How could he help?

Li Changshou had thought of several approaches.

Taking those “complete cycle” stories he’d given to Lady Nuwa as an example, if a hot-blooded manga protagonist were to jump out, directly hoist up that depressed, sorrowful, despairing Grief Manifestation while shouting “Someone cares about you!”…

Perhaps…

No, there was no need for doubt—the result would be that person being instantly assimilated by Lady Houtu’s Grief Manifestation!

This sorrowful personality possessed Lady Houtu’s Dao realm. Though its actual combat strength was unknown, and given her condition, she seemed incapable of fighting—more the type to accept death without resistance…

But her Dao realm and the Dao patterns she emanated were absolutely at the level of a supreme being!

With such a Dao realm supporting her, the Grief Manifestation could constantly induce powerful resonances of sorrow in living beings, comparable to an ultimate divine ability that directly attacked the spirit!

Most troublesome was that no one could be certain what effect harming the Grief Manifestation would have on the Six Paths of Reincarnation or Lady Houtu herself…

This encounter hadn’t been entirely fruitless for Li Changshou.

Though Houtu’s Grief personality was filled with negative, despairing, idealistic emotions, she wasn’t completely without hope.

Li Changshou had gleaned much useful information from their conversation…

First, Little Grief hoped someone could convince her to break free from endless sorrow;

Second, Little Grief could communicate with living beings and showed somewhat talkative tendencies.

Third, the Seven Emotion Manifestations were clearly influenced by Houtu’s own personality, not purely an amalgamation of “grief.”

Facing Little Grief was actually like facing Lady Houtu herself, just a version of grief isolated as a single personality trait.

Try using the art of verbal persuasion.

Li Changshou dismissed the thought without even considering it.

Would discuss “the material world’s universal connections and eternal development” in the primordial chaos not result in immediate erasure by the Heavenly Dao and the Sages?

This “Houtu’s Grief”… well, let’s just call her “Little Grief.”

To give Little Grief hope, to help her break free from the abyss of despair, perhaps they really needed to use that hot-blooded manga approach—find some passionate emotions to fill her empty, collapsed heart.

Suddenly he heard:

“Changgeng, perhaps we should give up.”

The Grand Archmage, who had been pondering for a while, spoke up: “Don’t force yourself.”

They were currently outside the forty-nine great formation restrictions at the bottom of the Eighteenth Level of Hell.

King Chujiang and King Qinguang, who had been continuously wiping away tears nearby, became even more sorrowful upon hearing this. They hurriedly rushed over, voices choked with emotion and faces streamed with tears.

—This was the lingering effect of Little Grief’s influence, they hadn’t yet recovered.

“Grand Archmage! Water God! You absolutely cannot give up now!”

“The Ancestor has done so much for living beings, and now that she’s trapped in such torment, why will no one help her…

Alas, Ancestor, you suffer too greatly! I don’t want to continue living like this either!”

Seeing these two normally dignified Kings of Hell beating their chests and stamping their feet, even the Grand Archmage found it hard to handle.

“Elder Brother, let’s try again.”

Li Changshou raised his head, his white robes swaying gently, “I want to understand Lady Houtu’s current state, only then can we determine if we can help in some way…”

The Grand Archmage spoke seriously: “Very well, we’ll enter the Six Paths of Reincarnation together.”

“Thank you, Elder Brother!”

Li Changshou made a respectful bow, and the Grand Archmage smiled and waved his hand, his eyes bright and clear.

Hearing this, King Chujiang and King Qinguang were overjoyed. They quickly wiped their tears, suppressed their emotional turmoil, and bowed deeply.

“Please lead the way,” Li Changshou said, “And tell us in detail about the situation within the Six Paths of Reincarnation.”

“Rest assured, Water God, we will hold nothing back.

In the Netherworld, only three or four beings know of this matter. Within the Six Paths of Reincarnation, we can see the Ancestor at any time, but cannot truly make contact with her—we can only interact with her Hatred Manifestation…”

As King Qinguang spoke softly, Li Changshou analyzed every word, calculating whether anything was being concealed.

