Chapter 224: A New Intelligent Race and the Winged People

Snake Mother Sermos once again completed the Mother of Life’s test. The Mother of Life generously bestowed upon Sermos the method to become fourth-rank.

Shelly looked at Sermos as if admiring a perfect masterpiece.

Suddenly, she felt a sense of achievement, a rare feeling for a deity.

An idea suddenly struck Shelly.

Besides the snake people, could she create another race?

It would not only enrich the variety of intelligent species in this world, making it more interesting, but also allow civilization to flourish in multiple places. Perhaps it could even hasten God Yinsai’s descent into this world.

After all, the present was vastly different from two hundred million years ago.

Back then, there was no ozone layer, no land plants, and even the oceans could hardly be called abundant.

It was a world so desolate and barren that even reading about it in books filled one with despair.

But now, this world could accommodate more races living on land. Swamps and forests, lakes teeming with life, rivers surging with fish—all had built a stage for civilizations to thrive.

The only problem was that for higher intelligence to naturally evolve and form civilizations was an incredibly difficult task.

But for a deity, it was simplicity itself.

Shelly thought this idea was brilliant. She stood up from her divine throne.

She began to run in the air, with each step she took, a hand extended from the darkness to catch her, allowing her to leap freely above the temple.

“That’s right.”

“I can create another intelligent race, a more interesting creation, completely different from the snake people.”

“Wouldn’t this make God Yinsai descend faster?”

This was Shelly’s thought, but she hadn’t yet decided what to do exactly.

She departed from the Temple of Life once more, ascending to God’s Realm via the Spirit’s Hot Air Balloon from the Tower of Heaven.

She leafed through various books, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much useful reference material.

Page after page was densely filled with information about Trilobite people and the People of the Abyss.

Feeling somewhat bored, Shelly stood at the edge of the God-Given Land. She stretched out her arms and stepped onto the precipice, teetering on the brink of falling.

She walked forward step by step.

“What kind of intelligent life should I create?”

Her gaze had been fixed on her red boots, but suddenly it shifted, looking down at the Divine Cup below.

The massive Divine Cup rotated slowly, and God’s Dream, as large as a mountain, floated out from the cup.

The bubbles within swirled with dreamlike scenes like oil paints, each dream a world unto itself.

It represented the power of God, and also the laws of the world.

In God’s Dream.

She saw summer nights in forests, saw a world of ice and snow.

She saw an endless sea of clouds.

It was a dream about flying, a scene as beautiful as a fairy tale.

Beneath the boundless layers of clouds was a vast sea of trees. In a valley, a figure looked up at the sky.

He wore a mask of false smiles on his face, his body was covered in filth, and chains were wrapped around his limbs.

The mask was false, the filth deep in his bones, the chains unbreakable.

But from the eyes behind the mask, one could see intense longing.

It was the longing for flight from mortals born on the earth, the fantasy of the sky from every being confined to the ground.

Suddenly, he spread his arms, and colorful, flowing wings several meters long unfurled behind him.

The chains broke away from his body layer by layer.

Like a bird, he soared into the sky.

His wings tore through the clouds, leaving the earth behind as he flew towards the heavens.

The winged person ascended through layer after layer of clouds, shedding a layer of filth and darkness with each cloud he passed through.

His body began to radiate a godlike brilliance.

As he passed through the last layer of clouds, a great realm appeared above the sky dome.

He stood before a majestic giant gate.

The sea of clouds, the giant gate, the person who had grown wings, and the divine light.

They combined to form an incredibly awe-inspiring scene.

The massive gate slowly opened, revealing the world behind it, a realm where only freedom and beauty existed.

People with wings, as beautiful as gods, came to welcome him.

And the protagonist’s mask of false smiles slipped off, falling through the clouds from the realm above, plummeting to the ground.

Standing on the God-Given Land, Shelly watched this divine dream and suddenly felt a desire to fall into it, to immerse herself in that dream.

“Is this Yinsai’s dream?”

“It’s truly… so beautiful!”

Only in the dreams of a god, only in such a beautiful dream.

Could spirits like fairies be born.

Shelly observed the flight, but failed to grasp its deeper meaning.

Flying was not just soaring through the sky, but also freedom.

Shelly thought of what kind of new race she should create; she wanted to make a race that could fly.

She thought of the wing demons.

They were undoubtedly the overlords of this era, their bloodlines containing the seal power of wind and flight.

