Chapter 85

There are always wicked subjects who want to harm Us!

This is the truest portrayal in Houtu, Ancestor Witch's heart.

She's having such a hard time!

In various legends, as one of the few great divine abilities in Honghuang, she suddenly had an unknown-origin superior appear above her head—Huangdi—but that's fine.

There are also Taiyi and Dizang, one representing the Mystic Gate, the other representing the Buddhist Gate, extending their claws into Houtu's private plot—the cycle of reincarnation!

How can a single 'tragic' word be enough?

"Really, I am extremely, extremely rational and calm now."

Houtu patted Xuánmíng's hand now and then, meeting her worried gaze, and soothed, "I will never lose the big picture over small matters, nor settle scores due to possible personal grudges."

"After all…" a mocking hue flashed across her face, the former eagerness to immediately drag out Huangdi that she had shown before other Ancestor Witches—like Dijiang—now completely gone, "Who can guarantee that this information is true?"

"If it's true, then that's fine."

"If it's those unseen Great Luo spreading rumors in the dark, trying to drive a wedge between humanity and the Wu Clan?"

Houtu's eyes were deep, a faint cold smile at the corner of her mouth, "This is highly possible!"

"Spreading rumors?" Xuánmíng pondered, "Indeed… in this era, too much future information circulates, making truth and falsehood hard to tell."

"The Three Pure Ones are feuding internally, with no brotherly affection left."

"Nüwa is ruthless and heartless, while Fuxi lives off his wife's earnings."

"As for Hunyuan, there are eighty-odd theories, ranging from conspiratorial incarnations to an unfeeling Heavenly Dao—more than enough."

……

Xuánmíng pondered, listing various gossip news and rumors.

A Great Luo, once proven, is eternally proven; once existing, eternally existing; a path of innate indestructible spiritual light shining upon the River of Time past, present, and future… They have too many means to obtain future information.

Of course, the truthfulness of this information is certainly worth debating.

If there were only one Great Luo, the information would necessarily be true.

But when there are two or even more, their mutual maneuvering—authority of licensers, administrators' powers, rewriting history by inverting cause and effect, various ways of refreshing the past—are trivial, let alone spreading rumors.

True and false intermingle, making it hard to discern reality from illusion.

"Yeah… it's hard to tell true from false!" Houtu snorted coldly, "This is the most terrifying… you can't treat it as nonexistent, but if you take everything as fact to guard against… truth and falsehood invert, making it easy to have your attention scattered, to be led by the nose without realizing it."

"As for the Huangdi matter… some ill‑intentioned fellows lurk within, wanting me to charge into battle. But little do they know, I have already seen through their deceit."

"These days I may seem impatient and impulsive, but deep down I have remained clear‑headed; I'm merely playing along with their act, while secretly checking what's real and what's not."

This Ancestor Witch's eyes shone bright, "Suppress it with stillness, sit and watch the winds rise and clouds surge… Indeed, many clues have already been discerned by me!"

Houtu's tone revealed her confidence, that air of having victory in hand, which made Xuánmíng curious, "Elder Sister Houtu, what have you discovered?"

"The existence of the Five Direction Heavenly Emperors should be certain. Although it's still unclear whether they are absolute enemies of us Ancestor Witches." Houtu squeezed Xuánmíng's little hand, "This also calls for thanks to someone… his jumping‑about performance at first gave me a dark loss, but I thereby gained much insight… heh, the Great Fuxi Clan Alliance!"

"So, having confirmed the facts about the Five Emperors, Sister, you then launched a heavy strike, proposing the Yan‑Huang Alliance to draw out the two Yan‑Huang Emperors?" Xuánmíng said.

"Yes, and no." Houtu smiled faintly, "Would you believe it? The strategy of waving the Yan‑Huang banner was told to me by Qingdi Fuxi… this poor soul, bit by bit laying out a plan, performing various acts of deception before me, even offering genuinely useful strategies, appearing to want to help me resolve the trouble caused by Huangdi's existence."

"But he doesn't know that I, in recent years, have gathered conspiratorial deceit texts from all times and spaces, striving to improve myself, and have already achieved a qualitative leap in this area, surpassing his imagination!"

"So I suspect that Qingdi Fuxi and Huangdi Xuanyuan secretly allied, yet put on a show of having nothing to do with each other to try to deceive heaven, and even acted before me as if considering me, offering genuinely useful strategies… but he never imagined that I have already seen through all of this!"

Qingdi and Huangdi have allied!

This is absolutely shocking news!

But when spoken by Houtu, she was so calm.

"From the birth to the demise of the Great Fuxi Clan Alliance, this is merely a pawn… later they still wanted a Shun Alliance, a Zhuanxu Alliance, appearing unwilling to accept the loss of the so‑called male‑witch vs. female‑witch struggle, but it's all just a façade."

"The person behind the scenes merely wants to force me to take the initiative… then, at this critical moment, offer a sound plan so I can raise the Huangdi banner." Houtu gave a half‑smile, her sarcastic tone showing, "He even thoughtfully suggested finding one or two completely clean pawns under control to contend for the Huangdi position!"

