Chapter 102: The Establishment of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, Humanity Seeks Vengeance

The River of Darkness spoke solemnly, “First, from now on, Hell must be under my control. Your Witch Clan shall have no interference! Of course, I will act according to the decrees of the Underworld.”

Houtu nodded and replied, “That is only natural.”

“Second, among the Six Realms of Reincarnation, the Asura path must exist. This concerns the future of my Asura Clan and cannot be changed!” the River of Darkness declared firmly.

“That promise I made shall not be altered,” Houtu said with a smile.

“Third, you must swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao in the name of the Witch Clan. Will you agree to this?” the River of Darkness asked.

Houtu smiled gently and answered calmly, “I have never considered breaking a promise; how could I refuse an oath to the Heavenly Dao?”

Then, looking up to the heavens, she proclaimed, “Now I, Houtu, alongside Daoist River of Darkness, establish this vow: if River of Darkness assists Houtu in founding the Six Realms of Reincarnation, then upon their establishment, the Eighteen Levels of Hell shall be governed by River of Darkness, and among the Six Realms, the Asura path shall be included. Let the Heavenly Dao bear witness!”

As her voice fell, thunder echoed across the nine heavens, sealing the oath.

Seeing Houtu’s vow established, the River of Darkness quickly smiled obsequiously. “Daoist Houtu, do not misunderstand. I, too, am reluctant, but from now on, I shall give my full support!”

Houtu nodded and replied, “Very well, let me prepare, and we shall begin building the Six Realms of Reincarnation.”

With that, Houtu commanded sharply, her form towering thousands of feet high. As she moved her palm, countless members of the Witch Clan appeared beside the Blood River.

The River of Darkness was dumbfounded. Hadn’t it been said that the Witch Clan did not cultivate their primordial spirits? How then could Houtu use spiritual storage treasures?

Before he could ponder further, Houtu cried to the sky, “Now I, Houtu, pity the innocent living beings of the world, who after death lack a place to rest. Thus, I establish the cycle of reincarnation to serve the entire Heavenly Dao!

And because no one guards the cycle, I decree the Underworld, entrusted to the Witch Clan’s multitude to bear this heavy duty. From now on, I, Houtu, shall preside over the Underworld! Let the Heavenly Dao bear witness! The Underworld reincarnation is established!”

In an instant, a beam of light descended from the sky toward Houtu. She flipped her palm, revealing a massive corpse of a god-demon, which she sent into the beam. In a blink, it shattered into countless points of light, falling into the Blood Sea.

Watching this, Houtu’s heart swelled with joy. Indeed, her father had been right—the Heavenly Dao is merciless! As long as the purpose of completing the Heavenly Dao is achieved, it does not mind whether one sacrifices oneself or substitutes a god-demon corpse.

The countless points of light merged into the Blood Sea, transforming into a world that gradually sank downward.

“Daoist River of Darkness! Now is the moment!” Houtu’s sharp command jolted the River of Darkness from his stupor.

Seeing the scene, the River of Darkness roared, and from his primordial spirit flew a blood-red lotus, shooting toward the sinking Underworld world.

With a rumble, beneath the vast primordial land, a world slowly unfolded. Boundless yin and ghostly energy coalesced into a massive wheel, upon which ancient characters appeared: Heavenly Humans’ Path, Human Path, Animal Path, Asura Path, Hungry Ghost Path, and Hell Path.

As the Six Realms of Reincarnation took shape, countless palaces rose from the ground. At the center stood ten majestic halls, suppressing the entire Underworld.

Unseen by all, beneath the Underworld, the blood-red lotus slowly disintegrated into the Eighteen Levels of Hell: the First Level, Mud Plow Hell; Second, Mountain of Knives Hell; Third, Boiling Sand Hell; Fourth, Boiling Excrement Hell; Fifth, Black Body Hell; Sixth, Train of Fire Hell; Seventh, Cauldron Soup Hell; Eighth, Iron Bed Hell; Ninth, Mountain Cover Hell; Tenth, Ice Cold Hell; Eleventh, Skin Peeling Hell; Twelfth, Animal Hell; Thirteenth, Blade and Spear Hell; Fourteenth, Iron Mill Hell; Fifteenth, Dismemberment Hell; Sixteenth, Iron Tablet Hell; Seventeenth, Maggot Hell; Eighteenth, Molten Copper Hell.

