At the top of Moon-Gazing Mountain was a platform nearly two hundred feet in diameter. Its surface was smooth and sleek, and it had obviously been sculpted by Origin Energy.

A throne sat beside the stone platform - that throne almost certainly belonged to the Flying Moon Emperor.

This throne, however, was arranged in an unorthodox fashion.

The throne should have been facing away from the cliff to better meet with any guests who might ascend the mountain. That way, the Beasts would also be able to kneel when they entered.

The stone throne, however, faced the cliff itself, two steps away from a plummeting drop.

Even though Sovereigns could indeed fly into the sky and dig deep underground, setting up a throne that seemed to overlook nothing but empty space and ignoring the Beasts that would gather behind it was hard to get used to and seemingly illogical.

Su Chen stepped around the back of the throne to get a look at its front.

The throne was very simple. On its back had been carved a simple rabbit, which was facing towards the sky. Up in the sky hung a round moon.

At first, Su Chen couldn’t tell that anything was up with the moon, but the more he looked at it the more he felt that there was something subtly attention-drawing about the moon that was making it hard for him to avert his gaze.

A sense of shock surfaced in Su Chen’s heart as he quickly activated his microscopic eye.

Even so, that throne seemed to be just as plain as before, with nothing noteworthy appearing in Su Chen’s field of view.

That meant that the chair’s strange effect was not on the Origin Energy level. If that was the case, then probing it on the consciousness level was next.

When he thought of this, Su Chen deactivated his microscopic eye as a giant eye began to form behind him.

The eye was dark and deep, carrying with it a hint of a mysterious aura.

This was Su Chen’s Heart Eye, a skill that he had gained from absorbing the knowledge of all those Astrals earlier. He had modified it so that it was specifically used for detection.

Just as his microscopic eyes could see things on the microscopic scale, so also the Heart Eye could perceive entities existing in the consciousness realm.

Su Chen immediately discovered that a strange entity appeared to be shrouding the throne. It was difficult for him to describe what it was exactly, but he could sense its presence.

Its existence seemed a bit surreal, yet it was a certainty that it existed.

This feeling made Su Chen tremble. When he glanced at the throne again, the image inscribed on its back had begun to morph.

It was as if he had suddenly been sent back in time.

He watched as a rabbit sat on the throne, gazing up at the sky and worshipping the full moon above it.

Behind it were countless Demonic Beasts bowing down in worship to him.

Countless thin threads could be seen in the sky, connecting the moon and the worshipping rabbit. The strands then congealed to form a thick rope.

Was this their moon-worshipping ceremony?

Su Chen finally lifted his head to gaze at the sky.

He turned and sat down on the throne, looking up at the sky as he fell deep into thought.

Suddenly, golden talisman-like inscriptions burst forth from the throne. They appeared to be a mysterious script of some kind. Even so, Su Chen was immediately able to grasp the meaning behind the inscriptions and began to gently chant them under his breath. The strange, foreign syllables flowed from his mouth as the corresponding golden inscriptions began to dim. At the same time, a strand appeared connecting the moon and the throne.

Su Chen continued his muttered recitation as parts of the golden script continued to fade, causing more and more strands to form.

At that moment, Su Chen suddenly stopped.

Instead, he opened his eyes and glanced up at the moon in the sky.

The moon, which had been hazy earlier, was now incomparably clear.

Su Chen’s lips curled upwards in a sardonic smile. “So that was your goal? I’m afraid I must disappoint.”

As he spoke, he gently swiped at the strands with his hand, deftly snapping them.

Actually, they snapped not because of his gesture, but because he had stopped chanting the script. Without any power left to form, they could only snap.

ROAR!

Su Chen suddenly felt as if he was being assaulted by an invisible roar.

This roar didn’t actually exist in the physical realm, yet Su Chen was still able to sense it.

It was as if some existence infinitely far away had let out a howl of rage.

The golden inscriptions on the throne began to disappear, but this time instead of dimming they actually began to disintegrate.

It was as if they had sustained some serious damage.

Su Chen stood up from the throne. When he glanced back at the moon, he realized that its attractiveness seemed to have faded slightly.

Su Chen snapped his fingers. A hazy, ethereal scene appeared before his eyes.

A rabbit appeared to be fleeing through the plains. It had finally managed to escape from the clutches of a pack of hungry wolves, and it was furiously digging a hole for itself using the remaining strength it had left.

What it didn’t realize was that this hole led to a deeper hole.

The rabbit stumbled inside in a daze. All it saw was an image.

A lone moon hung loftily in the sky, while countless creatures prostrated themselves to it in worship.

The rabbit was confused. It couldn’t fully comprehend what it was seeing due to its limited intelligence.

All it could do was instinctively gaze up at the moon. Truth be told, this was not really worship but more so simple imitation.

That was when countless golden characters surfaced in the air.

The rabbit, which had never known how to talk, suddenly knew how to utter this strange chant.

Then, afterwards......

There was no more afterwards.

