[This corpse, adrift in Lost Time where even Outer Gods cannot reach, has rested for countless years. It has not decayed, and the immense power it holds is barely maintaining the crumbling reality.]

[The Pure White Sovereign: The god who governs the thirteenth hour.]

[Celestial Gods: Natural deities born of reality, utterly loyal to the Ancient Lord and the Greatest One. However, the Celestial Gods have since been stripped of their self-awareness. Still, it seems they left behind a contingency plan or two.]

[Cause of death: In defense of the Ancient Lord, the Pure White Sovereign was slain by the gods. All that was Emperor Xiang was buried in Lost Time, and the gods believed this to be foolproof.]

The overwhelming influx of information made Chen Xiang's head spin. He gritted his teeth, enduring the dizziness, as he continued to absorb the massive flow of data. Among it all, he uncovered three strange and contradictory pieces of information.

[The Ancient Lord: He is Emperor Titan.]

[The Ancient Lord: He is Emperor Xiang.]

[The Ancient Lord: He is you.]

"Who am I?"

Chen Xiang growled, clutching his head. He couldn't help but temporarily shut his Eye of the Thinker. The information was too vast, too complex, and it drained his soul at a terrifying rate.

Panting heavily, he sat down on the sandy ground, resting for a long while. He didn't reopen his Eye of the Thinker immediately. Instead, he began to run.

He needed to burn it off.

Burn off the immense, terrifying power raging inside him.

He couldn't ascend to transcendence now!

Chen Xiang sprinted away, running out of the Giant Academy ruins. He saw Lu Sangdou, frozen in place, her cheeks slightly flushed as she sat on the ground, her snow-white legs pressed tightly together.

Chen Xiang reached out and touched Lu Sangdou's cheek. There was a slight warmth, but despite the heat, there were no signs of blood flow or a beating heart.

He kept running, circling the entire Eighth Ring at ten times the speed of sound. There was no sonic boom, no rolling waves of air.

Chen Xiang reached the Seventh Ring, then even ran to a villa. His elder sister was leaning against the window, and his second brother was sweeping the floor. The dust stirred by the broom hung motionless in the air.

He sprinted to the Sixth Ring, then the Fifth, the Fourth, all the way to the boundary between the Fourth and Third Rings, where the mist-like massive barrier loomed.

Chen Xiang crashed into the barrier, only to be violently bounced back. He tried a different approach, running along the edge of the mist barrier,

but the barrier formed a perfect dome, completely enclosing the inner Three Rings with no entry point!

Chen Xiang kept running, dashing out of the Great City and sprinting across the ocean. The waves he trampled surged and then froze in place, leaving a long trail behind him.

He eventually returned to the ruins of the academy, having spent nearly an hour running in total. Only then did the raging power within him calm down slightly.

"Everything is frozen," he murmured to himself. "Is it just Earth, or the entire universe?"

"And what about other dimensions?"

Chen Xiang rubbed his still-aching forehead, then reopened his Eye of the Thinker and gazed at the massive corpse floating near the atmosphere.

"I want to take a closer look,"

he muttered. He couldn't fly, but in this bizarre frozen moment, perhaps there was another way to ascend.

Maybe by stepping on his own foot.

Chen Xiang transformed back into a giant, gathered some broken walls, and stomped heavily, launching himself a thousand meters into the air. Before falling back, he threw out a piece of the wall, which froze in midair.

Chen Xiang stomped on the wall, shattering it instantly into powder, which then disintegrated into elementary particles. He shot even higher.

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"It actually works…"

In this strange, frozen moment, the usual laws of physics no longer applied.

Chen Xiang repeated the process, and in a matter of moments, he reached the level of the two gods. He continued upward, passing through increasingly thick clouds that eventually thinned until everything lay beneath his feet.

Now, he was parallel with the giant corpse.

At forty meters tall, Chen Xiang barely managed to wrap his arms around a single strand of the Pure White Sovereign's hair. He ran wildly across the corpse's surface, burning the uncontrollable energy within him to increase his speed.

Ten times the speed of sound, thirty times, fifty times!

In this frozen moment, the momentum of his running didn't dissipate but continued to build up!

He sprinted at a hundred times the speed of sound, stopping only when he reached the head of the giant corpse. He reopened his Eye of the Thinker, and even more detailed information flooded into his vision.

[The True Corpse of the Pure White Sovereign]

[Before their death, they let out a mournful cry, but it had no effect. They tried to warn the Twilight Sovereign, but failed, and the Twilight Sovereign followed in their footsteps.]

