Chapter 483: Refinement

Bang! Bang! Bang!!!

The Great Demon God’s eight arms casually swatted away the attacks of the nine world avatars with ease. After all, the world avatars lacked Bloodforged Divine Weapons and couldn’t harm the Great Demon God at all. The Great Demon God only needed to focus on blocking the Scarlet Cloud Spear.

For a time, no matter how Dongbo Xueying attacked, he couldn’t inflict the slightest damage on the Great Demon God.

“You can’t mobilize World Divine Power, and growing six extra arms must have cost you a significant amount of vitality,” Dongbo Xueying said, stopping his assault.

“Indeed, it consumes vitality,” the Great Demon God growled, his starry crimson eyes burning with fury as he glared at Dongbo Xueying. “I’m imprisoned here, unable to replenish my strength, so I must conserve every shred of vitality. But you forced me—forced me into this! Though growing six extra arms consumes a great deal of vitality, now that they’re formed, maintaining them requires very little. My Blood Sea Fiend Body can endure for a hundred million years without issue.”

Dongbo Xueying fell silent.

He knew the Great Demon God wasn’t lying. As a Second Heaven Realm God himself, he understood that even without absorbing external energy, a powerful body could survive for an extremely long time. Merely sustaining six additional arms for a hundred million years was entirely plausible.

A hundred million years? By then, he would likely have already become a Fourth Heaven Realm God.

“Hmph.” The black-robed Dongbo Xueying turned and strode away, passing through the rippling barrier of the formation. The other nine star-blue-robed Dongbo Xueyings dissipated like bubbles, and the countless black chains vanished into nothingness.

Watching Dongbo Xueying leave, the Great Demon God’s eyes burned with rage.

Last time, he hadn’t cared. But this time, he had been forced to grow six new arms—each one armored with scales, muscle, and bone, extensions of his Blood Sea Fiend Body, immensely powerful. The energy consumed to grow each arm was enormous. Just forming these six arms had drained nearly half of his hidden reserves! Now, he could only sustain them. If he retracted them and had to regrow them later, the energy loss would be even greater.

He had a feeling this Second Heaven Realm God wouldn’t give up easily.

—

Deep beneath Bloodblade Divine Court, in a hidden underground hall.

The colossal Cosmic Copper Furnace blazed fiercely as ever. Bloodblade Divine Emperor sat cross-legged, his gaze fixed upon it. To attain supreme power required supreme patience. The Divine Emperor knew all too well how difficult that next step would be—far harder than a Fourth Heaven Realm God ascending to become a Paragon.

But once he crossed that threshold, he, Bloodblade Divine Emperor, would indisputably stand as the strongest, towering above even the three Abyssal Overlords, the master of the Spacetime Island, and the others.

Yet he also knew that each of them sought to take that same step.

“Bloodblade, Bloodblade,” the black bird perched on the Divine Emperor’s shoulder chirped urgently. “That Dongbo kid trained in two secret arts from the Lockworld Tower and went to fight that prisoner again. He was so close! But the prisoner grew six extra arms, making eight in total, and defended with everything he had. Dongbo couldn’t kill him. Aren’t you being too harsh as a master? Must you really force him to become a Third Heaven Realm God before granting him the supreme techniques?”

“He needs to be pushed. He’s immensely talented and full of pride—that pride must be tempered and honed,” Bloodblade Divine Emperor replied calmly.

Though Dongbo Xueying was among his most even-tempered disciples, the Divine Emperor knew that all those who achieved greatness harbored inner pride. That pride had to be refined, their temperaments polished.

Take the Divine Emperor himself—he now sought to grasp a higher power from the Cosmic Copper Furnace. He had failed countless times, yet remained unshaken. He was prepared to spend hundreds of billions, even trillions of years if necessary. To endure such a span without impatience or frustration required unimaginable mental fortitude. The moment one grew restless, the mind would falter, and comprehension would become impossible.

—

Meanwhile, Dongbo Xueying, deliberately tempered by his master, flew back to the Stonefire Manor from the rear mountains, somewhat troubled.

“Senior Brother.”

“Senior Brother Dongbo.”

Fellow disciples in the manor greeted him with respect.

Dongbo Xueying responded with a faint smile before retreating to his cave abode.

“If the master set this trial, it wouldn’t be meaningful if it were easily overcome,” he mused, setting aside his tangled thoughts. “When I fought that prisoner, I could have worn him down if he hadn’t grown those six arms. But now that he has, I must become stronger—not just my true self, but my world avatars as well. They must also pose a threat to him.”

If only his true self grew stronger, the Great Demon God’s superior realm would allow him to defend effortlessly.

But if all nine world avatars could harm him, the Great Demon God would find it far harder to block every attack.