It matched what he had heard from Lady Nuwa.

Currently, Lady Houtu was struggling to suppress the Seven Emotion Manifestations, preventing them from going berserk.

Little Grief was the earliest born of the Seven Emotion Manifestations. Though she possessed a powerful Dao realm, because her inherent “nature” was what it was—too sorrowful to even want to move from where she lay—Houtu had one less worry, not needing to focus on suppressing her. She simply sent her out of the Reincarnation Wheel and confined her beneath the Eighteenth Level of Hell.

Quite remarkable.

Soon, they left the Eighteenth Level of Hell and headed to the side of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, arriving at the place Li Changshou had visited before.

King Chujiang ordered the Netherworld’s Yin soldiers to guard strictly—without an order from the Kings, none could approach.

Then, King Qinguang and King Chujiang bowed toward the front and called out:

“Ancestor, it’s us!

Two Dao friends from the Path of Humanity have come to visit!”

Four beams of light shot forth, enveloping Li Changshou, the Grand Archmage, and the two Kings.

The Grand Archmage suddenly stepped back, pulling Li Changshou with him. To the Kings’ somewhat startled gazes, they weren’t taken away by the light pillars.

“Elder Brother, what’s wrong?”

Li Changshou was also confused—he had just mentally prepared himself to risk entering the Six Paths of Reincarnation!

“Let’s see if we can enter using the Taiji Diagram,” the Grand Archmage replied with a smile, as Yin and Yang energies swirled in his palm.

Before them, the Netherworld’s turbid and cold energy continuously rotated, forming a deep vortex in space, with faint golden light flickering within.

The Grand Archmage and Li Changshou moved forward together, now without any doubts, stepping in simultaneously.

The Grand Archmage had deliberately tested this to confirm whether the Primordial Treasure Taiji Diagram could freely enter and exit the small world within the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

The result was unexpectedly reassuring, maintaining Old Master Diagram’s reputation.

Light flashed around them as they unwittingly entered a realm of mist, where divine sense couldn’t extend beyond a hundred zhang, and visibility was pitiful.

Li Changshou lost connection with his paper avatars, giving rise to many worries…

The Grand Archmage moved closer to Li Changshou, reaching out to steady his arm; black and white energy leaked out around them, completely enveloping the pair.

The Grand Archmage said: “This place lacks the Five Elements and has disordered Yin and Yang, yet retains powerful spiritual force.”

“Mm,” Li Changshou silently expressed his thanks as they continued forward together.

Suddenly, points of flowing light appeared in the mist, seeming to guide their advance, while forming continuously flashing scenes in the fog.

These seemed to be someone’s memories left in this place.

Li Changshou’s eyes moved up and down, taking in every scene without missing any. He carefully sensed whether these scenes held any danger or information he couldn’t handle before examining their content.

These were…

Lady Houtu’s memories!

The first scene showed a reflection in the water—Houtu in her Ancestral Witch form: human body with a snake tail, multiple arms front and back, holding the Soaring Serpent, curiously examining herself in the water.

Interestingly, in the corner of the water’s reflection, a phoenix divine bird could be seen gliding across the sky, with several oddly shaped members of the Witch tribe repeatedly jumping up to chase it…

Ah, the warm and relaxed daily hunting scenes of the ancient Witch tribe.

The second scene was also a water reflection, but now Houtu had transformed into her Primordial Dao body—a human form.

She was tall and graceful, radiating an indescribable natural beauty, wearing an earth-yellow dress, quietly combing her hair by the river, her smooth feet dipped in the cool water as she hummed a carefree tune.

The following scenes were similar, all showing Houtu by the water.

Until the thirteenth scene, which showed churning seas of blood, countless remnant souls swirling and wailing above, directly swallowed by the continuously rising bloody waves!

Among these remnant souls were Witches, humans, and the myriad spirit tribes—that is the demon race.

‘Ancestor of Minghe!’

A cry filled with rage seemed to echo in Li Changshou’s heart, and then the scene shattered…

When the scene was reassembled, Li Changshou was startled.

