Two figures clad in Temple priest robes stood on the shoreline.

One was a Trilobite, aged and weathered, her expression filled with the weight of years.

The other was a Scarlet Apostle with a human-like appearance, gazing at the sea with a distant look in her eyes.

The elderly one was Anli, likely the first God’s Grace Priest among the Trilobite people to reach the limits of her lifespan. Sadly, the once formidable woman who had confidently stormed the Sacred Mountain was now a shadow of her former self, frail with age.

The Scarlet Apostle, of course, was Vivien.

They watched as a ship slowly approached from the distant horizon, eventually docking at the dilapidated, abandoned pier. As they observed, they couldn’t help but lament the loss of the once-bustling scene where countless sails had raced across the sea, now nothing more than a fading memory.

Sage Vivien suddenly spoke up: “By the way, is that matter prepared?”

Anli informed her: “It’s been ready for a long time.”

Vivien asked again: “Is it really prepared?”

She seemed incredibly concerned about this matter, repeatedly seeking confirmation.

Anli turned her head to look at Vivien, saying with a hint of exasperation: “You’ve forgotten again. Didn’t you personally inspect it?”

Vivien nodded, saying nothing more.

She was approaching the moment of her life’s reincarnation. She could feel her Life Myth bloodline eroding her memories and wisdom.

She often forgot important things, crucial matters.

This had been going on for quite some time now.

“How long do you think this city will last?”

“A thousand years?”

“Five thousand years?”

Vivien was referring to the God-Descended City behind them. Though the city still thrived, there was an underlying sense of twilight beyond its prosperous facade, as if its glory was slowly fading.

Long ago, King Yesael had arrived from across the sea, heralding the dawn of the Yinsai era. From that moment on, the Trilobite people had embarked on a journey of unprecedented prosperity and growth.

The Trilobite people relentlessly expanded inland, ushering in one era after another and constructing countless cities until they finally encountered a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

Then came the Age of Miracles.

They finally broke through their limitations. Their cities and villages spread to every corner, and their population began to grow dramatically.

However, their triumph was short-lived. After briefly touching the pinnacle of prosperity through God’s power, everything began to regress to its former state.

In the hundred years before God’s departure.

One third-rank Seal Priest after another passed away, and even those powerful monsters began to degenerate, losing their once formidable strength.

In the following three hundred years.

The Trilobite people gradually retreated back to the coast, even returning to the sea to compete with the People of the Abyss for living space, fighting and killing each other over islands and resources.

In recent centuries.

Vivien and her companions had tried flying to other places, attempting to find more fertile lands suitable for the Trilobite people’s survival, but ultimately failed.

The Origin Site and this nearby sea truly were the most suitable homeland for their survival.

They had considered creating their own self-sufficient supernatural power system, reigniting the flame of civilization.

Unfortunately, they didn’t succeed in the end.

Vivien and Anli persevered, teetering on the brink, but thankfully, the Yinsai Kingdom still endured.

Despite facing numerous catastrophes, they had managed to overcome them through various means. For now, a semblance of stability remained.

But they knew that once the two of them were gone, everything would change once again.

Anli listened to her sister Vivien’s questions, unsure how to answer.

Because what Vivien was really asking wasn’t how long this city would last, but where their civilization was heading, how long their race could continue.

Anli had once been so confident in her own power, so sure of her own wisdom. She had even arrogantly believed that it wouldn’t matter much without God, that their power was enough to twist and change everything.

In the end, she discovered that all they had was God’s grace.

Surveying their surroundings, they saw only a barren, desolate world.

What allowed them to exist in this world was the wisdom given by God, the power bestowed by God, the food granted by God.

Anli looked at Vivien and finally said,

“It doesn’t matter. We still have our final plan, don’t we?”

The final plan was the matter they had just discussed.

They didn’t know where the endpoint of their civilization truly lay, whether someone in the future would forge a new path, or if they would face extinction in this barren world.

For this reason, they had prepared a plan.

Vivien supported Anli as they walked towards the city, just like when she used to hold her sister’s hand when they were young.

The once-mighty Demon-Hunting Group had long since disbanded, its headquarters transformed into a research institution.

Here, priests explored various divine techniques, proposing solutions to various problems.

Vivien and Anli entered a secluded hall. At the top of the hall, one could see a jewel embedded like an eye, occasionally casting down light and shadows, causing one Trilobite ghost after another to appear within the hall.

