“You didn't kill the connate demon gods that came here before?” Lu Yun looked askance at the Yin Prince’s carriage.
“I’m just in charge of collecting their bodies,” came the snorted answer. “If I didn't collect their corpses, then they would also turn into those things.”
“Then it looks like it's those eyes that did it…” Lu Yun frowned.
“Not him either.” The Yin Prince rested her chin on both hands and cocked her head. “The big guy in the shadows wanted to kill you earlier, but the one behind the eyes blocked him from taking action. Otherwise, you’d be part of those footsteps by now as well.
“He’s the tomb keeper of Pangu’s tomb and here to conceal the truth.”
Lu Yun felt his head spin from all the possibilities and implications.
“So how do I retrieve Worldcarver?”
Though the footprints were inside the palace, he could keenly perceive that the void was filled with something unseen. Perhaps it was the akasha ghosts, or something else entirely. If he dared take a step away from the mother altar, he'd be instantly dissected by them. The Yin Prince couldn't do anything to them either.
“Come into my carriage.” The prince waved a hand to extend a path of black light before Lu Yun.
“Milord!” Yulei and the newly arrived Shentu protested at their master inviting the dratted human into his carriage.
“Milord, this Flame Emperor isn’t anything good. Please think twice about this!” Yulei blocked the way to the litter and glared ferociously at Lu Yun.
“Indeed,” nodded the white-clad young man with a sunny disposition. “Flame Emperor Lie Shan is infamous throughout the great wilderness for his perverted ways and pursuit of fleshly pleasures.
“It’s said that the greatest beauty Tushan has become his bedwarmer, as has the mountain ghost of Qingqiu Mountain his plaything. He’s built a harem in the human Yan Tribe and takes in beauties all over the great wilderness. He’s the number one lecher in all the land!”
Lu Yun froze, looking dazedly at Shentu. “Wait, say that again!” Ghostly black flames abruptly ignited in his eyes.
“Was I not clear enough? Are you afraid of your misdeeds coming to light before my master?” Shentu sneered.
In the carriage, the Yin Prince frowned musingly. This clean-cut human youth didn’t seem like a profligate lecher, no matter how she looked at him.
“This talk is all over the great wilderness now.” Seeing how furious the human looked and thinking back to when the youth summoned the Sal Tree of Life and Death, as well as how ferociously he defied the heavens, Yulei quickly added, “And it didn’t come from us!”
Shentu looked askance at his colleague. In his eyes, the Flame Emperor was just a minor human that wasn’t worthy of proper consideration. Even though he’d beaten Dijiang when the demon god wielded the Bell of Chaos, Shentu was still confident of taking down Lie Shan in battle.
“Then who did it come from?” An enormous golden dragon shadow slowly collected over his head; this issue touched upon his bottom line. It was one thing to accuse him of building a harem and collecting the various beauties of the great wilderness, but the sanctity of the little fox and Ah Bao was not to be violated.
“All of the connate demon gods are talking about it! Rumors fly thick and fast even in your human race,” Yulei quickly explained. This had made the rounds in the great wilderness a long time ago, almost everyone had heard and knew about it.
After becoming the Flame Emperor, Lu Yun bent his mind toward seclusion and deriving the future of the human race. He spent his days perfecting human cultivation methods and had no attention or desire to spare on matters outside.
Though the previous Shennong, Shaodian, and others had heard of the sayings, they wouldn't disturb a meditating Lie Shan for them. Ah Bao and the little fox weren’t the type to fixate on unfounded rumors, so they didn't pay much attention to the gossip either.
Dismissing the Dragonshift Method and hellfire, Lu Yun sat down cross-legged and slowly operated formula dao to calculate the changes in the world.
“I see… you guys have made the first move because I've been preoccupied. But these kinds of methods really are a bit low class.” Lu Yun raised his head and looked at the world of celestials with a cold sneer here playing upon his lips.
“Since they are just rumors, please set foot in my carriage.” The Yin Prince invited once again. She truly didn't believe that someone who could receive the approval of the heavily dao and advance its evolution would be the foremost lecher of the land. If that were the case, then the heavenly dao now wouldn't be one of human dao, but one of unreserved perversion and bodily pleasure.
“Though my carriage isn't some sort of ultimate connate treasure, those things out there still can’t harm it.” She suddenly found the human’s brooding expression quite funny.
“In that case, I shall not insist on polite refusal.” Lu Yun withdrew his formula dao and set foot on the path of dark light.
The previous miasma of frightening negativity was nowhere to be found when the path extended into the shadows of the litter. Those emotions plainly belong to the connate demon gods who’d died here—they were full of regret, bitterness, and the burning desire for revenge.
Yulei and Shentu’s expression was also forebodingly ominous at the development, but since their mistress had already given her orders, they didn’t say anything else.
A soft fragrance greeted Lu Yun as soon as he entered the litter. He paused, dazed. The so-called Yin Prince was a charming young lady! Her features wouldn't launch a thousand ships like Tushan’s would, she was absolutely still a peak beauty in the great wilderness.
“This…” He stared dumbly at his host, unable to collect his wits. “The Yin Prince is a woman?” He shook his head fiercely with a rueful chuckle. “No wonder those two outside bore me such hostility, I see now.”
Thinking of the mess of accusations tarring him and then of the Yin Prince in front of him, Lu Yun shook his hand with resignation.
“A woman?” The Yin Prince shook her head. “I’m not human, my name is Houtu and I am also a connate demon god.”
“Houtu!!” Lu Yun jumped up when he heard the name and hurriedly assumed a prim and proper pose to make the deepest bow possible. “Lie Shan of the human race greets Your Majesty Houtu.”
He didn't call himself Flame Emperor this time as he was facing Houtu, the first great god that humans had ever worshipped!
Prior to the birth of tribute spirits and before Fuxi became the holy emperor, it was Houtu’s protection that had given humans enough space and time to gradually find their footing in the great wilderness. It could be said that without her, there would be no human race for Leize to defend. Fuxi and Wahuang would've been devoured by the demon gods at the moment of their birth as well.
It was only with Leize, Huaxu, Fuxi, and Wahuang continuously safeguarding the race, God creating the rites of worship, sacrifices to the tribute spirits, and creation of cultivation methods that humans were able to fend for themselves. When humans weren’t on the verge of daily extinction, Houtu slowly faded out of public view and eventually disappeared from the scene.
But humans still remembered her. Many of the large tribes still worshipped her, and future descendants of the race would keep her memory alive. Successive generations of emperors and kings would also continue to burn sacrifices to her.
To think that the Yin Prince would be Houtu!
“You still remember me?” The Yin Prince looked at Lu Yun with surprise and laughed softly. “I thought that humanity had forgotten me a long time ago.”
“How would the human race ever dare forget our deepest gratitude to Your Majesty? Many of your idols can still be found in various large tribes of my race,” Lu Yun corrected solemnly.