Chapter 15: Rebuilding the Supercontinent

Shen Xing did not linger long in the Western Continent. His figure, like a phantom, drifted swiftly through the temples of the other continents.

In the Southern, Northern, and Eastern Continents, Shen Xing's actions were all of a piece.

His arrival resembled the Day of Judgment; those greedy and corrupt priests found nowhere to hide from Shen Xing's power.

With Shen Xing’s purging, the Celestial Dome Church across the entire Star Vault World embarked on a course of self-reform.

Believers began to reexamine their faith, coming to realize that true devotion was not founded upon power and greed, but rather on kindness, wisdom, and a pure reverence for the Star Father.

Though Shen Xing’s methods were severe, he ushered in a new birth for the Celestial Vault.

Under his guidance, the Celestial Dome Church undertook genuine reform.

The temples ceased to be symbols of authority and became sanctuaries for the dissemination of knowledge and wisdom.

Priests were no longer lofty rulers, but instead became guides and friends to the faithful.

...

The 5,578th year of the Celestial Vault Calendar.

Shen Xing was now thirty-eight. After cleansing the Celestial Dome Church, he became its High Priest, recognized unanimously by the Five Great Central Temples.

As he pored over the accumulated archives of the Church, Shen Xing found the development of culture on the Celestial Vault World had taken a strange turn since the Church's rise.

Though the world had entered its industrial age, some theories that should have long been proven had been stifled, and inventions that ought to have appeared had not been born.

"This man named Wen Jing proposed a heliocentric theory, but was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment? The charge: blasphemy..." Shen Xing sifted through the records, his mind racing.

He needed to find a way to fill in the missing gaps of progress and unite the entire civilization of the Celestial Vault World.

"Summon them."

"High Priest Shen!"

The senior priest Xie Huizhi hurried into the Round Hall, bowing slightly to Shen Xing.

"Send word to all the delegates of the Five Continents. I want to see them."

Having received his orders, Xie Huizhi dispatched the Church’s special couriers to each continental parliament.

The Central Continent’s delegate, upon receiving the summons, rushed to the Round Hall, bowed to Shen Xing, and sat quietly by his side.

Time ticked by, and the sun slowly set.

Aside from the Central Continent delegate, only the Eastern Continent’s representative arrived; as for the others, Shen Xing had kept track of their whereabouts from the start.

The five continents were not far apart, but even by ship, a one-way journey took several hours.

Over the past decade, as the Church gradually withdrew from the center of power and the authority of the states surged, these officials lingered for the sake of appearances, dawdling aboard their ships until late.

Not until dusk did all the delegates finally gather in the Round Hall, dragging their feet.

"Now that everyone is here, I’ll get straight to the point." Shen Xing looked over the highest leaders of the Celestial Vault World and spoke calmly, "As High Priest of the Celestial Dome Church, I order the five great nations to merge into one. The supreme leadership will answer directly to the Church; each continent will become a province, all under the Celestial Empire."

"High Priest Shen, our five nations have stood apart for a thousand years. Such a merger will bring countless problems..." The Southern Continent representative forced a smile, his words laced with veiled refusal.

"The continents are separated by four great oceans. Even if we merge, how would national policy be executed?"

"Yes, High Priest, it’s not that we object to unification, but these matters require discussion."

"Aren’t you just rejecting the High Priest’s proposal? Do you really mean what you say? I don’t believe it," the Central Continent delegate sneered, openly confronting the others. Their faces darkened, but they retorted:

"We are indeed considering the matter seriously—there are countless difficulties. No one has a better solution. How can you call it refusal?"

"Exactly, Central delegate, you misunderstand our intentions."

Shen Xing watched their performance in silence, seeing clearly what lay in their hearts.

There were intricate political and economic ties among the continents. If merged, many vested interests would be lost.

Now that national power had finally reached its peak, the ruling class had never been so privileged. Who knew what would remain to them after a merger?

Only out of deference to the Church's influence were they playing this game of polite evasion.

"High Priest Shen speaks for the good of humanity, and yet you dare question him? He is the Star Father’s chosen son!"

"I mean no disrespect, but none of us witnessed the Star Father’s miracle with our own eyes; perhaps it was just an astronomical event, like the Celestial Dome Festival..."

"Indeed, only you in the Central Continent saw the sign. We others did not—what a pity..."

Around the table, the delegates voiced their opinions, some openly, some obliquely, testing whether Shen Xing truly possessed divine power.

In that great purge of the Church, Shen Xing had revealed his power only in the Central Continent. Elsewhere, his miracles were mere rumor, unproven legend.

All that had been done was for this very moment.

Shen Xing, who had not spoken a word throughout, now rose amid the startled gazes of all, his expression cold, his eyes sharp as he swept the assembly.

"The Celestial Vault World has come to this pass, and you—a disorderly rabble—bear no small share of the blame."

"Human civilization now is like leaves scattered by a storm: fragile and chaotic, while you still bow to petty interests."

"You say that unification would make governance impossible. Then allow me to show you the true power of divine art."

Without changing expression, Shen Xing raised his right hand. The Celestial Scepter, breaking free from the ground, flew into his grasp.

Before the assembly could recover from their astonishment at the Scepter’s reappearance, Shen Xing set it floating at his side.

In an instant, he vanished and reappeared before each delegate, casting them out of the temple.

The delegates felt the sudden loss of gravity, flailing their arms and legs, panic writ large across their faces.

To their shock, they found themselves suspended high in the sky, with nothing beneath their feet but endless void and the five continents sprawling below.

Shen Xing’s figure appeared before them once again. He extended his right hand, slowly folding his five fingers into a fist. Before their awestruck eyes, the five continents below began to shift and converge!

By the most fundamental laws of the cosmos, he stabilized the world’s geology, ensuring humanity came to no harm, and then set the continents speeding toward unification.

At last, when Shen Xing’s hand closed into a fist, the lands below formed a single supercontinent, as in the ancient ages.

"This is divine art."

"And now, at this very moment, tell me..."

"Who approves? Who opposes?"