“To make the world avatars more threatening, I must create a more formidable secret technique,” Dongbo Xueying resolved inwardly.

He wasn’t in a hurry.

His current strength was the peak of what he could achieve in a short time. Further progress would require much longer.

For now, he spent time with his wife, Jingqiu, eating, drinking, and chatting.

“Xueying,” Jingqiu said as she poured him wine, “Yuer and Qingyao have long since become deities. They can’t stay in Redrock Mountain forever. Even for safety’s sake, they have avatar techniques—they can explore the Divine Realm like we do, with their avatars. I think we should let them roam freely.”

“They’re still too weak,” Dongbo Xueying countered.

“With Realm God-level secret arts, they’re comparable to peak deities,” Yu Jingqiu argued. “That’s not weak at all! You became the lord of Snowrock Territory at just eight years old.”

Dongbo Xueying chuckled. She had a point. In Redrock Mountain, he had allowed them to take risks, though the artifact spirit, Redrock, secretly protected them. Unaware of this, his children had been tempered and were now capable of standing on their own.

“Very well. Right now, I’m focused on defeating a prisoner in the rear mountains,” Dongbo Xueying said. “Once I kill him, I’ll likely complete my training. If I succeed soon, I’ll bring Senior Brother Gebai, Senior Brother He Feiyun, and the others out of the material world—and Yuer and Qingyao as well. If I don’t break through quickly, I’ll still send them out.”

Yu Jingqiu nodded, pressing no further.

The main issue was that in the Redrock Mountain world, Dongbo Yuer and Qingyao were nearly invincible, leaving little room for further tempering.

“By the way, Jingqiu,” Dongbo Xueying suddenly asked, “why do I rarely see you cultivating? You have good talent—I’d hoped you’d become a Realm God one day.”

Yu Jingqiu blinked, then quickly replied, “Who says I don’t? My true self in Redrock Mountain trains often. My avatar here in the Divine Realm focuses on comprehending the heavens. One accelerates time to cultivate, the other perceives the world. A balance of tension and relaxation—that’s the best way.”

“I feel like even in Redrock Mountain, you don’t train much,” Dongbo Xueying shook his head. “Jingqiu, don’t slack in your cultivation. If your realm remains too low, you won’t live long. Even peak deities typically last only about a hundred million years before their divine hearts crumble.”

“I understand,” Yu Jingqiu smiled, warmth filling her heart. “I know you can’t bear to lose me.”

Dongbo Xueying nodded. He had given her many spirit fruits and treasures—as master of Redrock Mountain, he had ample resources, for all of Red Dust Sacred Master’s legacies were now his. But without personal effort, how could she ever become a Realm God?

—

In the quiet chamber of his cave abode, the scent of incense lingered.

The black-robed Dongbo Xueying sat cross-legged, countless runes floating before him. They swiftly condensed, forming a perfect black sphere—the fundamental divine seal of the “Chain Art,” now mastered to its second layer. Both the Chain Art and the Power Art had six layers each. A First Heaven Realm God could hope to master the first layer; a Second Heaven, the second.

Dongbo Xueying had long since achieved this.

“Whoosh.” Nearby, another cluster of runes condensed into a black droplet—the fundamental divine seal of the Power Art.

Dongbo Xueying gazed at the tiny black sphere and droplet hovering before him.

“The utilization of rule profundities is truly astonishing,” he marveled.

The two secret arts from the Lockworld Tower were exquisitely profound.

Even the “Great Chaotic True Force” was considered highly sophisticated, yet using nearly the same rule profundities to form a droplet, the Power Art’s might surpassed it by more than double! This was due to the Lockworld Tower’s superior application of the underlying principles.

“By studying these two secret arts and comprehending their rule applications, I can create new techniques,” Dongbo Xueying thought.

Just as when he was still a Transcendent, he had drawn inspiration from the “Great Chaotic True Force” divine seal to create “Chaotic Annihilation.”

The same principle applied now.

Observing the secret arts’ mysteries, absorbing them, then forging new techniques—this was a path many experts took, though it was difficult and time-consuming.

“One step at a time.”

Dongbo Xueying immersed himself in contemplation, dissecting the intricacies of the two Lockworld Tower secret arts, seeking to extract their essence and craft a mightier technique.

Meanwhile, within Redrock Mountain, the white-robed Dongbo Xueying also trained.

Between refining techniques, he occasionally relaxed, strolling about and perceiving the world’s rules, striving to grasp his third top-tier divine heart—the “Polaris Divine Heart.” Attaining another top-tier divine heart was the most direct way to enhance his strength. Moreover, perceiving the world’s rules didn’t interfere with technique creation, as the latter was done under hundredfold time acceleration.