Chapter 2086: Divine Light
"Excellent!"
Meng Cangji waved his arm, and instantly, a jade tablet three zhang in length and width descended from the sky, landing in front of Yun Che and at the very center of everyone's line of sight.
For Meng Cangji and his group, publicly manifesting divine rank in this manner was the most direct and intuitive way to display to everyone the "level" difference in divine rank between Meng Jianxi and Meng Jianyuan—it was exactly what they wanted.
Yun Che glanced at the jade tablet. Its color was dull, square and upright, with the most conspicuous feature being ten star imprints irregularly arranged on its surface.
The arrangement of these ten star imprints perfectly corresponded to the ten major divine ranks within a person's profound veins.
"Place your hand on it, and the quality of your divine rank will be measured at once," Meng Cangji said. "A hundred years have passed. Meng Jianyuan, old as I am, I still hope—more than anyone—to see Jianxi's miracle appear again in you... Who knows, perhaps it might."
If someone else had spoken these words, they might have carried a bit of sincerity. But coming from Meng Cangji, the current maternal grandfather of the Weaving Dream Divine Son, it could only be sarcastic and insinuating.
"That works as well." Meng Kongchan nodded slightly. "Most of the people here have never seen how dazzling the stars become when lit by the power of divine rank. Jianxi, you go first."
"Yes, Father God."
When it came to divine rank, even Meng Jianxi, who had felt deeply humiliated, seemed to have a renewed mindset. He walked toward the Star Jade Tablet, and as he moved, the pride befitting a Divine Son gradually resurfaced on his brow.
Yes... no matter what, with a nine-grade divine rank, I am still the undisputed Weaving Dream Divine Son in the eyes of the world! Nothing else matters!
My Father God's favor, the protection of the Sword Immortal, my talent in the profound path... none of these can erase the gap in divine rank for a Divine Son of a Divine Kingdom!
When he stood before the Star Jade Tablet, Meng Jianxi straightened his back, and his resolute features seemed to radiate divine light. He stretched out his hand, spread his five fingers, and pressed it onto the tablet with a calm demeanor.
Clang!
The dull jade tablet instantly burst with brilliance. The first star was lit, followed by the second, third, fourth... all the way to the seventh star, at which point the speed of illumination began to slow.
The starlight continued to spread, gradually lighting the eighth star, slowing even more noticeably, but it never stopped. Under the unwavering gaze of everyone, it slowly touched the ninth star.
No one spoke. Everyone held their breath. Divine rank was far too important for a Divine Kingdom, almost carrying a sacred aura... because, as the term "divine rank" implied, it was the qualification to become a True God!
Starlight faintly flickered from the base of the ninth star, then climbed upward bit by bit, with difficulty and persistence... one breath, two breaths, three breaths... ten breaths.
Clang!
Finally, under the gaze of the Weaving Dream profound practitioners, as if they were witnessing a sacred rite, the ninth star also fully lit up.
The starlight stopped spreading. Nine lit jade-colored stars were deeply etched into everyone's pupils, proclaiming that the Weaving Dream Divine Son, Meng Jianxi, possessed a nine-grade divine rank—one that surpassed mortal limits and was enough to pride itself on the world.
"Heh heh heh heh." Meng Xuanji laughed. "Thinking back to those days, our Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom went a full ten thousand years without obtaining a single Divine Successor. I don't know how many other Divine Kingdoms secretly mocked us. Then Jian Yuan was born, but soon met with calamity, causing us to lament deeply. Fortunately, Jianxi came along... Now, seeing these nine stars once more, I still feel deeply grateful that our Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom was fortunate enough to have Jianxi."
Instantly, the surroundings were filled with agreement and sighs.
Meng Jianxi removed his hand from the Star Jade Tablet and said calmly, "My divine rank, like my life, was bestowed by Father God and born for the Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom. This nine-grade divine rank belongs not only to me but also to the Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom."
"Hahaha, well said!" Meng Cangji laughed in approval, all the previous frustration and resentment gone.
Meng Kongchan directly spoke: "Jian Yuan, your turn."
When the Divine Venerable spoke, all the various sounds of praise and approval ceased instantly. Yun Che stepped forward as instructed, brushing past Meng Jianxi, and stood before the Star Jade Tablet.
Meng Jianxi glanced sideways, his face showing no worry at all.
Awakening divine rank through acquired means? Ridiculous. If awakening divine rank through acquired means were that easy, the six Divine Kingdoms wouldn't have to rack their brains in every era just to find a single Divine Successor.
Yun Che had no divine rank.
The essence of divine rank was additional profound gates.
But ever since he retrieved the last Evil God Seed from the Qilin Divine Realm and achieved a complete Evil God Profound Vein, his profound vein world had undergone earth-shaking changes—from a limited profound energy space to an endless starry sky.