"Whoever jumps is suspect and will be dragged out; if no one jumps, we'll forge the fake into the real… relying on my rear‑hand control, this round is a sure win."

"An excellent strategy." Xuánmíng gave it careful thought and evaluated.

Relying on such grand momentum, it smothers hidden schemes alive—appearing utterly perfect.

At least, she found no flaw.

"Yeah, it's a fine strategy." Houtu sighed deeply, "But I have activated my utmost guard against people, pondering that there won't be any good in this, imagining the worst intentions of those who would advise me… and thus I found a dark spot under the lamp."

"What if… the piece I put forward to contend for the Huangdi position is the true Huangdi?"

"Wouldn't I become a laughingstock?" Houtu sighed, "My mindset would blow up!"

"Could anyone still pull the wool over your eyes?" Xuánmíng hesitated, "Your mastery of the True Spirit Way is unparalleled in the world; even a Taiyi Great Luo couldn't hope to hide anything from you."

"That's right." Houtu nodded, showing a strange smile, "But what if the true Huangdi isn't some great divine ability who reincarnated to play the part?"

"It would be a genuinely pure and clean individual, rising from a completely blank slate, achieving that stature through his own efforts?"

"He himself has no great power backing him in the depths of the True Spirit, carving a path out of the most ordinary circumstances!"

"Impossible!" Xuánmíng declared flatly, "Such a person… is too inconceivable!"

"Nothing is absolutely impossible." Houtu's face calmed, "If such a person truly existed, without external aid, rising alone, ultimately leaving the deepest mark upon humanity, subduing one great divine ability after another, becoming the ancestor of the spiritual source… facing such a person, I might truly overlook them."

"Then perhaps we shouldn't build the Yan‑Huang Alliance?" Xuánmíng suggested hesitantly.

"Build!" Houtu scoffed, "Why not build?"

"I don't just want to build—I want to build big and grand… to give this Huangdi Dao‑friend a hand in the early stages!"

"Huh?" Xuánmíng stared blankly.

"With such a powerful external ally, why would we let it go?" Houtu waved her hand, "I calculated the current openly displayed hands of the Wu and Yao sides, and we're still at a slight disadvantage."

"Thus we must strengthen financing, attract those wandering hidden players—even if they harbor ill intentions."

"However, harboring ill intent is one thing… but who made them scheme so grandly?" Houtu flashed a sly smile, "Those grand‑scheming gangs repeatedly deceive Houtu, pulling the wool over our eyes, swapping beams for pillars… all sorts of stratagems make them gleeful—this is a band of astonishing swindlers with lofty aims, trying to trick me into losing my entire fortune!"

"In the art of deception, there are big cons and small cons, and depending on how hard the target is to deal with, there are even more refined methods…" Houtu hummed, "Without a doubt, I am the hardest to deceive, the kind that requires a huge investment to deal with."

"To deceive someone like me, they must surely pour in the cost… otherwise how could they gain the trust of me, who is currently 'completely unaware'?"

"Especially, they wanted to swindle me out of all my possessions, then swagger on my head... The investment needed here is even greater!" Houtu lowered their voice and whispered to Xuanming, "I'm just waiting!"

"Waiting for them to pour in their capital, then at the last moment pull the rug out from under them, burn the bridges!"

Xuanming's eyes widened instantly, looking at Houtu with an inexplicable and admiring gaze.

Afterward, she racked her brains to help Houtu plug the gaps.

"What if things capsize?" Xuanming muttered, "I suspect that among the ancestral witches, there may be Huangdi's agents hidden!"

"It's fine!" Houtu chuckled, "Although I will indulge Huangdi, let him mingle by my side and meddle within the Yan-Huang Alliance... but I won't pick anyone to contend for Huangdi's throne!"

"I'll just keep that position dangling, keep it dangling, and openly use the slogan of winning people over with military achievements to drive that hidden person to exert themselves, to give their all!"

"Our situation now is like a dynasty facing foreign invasion, being pressed back... Our ancestral witches are the emperors, while Huangdi is a highly capable Grand Marshal."

"When foreign invaders attack, we have no choice but to rely on this Marshal... but this Grand Marshal harbors treacherous ambitions—when we defeat the foreign foe, that will be the day of plotting to usurp the throne!"

"Faced with such a person, what should we do?"

"Ordinary imperial edicts and righteous justifications would be useless against such ruthless lot... yet we still need his wisdom."

"So, take his wisdom, hollow out his position, and gradually undermine him— that is the right way!" Houtu waved their hand fiercely, "Let Huangdi succeed or fail within the Yan-Huang Alliance!"

"That's why I must establish the Yan-Huang Alliance, gather manpower, compile Yan-Huang thought, directly grasp final interpretive authority, and set up for Huangdi's future ascent a hurdle that looks simple but is practically impossible to overcome!"

"That demands utter moral integrity, true sagacity, absolute indifference to fame and gain, utter self-sacrifice for humanity... With so many thresholds, how could he ever ascend?"

"Overthrow our ancestral witches?"

"Impossible!"

(End of chapter)