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When the Yak Tribe made its move, the Wolf Clan naturally grew restless as well. Although the strongest Golden Wolf and Snow Wolf Clans remained relatively calm, the three major tribes—Red Wolf, Gray Wolf, and Black Wolf—refused to stay idle. Within days, they forged ties with the Eagle and Bear Clans and plunged into the chaos of the great war.

At the same time, the Temple of War could no longer remain passive.

"Brother, the cowardly Pope of the Temple of War has sent another message," the golden-haired Jin Luosha said cheerfully as she stepped lightly into the secret chamber where Chen Xuanfeng was in seclusion.

Chen Xuanfeng, seated cross-legged on a stone platform, looked up with a smile. "Oh? What does it say this time?"

"Same old talk—telling you to stop fishing for opportunities and end the war quickly. Only this time, the tone is even more urgent." The girl handed over the letter with a chuckle.

"Hmph, it was him who called this an opportunity in the first place, and now he’s worried about the flames of war spreading… But we’ve already drawn out all the targets we needed. The humans are too preoccupied to interfere now, so it’s about time to wrap things up. Any longer, and the beastmen’s vitality will truly suffer."

What finally pushed the silver-haired werewolf to act was not just the escalation of the war—but Catherine’s recovery.

Though not fully healed, Catherine now possessed about sixty to seventy percent of her strength. After waking and learning that her child had sacrificed his soul to save her, she languished in grief for a long time. Yet, under Chen Xuanfeng’s care and encouragement, she gradually regained her strength and the mantle of her title as the "Holy War Martial Emperor."

With this ally by his side, Chen Xuanfeng felt as if the world had opened up before him.

In the third month of the War God’s Calendar, Year 1408, an event occurred that would change the nature of the civil war—later known as the "Fort Chuck Massacre."

The incident itself was simple. During an assault on a Badger Tribe fortress under the Bear Tribe’s command, a direct descendant of the Splitfang Clan was killed in battle. While death in war was considered honorable among beastmen, the recent developments had fueled the Splitfang Clan’s ambitions to restore their royal lineage. The attacking force happened to be fiercely loyal to the Splitfang Clan, and in their fury, they invoked an ancient custom of the beastmen royalty—slaughtering an entire city’s inhabitants to avenge the death of a royal core member.

Though the fortress housed fewer than three thousand beastmen, with only a thousand civilians, this act gave Chen Xuanfeng the perfect justification. Three days after the massacre, he issued a proclamation through the Temple of War, declaring to the entire Beastmen Alliance that the civil war had been incited by humans. The Splitfang Clan’s atrocity proved that the conflict had spiraled beyond control, threatening the survival of the beastmen. He demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, branding any faction that continued fighting as human collaborators.

Of course, the warring sides did not stop immediately—which gave Chen Xuanfeng the absolute right to intervene.

The day after the proclamation, Chen Xuanfeng appeared on the frontlines of the Lion Clan. Alone, he effortlessly crushed a group of elite warriors, including two Monster Sword Saints and seven Beastman Sword Saints, completely paralyzing the Lion Clan’s command structure. Next, he subdued the forces of the Eagle-Bear Alliance without bloodshed. Riding his six-winged Demon Dragon, he swept across the land, his unstoppable platinum sword energy and earth-shattering demonic blade breaking armies and toppling cities without resistance. Within three days, he had suppressed all warring factions. Though he couldn’t compel total disarmament, no one dared to initiate further battles.

For the first time, the full might of a true Sword Saint was displayed before all beastmen. Compared to the long-faded legends of the "Ancestor of Sword Saints" Leinster or the "War Saint" Leimen, who had only wreaked havoc in human lands, Chen Xuanfeng’s three-day rampage left an incomparable impact on the Beastmen Alliance. His overwhelming power crushed all resistance, cementing his reputation as an invincible force. The legend of "Celestial Wolf" Xuanfeng descending upon his dragon spread like wildfire, soon earning him the title "Azure Sky Wolf."

But this was not Chen Xuanfeng’s ultimate goal. Even as he swept across the land, the true decisive strike was delivered at the heart of the Lion Clan—Lion Heart City.

The one to strike was none other than the Lion Clan’s female Sword Saint, Catherine.

The root of the civil war—or rather, the challenge to Chen Xuanfeng’s rule—lay in the Lion Clan’s overwhelming military and political dominance. The Splitfang Clan, relying on the Monster Warriors and vast military power left behind by Samantha, believed they could stand against Chen Xuanfeng. Moreover, the millennia-old tradition that only a Lion could be king granted them an unshakable legitimacy. Chen Xuanfeng felt that securing his position as Beastmen King was as difficult as Empress Wu Zetian’s rise to power. Crushing the Lion Clan by sheer force would be an arduous task, so his only option was suppression and eventual subjugation. The key to easing the Lion Clan’s resistance lay in Catherine’s dual identity—both as a noble of the Lion Clan and as a Martial Emperor Sword Saint.

Beastmen revered strength but were equally stubborn about racial pride. Without her Lion heritage, even if Catherine were ten times stronger, she could only speak to the Lion Clan in steel. And without her status as a Sword Saint, her past rebellion against the Splitfang Clan would have denied her any respect from the Lion Clan’s nobility. Yet even with these advantages, she still had to force open Lion Heart City’s gates with sheer power.

Lion Heart City stood in the Floral Plains, the most fertile land in the old Beastmen Alliance territories. In early summer, it was a carpet of blossoms, showing no signs of war’s devastation. As Catherine gazed upon the city where she had grown up, emotions surged within her—memories of her childhood, her father’s death in battle, her mother’s illness, her arduous training, the hatred she could never abandon, and her clan’s betrayal. The golden-haired Sword Saint’s face flickered through countless emotions before she finally steadied herself.

"Your Highness, when shall we enter the city?" asked the Ice Valkyrie, who stood beside Catherine. Though Chen Xuanfeng had sent her to suppress Lion Heart City out of necessity, he still worried about her incomplete recovery. Thus, he had dispatched the Ice Valkyrie, the elven twin sisters Ye Ge and Xue Li, and the Lich King as her escort. With such a force, even if they encountered the undead form of the Ancestor of Sword Saints, they could retreat safely.