Even all the profound gates had completely disappeared, replaced by boundless, infinite stars.
In other words, Yun Che's current profound vein had completely transcended everyone's understanding... including his own previous understanding of profound veins.
So then, would the stars on this jade tablet respond to his profound vein?
Oh no, no... the question should be—did these stars even have the right to respond!
Unlike Meng Jianxi's solemnity, his palm slapped onto the Star Jade Tablet with utter casualness.
...
Dead silence. On the Star Jade Tablet, not a single star lit up.
Everyone stood there stunned, exchanging glances.
As everyone knew, Meng Jianyuan was born with an eight-grade divine rank. And not to mention Meng Jianyuan, even an ordinary profound practitioner with average talent could awaken several stars on the tablet.
"What's going on? Could this Star Jade Tablet be broken?"
"That can't be right—didn't it just fully display Jianxi Divine Son's nine-grade divine rank?"
"It seems like... never... wait, is the Star Jade Tablet... is it..."
Meng Kongchan, who had been frowning in confusion, suddenly focused his gaze and instinctively stepped forward... because he suddenly noticed the Star Jade Tablet seemed to be... trembling?
What was going on?
The trembling of the Star Jade Tablet started faint and gradually became intense, making it impossible for anyone not to notice.
The confusion on everyone's faces quickly magnified into astonishment. But before they could ask or investigate the source of this abnormal trembling, an extremely dazzling starlight burst forth in their line of sight.
Buzz——
On the Star Jade Tablet, all ten stars lit up in an instant... without the gradual flow of starlight, without the sequential progression of the stars—absolutely at the same split second, the same moment!
Moreover, the starlight emitted by each star was intensely extreme... every single one far surpassed all the stars that Meng Jianxi had lit!
"Ah...!?" All sorts of uncontrollable exclamations erupted chaotically in every space, every corner.
"Th-this... is... ah..." The enormous shock left those who opened their mouths stammering and incoherent.
"...!" The overly intense starlight caused even Meng Kongchan, a Divine Venerable, to be unable to look directly for several moments.
His eyes and pupils gradually widened, staring ahead almost in a daze... In his lifetime, he had touched the Star Jade Tablet countless times and witnessed its brilliance too many times.
But he had never known that the stars on it could release such blazing, almost sky-filling radiance.
"Perfect... Divine Rank..."
He murmured the four words, and his eye sockets instantly grew misty.
Hua Qingying had already turned her entire body, just like Meng Kongchan, fixedly staring at the overwhelmingly dazzling Star Jade Tablet.
She had personally witnessed the miracle of Hua Caili's Perfect Divine Rank, but...
At that time, the Star Jade Tablet had never shone to such an extent.
Yun Che...
This man to whom Caili had completely devoted her body and soul, abandoning her father's arrangements to choose him herself—just who was he, really?
Could it be that this was the mutual attraction between two world-renowned miracle-born sons?
"..." Meng Jianxi stood there dumbfounded, the focus in his pupils completely lost.
Besides Yun Che, he was closest to the Star Jade Tablet, and the almost sky-filling intense starlight completely engulfed his entire body... and almost engulfed all the starlight in his eyes.
Yun Che removed his hand from the Star Jade Tablet.
In an instant, the starlight extinguished, and the entire world dimmed by several degrees.
He looked up, silently staring at the dense, fine cracks slowly spreading across the Star Jade Tablet... If he had withdrawn his hand just a moment later, this Star Jade Tablet would surely have shattered.
The abruptly vanishing starlight seemed to take away all sounds as well. One by one, gazes shifted with difficulty and landed on Yun Che.
Only now, the way they looked at Yun Che had undergone a complete and thorough transformation.
Dian Jiuzhi turned back and let out a high sigh: "Ten stars shining together—Perfect Divine Rank! Congratulations to Dreamless Divine Venerable, congratulations to the Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom, for giving birth to such a miracle!"
Dian Jiuzhi's words instantly jolted everyone as if from a beautiful dream, triggering an endless tide of voices.
"Ten stars shining together... Perfect Divine Rank... am I really... not dreaming..."
"In the history of the Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom, a Perfect Divine Rank seems to have never appeared before... This is an unprecedented miracle!"
"No wonder, no wonder the Divine Venerable values Meng Jianyu—oh no, no, values Yuan Divine Son so much. So that's how it is, that's how it is!"
"Perfect Divine Rank... doesn't that mean the next era of the Abyss belongs to our Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom!"
"To personally witness the birth of such a miracle in my lifetime... I can die without regret..."
...
