Ray appeared before Alex and Shumi once again a few weeks after the day he had notified them of the Celestials' presence in the Sun's Talon realm and delivered the ssage they had been waiting for.
The Celestials were coming.
"Who exactly are among them?" Alex asked Ray. "Can you give an idea of the ones coming?"
Ray described the people coming. While Alex didn't know most of them, he knew of the Heavenly beasts and wondered if all the patriarchs and matriarchs had co. He turned to Shumi next, waiting for her input.
Shumi thought for a mont.
"Are they very strong?" she asked.
"The strongest among them is an Azure Dragon, but he is quite old, so it's hard to say," the crow said. "Besides, the distinctions in one's cultivation base matter not as much in the Celestial realm as the clash of Axioms and how they fit. Thankfully, not a single one of them seems to be in the Celestial Firmant realm, so I can defeat them all should the reason arise."
"I doubt it will, but let's be cautious just in case," Alex said. He turned to Ray. "For now, try warning them that they are not allowed to co here. See how they respond."
Ray nodded, his body vanishing away.
Alex waited for more than a minute before Ray finally returned.
"Master, they wish to know if this trial has anything to do with the Sun God and if you are here or not," Ray said.
Alex blinked for a mont. "What? You an they guessed that already?"
"The snake Celestial asked that," Ray said. "It's unclear if the others ca with the sa objective."
Alex narrowed his eyes. He was now more or less certain that the snake Celestial was the Black Tortoise's matriarch. He wondered if she had co here for his sake.
"What is our fear?" Shumi asked with a resolute look on her face. "I am already the Moon Goddess. Nothing they can do or say will change that. And so long as we don't tell them of your situation, nothing will change for you either."
Alex nodded slowly. "Still, I was hoping we could keep this to ourselves instead of announcing it to everyone so soon."
Shumi shook her head. "There is no point in hiding from our destiny. We shall et them together."
Hearing the confidence in Shumi's voice, Alex couldn't help but feel confidence grow in him as well. After so thought, he ca to the sa decision as her. They would et the Celestials.
Alex asked Ray a few other questions, especially about how the Celestials fared within the smog and how their Divine senses worked. According to Ray, they had the ability to use their Divine Sense, but only to an extent beyond their bodies. It depended on how far they could push their Axiom in the area, which they failed to do much of since there were so many gathered.
An Axiom hardly ever overlapped, which ant the more Celestials there were, the harder it would be for them to use their Divine Sense.
After learning as much as he could in preparation, Alex was finally ready when the Celestials arrived outside the island.
Alex recognized the White Tiger patriarch and the Black Tortoise matriarch at a single glance, but beyond those two, he knew none of the other 11 Celestials. He noticed the two Whitehead Monkey Celestials that looked similar to Wu Tanglan and could thus guess their origin, but besides that, he was as lost as Shumi was in that
situation.
The Celestials seed surprised to see two humans in the center of the Talon. While they saw Alex, Shumi had her face covered with a veil, so everyone naturally turned toward him.
One by one, they landed on the island, each one standing close by.
Each Celestial was supposed to be an impressive presence, and there were now 13 of them standing side by side before Alex and Shumi. And sohow, he felt absolutely no fear at all, as Ray stood right alongside them.
"Greetings, seniors," Alex spoke up. "We welco you all."
"Greetings," Shumi said as well.
As soon as Shumi spoke, sothing seed to change about the attitude of the Celestials. Where before they looked surprised and curious, they were now stunned.
The Nightshade Stork found himself lowering to one knee the mont he heard her voice, an incomprehensible charm affecting him. It was unclear why he reacted that way so quickly, but he wasn't the only one to do so.
The Vermilion Bird Celestial found herself lowering her head slightly. Then the Cedar King.
One by one, the Celestials were all srized by Shumi's voice, nearly making them infatuated with her.
"What's happening?" the old Azure Dragon, Qing Guanming, spoke up
in surprise.
"I... I don't know," one of the Whitehead Monkeys said, unable to make sense of the situation.
"Stand up, seniors," Shumi said as soon as she saw what was
happening. "You need not bow to ."
The Vermilion Bird Celestial breathed in and out, looking toward Shumi. "Who... who are you?"
Shumi did not speak. Instead, Ray introduced her.
"You stand in the presence of the Evernight, the Seven Paths of the
Night, the one who was once called the Phoenix Mother," he said out loud. "She is the Moon Goddess."
The mont Ray finished speaking those words, every single Celestial
gasped in surprise. Such a thing was so absurd to even hear, and yet they found it hard to refute those claims. They had seen how they had nearly prostrated before her. Who else but a god could make
them do that?
"The Moon Goddess is the Phoenix Mother?" the Vermilion Bird
Celestial asked.
"They are one and the sa," Ray explained.
The Celestials were left with their mouths agape. Slowly, their heads
turned toward Alex. For him, they didn't find any reason to prostrate, and yet surely his presence here could only an one thing.
Ray spoke before anyone could formulate a question. "And this is the being who was once the Dragon Father," he said. "He is
the Sun God."
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