But how did you do it?

Other tribes have already slaughtered the humans who depended on our Witch Clan to extinction and extracted their Essence Blood, but your Houtu Tribe has yet to make a move... Ah, that's right, your Houtu Tribe seems fond of intermarrying with the Human Race, aren't you?"

"Indeed!"

The Houtu Ancestor Witch still spoke with a calm face: "I don't know where you got the method to refine the Slaughter Demon Banner, nor do I know how you learned about the Saint Blood within humans... In any case, the humans who rely on my Houtu Tribe have already become part of the Houtu Tribe, and I will not allow anyone to harm them!"

"Are you doubting our eldest brother by saying this?"

Zhu Rong Ancestor Witch's face grew even uglier.

The method to refine the Slaughter Demon Banner was suddenly proposed by Emperor Jiang Ancestor Witch, head of the Twelve Ancestor Witches.

And he did not reveal the source of this method, only stating that this banner could suppress the Demon Clan.

"Once the Slaughter Demon Banner is refined, with a mere flick, billions of Demon Gods will lose their heads!"

Those were Emperor Jiang Ancestor Witch's original words.

Emperor Jiang Ancestor Witch has always been the undisputed leader among the Twelve Ancestor Witches, even Zhu Jiuyin, who controlled the Time Dao, able to foresee the future and with outstanding strategies, willingly followed his commands.

Therefore, when he spoke these words, the Ancestor Witches merely pondered briefly before resolutely carrying out his orders—slaughtering humans, extracting their Essence Blood, and refining the Slaughter Demon Banner.

"Brother, that was too much."

The Houtu Ancestor Witch shook her head gently, speaking indifferently: "I know you have a great objection to me now, but..."

"There is no but!" Zhu Rong Ancestor Witch interrupted her: "Now those demons are also collecting human Essence Blood, I suspect they have also learned the secret of the Saint Blood within the Human Race... If you don't kill the humans, are you going to leave them to be slaughtered by the Demon Clan?"

"The Human Race is not livestock!" The Houtu Ancestor Witch seemed extremely dissatisfied with the word "slaughter," glaring at Zhu Rong Ancestor Witch: "No matter what, the humans who depend on my Houtu Tribe absolutely cannot be killed!"

Zhu Rong Ancestor Witch immediately became furious, opening his mouth to say something.

At this moment, Emperor Jiang Ancestor Witch at the head of the table quickly raised his hand to stop him, his voice grave, said: "Since little sister doesn't want to kill, then let them be. Those hybrid children of the Witch and Human Races I've seen too, having the physique of the Witch Clan while being able to cultivate the Primordial Spirit like the Human Race, they are a combination of both races' strengths...

Moreover, our Witch Clan is few in number, if these witch-people can reproduce greatly, it could indeed strengthen our tribe's power."

At this point, he looked at Houtu Ancestor Witch and said, "How about this, little sister, go back and comfort the humans of your tribe, and you no longer need to participate in the extraction of human Essence Blood."

Houtu Ancestor Witch hesitated for a moment, opened her mouth as if to speak, but finally, she sighed softly, nodded to the other Ancestor Witches, then turned around and took a step, using the Great Divine Power to distance herself in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, she was already at a beautiful small hill, quiet and peaceful under the moonlight.

As the Ancestor Witch closest to the earth among the twelve, many Witch Clans worshipped her.

All the Witch Clans that followed her were collectively known as the Houtu Tribe.

The Houtu Tribe had many branches, and the most important branch was the Eastern Yi Tribe where Da Yi resided.

But at this moment, Houtu was not going to the Eastern Yi Tribe but had come to the Nanyang Tribe, which was about tens of thousands of miles away from Shouyang Mountain.

Here, there were numerous Human Race civilians.

They were humans who had begun to depend on the Witch Clan a long time ago.

The Witch Clan protected them, while they used their intelligence and hard work to give back to the Witch Clan.

Over time, marriages between the two races also occurred frequently.

The integration of the Witch and Human Races in this place was quite rapid.

But because the order to slaughter humans had been passed, even though no action had been taken here, the neighboring human settlements had already been wiped out, leaving the humans of the Nanyang Tribe extremely fearful and anxious.

The Houtu Ancestor Witch's trip was meant to comfort these humans.

But as soon as she arrived, a tall figure quickly followed, arriving at the place.

