Chapter 57: The Ancestral Witch's Orphaned Child

  "You've finally woken up, can you recognize your brother?" Hou Yi forced his eyes open to see a severely overweight Taoist priest smiling at him and calling him "younger brother", what's going on?

  "May I ask this fellow Taoist, where is this place? Why did you call me Shidi (younger brother)? I don't recall ever seeing you before."

  "It's only a matter of time, this is Mount Sumeru, I am Maitreya, the disciple of Master Zhunti. It was my master who brought you back from the wilderness, and now he wants to take you as his own disciple. Are you going to be my junior brother?"

  Hou Yi was still somewhat bewildered, and just then the medicine master returned.

  "The Master ordered him to bring Hou Yi to see him." Hou Yi arrived at the Xīn Gōng Palace, where he saw two Daoist priests sitting facing each other. The one with his head bowed was a young Daoist priest wearing a lotus flower crown and dressed in gray robes, who led the way. The one with his hands hanging down was an extremely majestic-looking Daoist priest wearing dark green robes, who was precisely the Quan Ti Sheng Ren (True Man of the Whole Truth).

  Hou Yi hastily kowtowed and thanked him, knowing that he had saved his own life.

  "Thank you for leading the saint to save my life, I will repay this kindness in the future."

  "Heh heh, get up quickly! You've saved humanity and killed the Golden Crow to gain the blessings of heaven and earth. That's a virtuous deed indeed. I happened to be passing by and lent you a hand. Fate brought us together like this; I wonder if you'd be willing to follow us?"

  "The disciple is willing to listen to the teachings of the saint, but as I am a member of the Wu tribe, will there be any inconvenience?"

  "It doesn't matter, back then when the Ancestral Witch was reincarnating, she had already entrusted me to take care of the Witch clan's lineage and accept a few disciples. You happened to have given birth to your Yuan Shen (primordial spirit), it seems that everything was predetermined by fate."

  Hou Yi then paid his respects to his master and also made a courtesy call on Zhu Tian.

  "Good, congratulations Master Brother has another excellent disciple." Zuntu naturally also discovered Hou Yi's extraordinary talent, and with just a little guidance, the Buddhist sect will gain another great warrior.

  "Hou Yi has another thing to tell you, it's about Chang'e."

  Hou Yi saw the smile at the corner of Xi Wangmu's mouth, and his face turned slightly red, but he immediately thought that Chang'e was just a mortal, and he had been recuperating in the West for a long time. Wouldn't this beauty become a withered bone?

  After meeting Yi, Houyi seemed a bit anxious, and then came to his mind. "Don't worry, I'll let your senior brother Yao Shi take her to the top of Mount Sumeru, and your junior uncle will give her a Longevity Fruit, you don't have to worry at all."

  Hou Yi listened and thought of his master's thoroughness, and hurriedly thanked him again.

  "You go find Chang'e and talk about the past first, so that the girl won't worry, then come back, I have something for you to do." Hou Yi followed Maitreya to Chang'e's courtyard, where the two of them poured out their hearts for a while.

  The receptionist sat on the lotus platform, and Zhunti was also on a futon beside him. With great magical power, they pierced through the river of fate, jointly deducing the outcome of the Great War between the Witch and Demon tribes. Hou Yi watched with his eyes wide open in shock, never expecting that the two dominant tribes of the Primordial Wilderness would end up like this. Thinking of his revered ancestors and clansmen, he felt an endless sorrow in his heart, and with a thud, he knelt down before the receptionist.

  "Master, Hou Yi is begging you to save the Wu tribe."

  Looking at the tearful Hou Yi, Jiāo Yǐn let out a long sigh: "You have brought this upon yourself and cannot be saved. Although we are saints, it is also difficult for us to change the fate of the Wu tribe against heaven's will. I had you come here just to tell you that I have been entrusted by Hou Tu to protect the Wu tribe. At present, it is a matter of life and death. You can go find Zu Wu and make things clear to them, let them choose some tribesmen, either bring them to my Mount Sumeru or send them to the Six Paths of Reincarnation. In short, we must leave behind some bloodline for the Wu tribe. This is all I can do, as the cycle of prosperity and decline is just like this. Think about it, didn't the three tribes of Dragon, Phoenix, and Wu all start from humble beginnings?"

