Chapter 546: The Law of Reincarnation

“Are you serious?” she asked, filled with incredulous joy.
William and the others naturally wouldn’t dare deceive her about such important news, which was currently kept hidden from everyone outside, even aside from a few key figures within the territory. After all, Donald and the powerful warriors of the territory weren’t afraid of attacks from the outside world. But Catherine, a frail woman carrying the offspring of the Merlin family, undoubtedly became the perfect target to strike at Donald!
Upon hearing such good news upon returning, Donald put aside everything else. His mind instantly covered the entire Twilight Town, and after spotting Catherine, he vanished back into the lord’s mansion in an instant.
At the manor on the lake island, Cornelia was idly fiddling with petals in front of her, while Catherine carefully cut fabric in her hands. It was the most famous precious silk from Gardrel in the eastern part of the continent—a rare fabric made from the silk spun by a special magical beast, the Ice Spider, and one of the most prized materials in the main continent.
This ice silk was not only light, soft, and durable but also had some resistance to magic, allowing it to withstand low-level apprentice spells and first-level spells to a large extent.
Such precious fabric was only available to the great nobles, royal families, and high-ranking members of the Godly Church. Yet now, Donald was not only the lord of Dalaran but also a true god. Although he didn’t explicitly ask for anything, various non-hostile forces rushed to please him by sending various rare luxuries.
Even though these people might hardly ever see Donald in person, being received by the high-ranking officials of Dalaran, led by Clinton, the president of the Adventurers’ Guild—the earthly representative of the Nature Guardians—was enough to fulfill the goals of their backing forces.
Upon learning she was pregnant, Catherine was both surprised and excited. In just a few months, she seemed to have transformed from a woman into a mother—becoming more patient and loving, more emotional about everything, and more sensitive.
Thus, Catherine, one of the ladies of Dalaran, immediately became the focus of everyone’s protection, leaving Cornelia extremely anxious. She stayed by Catherine’s side every day, fearing something might happen to her.

Yet this little princess of the Ansel family was also one who couldn’t stay still. After a few days like this, she began to feel bored and restless. But she couldn’t take the pregnant Catherine on any dangerous or exciting adventures, and going out alone worried her that others wouldn’t take good care of Catherine—after all, the strong ones in the territory were mostly men, with her teacher, the female sword saint Abel, being the only woman who could be considered close to her.

But ever since Abel had gone to the New World several times with Dalaran’s mercenary forces on missions, she became addicted to fighting against the strong warriors there. She was now at the peak of her strength, on the verge of reaching legendary status, so a month ago she had gone to the Totem Continent once again to challenge its various strong warriors.

“Teacher! Why haven’t you come yet? If you don’t return soon, your poor disciple Cornelia will die of boredom!”

Cornelia glanced at Catherine, who was sitting there leisurely fiddling with some fabrics, and sighed in resignation. It seemed these boring days would continue for a while longer!

As Cornelia was lost in her thoughts, suddenly a flash of light appeared, and a tall figure long absent showed up before the two women.

“You’re back…”

The countess wanted to stand up and run to her man as soon as she saw him return.

But Donald appeared beside Catherine in an instant, saying concerningly, “Don’t get excited. Let me take a good look at you!”

Cornelia, on the other hand, happily jumped and hugged Donald.

“Donald! Great, you’re finally back!”

Just as Donald was about to comfort her, Cornelia added, “I’m finally free!”

With that, she ran out of the villa without looking back.

“That girl…”

Donald watched Cornelia’s retreating figure, laughing and sighing at the same time, while gently stroking Catherine’s flat belly, which showed no signs of pregnancy.

“Don’t blame her. Cornelia has been bored out of her mind taking care of me these days!”

Donald nodded with a smile. Of course, he wouldn’t really blame Cornelia.

But he never expected Catherine to bring him such a big surprise!

Even without using his mental senses, he could feel a faint yet real presence connected to his bloodline through Catherine’s belly.

One must understand that for true gods like Donald, it is extremely difficult to produce offspring. Not to mention the chances of conception, just the period from fertilization to full development takes at least several years—this is assuming the other party is not a true god. If both spouses are of true god status, it may take decades or even centuries before an offspring is born, and the likelihood of producing a deformed abomination is a hundred times higher than that of a normal child!