The scene disappeared from view.

Perhaps this was because he hadn’t completed his recitation of the golden script.

But even if he couldn’t see exactly what had happened, Su Chen was able to guess that this rabbit was most likely the Flying Moon Emperor.

So this was the source of its growth.

As for the moon.

Su Chen chuckled as he glanced up at the sky, muttering to himself, “Gods, you really have been quite hard at work.”

Even though they no longer existed in this world, the gods were still silently manipulating the scenes in a hidden way.

This clearly indicated that they had been driven away somehow in the past, yet were always thinking of returning here.

Otherwise, none of these signs would exist.

But what was it that had driven them away? Why did they want to return? How many gods were there? What kinds of skills did they have up their sleeves?

Su Chen’s brows furrowed even further.

His best bet at answering those questions was probably Reaper Jia Luo.

Even so, Reaper Jia Luo was no more than a mere soul fragment that had already lost a majority of its memories. Its consciousness body would need to be nourished first.

That was not a difficult task. Even though the Astrals had already been exterminated, the Boundless Sect had kept some of them alive for research purposes, and there were still a few stragglers wandering the face of the continent. Most importantly, Su Chen had been given the consciousness extraction instrument, which could be used at any time.

The only reason he was apprehensive of this method was because of Reaper Jia Luo’s status.

The consequences of restoring a god’s power to them could be easily imagined.

If a mere soul fragment had managed to take on such a terrifying appearance, what would the full strength of a god look like?

Even so, Su Chen couldn’t help but feel uneasy at not knowing why the gods had disappeared.

The Lord of the Dreamrealm’s words echoed in his ears.

This world was changing. The return of the gods was not far off.

Changing!

What exactly was changing?

Su Chen didn’t understand.

Was it a reversion of Origin Energy?

No, that couldn’t be it.

The Primordial Continent was not regaining energy. Su Chen, who could see Origin Energy, was clearly able to perceive this.

But if it wasn’t reverting, what else could have caused them to disappear?

Was it not related to the declining Origin Energy in this realm?

Su Chen’s suspicions only grew stronger.

When he thought to this point, he glanced back at the moon one last time before turning around to leave.

He decided to feed Jia Luo a few consciousness bodies to see what memories it would divulge first. It was very likely, however, that this slippery fellow would not say anything even if it did remember, or that it would try and bargain for some kind of transaction (such as one secret per consciousness body it was allowed to devour).

Su Chen pondered over the situation as he walked.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

In that moment, he could clearly sense a powerful wave of energy suddenly surge from within his body.

This feeling was difficult to describe. It was as if he had ingested an entire vial of powerful medicines and the medicinal power they contained was currently surging through his body. This sensation was quite familiar and comforting, in some sense.

This comforting feeling continued to intensify. Su Chen knew that his physical body was being upgraded.

This was an improvement in his fundamental essence.

The feeling of ascending!

Even though this feeling of ascension was not as clear as it had been when going from the Yang Opening Realm to the Light Shaking Realm or from the Thought Manifestation Realm to the Ultimate Emperor Realm, he knew he wasn’t wrong about this feeling. Instead, it was as if he had made some kind of a small breakthrough, such as going from one Lotus Platform to two.

How could it be?

Why was this happening?

Su Chen was completely mystified.

How had he suddenly begun to ascend?

He hadn’t eaten or done anything, so why was he ascending now?

There was no known realm above that of the Ultimate Emperor Realm. The only criteria for reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm, after all, was the peculiar sensation that could only be found at the intersection between life and death.

This was why there were no subdivisions to the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

And because the profound secrets contained at this intersection were impossible to fully understand, advancing further was exceptionally challenging.

But Su Chen was different. Even though the earlier sensation wasn’t extremely powerful - rather, it felt more like a light breeze - his strength had instantaneously increased by a relatively significant amount. In fact, he felt as if he had gained ten years of strength in an instant.

This made Su Chen quite suspicious.

Why did I suddenly ascend?

And how did I do it while at the Ultimate Emperor Realm?

Could it be because of the floating moon?

Su Chen was reminded of the Flying Moon Emperor.

But that rabbit had worshipped day and night for years to reach its current state. None of its attainments had happened overnight. Su Chen’s advance was equivalent to a lower-tier cultivator suddenly advancing hundreds of years along in their cultivation journey.

Even gods couldn’t possibly bestow such great power when they were still isolated from this realm. Right?

Not to mention that he hadn’t even finished uttering the entire script.

Upon thinking of this, Su Chen glanced back down at his body. Suddenly, he realized that there was a faintly pulsating glowing light flowing through his body.

“This is......” Su Chen muttered.

At first, he thought that this was some form of retribution from that moon god, but he quickly realized that was not the case.

Because the light possessed no harmful intent. Instead, it remained there, silently supporting him.

The power from earlier seemed as if it had not been completely used up yet.

Su Chen attempted to perceive as much as he could about this strange energy.

Suddenly, he realized something.

“Vitality Method Power?”