She planned to use wing demons as a model to create a race that could fly in the sky.

In Shelly’s imagination, they should have beautiful wings, with golden feathers like those in God’s Dream, possessing a beautiful form.

Just think, it must be very interesting—

Snake Mother Sermos obtained the “Art of God’s Grace”.

She loved this name. To her, it was truly a divine technique bestowed upon her by God’s grace, living up to its name.

This divine gift symbolized God’s acknowledgment of her worth.

She would use it to transcend mortal limits and become a being with a long lifespan.

Upon receiving the “Art of God’s Grace”, Sermos immediately returned to her mansion to prepare for her breakthrough. She had been third-rank for a long time, and had accumulated enough of what was needed.

She desperately longed to regain her youth and was eager to become God’s apostle.

The only apostle of God.

Following the method in the “Art of God’s Grace”, she inscribed a spiritual circuit on the ground. As long as spiritual power rotated along this circuit, it would generate intense spiritual pressure.

Though they couldn’t grasp the underlying principles, they could easily replicate the method through imitation.

The Fire Guardians of the snake people clan simultaneously activated their Wisdom Ability. Spiritual power rotated along the patterns on the ground, forming a spiritual barrier that enveloped the hall, exerting intense spiritual pressure on Sermos.

Sermos began to float.

The colossus puppet suddenly appeared in the hall, materializing from nothingness.

But then, under the intense pressure of spiritual power, the shell of the colossus puppet gradually dispersed, returning to a spirit form that was slowly compressed and forced into Sermos’s mind.

God’s Grace Stone appeared.

The God’s Grace Stone, about the size of a grain of sand, continuously extracted the divine blood from Sermos’s body until it was empty, devouring the divine blood to replicate and expand.

Sermos condensed the God’s Grace Stone, but a problem immediately arose.

Her divine blood was not enough to condense a complete God’s Grace Stone, let alone transform her brain into a divine organ.

The God’s Grace Stone crumbled into nothingness.

Fortunately, Sermos herself didn’t suffer any mishap, only feeling dizzy and drained of all spiritual power.

“Why?”

“Why is it like this? Why did it fail?”

Sermos recalled what the deity had said.

“Becoming fourth-rank is a way for mortals to escape their fate, the beginning of the path to transformation.”

“For mortals to embark on this path, they must face various hardships.”

“To break through the fourth-rank boundary, method alone is not enough.”

“You also need unwavering determination, extraordinary wisdom, and innate talent.”

Sermos fell into deep doubt.

Is my wisdom and determination not enough, or is my talent insufficient?

She came to the Temple of Life, seeking divine guidance.

“God, have I disappointed You?”

The Mother of Life, Shelly, was sitting on the divine throne at this moment, her mind still immersed in that dream about flight, absorbed in how to create a race that could fly.

When Sermos bewilderedly questioned the deity, Shelly snapped back to reality.

She glanced at Sermos and immediately understood the reason for the incident during her ascension based on what Sermos had just described.

“You have too little divine blood in your body.”

“When you nurtured those children, you left part of the divine blood in your body to them.”

“This is also why they could become second-rank so quickly.”

However, this was simple for Shelly. The God’s Grace Stones on God’s Moon had all been purified by the Crown of Wisdom, the source artifact of Wisdom Ability, and could be accommodated by anyone.

And of the God’s Grace Stone she had brought down originally, half still remained.

However, what was simple for Shelly was nearly impossible for ordinary beings. No one else could easily enter and exit God’s Realm like Shelly, let alone have the audacity to take something from God’s Moon, and actually succeed in bringing it down.

“My servant. Are you ready?”

“To obtain this God’s Grace Stone, you must first pass my test.”

As before, Shelly would never let the snake people take her blessings without earning them.

Sermos accepted this as natural; she had been eagerly awaiting God’s test.

“Great Sovereign of Life!”

“Your servant Sermos accepts Your test.”

Unlike previous tests, this one was related to the new race Shelly wanted to create.

She needed a wing demon as a sample to create a new intelligent life form.

Shelly told Sermos: “I’ve noticed a wing demon circling in the sky recently. I need you to capture it alive.”

After delivering this divine oracle, Shelly suddenly remembered something.

“I might not be in the temple lately, so I’ll give this to you in advance.”

Shelly extended her hand, and a transparent stone emitting a faint silver light fell down.

She tossed the God’s Grace Stone to Sermos.

