Chapter 597

Mm, Xiao Ji, what you said makes perfect sense.

The girl nodded solemnly, indicating her approval.

However, you also need to understand…… the precondition for these operations is to know who the most crucial enemy is!

She said in an old-fashioned, pompous way, "Otherwise, if the Absolute Kill technique is used on the wrong target, you'll be making wedding clothes for others for free."

So, the fish that ought to be caught still need to be caught.

The girl's eyes were deep, her gaze playful, "This eastern tour of mine has never been just about that old dragon."

If I don't leave the center, those hidden hands won't jump out, and the situation will forever remain half‑veiled.

Only when I step out and become the eye of the storm will those demons and monsters rush forth to make big moves.

As for that, I've long been prepared.

Some of the ancestral Wu I trust have long secretly made preparations, silently watching.

Usually, they're overshadowed by my brilliance, ordinary and unremarkable…… but they've never been lacking!

Now they've become my hidden eyes, observing everything, recording everything…… perhaps many answers will soon come to light.

The girl let out a soft sigh, "I hope the revelation of the answer brings me a surprise."

What she said was somewhat incoherent, leaving the listener Responding Dragon unable to make heads or tails of it; he could only stay silent and listen attentively to the holy words.

Preparations have been made in secret; as for our open‑facing troops…… the girl chuckled, "If we face difficulties, we'll just have to endure a bit more."

However…… the Crown Prince of the Human Emperor extended a finger, pointing far off at the eight commanders of the guarding army, his voice carrying for miles: "My human and Wu forces are brimming with talent…… right now, leading the Eight Great Heroes into battle, who could stop us? Who could stand in our way?"

The girl was full of confidence, both in her words and subtleties, toward the eight commanders.

If her eyes hadn't flickered just a fraction while she spoke those words…… perhaps she'd be even more convincing.

However, this subtlety could only be noticed by the Responding Dragon who observed her closely beside her.

The Responding Dragon listened, watched, and suddenly came to a realization.

My dear officials, you say, isn't that right?!

The girl shouted aloud, her voice echoing in the ears of the many heroic talents in the guarding army.

Your Highness is wise!

A commander shouted loudly, that was Li Lu.

Your Highness's divine might surpasses ancient and modern; we, spilling our livers and gall, swear to follow unto death, and shall surely be invincible, unstoppable through the ages!

Qiong Sang echoed.

Exactly! Exactly!

The remaining six commanders responded in turn, and an atmosphere of a wise ruler and loyal ministers arose spontaneously, leaving the Responding Dragon with nothing to say.

He smacked his lips, Ji wanted to speak but held back, held back but wanted to speak.

Fine.

They're all scheming in their hearts, full of nasty schemes…… she's low‑ranked and weak, so let her just sit at the sidelines and watch the show!

Hahaha!

The girl laughed heartily, "With so many worthy ministers like these, what danger should I, Your Highness, fear?"

Go! Continue the eastern tour!

Let me tread through myriad difficulties and see who in the Honghuang dares to oppose Your Highness!

Which troublemakers intend to harm Your Majesty!

The girl displayed the utmost stubbornness.

Her stubbornness seemed like a matter of course.

The Wu and human races, heroes emerging in abundance, talent plentiful…… going out for a spin, is there any hindrance?

None!

Just that.

At that very moment, a great hand emerged faintly from the void, reaching out toward this span of time and ages, descending upon it!

Faintly, there were threads of eerie blood‑red, bleak and terrifying!

This strangeness comes inexplicably and is hard to investigate; only the very top of those mighty diviners can faintly sense it, yet it remains vague and its source unknowable.

At most, at most we learn that it's related to Nüwa…… perhaps it's the very target about to suffer harm?

The girl sat commanding the army; she seemed to have sensed it, yet also seemed not to have, composed and self‑possessed, utterly steady, not disturbing the formation in the slightest, chatting and laughing at ease, making people feel a sudden reverence as if gazing up at a lofty mountain.

All along the way she proceeded in an orderly manner, handling affairs, summoning and comforting the tribes along the route, wielding power to bestow kindness, letting all know——thunder and rain, all are heavenly grace!

Human royal authority, supreme at the center, is both your father and your mother—just obey obediently!

Nüwa's eastern tour naturally couldn't be limited to intimidating and pressuring the dragon race; it also had to mix in many political spectacles, uniting the people's hearts and establishing prestige.

The dragon race may have grandeur, but not that much grandeur, prompting Nüwa to spare no marshalling of massive manpower and material just to give them a rap on the knuckles.

Directly order the Eastern Barbarian tribes, add reinforcements, send a few of the ancestral Wu—three or five—to put the dragon race on a war footing; wouldn't that be simple and efficient?

