"The old man too..."
Venti's eyes were about to pop out, his expression growing increasingly complicated.
Based on current understanding of Cosmology,
A qualified bearer of the Pseudo Star Map Creation is a sovereign compatible with and capable of mastering that Cosmology.
This has nothing to do with status or strength. The connection is exceedingly subtle.
Within a Divine Collective, the one to wield the Pseudo Star Map Creation might be the Supreme God, a Primary God, a newly ascended deity, or even an ordinary mortal.
Though the appearance of a Pseudo Star Map Creation would undoubtedly lead the Divine Collective to the pinnacle, for the existing Supreme God, it might also represent a blow to their authority.
To those Supreme Gods who don't care for power, it matters little. But to those who do, the implications are delicate.
Now that the old man has the Pseudo Star Map Creation, this problem no longer exists.
"Since the beginning of Liyue, the old man has always been a Sovereign."
Venti couldn't say he wasn't jealous. If someone in Mondstadt were to acquire the Pseudo Star Map Creation, even if he remained the Supreme God, he wouldn't be the center anymore.
He might not care about such things, but the disparity still stung.
Sigh... No use thinking about it now. What must come will soon arrive.
Once Liyue's Gift Game concludes, Mondstadt's will begin.
This is a matter that can't be delayed.
The gods observing the ceremony now felt an even deeper reverence toward Morax.
Buer silently thought: According to my husband's will, the original gods all made decisive contributions to the current Teyvat Universe. With such immense contributions, this authority—the Pseudo Star Map Creation—must surely consider the original gods.
But it's merely offering a chance, not a gift. Whether one can obtain it depends on their own capabilities.
Nahida's four-leaf clover-shaped eyes glistened as she looked at Hu Tao and Zhongli, both now radiating sovereign might. Her small hands clenched tightly.
Lord Heavenly Principle has already arranged my trial for the Pseudo Star Map Creation. I will definitely succeed. I won't let Lord Heavenly Principle down.
After all, I am the God-King of Wisdom.
Focalors and Barnabas had a storm of thoughts swirling in their minds.
Now among the Seven Archons, three had obtained the Pseudo Star Map Creation.
Once might be coincidence, twice an accident, but if it happens a third time...
Does that mean all Seven Archons are qualified to receive a trial?
After all, they are the original Seven of the Teyvat Universe.
They weren't fools. If they were, they would never have grasped the truth.
While the gods watching the ceremony were ablaze with fervor, the four major divine systems undergoing the Gift Game were struggling immensely.
To trace the origin of the four pantheons and merge them, every god had to traverse countless worlds, endure countless reincarnations.
Every god of the four pantheons was undergoing trials tied uniquely to them, yet also part of the greater Gift Game.
To fail amid so many worlds and cycles would cause unimaginable backlash to one's very existence.
It wasn't a punishment from the universe, but a rejection of the self.
Zhongli no longer knew how many worlds he had passed through.
As the oldest of the Seven Archons, with nearly ten thousand years of godhood, he was calm as still water, silently continuing his search.
The first primitive man looked up at the sun in the sky with curiosity, clumsily drawing the first symbol of the sun onto a stone wall with dirt.
Civilizations changed and evolved through countless years, until finally, one human recorded the sun's path through the sky across a year.
Tribes danced, performing rituals in honor of the sun. The high priest cheered toward the sun.
The first solar eclipse brought with it terror at the sun's disappearance.
The seasons shifted with the sun's changes.
Cautiously, humans began to observe, to explore the sun, and then presumptuously laid out its orbit and time zones.
From this, they discovered time, the four seasons, and the solar terms.
"Praise the great Sun God!"
"Your Majesty, the Astronomical Bureau has crafted an instrument to record the sun's path and the stars along its course."
"The sun is up—darling, it's time to go farm."
"The sun has set—husband, it's time to come home."
"Rise with the sun, rest with its setting—such is the way of humanity."
"Oh~ I've spent my entire life to finally draw the sun's path across the sky over the course of a year, along with the stars and constellations along that path! I call this the Road of the Sun. I hope it will be recorded in textbooks and passed down through the generations."
"Disciple, when I look up to the heavens, I see Polaris at the center, unchanging, and around it—the Three Enclosures, the Four Symbols, the Twenty-Eight Mansions, and one hundred and eight stars."
"Captain, we're lost! Even the compass has stopped working!"
"Don't panic. Look up at those seven stars. If we're in the southern hemisphere, follow the morning star that rises from the west! The morning star will guide us back."
