"Perhaps it's because of the price."

His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, and as always, it carried a sacred, cleansing quality, as if simply hearing it could purify one.

But at this moment, the tone of the voice was so heavy.

All eyes turned to Shen Wuyue, waiting for him to speak with curiosity.

Kaminari seemed to have thought of something. Her pair of emerald green eyes were filled with sadness, her long, thick eyelashes drooped slightly, covering her eyes, and she sighed deeply as she frowned.

"Young Miss, do you still remember the illusion on the last step when you were promoted to a fourth-level empire?"

Quan Ji looked up in surprise, stared at the moon goddess's chin, and nodded: "I remember... but how did you know about my illusion?"

The Moon Goddess smiled faintly, seemingly thinking that the Princess Quan's question was rather unprofessional: "Has the young lady forgotten that the advancement of the empire is witnessed by the gods?"

Quan Ji immediately understood: "That illusion, was it your doing?"

Kannazuki did not refute, but simply gazed at the beautiful starry sky in the distance.

"Those are your memories. It is when you found the first reincarnation of the Emperor Star, went to the Wish Tribe, and discovered the star."

Quan Ji was slightly taken aback, pursed her lips, and her mind was momentarily blank.

Indeed, looking back now, in her illusion at that time, her role was that of the emperor—that is, her own past life.

At the time, she felt she was tired of staying in the tribe and went out to find some fun. Unexpectedly, she found a star that looked so much like Jun Chenlan.

If it were the Emperor's memories, then the reason she stayed in the Wish Tribe would be that Xing looks like the Emperor Star and is the reincarnation of the Emperor Star.

With this explanation, the illusion does indeed have some justification.

Shen Wuyue continued, "The Emperor Star once disappeared, and no matter who responded, there was no news. In the end, you found the Wish Tribe, which he protected, and also found a person who looked exactly like the Emperor Star. It was detected that the person did not have any divine power. Although you had doubts, you still chose to stay in the Wish Tribe."

"In just two years, Yuan appeared and devoured the entire tribe. You only discovered this when you returned from hunting with Di Xing. Yuan told you that the Star God had been devoured by him, and only then did you realize that Di Xing was really dead."

"Although you were extremely angry, you found that you could not gain any advantage in fighting Yuan. In the end, you had no choice but to leave the Yuan tribe with the reincarnation of Emperor Xing. It was at that time that the abyss that had been hidden for so long surfaced."

The Moon Goddess recounted the events of that year to Quan Ji, who was stunned upon hearing it… No wonder she couldn’t make a move in the illusion back then; it turned out that even the Emperor, as the heart of the continent, was powerless against the other party and had no choice but to flee.

Quan Ji pursed her lips, frowned, and looked at Shen Wuyue: "But what does this have to do with the price you mentioned?"

Shen Wuyue's expression was extremely serious as she said, "You have already met two reincarnations of the Emperor Star. One is Jun Xing, the founding ruler of the Star Abyss Empire who established the Imperial Calendar after Ragnarok, and the other is Jun Chenlan. There is no doubt that both of them are reincarnations of the Emperor Star. However, no matter how high they climbed, they could not regain the Star God's divine spark. Don't you think there are many suspicious points?"

"And, back then, Emperor Star died before Ragnarok, in the mouth of the Abyss... This is what makes Emperor Star so different from the other six knights. So... did Star's death come at some kind of price?"

"In fact, at the moment of the birth of every god, a premonition about his own fate will appear in his mind."

"I discussed this with Di Xing, and the final conclusion was that the moon's significance is protection, while the stars' significance is dedication."

Everyone froze, their expressions momentarily stunned: "The meaning of the stars is sacrifice?"

The Moon Goddess nodded and said, "Although it's just a guess, I've also suspected that... the Emperor Star and the Destiny Constellation might have an inseparable relationship."

"Shortly after the Emperor Star disappeared, the zodiac began to flicker abnormally. As a result, the zodiac, which had not yet produced a natal constellation, produced one. Eleven of them appeared directly in front of the young lady, recognizing her as their master. Only Scorpio appeared on the Emperor Star."

"After the young lady perished together with Yuan, the constellations of the zodiac were scattered, and no one could find their traces. All that was known was that it was a heaven-defying treasure, and of the guardian deities of the constellations, only Leo survived, while the rest... none survived."

"It wasn't until Jun Chenlan's birth that I sensed the reappearance of Sagittarius and realized that... the natal constellation of the zodiac might be related to the Emperor Star."

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their gaze to Jun Chenlan.

Quan Ji asked him doubtfully, "Lan, is what he said true?"

Jun Chenlan never intended to hide his Sagittarius origins, but Quan Ji had never asked before, and Jun Linjian had kept it a secret for fear of causing trouble.

At this critical juncture, Jun Chenlan naturally held nothing back.

He nodded and said, "Yes, Sagittarius, was born at the same time as me."