After all, the human and dragon races have torn faces, yet not completely torn; at most they've entered a 'divorce cooling‑off period,' seemingly still with some room for reconciliation.

Unity is not easy, cooperation runs deep; over the long ages, you're in me and I'm in you—it's not something that can be simply severed.

Matters of splitting the household can be argued over for a good while; if it goes badly, both sides lose.

Even though Nüwa gritted her teeth in hatred of the Dragon Ancestor, on the reincarnation strategy she was screwed over horribly, nearly left paralyzed, often confined to a wheelchair.

But considering the big picture and reflecting on the Wu Clan's situation, she could still straighten her stance and adopt a relatively appropriate handling.

The human and dragon races, divorce is impossible to contemplate for now; all we can do is muddle through.

However, the sovereignty that must be contested must be contested; transferring assets in secret, guarding carefully…… this can exist, and must exist!

The girl, she has come for this.

Thus, the eastern tour route wound winding, passing through many tribes along the way, many of which are blends of human and dragon concepts, their influence hard to rank——the closer to the East Sea, the more so.

Passing such a tribe, Nüwa deployed the army, the invisible intimidation maxed out, she stood as a platform for human strength, secretly stabbed the dragon tribe with a knife, and gathered the leadership.

Afterwards, she also exerted her own affinity… summoning talents, rewarding and encouraging, is one aspect; issuing speeches, announcing to the populace, the central economic circle of humanity develops and spreads, covering the current populace, is another aspect.

Cleaning the upper ranks, promoting the middle, bestowing favors on the lower… a set of combination punches, covering all aspects, a tribe basically stabilizes.

Then weeding out some troublemakers, drafting them into the Eastern Patrol Army, tempering and assimilating, heading to the next tribe…

Perfect!

Nüwa acts, neither hurried nor slow, steady and composed, naturally bearing a kingly demeanor.

Fully exerting humanity's momentum, letting the central royal court's brilliance shine, splendid and glorious.

Even the Eastern Yi, which was once a fief founded by Emperor Donghua and where the Green Emperor resided in retirement to oversee the region, when Nüwa's carriage arrived, they were also honest and did not dare to act rashly at all.

Those forces that covertly infiltrated this tribe, becoming the uncrowned kings lurking within, also did not dare to face Nüwa's sharpness, variously vanishing without a trace or claiming to be law-abiding.

When summoned by Nüwa and unable to evade, they usually shout—'Princess Nüwa, civil and martial virtue, for myriad ages, unifying Honghuang!'

Stuff like showing loyalty, don't be too eager.

Only with such cooperative, honest performance could they barely send off the goddess Nüwa.

During this period, the vast Honghuang saw several major events.

That day the heavens collapsed, the earth split, originating from the lofty, inscrutable Heavenly Dao, probing into the deep, dark netherworld.

This is the Dao Ancestor acting!

Hongjun, acting as the spokesperson for the Heavenly Dao, submitted documents to the netherworld, urging humanity and urging Honghuang—Pangu's innate ability—to lower its gaze.

Those documents detailed the netherworld's situation, worrying that lingering ghosts unwilling to reincarnate could easily cause reincarnation anomalies—a great disaster.

Therefore, departed souls should be allotted a yin lifespan!

Once the yin lifespan arrives, reincarnation is forced; they may not linger!

However, heaven offers a sliver of hope.

Rules are set, also allowing loopholes… but exploiting loopholes also carries a cost—one will be pursued by karmic retribution, turning it into a trial.

……

Unless it is a boundless calamity, Hongjun does not leave the Purple Cloud Palace.

But this does not mean he cannot do anything.

Unable to actively intervene in Honghuang, unable to seek personal gain for himself… does not mean he cannot, in the name of wholehearted public service, in some matters add fuel to the fire, harming others without benefiting himself.

Just like certain reporting mechanisms.

At this moment, the Dao Ancestor, concerning humanity and Honghuang, reported the netherworld upward, treating the related issues as targets requiring severe crackdown.

Furthermore, in this matter, the Heavenly Court is cooperating!

"Alive, they are demons of the Demon Race!"

"Dead, they are ghosts of the Demon Race!"

"We, the Heavenly Court, will never ignore our subjects; after death, they suffer unjust treatment in the netherworld!"

"Why not grant reincarnation to my Heavenly Court's demon subjects?"

"Is there discriminatory conduct by the Ancestor Witch Houtu?"

"Is there any non‑ghost‑dao conduct behind all this?"

"My Heavenly Court will closely monitor, strictly investigate, and report to all of humanity!"