Zhongli continued journeying through world after world, experiencing how human civilizations came to understand the universe.
"The sky, the stars, the cosmos... Is this the earliest understanding humanity formed of the universe, just by lifting their heads toward the heavens?"
Just as that thought came to him, the surrounding world shifted again.
Zhongli looked around.
This was the land of Liyue at the moment he first descended to the earth—when he had just encountered the ancient people of Liyue who sought his protection, before the Archon War had even begun.
"My Lord! You are a mighty god. Can you teach us how to tell when to sow and when to reap?"
Zhongli once again relived it all—teaching humanity from the ground up how to record the seasons and solar terms, how to live in rhythm with nature.
One person looked up at the sun and clumsily carved the first timekeeping device in human history with a stone.
Zhongli, like a mortal scholar, lifted his head to gaze at the sky.
He had looked to the heavens countless times, but this was the first time he had understood them so profoundly.
"The sun's journey across the sky, the Road of the Sun—the sun governs all stars along its path, dividing the seasons, time zones, and solar periods."
"Humanity's earliest understanding of the cosmos, of the world, began with simply looking up at the sun."
"Thus, this is the true meaning of the Celestial Equator."
The moment Zhongli spoke the truth, new golden radiance emerged in his eyes.
Crack. Crack. Crack...
The surrounding world shattered like glass, revealing a space devoid of time and space.
Zhongli was not surprised—just calmly understanding.
From the moment he first brushed against the truth, he had sensed a new power growing within himself, and a subtle, persistent connection.
That connection had grown ever stronger with each cycle of exploration.
He had become a qualified bearer.
Vmmm~
An astronomical instrument appeared in this dark void, as if it were the singularity of the universe.
Zhongli walked toward it with steady steps. "Pseudo Star Map Creation: Celestial Equator."
"So this is it. The Liyue Divine Collective have activated two Cosmologies."
"Director Hu's Cosmology was not the Celestial Equator."
Zhongli smiled with satisfaction, reaching toward the astronomical instrument.
"Thus, the Liyue Divine Collective are now truly born."
Vmmm—
Power from another universe surged forth from the nation of Liyue.
Supreme, divine, omnipotent.
It surged outward into space-time in all directions, spreading at an incredible speed.
The myths, beliefs, laws, and divinities of the four major divine systems were all forcefully interwoven by this overwhelming power into an inseparable whole.
The four pantheons still existed, but they had now been merged into a single world.
Under the shroud of another universe, the Liyue Divine Collective was born, founded upon the basis of the four major divine systems.
The space-time dimensions governed by the four pantheons were now bathed in this new power, as new cosmological forces began to manifest endlessly across those realms.
Some ignorant and rural deities were startled awake.
"Ah! What just happened?! A brand new, unknown force has suddenly emerged!"
"Such supreme and sacred power—this must be the work of a great god from the Supreme Divine Realm!"
In some distant timelines, extraordinary individuals who dabbled in solar astrology or touched upon the world of the dead were suddenly blessed. They raised their heads in astonishment, gazing at the heavens, and gave thanks to the heavens and gods.
All gods within the Teyvat Universe who aligned with the Cosmologies of the Celestial Equator and Underworld Heaven received gifts.
However, it was the Liyue Divine Collective that received the greatest blessings.
The emergence of two Cosmologies instantly opened position channels within both universal systems.
As long as one aligned with either of these Cosmologies, there would be no barriers to reaching the domain they rightfully belonged to.
The Pseudo Star Map Creation: Underworld Heaven represented the cosmology of the world of the dead. Any divine seats deeply rooted in Liyue's mythos related to this Cosmology would shift accordingly.
The Five Ghost Emperors, the Six Lords of Underworld, the Yin Sovereign, and others would ascend to the level of Primordial. The Ten Kings of Yama would rise to Supreme. All other divine seats would rise in succession to God-King or Primary God.
The Pseudo Star Map Creation: Celestial Equator represented the cosmology of the stars. Polaris, the Three Enclosures, and the Four Symbols would ascend to Primordial. The Twenty-Eight Mansions would ascend to Supreme. The 108 Star God Seats would reach the level of God-King.
In addition, many other sources such as the four seasons, celestial timing, and solar terms were also encompassed.
The forces of the two Cosmologies extended beyond the Teyvat Universe, converging at the cosmic boundary.
The celestial instruments formed by these Cosmologies shone like two universal singularities.
