Chapter 795: The Great Dream of Civilization

Nearby, senators were engaged in a heated discussion.

"The Moon God Ji's handmaiden has revealed her true form by absorbing faith."

"This being is an energy-element life form? If so, then Moon God Ji herself must also be a colossal energy-based life form. Perhaps the four-element life form is the biological structure closest to a god!"

"No!" A knowledgeable Moon Diviner immediately retorted, "Our biological structure is the closest to that of a god! Don't forget, when gods descend to the mortal world, they assume our human form!"

A fierce argument erupted between the two sides. This was essentially a debate about authenticity and orthodoxy.

"Is it possible that God is both human and elemental in form, having split their bloodline to create both four-element beings and us, flesh-and-blood creatures?"

"Nonsense!" someone retorted loudly.

"Is it truly nonsense?" Suddenly, an old, white-haired Moon Diviner, as if struck by an idea, said tremblingly, "Those semi-elemental beings, whose bodies are mostly elemental energy but possess a flesh-and-blood heart—an 'Elemental Heart'—could it be that God is, in essence, a humanoid flesh-and-blood heart, and their true form, when revealed, is that vast energy-elemental being?"

Everyone was greatly astonished by this remark. It was indeed a plausible idea: a humanoid heart encased in an energy cloak. This perfectly explained the divine lineage. God is indeed a colossal elemental being, but ordinarily, the energy retracts, revealing a humanoid elemental heart. This theory perfectly explained the bloodline division: that life in their galaxy had truly split into two forms – four-elemental beings and flesh-and-blood beings.

Beside them, Yuan Qinghua was also deeply shaken, listening to their words and whispering in astonishment, "Now that I think about it, it seems some aspects of the enemy's cultivation system and life forms have been revealed. Is Ji, who battled the ancient gods, some colossal, semi-elemental Ninth-Tier existence?"

"Ji" was merely a designation. It was the term used by the native civilization of this world. Yuan Qinghua did not believe this was its true name, as a great Ninth-Tier existence could rule over countless worlds and would possess different titles in every civilization.

"Moon God... Ji." In the great hall, Ji Shang, clad in a black dragon robe, his eyes majestic, took a deep breath, his heart inexplicably shaken by the divine miracle unfolding in the sky. He listened to the senators' discussions below. He suddenly found himself unsure how to approach this ancient, mysterious entity.

Only he, having lived through the entirety of their civilization's history, fully grasped the profound significance of the Moon God Stele in the sky for their planet and even the galactic civilization. It had only been a mere five hundred years... It was this entity that had bestowed civilization upon them. It might even be that this entity had given life to the entire planet, and that all of them possessed this god's bloodline.

It was an indescribably immense being, and according to Li Li's account, it was very likely a Ninth-Tier cosmic overlord. To such a formidable being, a low-level civilization on a single planet or even within a galaxy would seem insignificant. Yet, this entity had actively intervened, erecting ancient inscriptions that orbited their galaxy and aided the planet's natives in developing from nothing.

It felt like an immense gift to their civilization. Yet, it also represented a profound unknown. For he knew that no such boon came without reason; there had to be a cause and an objective.

"Shall we go?" Li Li asked.

"Yes, we must go," Ji Shang replied after a moment of silence, "but not for any other reason than to resolve a civilization's deepest doubts. Tell me, what would a planet's civilization look like after only five hundred years of natural development?"

Li Li was taken aback. He had, of course, studied history. Even someone unfamiliar with history would know. In fact, Ji Shang had once been very interested, and Li Li had explained to him how long it took for Earth's civilization to reach its current state—a period so vast it left Ji Shang utterly speechless.

"The period of primitive accumulation is the longest. After five hundred years of development, they would still be living as primitives, likely in a matriarchal society," Li Li answered, repeating the exact same words he had spoken years ago.