Endless excitement spread like an uncontrollable tide, erupting chaotically at what should have been a solemn ceremony. Yet Meng Kongchan was not at all angered, nor did he speak to suppress the scene. He stood with one hand behind his back, a faint smile floating on his face. The boundless joy and contentment made him feel as if he were floating on clouds.
Perfect Divine Rank?
But Yun Che felt not the slightest stir from those four words.
So-called divine rank was merely the qualification to bear the power of a True God.
And his profound vein came from a Creation God who surpassed the level of a True God.
The "miracle" called Perfect Divine Rank, before his profound vein, barely had the qualification to be glanced down upon by him.
His profound vein was beyond the cognition of all living beings in the myriad worlds. His upper limit was beyond the reach of all living beings in the myriad worlds.
Even in this Abyss world... if not for the too-short fifty-year limit, he wouldn't need any schemes or plots. He would only need to hide in the Mist Sea, focus on cultivation, and after enough time, he could overturn the entire Abyss by his own power alone.
"Congratulations, Your Venerable!"
A loud shout rang out. Meng Chaoyang, the master of the Second Dream Hall, stood up. Having remained silent until now, his voice now shook the surroundings: "Not only has Your Venerable recovered his beloved son, but you have also brought a truly unprecedented miracle to our Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom!"
"Chaoyang was previously filled with doubts about why Your Venerable was so eager to hold today's ceremony. It turns out that Your Venerable was preparing such a huge surprise for us, for the Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom! I am utterly thrilled, and at the same time, deeply ashamed of my earlier questions."
Meng Chaofeng, the master of the Fifth Dream Hall, followed closely: "Yuan Divine Son wandered for a hundred years, not only was he not tainted by the mortal world, but he returned bearing a miracle. This is a great gift and divine blessing! As a citizen of the Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom, I feel endless honor."
Meng Jianxi's neck turned with immense difficulty; it took him a good while to shift his gaze toward where Meng Chaoyang and Meng Chaofeng sat.
Meng Chaoyang and Meng Chaofeng not only belonged to the same lineage but were also siblings born from the same parents. That both could become Dream Hall Masters showed the strength of their line.
But even though Meng Jianxi had firmly secured his position as Divine Son, no matter how he hinted or implied, these two Dream Masters refused to ally with him prematurely.
Yet now, they voluntarily stood up, praising Meng Jianyuan profusely, even directly calling him "Yuan Divine Son."
At this moment, Meng Naihe, the Valley Master of the Sinking Dream Valley, said in a noticeably trembling voice: "Five thousand years ago, the Divine Maiden Hua Caili of the Zhe Tian Divine Kingdom lit up ten stars, shaking the entire Abyss world. I... never dared dream in my wildest fantasies that such a miracle would descend upon our Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom... My lifespan is nearly at its end, but to witness this sight, I can die without regrets."
"Hahahaha!" Meng Kongchan laughed heartily. After the laughter, his expression was one of firm certainty, a clear "I knew you would react this way" attitude: "Valley Master Naihe, you are still robust; it's far too early for your lifespan to end."
He raised his gaze slightly, sweeping across the entire audience: "Then, regarding the matter of establishing Meng Jianyuan as the Weaving Dream Divine Son, does anyone still have objections?"
The same words, when Meng Kongchan asked them now, elicited a reaction that was worlds apart from before.
Objections?
This was a Perfect Divine Rank! A "miracle" that kept bursting from their lips! Who would object? Who dared to object? Who was worthy of objecting?
With a Perfect Divine Rank before them, looking at Meng Jianxi now... the word "Divine Son" that had originally shone on him no longer had even a glimmer of light.
Meng Cangji stood there woodenly, his expression unchanged from the moment the ten stars shone together. He had no reaction to Meng Kongchan's words, as if he had completely lost all his soul.
Compared to the endless excitement and amazement around them, Meng Xuanji, Meng Kongdu, Meng Jinghai, and the others had faces contorted with mixed emotions. Their hands and feet were either icy cold or numb, and the seats beneath them seemed to have grown a thousand thorns, making them unable to sit still.
Meng Jianxi suddenly lowered his head, then let out a self-deprecating laugh.
Looking back at everything before... his posture, his confidence, his arrogance, his words, his covert schemes, his contempt for Meng Jianyuan from the bottom of his heart... all of it was so ridiculously laughable.
He was clearly the radiant Weaving Dream Divine Son, but today, everything about him was pitifully reduced to a foil for Meng Jianyuan's sky-filling divine light...
And a stepping stone.
"I have an objection."
In this scene and atmosphere, there could be no more inappropriate or ungrateful four words.
But no one angrily denounced them, because the speaker was none other than Yun Che.
Everyone was stunned again, unable to understand... It seemed that from start to finish, everything Yun Che said and did was completely beyond their expectations.