The Upper Continent did not stop trembling.
Nor did the Great Ocean calm down.
An hour passed...
Then two hours...
And the hours stretched on like an endless night with no end in sight.
The earth trembled relentlessly beneath the feet of countless beings, the ancient mountains shook, and the vast deserts were thrown into turmoil, while the Great Ocean hurled its enormous waves about with terrifying violence, until its entire surface seemed to have transformed into a sea of chaos.
The earthquakes were beyond anything the living beings had ever experienced in terms of sheer intensity.
Continuous, profound tremors carried an immense force from the depths of the earth, to the point that merely standing firmly became difficult even for weaker beings.
And yet...
There was something strange.
Something that did not fit the scale of the apparent catastrophe in the slightest.
Despite the earthquakes continuing for hours, despite their terrifying might, the Upper Continent did not collapse.
The earth did not split apart.
The mountains did not fall into catastrophic ruin.
Nor were cities or living beings swallowed by endless cracks.
Even the Great Ocean, despite its violent turmoil, did not turn into a catastrophe that would wipe out life.
And there were no casualties.
That fact alone was enough to arouse the confusion of the powerful cultivators in the Ascendant Immortal Realm.
In one region, an Ascendant Immortal hovered in the sky, staring down at the earth moving beneath him with narrowed eyes.
He spoke in a low voice:
"This doesn't make sense..."
Another Ascendant Immortal approached him, a clear seriousness visible on his face.
"What do you mean?"
The first continued observing the earth for several moments before answering:
"If these earthquakes were natural... the Upper Continent would have suffered tremendous destruction from the very first hours."
Silence fell between them.
His words were clear.
The power of these tremors was enough to destroy vast stretches of land, and yet that had not happened.
The other Ascendant Immortal said:
"Do you think something is controlling them?"
His companion did not answer immediately.
He stared at the Upper Continent for a long time, as though attempting to pierce through the earth with his eyes and reach the source hidden deep within it.
Then he said:
"I don't know."
He paused for a moment before adding:
"But it seems as though these tremors... are being controlled."
The thought was not easy to believe.
If those earthquakes were caused by an immense force erupting from the depths of the planet, then why had they not spiraled out of control?
Why was the earth moving with such violence while, at the same time, remaining undestroyed?
It was as though an unknown will was permitting the trembling...
Yet preventing destruction.
As though some force were regulating the limits of these tremors with absolute precision, preventing them from exceeding the point that could lead to the destruction of the land and the living beings upon it.
And that was not the only thing that troubled the cultivators.
The spiritual energy that had begun rising from the depths of Ibiron...
had not stopped increasing in density.
It had only grown stronger.
Again and again.
Waves of spiritual energy continuously surged from beneath the earth, spreading throughout the Upper Continent and the Great Ocean, nourishing the world little by little.
As time passed, the change became increasingly obvious.
The land that had once suffered from dryness and weakness was now being flooded with spiritual energy denser than ever before.
Yet no one knew the reason.
And no one knew how far this change would go.
One day passed.
Then another.
Then a week.
And still, the tremors did not stop.
Nor did the spiritual energy cease increasing.
Until an entire month had passed since the beginning of this strange event.
Throughout that month, the density of the spiritual energy had continued to increase without stopping for even a moment.
Until, in the end, it reached an astonishing degree of density and richness.
The spiritual energy was no longer merely invisible currents spreading through the air.
It had transformed into a thick white mist.
A spiritual mist swept across the Upper Continent, roaming over the land, mountains, and plains, moving slowly through the various regions, until the entire world seemed to be submerged in a white sea of spiritual energy.
The scene was so strange that it was difficult to describe.
The Upper Continent, which had once been dry and barren, and which had endured countless ages of weakness and ruin, was now covered by a dense spiritual mist.
With every breath they took, the cultivators could feel the spiritual energy permeating their bodies.
But instead of feeling joy...
Their anxiety only grew.
They did not know where this energy had come from.
They did not know why it continued to increase.
And what was even more frightening...
was that the event showed no sign of stopping.
Until the seventh day of the fourth week since the beginning of this change arrived.
Suddenly...
The Upper Continent stopped trembling.
Completely.
Without any warning.
Without the tremors gradually weakening.
As though an invisible force had ordered the earth to stop.
Silence descended.
A strange silence after an entire month of continuous trembling.
Everything came to a halt for several moments.
Countless Ascendant Immortals who had been observing the event since its beginning raised their heads at the same time.
Their eyes remained fixed upon the earth.
"It stopped..."
one of them said slowly.
Another answered:
"Yes."
Silence descended once more.
Then a third Ascendant Immortal said:
"But why now?"
No one answered.
No one knew.
After an entire month of trembling, why had the earthquakes stopped on this particular day?
And why had they begun in the first place?
What was happening deep within Ibiron?
The Ascendant Immortals of the various races exchanged glances, and questions began to echo among them.
"Is it over?"
"Or is this merely a temporary pause?"
"If there is something behind these tremors... why did they stop now?"