Due to the long gestation period, Catherine had actually been pregnant for over six months already, but she still appeared just like an ordinary human woman in the early stages of pregnancy, with only slight physical changes and a flat stomach showing no signs of pregnancy.

Yet Donald could easily sense the tiny life inside his woman’s womb—still without its own consciousness, possessing only basic survival instincts—striving to grow strong!

This must be the connection of bloodline, Donald thought.

“What a healthy little one! Thank you for your efforts, Catherine!”

Hearing Donald’s praise, Catherine felt such happiness and sweetness that it seemed like tears would flow from her heart. Seeing Catherine in such a motherly light, Donald also rejoiced and embraced her.

Regarding his child, besides the excitement and thrill of becoming a father for the first time, Donald also felt a sense of relief and concern that ordinary mortals do not experience.

It is truly difficult for true gods to have their own children—children with both a complete soul and body, rather than those deformed abominations. It is a matter of luck.

Just like the Quetzalcoatl egg, although it was successfully born from its mother’s body without becoming a deformed abomination, it had inherent flaws. Its body was complete, but its soul had defects. It needed to undergo another life in a world governed by complete rules, through another cycle of the laws of birth and the material world, in order to naturally repair the damage to its soul without any sequelae, allowing this child to be truly born.

Originally, it was quite easy for the true god’s ancestors to do this with this egg. But at that time, the universe was facing a massive war that affected the entire cosmos, making it impossible to find a suitable and stable environment for its offspring to undergo this rebirth process. The Quetzalcoatl god, who possessed prophetic abilities, had foreseen his child’s future—after a long time, the child would have a complete family and powerful parents. So he placed his child at the core of this divine realm and then exiled it from the center of the cosmic battlefield, allowing it to drift on its own.

Thinking of the Quetzalcoatl egg in his own space and then looking at Catherine’s abdomen, Donald suddenly had a startling idea. Since his child’s consciousness had not yet formed—meaning its soul was still blank and lacked an independent awareness—it would have to wait until its brain developed to 30% before it could begin absorbing free soul particles from the outside world to create a new soul!

Those unconscious soul particles were parts of the souls that dispersed after countless intelligent beings died. Even if the main consciousness was drawn to the underworld, without the faith of gods, it would eventually dissipate into the most basic soul particles and redevelop into a new soul.

This was the law of reincarnation in the multiverse. The theories of rebirth from past lives generally did not apply here, unless powerful beings intervened. From this perspective, the gods who absorbed the faith of intelligent beings were like tumors that drained nutrients from the multiverse. Not only did they need the faith of their followers during their lifetimes, but after their deaths, the souls of particularly devout followers would be taken into the divine realms to continue following their true gods, providing them with faith energy. After multiple rebirths, they would eventually merge with the divine realm and become part of its power!

This practice undoubtedly disrupted the normal cycle of the universe. Fortunately, there were so many lives in a universe, and although the gods’ followers were mostly advanced intelligent beings, they were only a minority, so their influence was not too strong. Moreover, those worshippers in the divine realms would also dissipate into soul particles and return to the universe after their true gods perished!

This was the fundamental reason why the material world imposed so many restrictions on the gods, yet still did not completely banish their existence!

After much thought, Donald’s idea was to implant the damaged soul from the Quetzalcoatl egg into Catherine’s womb before his own child’s consciousness fully formed. This way, as the fetus grew, it could absorb soul particles and be repaired by the laws of cosmic reincarnation, growing into a healthy new soul. This would constitute a successful rescue of Quetzalcoatl’s descendant, without affecting his own child. On the contrary, thanks to the soul inheritance inherent in the Quetzalcoatl bloodline, it would bring great benefits to his child, granting him a highly talented offspring!

This is the origin of those legends of reincarnation in the main world. Generally, those powerful beings at or above the demi-god level can carry out this procedure, and even some legendary spellcasters skilled in the soul realm can do so, let alone true gods who are particularly adept in this field!

Presumably, Quetzalcoatl must have foreseen such a situation and thus entrusted his child to him. After all, in this way, the newborn could be considered both Quetzalcoatl’s descendant and truly Donald’s child—by any standard, it was the most suitable choice!

The egg itself could also be sealed away, to be dealt with later once the child grew up and reached the demi-god level—whether by transforming it into an avatar or handling it in some other way, it would be the most suitable existence for that child!