He saw a Taiji Diagram, saw a familiar figure standing upon it, saw beneath the Taiji Diagram the corpse of an old Daoist, only half remaining…

Then, the young Daoist on the Taiji Diagram turned around, the Xuanhuang Tower above his head and the Ruler of Heaven and Earth in his hand, saying softly:

‘Senior Houtu, my Master bade me bring you a message.’

The scene abruptly ended, and the surrounding mist dispersed.

Li Changshou and the Grand Archmage arrived at a light yellow dune, misty fog behind them, and endless sand sea ahead.

“Elder Brother?” Li Changshou looked at the Grand Archmage beside him, “You were involved in that incident back then?”

“Haa—”

Grand Archmage Xuandu let out a long yawn, waving his hands repeatedly, “Nothing worth mentioning, just a small achievement, and it was Master who told me to help.

At that time, Lady Houtu had no supreme treasures, relying only on the Witch tribe’s divine abilities to battle the Ancestor of Minghe.

The Ancestor of Minghe relied on the Blood Sea’s geographical advantage, claiming ‘While the Blood Sea doesn’t dry up, Minghe cannot die.’ He had the Twelve-Petaled Karma Fire Red Lotus protecting him, plus the two killing weapons Yuantou Sword and Abi Sword, and the Asura tribe’s assistance…

At that time, the Ancestor of Minghe truly had the power to defy destiny.

“So Master ordered me to come, borrowing our Path of Humanity’s supreme treasures to suppress the Karma Fire Red Lotus and those two swords, allowing the Heavenly Dao to smoothly send down the Purple Lightning of Primordial Heaven, directly striking down that old fellow…”

Li Changshou asked again: “Elder Brother, what was the message delivered to Lady Houtu back then?”

Grand Archmage Xuandu said: “Follow your heart to achieve perfection, and do not worry about what comes after.”

Li Changshou pondered this carefully, first his face darkening, then holding his head in his hands before finally tucking both hands into his sleeves and slowly squatting down.

“What’s wrong?”

The Grand Archmage asked in surprise, “Could you have been suddenly moved by Great Virtue Houtu?”

Li Changshou let out a long sigh, stood up, and swept away the depression in his heart.

A thousand calculations, hundreds of strategies, yet he had still been arranged by his own Sage Master!

Everything had been arranged within that single word “Go”!

The Sage Master had him wait in Hong Lin Kingdom, knowing he wouldn’t ignore You Qin Xuanya’s father!

And knowing his nature of avoiding karma, he would surely only protect the old king’s soul!

Originally, Li Changshou thought the Sage Master’s consideration at that time was limited to the “Divine Bird Gives Birth to Shang”…

Now it seemed the greater calculation was in the Netherworld!

When Li Changshou brought the old king to the Netherworld, in the instant the gates of the Eighteenth Level of Hell opened, Houtu sensed the Taiqing Dao aura on him, Lady Houtu sought his help, drawing him step by step to this place!

And the beginning of all this originated in ancient times, from Taiqing Laozi’s promise to Houtu—

‘Feel free to do as you think best, the Path of Taiqing will help you resolve what comes after.’

What were a Sage’s calculations?

Compared to him, Li Changshou, a mere ‘primordial small long-life immortal,’ was in a completely different realm!

The Grand Archmage chuckled softly: “You’ll get used to it.”

Get used to it…

The Grand Archmage continued: “Divine sense is difficult to extend here. I’ve calculated the location of the two Kings—let’s head there first.”

“Mm,” Li Changshou agreed as the Grand Archmage conjured a cloud to carry them, flying into the depths of the sand sea.

Li Changshou’s divine sense probe range was suppressed by ninety percent here, and along with it, the spiritual energy his primordial spirit could mobilize was also minimal.

Primordial Spirit Dao cultivators could only exert about thirty percent of their power here.

Li Changshou inquired with Tower Lord, who calmly replied: completely unaffected…

From this perspective, the primordial chaos’s tendency to value treasures over divine abilities had some rationality.

After flying for a while, the originally dusky sky was torn open like a curtain.