[They sent one final message to the God of Justice, who, due to being excluded from Lost Time, did not forget Emperor Xiang.]

[In their last moments, they inscribed Emperor Xiang's name in the deepest part of a book.]

[Before their death, they expended everything to forcibly seize the Authority of the Pillar of Fate, interfering with fate itself. The fate they altered remains hidden in Lost Space, unnoticed by the Lord of Fate.]

[They died, but not completely. There remains a chance for resurrection. When all beings in reality know the name of the Pure White Sovereign, they may awaken once more.]

[They cared deeply for you.]

As Chen Xiang processed each piece of information, his mind raced.

The Twilight Sovereign—Red Moon—had repeated the Pure White Sovereign's fate!

The God of Justice knew Emperor Xiang's name, which is why they had given him a false name during their contract!

Only the God of Justice and one book knew Emperor Xiang's true name. But… Lu Saleng also knew it.

Lu Saleng had that book!

Or had at least read it.

The Book of All-Knowledge?

A deep exhaustion rose from the core of Chen Xiang's soul. He gasped for breath, reading the flood of information while staring into the Pure White Sovereign's enormous, unblinking eyes.

The eyes were a ghastly white, devoid of even a spark of life. Yet within them, he could see profound despair and sorrow.

"How much of what I know is true?"

"Was it really just the Three Pillar Gods and the Nine Outer Gods who betrayed the Ancient Lord?"

"Were there others involved?"

"Am I Emperor Titan? Or Emperor Xiang? Are they two names for the same person, or…?"

Chen Xiang tried to close the Pure White Sovereign's eyes, to grant them some peace, but failed. Even with all his strength, he couldn't move the eyelids even a fraction.

He slumped down onto the Pure White Sovereign's cheek, gazing into their eyes, locked in a silent stare with the dead god.

"When your name resounds throughout reality, you will awaken…"

"You died for me."

"No matter if it's for your loyalty or to find the true answer, rest assured, I will awaken you. I swear it," Chen Xiang said.

As his words fell, he saw it. He saw the enormous eyelashes of the Lord of Pure White tremble slightly.

New information flashed before him:

[The last wisp of His soul heard your call.]

[He is weeping. He wants to speak, but He has been dead for too long and cannot, like the Dusk Lord, leave behind any final echoes.]

[He wishes to pass the 'Authority of the Lost Moment' to you, but your body is too weak to bear the weight of this authority.]

[He wants you to step onto His pupil and sink into it.]

Chen Xiang hesitated for a moment but then dashed toward the Pure White corpse's eye. His legs slowly sank into the massive pupil, followed by his torso and head.

He submerged into the eye of the Pure White Lord.

[The Seed of Authority for the Lost Moment]

[Has been fully obtained.]

Faint murmurs echoed in Chen Xiang's ears as he immersed himself in the Lord's eye. The Pure White Lord was using His own body as the final nourishment.

After half an hour, Chen Xiang climbed out from the pupil of the Pure White corpse. He gazed at the body for a long time, then turned his eyes toward the distant red moon.

They had all died for him.

A wave of overwhelming sadness washed over him, gripping his heart tightly.

"I promise you," Chen Xiang whispered. "I will return, and so will you."

In the distance, the red moon seemed to sway slightly, and the Pure White Lord's eyelashes trembled once more.

The Eye of the Thinker captured new information:

[They are rejoicing.]

[They are crying.]

Chen Xiang took one last look at the Pure White corpse and the dark red moon. Then, he leaped, plunging through the atmosphere. Despite the extreme speed and friction, there was no terrifying heat generated.

At this moment, everything remained still.

Chen Xiang crashed into the ground, but there was no shockwave — it, too, was frozen in place.

He walked back to the ruins of the Giant Academy, lightly tapping Lu Sangdou's soft, flushed cheek at the gate, and then returned to the rift, sitting quietly.

"I haven't fully acquired the Authority of the Lost Moment, just a seed, but..."

"But it seems I can already use it, even if only a little?"

Chen Xiang concentrated all his might, trying to reach the deepest part of his soul where the [Seed of Authority] lay.

A shattering sound echoed in his ears as a breeze stirred, lifting his hair. His clothes fluttered as a leaf nearby fell to the ground.

The clock's hand shifted from 17:33:48 to 17:33:49.

Everything began to move once again.

The Spear of Dimensional End smashed down in front of Chen Xiang, sending an earth-shattering wave of dust flying!