Born of Dust, Returning to Dust?

Five sunrises and sunsets later, on the beach where the Near Sea connected to the continent.

At this moment, five colossal beings had gathered here.

At the same time, many members of the five races stood far away around these five colossal beings, watching.

The Near Sea Populace and Black Water Populace gathered in the shallows, while the Children of Wind, Lava Populace, and Serpent Populace gathered in the sky and on the ground.

The area was a sea of dark figures. These tiny creatures all gazed upon their respective gods, filled with incomparable excitement and reverence.

Before the gods of the five races lay a great number of fallen members of the Four Races.

Under the watchful eyes of the Giant Beast gods of the five races, the priests of the Four Races began their ritual dances and, according to their respective traditions, arranged funerals for their departed kin.

To return to Father God's embrace under the witness of their own Father Gods was an immense honor for the Four Races of Order.

Although many of their kin had perished, the gathered Four Races showed little grief. Instead, they appeared highly stirred and solemn.

The other four beasts Kangqiao had dragged here were utterly baffled.

Watching their own people dispose of corpses? What was there to watch?

And these little things were far too small. They were afraid they might crush a whole bunch of them with a careless step.

Trilobite was the only Giant Beast present with a completely bewildered expression.

What was all this?

Why had these four baffling fellows dragged it here to look at the corpses of a group of tiny creatures?

At first, Trilobite had thought the four beasts were going to invite it to their territory for roasted meat, only to find itself faced with this scene.

With a trace of curiosity toward the four beasts, it did not leave. It simply lay in the shallows, squinting as it watched the priests of the Four Races performing rituals onshore before rows upon rows of corpses.

After nearly six thousand years of integration, the Four Races had all adopted "destructive" methods for handling the corpses of their kin, rather than feeding them to sea beasts or their own blood relatives.

They had begun to cast off the age of savagery and were striding into an era of civilization.

The corpses of the Children of Wind were swept up by storms conjured by many priests and torn into bloody pulp. Then, with the relay of the Children of Wind in the skies, the flesh was ground even finer and sent into the higher reaches of the atmosphere.

That was the domain of wind, and also the divine realm as the Children of Wind understood it.

Only in this way could their departed kin truly enter the embrace of the gods.

The Water's Children used ice to freeze the corpses, then carried them with water into the sediment on the seafloor. It did not look as brutal as the Children of Wind's method.

As for the Serpent Populace, it was simple. They used the densest poison mist to corrode the bodies of their people into black water, and the ritual was complete.

Then it was the Dinosaur People's turn.

However, just as the Dinosaur People were about to use their own flames to burn the corpses of their kin—

They did not need to do so at all. In the next moment, Kangqiao's enormous body actually crouched halfway down, and one of his seemingly short little hands reached out.

Seeing their own Father God willing to personally perform the rite for his people left many priests dumbstruck, as well as countless ordinary warriors behind them.

"Ah! The great Father God is personally guiding the souls of these brave warriors!"

"This is the greatest honor, and proof that our devotion has moved Father God!"

"Children of Lava, we must become even more devout! Look! Witness this moment of lifelong glory, as our brave people enter Father God's embrace!"

A Dinosaur Elder shouted excitedly at all the Dinosaur People.

At the same time, even more priests became excited and hurriedly retreated.

Father God was going to receive his people. That majestic power was not something mortals like them could withstand.

The only one who remained relatively rational at the scene was probably Barton, the new High Priest of the Dinosaur People.

"Does the Divine Kingdom truly exist? Did Elder truly enter the Divine Kingdom?"

He had long heard the tales from the priests who had come to provide aid, stories claiming that Father God had received the elder's soul into the Divine Kingdom.

But Barton had always found it difficult to believe. After all, divine kingdoms, divine realms, and such things—any rational humanoid who had observed the other gods knew they were merely fantasies and extravagant hopes.

Faith was the foundation that united the people and gave them a powerful sense of cohesion. At the same time, it was merely an excuse mortals like them found because they needed the protection of gods.

As for being children of gods, Barton did not doubt that. But having only seen his own god once in his life, he was certainly not as devout toward Father God and faith as the Dinosaur Elder had been.

The Dinosaur Elder had not wanted a successor who was the most devout toward the gods, but one who was the most rational and intelligent.

Only then could the future of the race be ensured.

Thus, it was true that Barton harbored some doubts about his own Father God's abilities.

Of course, this did not mean Barton did not believe in Kangqiao, his Father God. It was simply that, in Barton's view, although his Father God and the other gods were indeed gods and the creators of the Four Races, they did not necessarily possess every ability.

Therefore, when Kangqiao extended his enormous yet short little hand, Barton stared fixedly, not even blinking.

If Father God truly had a Divine Kingdom, then at least it would bring Barton some comfort.

The Dinosaur Elder had been like a father to Barton. Ever since childhood, Barton had grown up at the Dinosaur Elder's side. Knowledge, the use of abilities, and combat skills—every one of these had been taught to him bit by bit by the Dinosaur Elder.

Thus, for the Dinosaur Elder who was like a father to him, Barton desperately wanted to see the elder's wish come true, wanted to see him enter the embrace of the god he had yearned for throughout his life.

As for Barton himself?

He understood his responsibilities, and he understood that his own heart was not particularly devout. Therefore, he did not hope for anything like entering the Divine Kingdom after death.

He only hoped that, under his leadership, the sorrow of this war would quickly fade and that he could lead his people to restore Black Stone City's prosperity as soon as possible.

Compared to yearning for Father God's embrace and the Divine Kingdom after death, he valued the reality of the living more.

That was both his wish and the responsibility entrusted to him by the elder who had been like a father!

The Dinosaur People were all watching Kangqiao. At this moment, the other four beasts were also watching him, and even the people of those four beasts were all looking at him.

Some members of other races even revealed deeply envious expressions when they saw Kangqiao willing to use his divine body to grant his people peace and receive them.

"The God of Lava is truly kind to his people! Though our own Father God is not bad either."

Under the gazes of countless eyes, Kangqiao remained unhurried. When his palm was about to touch the rows of Dinosaur People corpses, flames suddenly ignited upon it.

In the next moment, the Dinosaur People corpses, which had originally possessed great resistance to flames, all began to burn fiercely.

However, at the very instant the flames were about to consume every corpse, Kangqiao saw countless tiny points of light drifting toward him.

At the sight, delight immediately appeared in Kangqiao's previously calm eyes.

"Sure enough, the direction of my experiment was not wrong."

"..."

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