Ji Shang remained silent. He shed his elaborate dragon robe, changing into rough ancient hemp clothing, straw sandals, and a straw hat. He once again dressed as a primitive man from his earliest tribal era, as if recalling his most primeval cave-dwelling days: battling beasts, leaving the caves, and gradually leading his people to live in tree nests.

"I am back," he murmured, glancing at his simple attire, and strode out of the palace.

In Pingcheng, within a suburban villa complex, Xu Zhi stood beneath a large tree in the courtyard, gazing at the sky, and mused softly, "The handmaiden's reaction has surpassed my expectations. The sheer magnitude of faith power from an entire solar system is beyond what I imagined. Such immense faith has not only imbued her with wisdom, transforming her into a true Incense God based on the collective impressions of all beings... Furthermore, a peculiar morphological change has occurred: the energy body of incense has intertwined with elemental energy beings, forming a new elemental variant life form. An energy-bodied being infused with faith energy—perhaps it could be called... the Fifth Element?"

Xu Zhi pondered this. This unfolding situation was also an experiment for him, and its outcome remained largely unknown. After all, despite its immense size being a hazy, diffuse, non-condensed energy form—like a mirage—it was still incredibly vast. "Its size is exaggerated, surpassing that of typical four-elemental beings, and it could even continue to expand indefinitely," Xu Zhi mused, deep in thought. "Is this the structural advantage akin to the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, an 'external expansion mechanism'? After all, the true form of Pangu in the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art could theoretically expand infinitely, given sufficient energy..." The difference was that one involved flesh-and-blood expansion, the other involved energy expansion. "Further study is needed," Xu Zhi said with a relaxed smile. "Perhaps the integration of faith power into her energy body is also what allows her to transcend physical size limitations."

From a small path beside the villa, along a shaded walkway, a primitive man clad in leather suddenly emerged. His gaze was deep, brimming with wisdom. He was once a sage of a primitive tribe, who guided the people of that era to discover fire, pastoralism, and cultivation, even leading them towards city-state civilization.

Step, step, step. He walked step by step on the flagstones, as if measuring the progress of time, murmuring, "The moment I first saw the Moon God Stele, I knew it was the most wondrous miracle in the world. That inscription, encompassing the ultimate truths of all things, must have been forged by some great ancient being! It would surely guide all of human civilization onto the right path. So I led a group to observe the celestial phenomena, but its true greatness was not merely as I'd imagined; it far exceeded my expectations."

"Someone once told me that human civilization on their planet had evolved for approximately 200,000 years, with only the most recent four millennia holding any significant meaning." The ministers behind him were all astonished. The sheer length of such a civilization's development across such vast epochs was almost despair-inducing.

"I was utterly incredulous and asked what they did for those 200,000 years. They hid in caves on that planet, consuming raw meat and blood, never discovering fire, never developing language, living in fear of nature's terrors—the night, insects—gazing at the sun in the sky and wondering why it rose, why the moon shone..."

Yuan Qinghua, standing nearby, was deeply shaken. This was clearly a description of their own Earth. The surrounding senators and ministers all wore expressions of disbelief.

"Yes, and we—from understanding the sun, the universe, and the laws of the world—achieved all this in just five hundred years."

Ji Shang's gaze burned with fervor, as if alight with flames, as he looked at the mysterious young man before him and said, "The true significance of that stone stele could only be grasped by me, having personally guided our civilization through agriculture, tribal societies, city-states, the age of steam, modernity, the cosmos, the extraordinary, and even interstellar engineering. When we compare ourselves, it is nothing short of a miracle. Very, very long ago, we comprehended the truths of the universe and embarked upon the correct path. Is our civilization fictitious? Has its rapid development been like a grand dream, perhaps truly a dream from which we are yet to awaken?"

Ji Shang gazed at the mysterious young man in the courtyard. He was still observing the immense, majestic figure in the sky, as if calculating something. "So, if these five hundred years have been like a fabricated dream, and we are merely ephemeral figures, yet we truly exist here, what then do we mean to you? O God who created our civilization, the mysterious and ancient Moon God... Ji."