Like stars unobscured by atmosphere, overhead was deep black dotted with endless stars, below was a golden sea of sand extending to unknown boundaries.

A multicolored ‘river of stars’ hung in the middle of the sky, flowing through the sea of stars.

Understanding dawned in Li Changshou’s heart…

That was the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

“Elder Brother, the scenery here is quite nice.”

“This should be Lady Houtu’s heart platform, what we call the sea of spiritual consciousness,” the Grand Archmage said gently. “Lady Houtu’s physical body became the Six Paths of Reincarnation Wheel, this is her final resting place.”

Li Changshou showed sudden understanding. If the Six Paths Wheel was Lady Houtu’s body, and this place was her heart platform, it explained why this place was completely isolated from the outside and had no spiritual energy exchange with the main space of the primordial world…

Just as he was thinking this, a lake of magma suddenly appeared ahead, becoming a land shrouded in flames.

The Grand Archmage suddenly frowned and said:

“This one is more troublesome than the last.”

Li Changshou tensed even more. “Hatred or Desire?”

As soon as he spoke, whooshing sounds suddenly came from behind. Li Changshou turned to look, his forehead covered in black lines.

Dozens of stars fell from the night sky, transforming into enormous fireballs hurtling toward the Grand Archmage and him!

“Move.”

The Grand Archmage called out softly, his left hand grabbing Li Changshou’s arm as they continuously flickered forward, each flash covering several hundred li!

They managed to escape the ‘bombardment’ range without much danger, as those small stars ‘plowed’ through thousands of li of magma land once again.

The scene was quite spectacular, making Li Changshou’s scalp tingle.

Then, stone giant beasts crawled out of the magma lake; the Grand Archmage shook his head slightly in resignation, swept his sleeve, and the stone giants directly shattered.

“Mere tricks,” the Grand Archmage said as the Taiji Diagram rotated slightly in his palm and pulled Li Changshou into another flash.

This time, they directly crossed an unknown distance, appearing in a ruined palace.

The originally lively scene in the hall seemed to have been paused…

King Chujiang stood tearfully in a corner by a wooden bucket, his fierce horns wrapped in a colorful headscarf, holding two bright flowers. Though normally a rough and dignified man of the Witch tribe, he now wore rouge and was pulling petals to scatter in the bucket…

Currently, King Chujiang’s eyes were filled with despair, as if saying ‘It’s over, it’s over,’ but his hands didn’t stop.

As for King Qinguang…

This head of the Ten Kings of Hell, currently the leader of the Netherworld, was lying on sharp black spikes with a huge stone slab on his body.

Above this stone slab was a pair of delicate jade feet, skin fair and translucent, but nails dyed blood-red.

If the previously seen ‘Little Grief’ of Houtu’s Seven Emotion Manifestations was like a woman in her most radiant early twenties, this one before them was like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl.

Light red hair, dark red eyes, her short skirt, and the top had nothing to do with the word ‘conservative,’ yet without any charm or coquettishness, her whole being radiating a kind of eye-catching…

Malevolence.

Around her neck hung a longevity lock, which was faintly glowing.

Before coming, King Qinguang had mentioned that both Hatred and Desire were suppressed by Lady Houtu with magical items—clearly referring to this longevity lock.

“Hey, you.”

The young girl put down her iron hammer, tilted her head, and raised her chin at the Grand Archmage. “Come lie on top of little Qin.”

The Grand Archmage’s forehead showed several black lines as he cupped his hands: “Path of Humanity disciple…”

“You don’t want to?”

The girl said coldly, her bare foot tapped, and her figure suddenly vanished with a whoosh!

The Grand Archmage’s sword-like eyebrows furrowed into a river character as his long sleeve waved, the Taiji Diagram appearing behind him, gently rotating.

A muffled grunt was heard as that graceful figure tumbled out from behind Li Changshou, a gleaming sword pointed at Li Changshou’s neck, the tip only three inches away!

Li Changshou: …

So fierce?

He hadn’t said a word, but just because he looked easy to bully, he became the target of attack?!