The priests in the hall would converse with these Trilobite ghosts, questioning them.

Occasionally, they would also allow these ghosts to interact with some children. These children even inherited certain basic divine techniques from the ghosts.

The jewel at the top was the Divine Artifact Eye of True Knowledge, created by the second-generation Sage of Truth, Lan.

【Divine Artifact: Eye of True Knowledge】

【Sequence Number 6】

【Ability 1 Mental Domain: This is a Divine Artifact created using the combined power of multiple priests. It possesses a mental power field capable of penetrating and annihilating ordinary divine techniques of the third rank and below.】

【Ability 2 Contract Power: It has the power to form contracts with ghost bodies, then summon them as puppets when needed.】

【Ability 3 Ghost Enhancement: It has the power to nourish and cultivate ghost bodies, allowing ordinary ghosts to gradually advance to higher levels.】

【Ability 4 Truth Inheritance: Enhanced by the Temple of Truth, it retains the memories and knowledge of ghost bodies. Although these ghosts have lost their personalities and autonomy, they possess the ability to pass on knowledge and even bestow abilities.】

One after another, priests of the Temple of Truth who mastered various knowledge willingly allowed themselves to be bound by the Eye of True Knowledge after death, becoming ghosts that would never find release.

This knowledge included, but was not limited to, divine techniques, as well as skills like sculpting, painting, writing, poetry, and more.

They would serve as the inheritors of the saints’ will, passing down the torch of the Temple of Truth.

Because even something as terrifying as time could not erode mythical blood.

So these artifacts forged by myths would still remain in the next era.

This was part of the plan.

After inspecting the Eye of True Knowledge, Vivien and Anli moved to another hall.

In this hall stood a silver metallic egg, an object personally crafted by Anli.

It wasn’t a Divine Artifact, but it contained mythical blood and some other things.

“The Seed of the Trilobite.”

This metallic egg contained the bloodline of the Trilobite people, recording everything about multiple healthy Trilobite men and women.

Vivien checked it once more and said to Anli,

“It’s completed?”

Anli nodded: “It’s completed.”

Vivien sighed in relief: “In that case, I can rest easy.”

But Anli said: “You can’t rest easy yet. Everything that follows still depends on you.”

Among the Life Ability users in this world, there were nine, eight of whom were personally created by the creator god Yinsai.

Although Vivien wasn’t directly created by God Yinsai, she was essentially an extension of the God-Created Man’s bloodline, still part of Yinsai’s creation.

She had inherited the same kind of eternal reincarnation ability known as “mutation” from the God-Created Man, just like the Ruhe beasts of the Beast Magic City.

The so-called final plan was to be executed by Vivien, or more accurately, by Vivien’s reincarnated life form.

Vivien would enter a deep slumber along with the Eye of True Knowledge and the Seed of the Trilobite. If the Trilobite people were to become extinct and, as God had prophesied, enter the next era where a world more suitable for life would emerge, the Eye of True Knowledge would awaken Vivien’s reincarnated form from its slumber. The Eye of True Knowledge would then guide the awakened Scarlet Apostle to begin the next phase of the plan.

The Scarlet Apostle would use the power of the Life Ability to recreate the Trilobite race in the new era.

Then, she would pass down the legacy left by the Temple of Truth to the next age. Their civilization, writing, art, and knowledge would all be reborn with the emergence of the new Trilobite people.

To ensure the plan’s success, they had implemented numerous safeguards and contingencies.

But whether they would ultimately succeed remained unknown.

The cycle of life was, after all, an uncontrollable factor.

Moreover, who knew how long the next era would last?

Ten million years?

Or a hundred million years?

Or even longer.

Anli was so worried; people tend to become less confident as they age.

But Vivien said to her, “Anli.”

“Don’t worry, you just need to believe in me.”

Anli looked at her sister and let out a long sigh.

Indeed!

As long as her sister was by her side, there was nothing to worry about.

Vivien patted her shoulder and continued.

“We two old folks are about to leave, but before we go, we must prepare everything.”

“The final plan is just that – the final plan.”

“Yinsai is the foundation of everything. Perhaps in the future, someone more powerful and talented than us will appear?”

Vivien’s eyes softened, her gaze seeming to lose focus: “Actually, I hope that in the end, we won’t need to use it at all.”

Everything was being prepared methodically, as time slowly passed.

