Houtu cradled a teacup as large as a washbasin in both hands, taking small, dainty sips. Holding a cup bigger than her own head, she looked like a pure, easily duped innocent.
"If you want to cooperate, it's not entirely out of the question," Houtu said. "First, I have to see what I can do now, and second, what I am willing to do."
Seeing Zhang Sheng's brow furrow slightly once more, Houtu chuckled. "You can't blame me for this. It was your own array design that had a flaw. Originally, generating earth from fire was sound in principle, and the Great Sun True Fire Domain was just barely adequate. The problem was that the little fellow among you who cultivates the True Fire of the Great Sun wasn't quite up to snuff—or rather, he was far too inadequate. That was what gave me the chance to descend directly.
"According to the array's original design, you wanted to summon my Dao body without awakening my consciousness so you could use me as a puppet, didn't you?"
Both Yin-Yang and Zhang Sheng knew Wei Yuan's original intention in setting up this array, and it was indeed as Houtu said. Wei Yuan had wanted to add near-Immortal Lord combat power to their side while dealing the Mountain Folk a heavy blow. With the balance of power shifting in their favor, dealing with the Mountain Folk in the future would be far easier.
Furthermore, turning the hundred-thousand-li Mountain domain into a cultivation wasteland was equivalent to placing a vast buffer zone outside Qingming, drastically reducing the threat of the Mountain Folk from that direction.
It was just that stating this intention right to Houtu's face sounded rather unseemly—the equivalent of saying they were only after her body, not her heart.
Then Houtu spoke again: "It's not entirely out of the question for you to want my body, but you at least have to let me know what you intend to do once you've had your way with it, right?"
Yin-Yang simply pointed a finger, and Wei Yuan's figure appeared beside her. She had stripped away Wei Yuan's divine thoughts and condensed them into a standalone primordial spirit avatar. When it came to Houtu's question, it was naturally best answered by Wei Yuan himself.
Wei Yuan said solemnly, "Junior is currently restarting a world and is in dire need of Senior's assistance. That is of paramount importance. Apart from that, I originally intended to invite Senior to reside in the Central Earth Grotto-Heaven, construct a spirit manor, and become the grotto-heaven's true spirit. But now, that is naturally no longer possible."
If Houtu had descended as a blank slate, she would have made the best possible true spirit. But now that she clearly possessed an independent will of her own, how could Wei Yuan dare make her the true spirit? After all, Wei Yuan's understanding of Houtu came only from legends; no one knew whether she might turn into another Venerable Master.
The reason Wei Yuan had dispatched Yin-Yang to form a pincer with Zhang Sheng was precisely because he had discovered Houtu had an independent consciousness. He had no choice but to use their standing to check Houtu, which in turn gave Immortal Monarchs outside like Xuanyue, Zhu Yan, and Bai Kaishui an opportunity to exert their strength. Otherwise, if they could not neutralize the influence of Houtu's tier, Bai Kaishui might fare slightly better, but pure-violence immortals like Xuanyue and Zhu Yan would only be played like toys in her palm.
Wei Yuan had thought he was being completely sincere and considerate of Houtu. To his surprise, Houtu remarked, "Want me to become a true spirit? If anyone else said that, they'd be courting death! But as for you, lad, it's not entirely out of the question. How about this: I know nothing about the present world. First find me some bamboo slips or bronze plates to read, preferably inscribed with true intent."
A sphere of light appeared in Wei Yuan's hand. He handed it over and said, "This is the Splendor of the Many Realms. Recorded within are many branches of knowledge of today's world. Senior may take a look first."
Houtu took the sphere of light. The moment her fingertip touched it, countless waves of knowledge surged into her consciousness like a tsunami! Even with her status as an Immortal Lord, she was instantly overwhelmed by this boundless sea of knowledge!
Her eyes rolled back, and her expression went blank. Zhang Sheng and Yin-Yang immediately whipped out immortal-binding ropes and rushed forward to tie her up.
However, the moment they touched Houtu, they realized something was wrong. This body of Houtu's seemed to be nothing more than a layer of skin; the inside was completely hollow, and her soul was not inside it at all.
At that moment, another Houtu stepped out from the wall and laughed. "Quite an impressive trick, but unfortunately, this elder sister has never trusted anyone. Yes, you heard me right—humans are especially untrustworthy."
This Houtu dissolved like foam, while a new Houtu sprouted from the floor, followed by another descending from the ceiling. For a time, Houtus formed and vanished in succession, every single one an illusion.
Seeing this, Wei Yuan's primordial spirit avatar sat back down by the table with an earnest expression. "I only wanted Sister to learn a little more about today's human race. I'm not a bad person. If Sister thinks of me like that, I will be heartbroken."