"Tian Yuan fellow Daoist?"

The Houtu Ancestor Witch showed some surprise, then her gaze turned wary.

The person who came was Yu Yuan.

Concerning the Witch Clan tribe not far from Shouyang Mountain, he had discovered it when he had released his Divine Thought to explore the surroundings and was indeed very curious to see such a large number of the Human Race surviving here.

He was still hesitating about whether to come over for a closer look, but then he sensed the sudden arrival of the Houtu Ancestor Witch.

Although in his impression, the Houtu Ancestor Witch was one of the rare benevolent Ancestor Witches, given that it was the Calamity period, there was no guarantee that she would not be affected by the foul qi and act unusually.

Thus, to prevent her from making moves against the Human Race here, he came immediately.

After all, it was only a few tens of thousands of miles away, merely the distance of a blink of an eye.

Previously at Shouyang Mountain, although he had seen Houtu Ancestor Witch, there were many people and many eyes, combined with most of his attention being on powerhouses like Donghuang Taiyi, Emperor Jiang, Kunpeng Ancestor, Zhu Jiuyin, etc., he didn't pay much attention to Houtu Ancestor Witch.

At this moment, seeing the rumored Houtu Ancestor Witch, Yu Yuan couldn't help but take a couple more glances.

One could see that the Houtu Ancestor Witch was completely different from the rough and robust male Ancestor Witches like Zhu Rong.

Although she was also quite tall, her figure was overall slender and delicate, her appearance noble and beautiful, black and shining long hair draped over her shoulders, like a black waterfall, soft and glossy.

She wore an apricot-yellow Daoist robe, but no shoes – her white jade-like bare feet nakedly stepping on the grass-covered earth, emanating a faint scent of freshness, like a white blooming flower in front of everyone, beautiful without being vulgar.

"I wonder what brings fellow Daoist here late at night?" the Houtu Ancestor Witch was the first to ask.

"I am here for the Human Race of this place," Yu Yuan answered directly.

The Houtu Ancestor Witch nodded slightly, "Fellow Daoist is afraid that I might harm them?"

"Indeed," Yu Yuan nodded and then looked at her, "If not for these Human Race, for what purpose would fellow Daoist come here?"

The Houtu Ancestor Witch pondered for a moment, then looked at the Human Race living here once more, slowly saying, "Actually, I, too, am worried that they might be slaughtered, so I specifically came to check on them…

Rest assured, fellow Daoist, I will not lay a hand on them.

Although they are of the Human Race, they have been part of my Houtu Tribe for a very long time."

Yu Yuan understood the meaning behind her words and his expression relaxed somewhat, he spoke, "So to say, we now have the same objective, to protect the safety of these Human Race?"

The Houtu Ancestor Witch nodded.

She paused, then with some confusion said, "There is something I do not understand. Tian Yuan fellow Daoist, why go to such lengths to help the Human Race? Even at the cost of being enemies with both the Witch Clan and the Demon Clan?"

Naturally, Yu Yuan couldn't reveal that he was born of the Human Race. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ ɴovel(ꜰ)ɪre.nᴇt

After a short contemplation, he said earnestly, "Because of admiration, and also pity."

"Admiration? Pity?" The Houtu Ancestor Witch grew even more puzzled, asking again, "Tian Yuan fellow Daoist, you should have had no previous acquaintance with these pitiful humans, what causes your pity?"

"Because when I look upon the endless ages of the Primordial world, having observed countless races, only the Human Race stands out as most special!" Yu Yuan looked straight into Houtu Ancestor Witch's eyes, speaking sincerely, "Although the human race is very weak compared to other intelligent species, they possess a strong ability to learn, to create…"

Yu Yuan articulated fluently, heaping lavish praise upon the Human Race, extolling them as the race with the most virtues in the entire Primordial.

The Houtu Ancestor Witch listened and nodded slightly, "Tian Yuan fellow Daoist speaks sense, I too am quite fond of the Human Race and their special traits…"

It was just at this moment, suddenly, a strange ghostly wailing sound came through.

Yu Yuan's heart stirred, and he looked up in the direction of the sound.

But when he personally saw that scene, he couldn't help but be taken aback.

He saw, in the distant sky, large clusters of spectral shadows floating.

Taking a closer look, they were actually the souls of many who had died tragically during the day, wandering all around!