The Heavenly Court side, righteous and resolute, became a fighter for 'ghost rights', cooperating with Dao Ancestor Hongjun, becoming fully active.

To uphold Honghuang's 'fairness' and guard the netherworld's 'ghost rights', this demon‑race organization is willing to bring its own rations to serve as supervisors—although the place and objects of supervision are quite absurd.

——They chose Mount Buzhou!

The finest troops were deployed here, all composed of strong‑clan members, forcing the Wu Clan side to make an equivalent counter‑move, mutually canceling each other out.

Chaos and turmoil, incessant unrest.

Until it escalated, a vast power descended, stirring the whole Honghuang, to patch the netherworld, adding rules for yin‑spirit lifespans.

Humanity accepted part of the Dao Ancestor's proposals, approving Hongjun's pilot‑scale changes.

Of course, Houtu does not agree.

Thus, there was a brief clash, the two strong sides rubbing against each other.

The two Supreme Emperors, neither in perfect condition, collided momentarily, then reached a stalemate, facing each other.

……

"Hongjun?"

"Di Jun?"

In the Eastern Patrol troop, Nüwa remained calm and composed, scribbling and drawing in one small notebook after another.

"Very good, I have noted it all."

Nüwa, fearing her memory is poor, prepared many notebooks.

From daily diaries to monthly summaries, yearly summaries, yuan‑hui summaries, era summaries—everything is there!

Remembering gratitude, remembering grudges, recording kindness and enmity for eternity.

Generally speaking, decent people do not keep diaries.

Who can put their innermost thoughts into a diary?

However, Nüwa is not a person; she is a deity!

Moreover, she is a goddess who has undergone the Heavenly Emperor's complex teachings and is growing under oppression.

So that one day she may have justification to prove the legitimacy and propriety of reforming the family throne, evidence and the like naturally need to be prepared.

Where there is one, there is two.

She has already recorded Fuxi's daily oppression of her.

She also kept a record of who usually schemed against her and harmed her… it seemed only natural to do so.

Hmm.

Yes.

That's how it is.

This isn't petty spite.

This is a blood-and-tears ledger in which the victim accuses an unjust world!

One day, Empress Nüwa will take this ledger and list them off one by one!

At this moment, right now.

Facing the moves of the Heavenly Dao and the Heavenly Court, Nüwa calmly wrote her records, adding her own thoughts.

This matter isn't over.

In the days to come, we'll see what happens!

After finishing the record, Nüwa finally put down her pen, calmly collected the booklet, and summoned the Responding Dragon.

"Come in, Ji!"

"Yes!"

The Responding Dragon strode in, a worried look on its face.

"What's wrong?" Nüwa remained calm.

"Your Highness..." the Responding Dragon said worriedly, "Something seems off."

"Oh? Tell me."

"What's wrong?"

"Someone is spying." the Responding Dragon said, "And there are many! More and more!"

The Responding Dragon related its sensing: "There are always some divine thoughts, flitting by in a flash, appearing and disappearing, indescribable."

"They brush past our team, glancing and watching… and they all hide their origins—this is highly abnormal!"

The Responding Dragon made its judgment, and had its own reasons: "Our journey is open and aboveboard; we have nothing to fear from being seen by all."

"If they wanted to watch us, there's no need for such sneakiness, hiding their heads and tails… yet their numbers keep growing, their boldness increasing!"

"This is the rhythm of someone stirring up trouble!"

"Your Highness… please reconsider!"

"Hmm, I know." Nüwa looked thoughtful, "But we've already reached the shore of the East Sea, and we're about to meet Cangta any moment now."

"At this point, shrinking back or hesitating… seems rather inappropriate, doesn't it?"

"Besides losing all our previous efforts, our prestige would suffer greatly… that's not right." Nüwa tapped the table, "Well… give the order: lax outside, tight inside—also a prudent precaution."

"As you command!" the Responding Dragon said respectfully.

Having accepted the order, she withdrew slowly; when she had not gone far from the temporary palace, she saw a leader—Li Lu—approaching, bearing a faint aura of the dragon clan.

"Princess Nüwa!" Li Lu reported, "The dragon clan has sent personnel to discuss the joint human‑dragon military exercise."

"Would you like to summon them?"

"Dragon‑folk visitors?" Nüwa drawled, "Interesting."

"Are they here to give me a warning?"

"Or has Cangta seen the light and decided to yield?"

"Hah!"

"Well then, let's meet them."

"Yes!"

Leader Li Lu agreed eagerly, strode off toward some place, clearly about to summon the dragon‑folk visitor.

The Responding Dragon watched, blinking, then blinking again.

(End of chapter)