# 2012
Chapter 1996: Dimensional Ascension
Hearing Merlin's description, Lin Qiye's brow furrowed deeper.
"Higher dimensions... Jinian said something similar back then, something about our world being merely a dream of Azathoth?"
"That's one way to put it." Merlin nodded. "To give an analogy—when we stand beneath the scorching sun, the light casts our shadow onto the ground. That shadow exists because of us, but the moment we turn and walk into the shade, the shadow vanishes...
To the ants on the ground, they see this shadow. They give it a name. But is what they see the true us? No—it's merely a shadow. They cannot perceive our true form in the three-dimensional world through this shadow, nor can they harm us in any way by trampling on it. To these two-dimensional ants, we are 'incomprehensible.'"
"Your meaning is... this darkness consuming the universe is merely a shadow cast by Azathoth... and we are just ants observing it from the ground?"
"While it sounds despairing, that is the truth."
"Then does that mean we can never defeat Azathoth?"
Merlin fell silent for a long moment. "Yes... In theory, nothing in this dimension can harm Azathoth, let alone defeat It... Unless, someone could ascend dimensions."
"Ascend dimensions?"
"Rise from our current dimension to the dimension where Azathoth's true body resides. A shadow can never defeat a person—only another person can."
A spark of hope flickered in Lin Qiye's eyes.
"How does one ascend dimensions?"
"...Difficult." Merlin shook his head. "The difficulty is akin to giving flesh and blood to a shadow, crossing the dimensional barrier to become a true higher-dimensional existence... Throughout history, only the Holy Sovereign of the Western Holy Church, Yelande, has barely touched the threshold of this realm..."
Yelande?
Lin Qiye immediately asked, "Did he succeed?"
"He only barely touched the threshold—still far from true success. But even with just half a step into 'dimensional ascension,' he was powerful enough in his time to challenge the Cthulhu Faction gods alone, severely wounded the Three Pillars, and sealed the remaining Cthulhu Faction deities on the Moon..."
"Where is he now?"
Lin Qiye was well aware that Yelande had not died. If he had, Chloe would have long inherited his divine laws and become the new Holy Sovereign, rather than being trapped at the Human Apex realm for two thousand years... But since he wasn't dead, and he wasn't present when the Moon seal shattered, where on earth was he?
"...I don't know." Merlin sighed. "After half a step into 'dimensional ascension,' he should have undergone some kind of reaction with this world. Even I cannot locate him."
Lin Qiye fell into silence.
Yelande was the being closest to dimensional ascension currently known. After his disappearance, was there anyone else in this world who might achieve dimensional ascension in the short term?
"No... there is still him!" Lin Qiye's eyes gleamed with brilliant light as he reached into the void and pulled out a thread of causality.
Besides Yelande, there might be one other person in this world who had reached the half-step "dimensional ascension" level!
Lingbao Tianzun!
Lin Qiye clearly remembered that when the Heavenly Court gods were about to fall into slumber, Lingbao Tianzun had said he had touched the threshold of Yelande's realm... If the Eternal Heavenly Court could return, perhaps Lingbao Tianzun had stepped into the half-step "dimensional ascension" level!
And this might be their final hope.
Lin Qiye's gaze followed that thread of causality into the void. The next moment, his body trembled!
He gripped the [Causeless Cause] and stared toward the abyss-like darkness at the heart of the universe, his mouth parting slightly,
"This can't be..."
The direction pointed to by the thread of causality was none other than that consuming darkness!
Thunder crashed in Lin Qiye's mind. He stood frozen, his eyes filled with disbelief...
How could the Eternal Heavenly Court be there??
That darkness, saturated with madness and chaos, was like a silent beast slowly devouring the entire universe. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing—no signs of existence, let alone the Eternal Heavenly Court that housed the slumbering Gods of Great Xia!
Lin Qiye couldn't understand... The Gods of Great Xia were merely sleeping. They left Earth simply to avoid the Cthulhu Faction gods imprisoned on the Moon再度对大夏造成威胁. Given the Heavenly Court's speed at the time, crossing such an enormous distance into that darkness would have taken countless years...
And yet only four years had passed. How had the Heavenly Court traversed that distance?
Were they... still alive?
The moment this thought arose, Lin Qiye gave himself a definite answer.
They must be alive... Otherwise, this thread of causality would have shattered long ago. They were somewhere within Azathoth. Whether they were still sleeping or had already been corrupted and driven mad—he couldn't say.
Yelande, Lingbao Tianzun—these two beings with the greatest hope of completing "dimensional ascension"—were both missing. This meant no one could confront Azathoth directly.
"Merlin... how much time does Earth have before Azathoth's expansion reaches it?" Lin Qiye's voice was hoarse.
Merlin considered for a moment. "Interestingly, Earth's position is exactly at the center point of the universe Azathoth is devouring... In other words, Earth will be the last planet consumed. At the current speed of this darkness, Earth has at most eight days."
"Eight days..."
Despair flickered across Lin Qiye's features.
Lingbao Tianzun had spent over two thousand years in the 'True Self Reincarnation' cycle to go from Supreme God to touching the half-step "dimensional ascension" realm. Yelande had relied on the vast amounts of faith from the Western Holy Church, taking over a thousand years to break through to half-step "dimensional ascension."
Even if Lin Qiye himself were to step into the Supreme God realm right now, touching the half-step "dimensional ascension" threshold within eight days was impossible—let alone fully completing "dimensional ascension" and gaining the power to face Azathoth head-on.
"Beyond dimensional ascension... is there truly no other way to oppose Azathoth?" Lin Qiye pressed, unwilling to accept it.
"...None that I know of, at least within my knowledge." Merlin stroked his long beard and let out a heavy sigh. "I've explored the deep cosmos for all these years, searching for even a sliver of hope for this universe. Unfortunately... I've found nothing."
Lin Qiye's fists clenched tight...
He had crossed such an enormous distance to find a solution to Azathoth, only to discover an unsolvable predicament.
Now he finally understood why [Chaos] was so certain humanity couldn't win this war... With Azathoth present, even if all the Three Pillars and Cthulhu Faction gods on Earth were wiped out, humanity still couldn't survive that mass of maddened darkness. From the very beginning, humanity's fate was sealed...
Wait!
Lin Qiye suddenly looked up, as if realizing something,
"Jinian said that [Chaos] is the only being among the Cthulhu Faction gods who can communicate with Azathoth... Since It is also in this universe, existing in the same dimension as us, how does It communicate with Azathoth?"