The third-generation Sage of Truth, Vivien’s condition was worsening. She was forgetting more and more things.

Anli was in a similar state; her body was deteriorating despite her brain being a mythical organ.

The limitations of the Life Ability and Wisdom Ability were glaringly apparent, manifesting vividly in both of them.

The final plan could not wait any longer.

The day finally arrived when a ship set sail from the God-Descended City, heading towards the depths of the sea.

The ship wasn’t large, with only Anli and Vivien on board.

When they departed, the pier was packed with people, all kneeling to bid them farewell.

Everyone knew this was a journey with no return.

The era after God’s departure was called the God-Forsaken era by the people.

It was these two who had stood firm in the darkness of the God-Forsaken era, like torches illuminating the night.

Now, they too could no longer resist the power of years and time, and had to say goodbye.

Despite their departure, they would continue to safeguard the civilization of Yinsai and the Trilobite race, albeit in a different form.

The ship gradually disappeared on the horizon, arriving at a sealed island – the former Island of Mist.

The once-proud lighthouse was now broken in two, its bricks scattered on the ground.

All the buildings were in a similar state of disrepair, but even so, Anli could still recall every detail of this place.

“It’s been so long since we’ve been back, it’s so nostalgic!”

“Do you remember?”

“We used to have classes here, and lived over there…”

Anli was excitedly reminiscing with Vivien, but Vivien remained silent.

Vivien had been like this recently, and Anli wasn’t surprised.

But Anli knew Vivien hadn’t completely lost consciousness; she was just focusing all her energy on preparation.

Anli summoned one puppet after another, activating Lan’s old arrangements. She integrated them into the island, setting it in motion.

This island had been crafted into a single entity back in Lan’s era, like a massive artifact. Unfortunately, it didn’t possess divine blood itself and needed priests or monsters to activate it.

The island, shrouded in mist, traversed the sea.

Gradually, the Island of Mist arrived above the Deep Sea Abyss.

Vivien sat in the chair of the Temple of Truth’s great hall, Lan’s favorite spot in the past. Anli stood behind her, leaning on her cane, one hand on Vivien’s shoulder.

Anli withdrew all her power, and one by one, the puppets returned to her body as shadows.

The island began its descent, slowly sinking into the depths of the Deep Sea Abyss.

Anli’s body decayed bit by bit, turning into a statue.

An ethereal shadow emerged from Anli’s body, moving to face Vivien.

This shadow was Anli in her prime, a stark contrast to her aged physical form.

Anli knelt on one knee, looking at Vivien seated in the chair.

She grasped her sister’s hand and said softly,

“Farewell, sister.”

At this moment, Vivien suddenly regained clarity.

Her jewel-like pupils shimmered with light, looking at Anli with affection.

“No need for goodbyes. Haven’t we always been together?”

“We always have been.”

“And… we always will be.”

Anli smiled, transforming into a ghost and entering Vivien’s eyes.

Vivien slowly closed her eyes, tightly holding the Seed of the Trilobite in her arms.

The aura around her gradually contracted, her strong heart slowly ceased beating, until no trace of life could be felt.

Blood flowed from beneath Vivien, spreading across the entire island, sealing it completely.

The sea water completely engulfed the island, forming a massive whirlpool.

Finally.

The whirlpool calmed, and only a shadowy outline could be seen being swallowed by the endless darkness—

In the Dark River region.

Rolling Stone Town.

At some point, a family had settled here, possessing the power and legacy of priests, yet content to remain in this remote, impoverished place.

This family was called the Polik family.

The deceased members of this family were all buried in the family cemetery, which was their absolute forbidden ground.

It was said that they had once made a contract with a great being, so when members of their family died, a messenger of death would come to guide them through a massive door.

Behind the door, there was no pain, no hunger, no cold.

There was only a city.

An illusory city frozen eternally in time, Yinsai at its most prosperous, when everyone was at their happiest.

In the deepest part of the cemetery, inside an ornate metal coffin.

The coffin contained no corpse, only a right hand emanating a silver glow, with a complex and mysterious symbol array on its back.

【Divine Artifact: Polik’s Right Hand】

【Sequence Number 17】

【Legend has it that there exists a Door of Truth in the world, containing all knowledge. Behind the Door of Truth is a vast ghost world controlled by the Lord of Death; Polik once followed this great being, and his right hand is the only key that can open this door.】