way offers a better chance to realize his ideal… wouldn't we be embarrassed?

"What then?" Fengxi furrowed his brows, opposing Gonggong head-on, "Winning him over would be best; if not, naturally we have corresponding countermeasures."

Our original intention is to have Di Jun sever the relationship between multiple births and his children, intervening slightly in Pangu's progress.

If the Donghua Emperor is responsible for the Demon Race… we can fan the flames, letting him step forward to stop Di Jun.

As for reasons… there are plenty.

For example, the law is just and sacred, not to be violated.

An Imperial Prince who breaks the law shall be punished like a commoner!

Di Jun's son lacks virtue; how can he be heir apparent!

If there is an heir apparent, one must select those whose virtue and character are of the highest caliber, only then can they bear great responsibility—like our human race!

(End of chapter)