Houtu's eyes lit up as if she had discovered a new continent. She actually walked over to sit beside Wei Yuan, took his hand, and stroked it continuously. "How could I possibly think you're a bad person? Look, I'm even willing to engage in communion of spirits and dual cultivation with you!"
Wei Yuan calmly withdrew his hand and said, "I am merely a primordial spirit avatar, equivalent to an automated machine. If Sister wishes to commune in spirit, you may wait until my true body awakens."
"What is a machine?"
"Something made of metallic materials—"
Before Wei Yuan could finish explaining, Houtu pinched him several times all over his body, feeling him up as she remarked, "This feels like flesh to the touch, not steel at all. Look, so smooth..."
"Flesh on the outside, steel on the inside—smooth yet hard." With a thought from Wei Yuan, his body altered accordingly, flicking Houtu's hands away.
Houtu straightened up a bit, giving Wei Yuan a deep, searching look. "Young man, not bad."
Just then, Houtu's pinching and groping had used the same tier and strength as Wei Yuan's primordial spirit avatar. Wei Yuan being able to flick her hands away proved that under identical conditions, Houtu had no way of dominating him.
As for their tongues, they were evenly matched—neither had any room left to sink lower.
Thus, after several rounds of testing each other, everyone understood that every single person in this courtyard was a ravenous beast; not one of them was an easy mark. Since none of them were good people, they could finally get down to business.
Zhang Sheng cleared his throat lightly and said, "Truth be told, we still know very little about Senior. Why doesn't Senior first tell us how things grew in such a wild and savage state back in the Yuangu era?"
Houtu said, "Too much time has passed. My fruition from back then is long gone, and my primordial spirit has completely dispersed. What stands here now is at best a shadow cast by my original self upon the river of time, so there isn't much I can remember.
"Back then, when the Shaman-Liao War ended, the Ancestral Shamans cast us aside the moment they were done using us, while the Liao Clan swore vengeance.
"The fighting back then was extraordinarily brutal. Many mortals knew that falling into the Liao Clan's hands meant certain death. Rather than being slaughtered by an alien race, it was better to sacrifice oneself to Heaven and Earth in exchange for a glimmer of hope. So before every major battle back then, sacrifices started in the millions.
"Back then, the First Human Sovereign, Emperor Yu, was isolated and without allies, so he followed the example of the Shamans, offering vast quantities of sacrifices, and gradually created several innate sacred bodies. I was one of them.
"From the moment of our birth, our purpose was to perish together with the Immortal Lords of the Liao Clan.
"It wasn't until later that Rushou and Jumang caught an opportunity, dragging the Grand Imperial Preceptor of the Liao Clan into the cycle of reincarnation with them. At the time, our human race still had the First Human Sovereign and me, whereas the Liao Clan was truly unwilling to lose another Immortal Lord, so they finally withdrew their troops and negotiated peace. After making peace, they felt aggrieved, so they started fighting again. When the fighting became unbearable, they negotiated peace again. That's how we lived through the Yuangu era. In your modern terms, the average lifespan didn't exceed thirty."
Wei Yuan sighed. "So the First Human Sovereign became an Immortal Lord upon ascending to immortality! To seize a sliver of opportunity to ascend, and then create innate sacred bodies endowed with their own fruitions—he truly was a peerless hero! But did the method of ascending given by the Shaman Clan back then carry no hidden perils?"
"The method of ascending given by the Shaman Clan? Why would you think that?" Houtu looked bewildered.
Wei Yuan was also taken aback and said, "That is what's recorded in all the Daoist canons, is it not?"
"Show me the history."
Wei Yuan handed over another sphere of light, this time honestly and plainly, without bombarding her with an avalanche of knowledge.
With a sweep of her divine sense, Houtu finished reading the history of the Yuangu era and immediately shook her head. "This is utter nonsense! The Human Sovereign had long been capable of ascending to immortality; it was only the locks of Heaven and Earth that gave him no opportunity at all.
"Later, during the Shaman-Liao War, the Ancestral Shamans secretly opened the locks of Heaven and Earth in order to win him over. As a result, the Human Sovereign directly attained the rank of Immortal Lord, firmly wedging himself in that breach. When Emperor Yu finally fell, he went so far as to abandon reincarnation, incinerating his immortal body to engrave his divine soul into Heaven and Earth, rewriting the Heavenly Dao and turning that breach into a permanent part of it. From then on, the Heavenly Dao could no longer seal off the human race, and only then did those who came after have the chance to ascend to immortality."
Chapter 1501