Chapter 138: The First Step in the Starry Sky

In the starry sky, Dao sounds permeated, countless stars fell, disappearing with long tails of flame.

More than twenty innate divine sages listened to the Dao together, instantly ascending to Upper Gods of the Great One, and as time passed their aura grew ever stronger.

When the exposition of the Dao was about to end, these innate divine sages had already perfected their cultivation; they needed only to settle for a period, then they could open a world to bear their Dao fruit and enter the rank of Revered Gods of Net Heaven.

Of course, this period is measured in hundreds of yuanhui.

They were all star deities of the starry sky, born from the nurturing of the stars, arising in response to fate.

They were invited this time to hear the lecture on the Great One Net Heaven Dao Fruit, so they could gather; some were far away, and just traveling took tens of thousands of years.

This was also the first batch of listeners to the Dao for Di Jun, Taiyi, and Fuxi; to notify them, the three also expended considerable effort.

"The exposition of the Dao has now ended; I do not know if you have any doubts, but I can now explain a little."

"If you have no urgent matters, I also have a few things to say to you; I hope you will give them careful thought."

Di Jun laughed and spoke.

The gods understood; benefits had been given and received, so it was naturally time for the other side's schemes to be laid bare.

Even knowing this, they were still willing to cooperate a bit; after exchanging a few glances, one of them stood up and said:

"We wish to hear the details; may I ask what matters the Upper God requires?"

The speaker appeared as a handsome youth, his features extraordinary, wearing a robe of white crane and rosy clouds, bearing the mien of a general, and he was the highest in status among those present.

Di Jun calculated the current time, found it was still morning, and then spoke:

"Qiming (Taibai Jinxing) Dao friend, what I desire is not external affairs, but concerns the fate of the entire starry sky and the future of us many star deities."

Everyone turned their gaze to Di Jun, only to hear him say:

"You may not know, but the primordial world has already undergone tremendous change, unlike before."

"The three clans dominate heaven and earth, sharing the divine dao and the three powers' qi, yet the voice of the heavenly gods is scarce among them—this is also what worries me."

"Now in the primordial world, divine humans and earth deities occupy the mainstream, while we heavenly gods have long remained unseen, effectively isolated for ages."

"Whether in cultivation realm, mindset, or qi flow, we have long fallen behind the outside world."

"Now, with the heavenly canopy blocking us, we star deities can still survive in peace, but the canopy will eventually vanish; then we may only struggle to survive under its oppression."

"The heavenly canopy lies just below; you can compare for yourselves and see that my words are not false."

The people focused their gaze; having long been accustomed to the heavenly canopy's presence, they had not noticed it, but now upon careful comparison they naturally detected its changes.

In their sight, the scene of the primordial mountains and rivers appeared faintly, shocking everyone greatly.

Compared to the past, they could only see Mount Buzhou, and sometimes not even clearly; now upon looking again they discovered the change was strikingly obvious.

"The realms of the Great One and Net Heaven I speak of have long been widespread in the primordial world; thus we star deities have fallen far behind."

Qiming asked:

"I do not know what exactly you desire; I hope you will speak plainly, for though we have been sealed for long, we are not ignorant of reason."

"If there is any use for us, we will certainly lend our full aid and not cause you trouble."

Qiming spoke frankly, as he always does, disliking circumlocution.

Now that we know we are behind, I myself have no solution, but if someone harbors the ambition to overturn heaven and earth and acts on it, I would not mind assisting.

A flicker of excitement passed through Di Jun's eyes; he knew the most difficult step had been taken, and the rest need only follow due order.

"I am the Sun Star Deity; I now wish to unite the stars, gather the qi of the entire starry sky, and transmit the Dao to the gods. When the opportunity arises, I will lead the star deities of the starry sky to contend for dominance in the primordial world, and there too our voice should be heard."

As Di Jun spoke these words, the whole starry sky seemed to respond; the great sun shot forth billions of feet of divine light, illuminating the heavenly sun and all beings.

Qiming heard this and laughed loudly:

"Excellent! One who harbors such ambition shall be my lord!"

"Taibai Jinxing Star Deity Qiming (Chang Geng), I pay my respects to the Emperor!"

Qiming, in his twofold aspect, offered worship together; originally Taibai Jinxing possesses a dual soul—morning as Qiming, evening as Chang Geng; though dual-souled, he is one person.

The remaining people glanced at each other, then also offered worship, saying:

"We pay our respects to the Emperor!"

Di Jun laughed loudly and said:

"Please rise, everyone; the road ahead is long, we must still encourage each other, and in the future we will rely greatly on all of you."

In the distance, Taiyi and Fuxi gazed at each other, smiling faintly; behind them the heavenly stars shone brightly, radiating brilliance.

The stars represented by the star deities also began to respond to the Sun Star's light; countless streams of invisible qi rolled toward the Sun Star and then descended to bless those present.

Although the star deities did not know why, they faintly felt the qi's influence upon them; setting aside other concerns, they examined their primordial spirits and discovered the benefits, whereupon they could not help but look forward to the future with greater hope.

"I do not know what plans the Emperor has next; may he tell us a little? Perhaps we could add some color to his schemes."

Taibai Jinxing was the first to pledge allegiance; among the crowd he held the highest rank, and thus his gains were naturally the greatest.

Having him step forward to inquire was most fitting, and indeed he now truly wished to share Di Jun's worries.

Di Jun was very pleased with everyone's attitude, and it was precisely the time when manpower was needed.

Although they had only just pledged allegiance, summoning them outright seemed improper, yet he still voiced his needs directly:

"You have just joined; under normal circumstances you should be allowed to rest a while, but now manpower is lacking and every moment counts; I hope you will understand."

The people hurriedly replied that they dared not.

"At the beginning of the Dao exposition, the gathered star deities are still too few; I hope you will exert yourselves to go into the starry sky, gather the star deities, and jointly participate in the Great Dao."

Although Di Jun spoke only of the Dao exposition, they naturally understood its deeper meaning from their experience, so they said no more and turned into flowing light, scattering away.

After they had all departed, Fuxi and Taiyi then approached Di Jun, and all three faces showed joy.

"Congratulations, Dao friend Di Jun; the most difficult step has indeed been taken, and thereafter the Great Dao of Ascending to Heaven begins to unfold before you."

Fuxi, smiling, offered his congratulations.

"Congratulations, elder brother; gradually advancing toward the goal, you draw ever nearer to the Dao."

Taiyi's voice remained as gentle as ever, and he too felt joy for Di Jun.

Same joy, same joy, don't forget—you and I did indeed promise back then, to jointly undertake a great cause, with equal and honored positions; how could it be only my joy?

Di Jun concealed nothing of his inner thoughts and feelings, also showing that he had never forgotten his promise.

The smooth start made everyone extremely excited, though they couldn't show it too openly; but they had anticipated this, and also believed the future would indeed turn out as they had imagined.

(End of chapter)