  The handover is complete, and Hou Yi's eyes are filled with tears, knowing that heaven's will cannot be changed, but the unstoppable grief surges up in his heart.

  "Alas, I must remind you, hurry up and return quickly, don't be infatuated with the mortal world. The great calamity of witches and demons is imminent, it's a situation where death is certain, you must keep your head clear, preserving the witch tribe's bloodline is of utmost importance. In the future, there will still be a day when the witch tribe rises to greatness, don't mislead yourself."

  After thinking back and forth, he gradually calmed down.

  "Thank you, Master Shu, for reminding me. I'll go to the Ancestral Temple now."

  Hou Yi rode on the back of the black turtle, and soon arrived at the Zu Wu Temple. He handed over the black turtle to Hou Yi for two reasons: one was to let the black turtle watch Hou Yi and prevent him from doing anything foolish, and the other was to elevate Hou Yi's status and make the Zu Wu believe in him. Hou Yi ordered his subordinates to inform several Zu Wu that he wanted to see them.

  Emperor Jiang and the others were all gathered in the ancestral temple, they repeatedly used the witch tribe's secret method, although they couldn't clearly feel the changes in the heavenly machine like a cultivator, but they also knew that there was more bad luck than good luck, and they were all thinking of countermeasures. When they heard that Hou Yi had come to ask for an audience, they were all shocked.

  The crowd of ancestors knew that Hou Yi had killed several princes of the demon clan, and since then he had disappeared without a trace. He was neither seen alive nor found dead. Today, when they saw Hou Yi come to ask for an audience, they hastily summoned him in.

  Hou Yi saw that the ceremony was over, and he explained the past situation to Zu Wu. As soon as Zu Wu heard that Hou Yi could worship at the gate of acceptance, she was also happy for him. The saint's plaque is indeed full of gold content! She also told several Zu Wu about the dangers in the witchcraft calamity, and several Zu Wu were also moved.

  Di Jiang thought for half a day, "I think what Jie Ying said makes sense, but I believe that everything has a glimmer of hope. We won't necessarily fail. Moreover, our Wu clan will not be cowards who shrink from death. We'll fight to the end. However, we should still find a way to preserve the bloodline of the Wu clan. What do you brothers think we should do?"

  "Big brother, I think we shouldn't rely on introductions anymore. Let's select some talented people from our clan and send them to Hou Tu's sister instead. After all, they're still our own people. What do you think?" Zhu Jiu Yin proposed, the other ancestral witches nodded in agreement, and Emperor Jiang thought for a moment before also agreeing.

  Hou Yi saw that things were almost done and was about to bid farewell and return to Mount Xuanyuan to report back.

  "Hou Yi, you can go ahead and slow down." Emperor Jiang called out to Hou Yi. "I see that your cultivation has progressed very quickly, and I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before you surpass even Zǔ Wū. Moreover, the fact that you were able to give birth to a Yuan Shen is also a testament to your good fortune. I fear that in the future, your achievements may not be inferior to ours. Today, we will pass on the Zǔ Wū divine technique to you, and if you achieve anything in the future, it would be best for you to take care of the Wū tribe."

  As soon as Emperor Jiang spoke, Hou Yi knew that Emperor Jiang had made up his mind to die, and this was a testament to entrustment.

  "Thank you, Zuwu." Hou Yi also agreed without hesitation, passing on the divine power of Zuwu was also his responsibility as a member of the Wu tribe, and he couldn't afford to be ambiguous about it.

  Eleven ancestral witches along with Chi You each squeezed out a bit of their essence blood and injected it into Hou Yi's body.

  "Our innate spiritual powers are all within this point of essence and blood, if you can cultivate yourself to the level of ancestor witch, maybe there will be a chance to activate some spiritual powers, if you have higher achievements..." Emperor Jiang also felt that it might not work, and sighed with a bitter smile.

  "You shouldn't force yourself to cultivate the Ancestral Witch's divine ability either. Alas, Chi You's brothers forced their way up to the Ancestral Witch realm and that's why they couldn't possess the Ancestral Witch's divine ability." After Emperor Jiang reminded him, Hou Yi bowed in gratitude and stood up to return to Mount Sumeru.