Fortunately, he’d brought the Grand Archmage!

Otherwise, in Lady Houtu’s heart platform, facing Lady Houtu’s hatred manifestation, Li Changshou truly didn’t know how many holes he would have been stabbed with this time!

Yin and Yang’s energy swirled on the Taiji Diagram, directly constraining the young girl, and ‘sticking’ her to the Taiji Diagram.

The Grand Archmage and Li Changshou turned with slight smiles as King Qinguang had already pushed away the stone slab from his body, and King Chujiang removed his headscarf, hurriedly running over.

“Grand Archmage, please show mercy! The Lady has suppressed most of her hatred herself, she’s only playing pranks now, she won’t harm anyone.”

Li Changshou looked down at the sword and discovered it wasn’t made of metal—it was now deformed and bent on the ground, unusually soft…

The Grand Archmage nodded but didn’t withdraw the Yin and Yang energy.

Li Changshou asked: “How can we see the Lady’s true form?”

“Well,” King Qinguang frowned, “we need the Lady’s consent.”

“Beg me then,” the young girl stuck to the Taiji Diagram sneered, calmly turning her head aside.

“I am Great Virtue Houtu, Great Virtue Houtu is me. No matter how much evil I do, no one dares eliminate me. Is this what you Path disciples call slaying demons and eliminating evil? Hah, useless.”

“Ancestor!”

Kings Qinguang and Chujiang hurried forward with all sorts of gentle persuasion.

Li Changshou, however, stared at the longevity lock on the young girl’s neck for a while, lost in thought.

As Li Changshou had said, Lady Houtu herself was influencing the Seven Emotion Manifestations, especially this evil girl, who was currently suppressed by Houtu’s magical item.

Soon, the girl cursed impatiently and said: “Fine, fine, how disgusting! Follow me!”

The Grand Archmage released his constraint on the girl, and exchanged glances with Li Changshou, each seeing the word ‘careful’ in the other’s eyes.

Kings Qinguang and Chujiang sighed in relief, following behind the girl as they left the ruined palace and flew into the distance.

After flying for a moment, a great formation appeared ahead.

The formation covered roughly dozens of li, containing a huge statue of Houtu, with two treasure halls before it, emanating endless solemnity.

The girl hummed an evil tune, leading everyone directly to the formation.

“Go in then, I can’t open this place.”

The Grand Archmage raised his hand, the Taiji Diagram manifesting to both constrain the girl again and easily melt an opening in the formation ahead.

The Grand Archmage made a gesture of invitation, and the girl ‘Evil’ now seemed extremely angry, gritting her teeth and cursing, yet turned her head aside with various expressions of disdain.

It still took Kings Qinguang and Chujiang some ideological work to convince the girl to lead the way…

Thus, five figures carefully stepped into the formation, flying toward the palace.

But before the palace gates, Li Changshou suddenly raised his hand in a stopping gesture, staring at the girl constrained by Yin and Yang energy ahead, showing a slightly bitter smile as he spoke:

“My Lady, even if your hatred manifestation is suppressed, you shouldn’t have such obvious emotions of anger, depression, and compromise. With each of the seven emotions having its manifestation, reaching their extremes, compared to Grief, your Evil seems less pure.”

The girl walking ahead turned around, the smile gradually fading from her face, that face becoming cold and lonely, yet showing a somewhat chilling smile.

“Is that so? But you’ve realized too late.”

The Grand Archmage seemed to suddenly see something, his right-hand opening as a beam of light flew out from the palace, stopping in his palm.

It was a longevity lock, the same style as the one on Evil’s neck, but different—this lock had been opened, no longer glowing.

Kings Chujiang and Qinguang instantly trembled, their faces turning deathly pale.

“Ter- terrible!”

“Quick! You two must leave!”

Before they finished speaking, the entire palace rang with bewitching sounds, pink mist floating in from all directions, that slightly dissatisfied soft moan making listeners’ bones go soft and blood surge.

The Grand Archmage frowned tightly, but Li Changshou calmly nodded, showing no unusual reaction.