These eighteen levels serve as the heavenly punishment for the most heinous beings. Henceforth, in the primordial world, the distinction between good and evil and the retribution of fortune and grievance is established.

With the cycle of reincarnation founded within the primordial world, the Heavenly Dao is fully completed. Countless lingering souls wandering the primordial world bowed to Houtu and then rushed into the Six Realms wheel of reincarnation in the Underworld.

In an instant, boundless Heavenly Dao merits descended, surpassing even the merit bestowed during Nuwa’s creation of humanity.

As the merits fell, they split into countless portions: seventy percent fell upon Houtu; ten percent flew into the newly formed Underworld, landing on the wheel of reincarnation; ten percent was taken by the River of Darkness; the remaining ten percent descended upon the Witch Clan gathered there, instantly transforming them into variously attired Hell’s ghostly officers, emanating thick yin energy, who then flew into the Underworld to perform their duties, enabling the Underworld to operate.

By now, the Underworld had taken initial form, only the ten great Yama Kings remained unseated. Houtu had long planned for this and temporarily set it aside, putting away the merits without using them to enhance her power.

With the Heavenly Dao perfected, countless lotus flowers formed from the myriad Dao principles drifted down, returning blessings to all living beings between heaven and earth.

Several sages of the primordial world appeared in the void, bowing respectfully to Houtu with heartfelt praise: “Merciful Houtu!”

Meanwhile, the two sages of the Western Paradise gazed at the empty Yama King halls, their eyes flickering with a strange light.

On Abbot’s Island, Chenxing and Zhu Feng, along with Nuwa and others, were discussing how to send human experts to exact revenge during the Witch-Lich war.

Indeed, Chenxing intended for humanity to avenge itself. Over these tens of thousands of years, he had gathered the first generation of humans into a small world specially created within the Hongmeng Tower for training.

With countless treasures and talents acquired from Zhu Feng’s Daoist sect, plus Chenxing’s provision of the second-generation Huang Zhong Li, this group of ten thousand had forcedfully produced an elite army of over eight hundred quasi-Saint-level warriors.

Though the demon clan had Emperor Jun and Taiyi, both late quasi-Saints, Chenxing believed that even newly ascended Heavenly Dao Saints would hesitate in the face of such strength.

As the group discussed, Chenxing’s expression suddenly changed, revealing a bitter smile. Nuwa looked at him, half amused, half helpless.

Only the chubby one, curious, asked, “What’s wrong? Something happened?”

Chenxing, knowing Zhu Feng cultivated the path of cause and effect and was naturally unliked by the Heavenly Dao, making it difficult to predict celestial secrets in the primordial world, explained, “That brat Pangu has taken advantage of these years when we were focused on humanity to free the Witch Clan from the calamity of extinction! Now the Underworld stands established as the Witch Clan’s territory. What do you call that?”

Zhu Feng was stunned, then angrily said, “That bastard—does he want humanity to replace the Witch Clan and fight the demon clan?”

Chenxing waved his hand, laughing, “Not quite. Houtu has long prepared contingencies. It’s impossible now for the Witch and demon clans to slaughter each other to mutual destruction.”

Zhu Feng sighed helplessly, “The entire primordial world is in chaos now. It’s nothing like the primordial world we once knew!”

Chenxing rolled his eyes and said, “You just realized that? The Heavenly Dao’s operation in the primordial world has long deviated from its original path! Ah, I now truly understand what it means to pull one hair and move the whole body!”

Nuwa, overhearing their conversation, could not help but say to Chenxing, “Pangu is kneeling outside; are you just going to ignore him?”

Chenxing sighed, “I only have two disciples—one who refuses to be a villain but must be one, and another who won’t betray me but has done so once. What do you expect me to do?” He let out a long sigh.

Hearing this, the chubby one’s eyes brightened, eagerly asking, “How did the Primordial Emperor become a villain? Tell me, brother!”

Chenxing rolled his eyes again, annoyed, “Let’s deal with the matter at hand first!” Then he shouted toward the door angrily, “What are you kneeling outside for? Get in here!”