Chapter 403: Could It Be?

“The conflict between the demonic Orc Clan and our Xia Clan has raged since the dawn of this world,” Jing Qiu said softly. “Though we’ve always been at a disadvantage, we’ve endured until now… But Dongbo, as the current ruler of the Material Realm, the war between our two races is finally coming to an end.”

“It’s time for it to end. A new era must begin,” Dongbo Xueying replied with a faint smile. With a mere thought, his consciousness expanded into the Tree Sea World.

As the Material Realm’s sovereign, his spirit could envelop every corner of the mortal world. Previously, the cave treasure ‘Redstone Mountain’ had blocked his perception, but now that he had refined it, the entire Xia Clan World lay within his grasp.

“You’ve lived this long only because I needed to conceal my First Grade True Intent,” Dongbo Xueying’s consciousness loomed over the fortress.

Inside a grand hall of the hemispherical fortress, the demonic beasts’ Transcendents had gathered. Orland, the Grand Elder, stood facing the wall, gently tracing the massive beast carving with trembling fingers, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“Grand Elder, the fortress can no longer control the Tree Sea World,” a short, stout elder said urgently. “Dongbo Xueying has seized dominion over it.”

“He is the Material Realm’s ruler. Naturally, everything bends to his will,” a cold, lanky man clad in green leather armor remarked.

“How could this happen so quickly…?”

“Wasn’t refining the World Heart supposed to be difficult? The war ended barely six centuries ago—how has he already succeeded?”

“It’s over… It’s truly over…”

Despair washed over the demonic beasts’ Transcendents. Though they had clung to a sliver of hope—perhaps Dongbo Xueying would fail to refine the World Heart within ten thousand years, perhaps he would be expelled from the Xia Clan World—that fragile hope now shattered.

The day had come. The news of Dongbo Xueying’s success had spread.

**Boom—!** The entire hall trembled violently.

“What’s happening? What’s going on?” The Transcendents panicked.

Through the shattered doorway, they saw a massive hole forming in the ceiling. The hemispherical fortress began to split apart, revealing the sky beyond—and within it, an enormous face. Dongbo Xueying’s visage loomed above, his gaze piercing through the ruins to fix upon them.

**Crack! Crack!** The once-indomitable fortress crumbled like brittle clay beneath the power of the World Will. Had Dongbo Xueying not deemed it useful for the Xia Clan’s research, it would have been obliterated instantly.

Soon, nothing remained.

“Let us go out,” Orland said quietly, gripping his bone scepter as he turned toward the exit. The others followed silently.

Standing amidst the ruins, they looked up at the colossal face that blotted out the sky.

That familiar face.

Dongbo Xueying—the greatest scourge of the demonic Orc Clan. Now, he had ascended to a height that forced even their mightiest to tremble. Not even the Witch God or the Great Demon God could oppose him. Only the supreme beings of the Divine Realm could strip a Material Realm ruler of his dominion.

“Dongbo Xueying,” Orland called out.

“Orland,” the giant face responded, its voice resonating like thunder.

“Have you come to kill us?” Orland asked.

“Grand Elder Orland, I have not forgotten how you took my Divine Realm soldier, the Golden Man,” Dongbo Xueying replied. “This debt must be repaid by your race.”

“Yes… the debt must be settled,” Orland murmured. But this was no mere matter of the Golden Man or past assassination attempts—it was the culmination of eons of bloodshed between their peoples.

“Countless of your Xia Clan have fallen to our blades, just as we have been slaughtered by yours,” Orland said, his voice steady. “The only difference is that our race never produced a peerless genius like you. We lost… because your Xia Clan was luckier.”

“No,” Dongbo Xueying countered. “It is because generation after generation of Xia Clan Transcendents fought with their lives, because our ancestral deities aided us, that our people flourished. We claimed the majority of this world. Our numbers grew—more humans, more Transcendents, more deities. If a supreme genius were to emerge, it was only natural it would be from our ranks.”

Orland paused, then nodded slowly. “You’re right. Our ancestors were too selfish. We lost fairly… very fairly.”

“Lord Dongbo! Divine Emperor!” A purple-haired woman suddenly cried out. “Our race is defeated. We pose no further threat. The war is over—we beg for mercy! Let us serve the Xia Clan, let us fight for you!”

“Divine Emperor, spare us!”

“Have mercy, Divine Emperor!”

Nearly half of the demonic beast Transcendents began pleading for their lives—including the Spider Queen, who had once joined the ambush against Dongbo Xueying.

The giant face remained impassive.

“What do you intend for our race?” Orland asked, gripping his bone scepter. “I am old, nearing the end of my lifespan. Death holds no fear for me. But I beg for your mercy upon the others…”

“All Transcendent-level demonic beasts must die,” Dongbo Xueying declared. “But I will spare the ordinary beasts.”

“No…!”

“Divine Emperor, we swear allegiance to the Xia Clan!”

Panic erupted among the demonic beasts.

Orland, however, bowed his head. “Thank you. Though in a few millennia, our descendants will likely become your mounts, your servants… forever stripped of the will to resist.”

“That will be their blessing,” Dongbo Xueying said. “With this, the feud between our races ends.”

With a mere thought—

**Whoosh.**

Every Transcendent among the demonic beasts dissolved into motes of light, their forms unraveling into nothingness. Some screamed, some raged, some wept—but all vanished without a trace.

Dongbo Xueying watched silently, a pang of sorrow in his heart. He bore no hatred for Orland. This was simply the nature of war between races. Orland had been one of the rare few among the demonic beasts who truly fought for his people. He had comprehended the Life True Intent to the Third Realm, even reshaping their bodies to infiltrate human society.

“History repeats itself,” Dongbo Xueying mused. “The beastmen once warred with humans, only to be assimilated. Now, the demonic beasts have met their end.” A strange melancholy filled him. Had the tides turned differently, it would be humanity facing extinction—or worse, enslavement.

With a thought, he summoned a familiar figure—the Golden Man, now freed from bondage.

The Golden Man knelt immediately upon sensing the overwhelming aura. “I greet my master.”

“Rise, Goldspike,” Dongbo Xueying said warmly. With a flick of his will, he sent the Golden Man to Xueying Castle, where he reunited with his fellow Divine Realm soldiers—the Sacred Child, the Gentle Beauty, the War General, and the Blade Dancer. The Five Shadows were whole once more.

—

With Dongbo Xueying as the Material Realm’s ruler and the demonic beast threat eradicated, the Xia Clan World entered an era of unprecedented stability. Even the demon gods abandoned their attempts to spread faith here—none dared operate under the watchful gaze of a realm sovereign.

As time flowed onward, Dongbo Xueying devoted himself to cultivation, preparing for the upcoming ‘Bloodblade Divine Court’s Ten Thousand Flowers Feast.’

Yet, barely a year and a half after the demonic beasts’ fall, a single piece of news sent his heart soaring.

On the training grounds of Xueying Castle, Dongbo Xueying froze mid-swing, his Blooddrinker Spear halting as he stared at Jing Qiu.

“What did you say?” he asked, voice trembling.

Jing Qiu blushed. “I already told you. Must I repeat it?”

“I didn’t hear clearly. Say it again,” he pressed urgently.

“I’m… with child,” she whispered, avoiding his gaze. “Most likely… twins.”