"Xu Mingjie, what exactly is your brother doing? If he doesn't show up, all the progress we've made will be wasted."
Duke White Tiger Dai Feng slammed the table and stood up. Though his position as the Emperor of Star Luo had been taken away, he still had to deal with so many official duties. It was truly intolerable.
He couldn't understand what could cause Xu Mingxi to remain in seclusion for nearly a month after just ascending the throne as Emperor of Star Luo.
The new emperor hadn't appeared in a month—not only were the ministers forming opinions, but the people were also talking, spreading all kinds of rumors.
Dai Feng had heard several versions himself. Some said the emperor had been assassinated by the Spirit Empire right after taking the throne, others claimed the new emperor was addicted to pleasure and neglecting state affairs.
The most outrageous rumor was that the former emperor refused to relinquish power and had imprisoned the new emperor.
Dai Feng immediately ordered those spreading such words to be dragged to the corner and torn apart. If he had the power to imprison Xu Mingxi, would he have given up the throne of Star Luo?
"Your Grace, please be patient. My brother will come out soon—just a little longer."
What could Xu Mingjie do? He had been handling official affairs for nearly a month, and even his cultivation had been delayed. What else could he say?
Watching Duke White Tiger leave the table in anger, Xu Mingjie looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then collapsed onto the desk, groaning for no reason.
He missed the days when he studied at the Xingluo Royal Soul Master Academy. All he had to do was train every day, and at most, pretend to be polite to the children of the rich and powerful. It was nothing as troublesome as this.
"Ahhhhhh, this is so annoying. What is my brother doing? If he doesn't come back soon, I'll announce that he mysteriously died and claim the throne myself."
Xu Mingjie glanced around again, and after making sure no one was nearby, he quietly got up from his seat and walked to the top of the Star Luo Emperor's throne platform.
He gently stroked the throne carved from a thousand-year-old piece of warm jade, unable to hide his joy. This was the symbol of Star Luo's imperial authority. He really wanted to sit on it.
"Mingjie, do you really want to sit on that seat?"
"Of course—who doesn't want to be emperor?"
Xu Mingjie, who spoke faster than he could think, froze for a moment, turned around suddenly, and saw Xu Mingxi, who had been in seclusion for a month.
Seeing his hand still on the throne, Xu Mingjie quickly pulled it back and looked at Xu Mingxi awkwardly, pretending nothing had happened.
"Brother, where have you been all this time? I saw your throne was dusty, so I wanted to clean it for you. Yeah, clean it."
"I'm serious. That position will eventually be yours. But right now, you're not strong enough, so I'll act as your regent for now."
Huh? Me?
Xu Mingjie was slightly confused. He just had too much work, and his head was a little dizzy. He was just speaking nonsense out of frustration—he had no confidence to suppress the other powers.
Unfortunately, Xu Mingxi wasn't joking. He really intended for Xu Mingjie to inherit his position.
The sect leader and Xu Mingguang would take charge of developing the Star Crown Sect and the Star God Temple. As long as the two continued cooperating and maintained tacit understanding, the Star Crown Clan would always stand atop the Douluo Continent.
Xu Mingxi was now extremely confident. He believed he could keep the Star Crown Sect strong, especially after activating the black crystal orb.
No—more precisely, he had activated a pseudo-god.
Because this pseudo-god was activated by the belief of the people of the Xingluo Empire in the Star God, it began absorbing the soul power in Xu Mingxi's body.
For a whole month, the absorption had never stopped. If Xu Mingxi's body wasn't strong enough and if his Starlight Guiding soul power didn't recover quickly, he would have been drained dry.
This fusion of soul power and faith finally gave insight into the pseudo-god's characteristics and completed its activation.
Its dark surface seemed covered by a veil of stars. If you looked closely, you could see faint golden and silver lights flickering within the starry veil.
Just as Xu Mingxi picked it up for closer observation, something strange occurred.
The phantoms of the Sun God and Moon God suddenly appeared in the secluded chamber. Golden-red and silvery light filled the room.
They looked at the pseudo-god in Xu Mingxi's hand with slightly parted lips and eyes full of joy.
They had only tried their best to salvage the situation and had little hope of success. Yet unexpectedly, Xu Mingxi had truly activated a pseudo-god.
Unlike his brother's Star God, this pseudo-god, activated through Xu Mingxi's own soul power, also contained traces of sun and silver moon energy.
Though the power was faint, it was real.
The Sun God and Moon God looked at each other and nodded. The first half of their plan had succeeded. Now it was just a matter of time.
The blonde goddess waved her hand. Before Xu Mingxi could react, the divine power in his hand slowly floated into the air. Golden energy shot out from her body and merged into the divine power.
The Moon God did the same. Silver energy streamed from her body. The two energies intertwined within the divine force and gradually faded.
Xu Mingxi noticed that the number of gold and silver light spots within the divine power had increased, and their colors grew more vibrant.
Before he could ask, the divine power slowly descended in front of him, drawn by the Sun God's energy, and gradually merged into his body.
"Wow, you're really lucky. This divine power has been infused with the divine origins of us sisters. Once you fully absorb it, it'll be time to obtain our divine positions."
The shadows of the Sun and Moon Gods slowly faded. Releasing their divine origins had greatly damaged them, and they needed to return to recover.
At that moment, Xu Mingxi had no time to bid farewell. As soon as the divine essence entered his body, it shot straight into his spirit sea.
When the divinity appeared in the spirit sea, the fragments of the Star God divinity he had absorbed earlier slowly emerged and began merging with the new divine force.
The origins of the three gods—Sun, Moon, and Star—intertwined within this divinity. It did not instantly make Xu Mingxi a god, as he had expected. Instead, it fell into silence.
Just as he was confused, powerful yet gentle energy surged from the divinity and filled his limbs.
This energy nurtured every part of Xu Mingxi's body. Every cell, like parched land receiving sweet rain, rejoiced and leapt with joy.
He could clearly feel his soul power rapidly increasing, and even his physical fitness was improving.
Coincidentally, Xu Mingxi sat cross-legged on a futon to cultivate.
He had a feeling that this was his chance to truly stand at the pinnacle of the Douluo Continent.