They were trying to find an answer.
But before any of them could reach one...
BOOOOOOM!
A terrifying earthquake struck the Upper Continent once more.
But this time...
It was different.
More violent.
More terrifying.
And more powerful to such an extent that all the previous tremors seemed like nothing more than mere prelude to what was happening now.
The Upper Continent itself moved at a speed visible to the human eye.
The earth shook with tremendous violence.
The mountains were thrown into turmoil.
And the vast lands swayed as though the entire planet had become a living body writhing beneath the pressure of an unimaginable force.
The faces of living beings across every corner of Ibiron turned pale.
At that moment, no one was thinking about explanations anymore.
No one was asking about the reason.
Only one thought emerged in the minds of countless beings:
The end had come.
Some beings screamed.
Others collapsed to the ground.
As for the Ascendant Immortals hovering in the sky and observing everything, their bodies trembled from the sheer horror of the quake.
Even they...
could not maintain their complete composure before such a scene.
One of them said in a tense voice:
"What is this power...?"
No one answered him.
There was no time for an answer.
The Upper Continent was moving before their very eyes.
As though an immense force deep within it had violently pushed it.
But...
The tremor did not last long.
After only a few moments, that enormous earthquake suddenly stopped as abruptly as it had begun.
The world fell still.
And silence returned.
The earth stopped moving.
The mountains stopped trembling.
And the living beings who had been holding their breath began to feel a measure of relief.
Many breathed out in relief.
Some thought that the catastrophe had ended.
But they did not know...
that what had happened was not the end.
It was merely the prelude to something else.
Immediately after the terrifying earthquake stopped...
something new began to happen.
From beneath the earth...
another energy began to pierce through the Upper Continent and the Great Ocean.
But this time...
it was not spiritual energy.
The cultivators sensed it from the very first moment.
This energy was completely different.
Different in its nature.
Different in the sensation it conveyed.
And different from the spiritual energy that mortal cultivators had known throughout their lives.
It was something greater.
Something that seemed to be a higher form of spiritual energy.
The mysterious energy spread from the depths of the earth, piercing through the Upper Continent and the Great Ocean before beginning to spread throughout the world.
And the strangest thing was...
even the weakest cultivators could sense it.
One weak cultivator stopped where he stood and raised his head in confusion.
"What is this energy?"
He was not alone.
In different places throughout Ibiron, cultivators of various levels sensed that mysterious presence.
They could not understand its nature.
Nor could they determine its source.
But they could feel that it was different.
One of them said:
"It's not spiritual energy..."
Someone beside him answered:
"But it resembles it."
"It resembles it... but it's not the same."
The confusion deepened.
Because they did not know the nature of this energy, many cultivators of different levels attempted to absorb it.
Perhaps it was a great opportunity.
Perhaps it was an energy that could be used to increase their strength.
Perhaps it was something that could change their future.
But the moment they attempted to absorb it...
something terrifying happened.
BOOM!
A violent backlash surged through their bodies.
Their expressions changed in an instant.
Their bodies stiffened.
Some of their bodies stopped moving completely.
They could not even move their fingers.
They had been paralyzed.
Others were left on the verge of death, as though merely attempting to absorb that energy had been enough to inflict severe damage upon their bodies.
"Ah...!"
A cry of pain escaped from one of them before he collapsed.
The others quickly retreated, their expressions transformed.
The mysterious energy no longer seemed like an opportunity.
It had become something to be wary of.
One cultivator said as he looked at his paralyzed companion:
"Don't absorb it!"
His voice carried clear fear.
"No one knows what it is!"
An Ascendant Immortal looked at the energy spreading around him before speaking seriously:
"It is not an energy that humans can absorb casually."
Another Ascendant Immortal asked him:
"Then what is it?"
He did not answer.
For even he did not know.
He continued staring at the mysterious energy in silence as it spread without stopping throughout the Upper Continent and the Great Ocean.
Then he said:
"Perhaps... it requires certain conditions."
He fell silent for a moment.
"Or a certain level of strength."
Those words were the closest the living beings had come to an answer.
But they were not an answer.
Only a possibility.
A possibility that made the mystery even deeper.
Because the appearance of this energy was not natural.
And it could not be absorbed normally.
Yet...
it was spreading throughout the entire world.
As though Ibiron itself were preparing something that no one knew about.
Something the Ascendant Immortals could not understand.
Something that no cultivator could explain.
And while the white spiritual mist covered the Upper Continent, and the mysterious energy continued flowing from the depths of the earth...
living beings throughout the various regions of the world stood silently, watching the changes.
They did not know what would happen next.
They did not know why these phenomena had begun.
And they did not know what had awakened deep within Ibiron.
But one thing had become clear to everyone...
What had begun a month ago was not merely earthquakes.
Nor was the rising spiritual energy merely a passing phenomenon.
And the mysterious energy that had now appeared...
was not something they could understand easily.
Something was changing.
Something deep...
in a place their eyes could not reach.
And the Awakening...
was still continuing.