163: Taking stock of the spoils, the whole world is our enemy.

With the total collapse of the flesh-and-blood star gate, the suffocating Devilish Qi above the Northern Ice Field finally began to slowly dissipate.

Sunlight once again spilled onto this frozen land ravaged by the flames of war.

At this time, the mopping-up operation against the remnants of the Demon Race was also nearing its end.

Under the joint strangulation of over a dozen Spirit Transformation Realm sons and daughters of God, not one of those tens of thousands of trapped Demon Race warriors could escape; they all turned into cold corpses scattered across the ice field.

“Father! We won!”

Chu Batian carried the sky-opening tyrant axe, covered in blood, yet ran back with a face full of excitement, like a child asking for candy.

“Mm, you did well.”

Chu He smiled and patted his head, his gaze sweeping over the other children who had also returned.

Chu Tian stood with his spear, his aura becoming increasingly steady; Chu Lingxi's Sword Intent was more refined; Chu Yuning and Chu Ce had also gained a deeper understanding of their newly acquired powers through actual combat.

Although each of them carried injuries and had exhausted a great deal, their eyes were, without exception, filled with excitement, confidence, and a kind of transformation after experiencing the baptism of blood and fire.

This was what Chu He wanted to see.

Flowers in a greenhouse can never grow into a towering tree. Only in true life-and-death struggles can these sons of God, who possess Heaven-Defying Bloodlines, thoroughly stimulate their potential.

“Alright, you’ve all worked hard,” Chu He said gently. “Go back and rest well, and summarize the gains and losses of this battle. The next enemy will be even stronger than this one.”

“Yes! Father!” the children responded in unison.

Subsequently, Chu He turned his gaze toward the messy battlefield.

Demon Race corpses everywhere, the wreckage of hundreds of Demon Ships—in the eyes of others, this was a shocking ruin of war.

But in Chu He's eyes, this was... a massive fortune!

“System, activate the fortune furnace at maximum power and... clean this place up.”

[Ding! The fortune furnace has been activated, beginning large-scale refinement...]

Accompanied by the System prompt, an invisible golden flame instantly swept across the entire Northern Ice Field with Chu He as the center.

Whether it was the corpses of the Demon Race warriors or the wreckage of the Demon Ships constructed from divine gold and Immortal iron, under the burning of this golden flame, they all began to rapidly decompose and melt, being purified into the most fundamental Origin substances.

For a time, a strange and spectacular scene appeared in the sky above the Northern Ice Field.

Countless streams of light converged from all directions, forming one small mountain after another made of different substances in front of Chu He.

One was a "crystal mountain" entirely composed of pure energy crystals, the total energy of which was enough for a top-tier Sect to squander for ten thousand years.

One was a "material mountain" composed of various rare divine golds and Immortal irons, including many top-tier Materials that could be used to refine Dao Artifacts.

There was also a "Soul crystal mountain" condensed from the refinement of countless Demon Race Divine Souls; each Soul crystal contained majestic Soul energy and was a supreme treasure for Cultivating Soul secret techniques.

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for successfully annihilating the Star-Devouring Demon Clan's expeditionary force (vanguard), gaining +50,000 family fortune value!]

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host, the accumulated family fortune value has surpassed one hundred thousand, and the System shop module has been upgraded!]

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for triggering the special achievement 'Sustain War Through War', reward: Divine-Grade building blueprint myriad spirit blood pool!]

A series of System prompts rang out in Chu He's mind.

Feeling the family fortune value that had surged to over 130,000, along with the newly acquired rewards, Chu He nodded with satisfaction.

This battle had yielded a bountiful harvest.

With a wave of his hand, he stored all three small mountains into the storage space of the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda. The entire Northern Ice Field, except for those irreparable spatial cracks, had become completely clean, as if the world-ending battle from before had never happened.

After finishing all this, Chu He finally turned his gaze toward the "spectators" outside the ice field who had been trembling from beginning to end... Meanwhile.

In the Xuanhuang Realm, the Central State, Eastern Continent, Western Desert, and Southern Border... all the surviving Soul Transformation Ancestors felt as if their spines had been removed, collapsing one by one in their Immortal Caves or Sect halls, their faces ashen.

Through various secret methods, they had watched the entire process of the war.

They saw how Chu He used the Heavenly Tribulation as cannonballs to blast the enemy's fleet.

They saw how the children of the Chu Family slaughtered those Outer-Realm Heavenly Demons who had made them feel despair, as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.

They even saw how, after his promotion, Chu He extinguished a terrifying Demon Venerable with a flick of his finger—one who was simply not on the same dimension as them and was suspected to be an "Immortal."

Shock?

No, shock was no longer enough to describe it.

It was staggering! It was subversive! It was the complete collapse of their worldview!

They had Cultivated for thousands of years, believing they stood at the peak of the mortal world, looking down on all living beings.

But today, they discovered that their so-called "peak" was nothing more than a grain of dust at the foot of the mountain in the eyes of the truly powerful.

Deep within the palace of the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty.

The Old Emperor, who had once met Chu He, was now sitting on the dragon throne in a daze, muttering to himself: “The Xuanhuang Realm... the sky has changed... no, the heavens have been replaced...”

“From now on, there will be no more Imperial Dynasties, no more Sects in this world, only... the Chu Family.”

In the Western Desert, at the Great Leiyin Temple.

An Ancient Buddha radiating golden light let out a long sigh and pressed his palms together: “Amitabha... This is not the work of man, but the mandate of heaven.”

In the Central State, at the Taixu Holy Land.

Several white-haired Grand Elders sat together in silence. Finally, the leader spoke with difficulty: “Send down the order... prepare generous gifts. Gather the strength of the entire Sect to prepare one... no, ten generous gifts!”

“I... will personally go to Chu City in the Eastern Continent to... plead for forgiveness from the Chu Family.”

“Plead for forgiveness?” an Elder beside him asked in confusion.

“Yes, plead for forgiveness.” The leading Elder smiled bitterly. “In his eyes, our very existence might... be a sin in itself.”

Similar scenes played out in all the top-tier powers of the Xuanhuang Realm.

They all understood that a brand-new era had arrived.

In this era, those who follow the Chu Family will prosper, and those who oppose the Chu Family will perish.

No, opposition wasn't even necessary.

As long as you were considered a potential threat by that existence, or... simply an eyesore, perhaps in the next moment, the entire Sect would silently turn to ashes, just like those Demon Ships.

No one dared to gamble.

Thus, within a short half-day, a “pilgrimage” team spontaneously formed by the leaders of all the top-tier powers in the Xuanhuang Realm was assembled.

With incredibly apprehensive and reverent hearts, they slowly flew toward the Eastern Continent.

When they finally reached the edge of the world of the sea of fire where Chu City was located, they did not dare to advance another step.

Everyone, including those Soul Transformation Ancestors who were usually high and mighty, descended from the clouds in unison, restrained all their auras, and like the most devout believers, lowered their noble heads outside the light screen of the “Heavenly Cycle Star Domain Guardian Array,” quietly waiting for that existence's... verdict.