In an instant, they radiated a creative light bright enough to illuminate the entire Teyvat Universe and even the Dimensional Gap itself.
Even the dimensional boundary of the Tree and Sea was briefly illuminated.
The cosmic singularities exploded. The two rapidly expanding universes pressed together and surged.
Laws were born and split amid the Big Bang. Their corresponding powers filled every corner of the universe with the birth of these laws.
Cosmologies were activated, Pseudo Star Map Creations summoned.
Thus, a new universe was born.
However, this was merely a nascent universe—even less than that, just a framework.
These two universes rapidly expanded to match the Teyvat Universe in size, and then overlaid themselves atop it.
The moment they overlapped with Teyvat, the shackles upon the universe shattered.
The Teyvat Universe, whose omnipotent energy had already been depleted and expansion halted, began to expand once more, breaking through the bounds of a single universe.
The emergence of this new universe became the new driving force for Teyvat's evolution.
Teyvat had already possessed strong single-universe traits, thanks to its Ouroboros and Kabbalah. With this added push, it could finally advance.
In this moment, the Teyvat Universe officially advanced into the strong single-universe tier.
Though it had just stepped into this class, Teyvat was now one of the most powerful worlds in the Tree and Sea—without question.
Currently, the strongest worlds in the Tree and Sea are merely standard single-universe class.
The entire Teyvat Universe rejoiced. Truth, Pan-Human History, and the laws of the universe all gained significant mass and power.
The two universes born from the Cosmologies were real.
They were truly parallel, intersecting universes belonging to Teyvat.
For now, these two universes were still in their foundational stage—possessing only the most basic laws, matter, and energy, but no life.
Developing these parallel intersecting universes was the task of the Pseudo Star Map Creation's bearers.
The more prosperous these parallel intersecting universes became, the stronger the Pseudo Star Map holders would grow.
Likewise, the stronger the holders became, the stronger these universes would become.
As for how to grow stronger? Naturally, it came down to developing the Pseudo Star Maps and nurturing their Divine Collectives.
Qingyun Peak Temple.
Zhongli opened his golden eyes, which reflected the image of the Liyue Divine Collective's gods.
It was exactly the same as it had been at the start of the Gift Game.
To non-participants of the Gift Game, it had passed in an instant.
But for the participants, they had experienced countless years, countless cycles, and only through this endless process did they uncover the truth.
He had found the truth not through his own efforts alone, but through the efforts of all.
For in each world he experienced, the people were all the gods present here, along with the lives of the four major divine systems.
Everyone had played a role in each of these worlds.
Each person had truly reincarnated an unknown number of times. Had the truth not been found in the end, they all would have been lost forever in endless samsara.
However, to the mortals of the four pantheons, it had felt like nothing more than a fleeting dream.
The gods of the four pantheons slowly opened their eyes one after another.
Some eyes held confusion, some bore the weight of eons, some remained innocent, and some shimmered with sorrow.
At that moment, the Voice of the Cosmos echoed:
[Gift Game Name: O Gods, Behold the Truth of the Universe.]
[Participants: Liyue, Mount Sumeru, Heavenly Court, Daoism.]
[Progress: Complete.]
[Tracing the origins of the four major divine systems has been completed.]
[Celestial Equator and Underworld Heaven have been activated.]
[The Liyue Divine Collective has been confirmed established.]
[Cosmology is now open. Those under the Cosmology have received blessings.]
With the Gift Game completed, the overseeing gaze vanished. The tendrils of Pan-Human History withdrew. The Truth slowly faded away.
The force enveloping the Liyue Divine Collective dissipated. All returned to calm.
"It's over!"
"We did it!"
"We overcame the trials!"
"We completed the Gift Game!"
"Ooohhh!"
In the moment after the peace settled in, the gods who had returned to themselves erupted in joy, releasing all the emotion from countless lifetimes and countless worlds.
And not only them—even the gods who had merely observed joined in the celebration.
Amid the cheers of the gods, the Pseudo Star Map Creations manifested in the hands of Zhongli and Hu Tao.
Hu Tao was the first to raise hers high, cheerfully shouting:
"Then, let us now share the blessings of the Cosmologies with everyone!"
Vmmm!
In the midst of the gods' cheers echoing across space and time, the Pseudo Star Maps burst into brilliant auroras.
The gods seemed to hear a crack as a straight road lit up within their divine cores. The power of another universe descended upon their very beings.
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