Sermos immediately stretched out both hands to catch the God’s Grace Stone. She could feel the power inside, pure and flawless.

When she had previously attempted to break through, this was the kind of stone her whole body’s power had condensed into.

But a restriction had been placed on it.

Only when Sermos completed the test would she be able to unlock its power and truly obtain the God’s Grace Stone.

Sermos: “Your servant will absolutely not disappoint You.”

The Snake Mother left the Temple of Life with the God’s Grace Stone and went to the walls of the City of Life.

The walls stood atop high mountain ridges. She looked up and saw the wing demon God had mentioned.

Sermos gazed up at the sky.

The wing demon soared freely beneath the sea of clouds. From her position, she could only see a tiny shadow, but Sermos deeply felt its aura of freedom and abandon.

The entire sky belonged to it; the earth and sea were its hunting grounds.

She was full of vigor and showed no fear.

“A third-rank wing demon!”

“The monsters’ power is recovering so quickly. I estimate it won’t be long before they become increasingly powerful.”

“We must become even stronger to survive in this world.”

The wing demon the Mother of Life spoke of was no ordinary wing demon, but a third-rank one, arguably the most terrifying monster in this world.

It possessed wings that could freely soar through the sky and could control the power of wind.

Sermos not only had to defeat it but also capture it alive to offer to God.

But Sermos was not afraid at all.

She firmly believed God would protect her, and she believed she would definitely complete all of God’s tests.

She was destined to be God’s apostle.

After observing the wing demon for many days, Sermos finally discovered its nest.

The wing demon’s nest was built on a high cliff at the northern edge of the island, where fierce winds howled incessantly.

This third-rank wing demon had just given birth to its offspring. Like Sermos once did, it was about to propagate its own clan.

Given enough time, the sky would once again be filled with the dense, massive wings that had existed countless years ago.

This was something neither Sermos nor the snake people could accept.

This time, Sermos didn’t let anyone help her. She found the right opportunity and climbed the steep mountain alone.

This was a place no ordinary life form could reach; Sermos had to use her colossus puppet to get there.

She took away the not-yet-grown baby wing demons and waited in the fierce winds for the wing demon’s return.

Then she engaged in battle with the wing demon.

Under normal circumstances, the wing demon wouldn’t need to fight her at all. It could simply spread its wings and fly into the sky, and no one could do anything about it. Even though Sermos had the Wings of Wind Control, she could only chase after it.

It would be impossible for her to defeat a wing demon in the sky.

But Sermos had found its nest, and for the sake of its offspring in the nest, it had no choice but to face Sermos in a decisive battle on the ground and mountain ridges.

Sermos used wisdom and strategy to force it to fight.

She didn’t feel this was despicable, or rather, the snake people didn’t have the concept of despicability at all. Using every means to kill enemies and gain living space was what they should consider.

Sermos was fully prepared, while the wing demon was caught off guard.

Moreover, the wing demon had to hold back for fear of harming its offspring, exposing many weaknesses.

The third-rank wing demon had developed some low-level intelligence and had begun to grasp the concept of clan and companions.

However, at this moment, this intelligence not only failed to help it but became shackles that bound it.

Sermos displayed her wisdom and strategy to the fullest, finally cornering the wing demon.

Her eyes blazed with intense light, shining upon the wing demon.

Layer upon layer of stone condensed, gradually enveloping the wing demon.

Although the wing demon could control the power of wind, it couldn’t fully use it here.

“Seal.”

The wing demon gradually turned into a stone statue, sealed and frozen within the rock. Its insect-like body twisted, its wings constantly fluttering.

In the end, it could only sink like a bug trapped in a quagmire, gradually losing strength.

Even though Sermos had calculated everything, there was still a small accident just as she was about to completely seal the wing demon in stone.

The exhausted and dazed Sermos was accidentally struck by the wing demon’s tail and sent flying. She had to get too close to seal the wing demon and had to use all her attention and power to seal it.

Although the wing demon was successfully sealed inside the stone, the Snake Mother also fell heavily from the height onto the mountainside.

“Hiss hiss!”

Sermos was severely injured, critically wounded.

She coughed up blood, her body slowly stained with blood beneath her.

But she wasn’t afraid.

Instead, she smiled.

“I succeeded!”

“I won’t die, I’ll be fine.”

She kept reassuring herself, as if God was truly standing behind her.

“I have God’s protection, I have God’s power.”

As she spoke, she took out the God’s Grace Stone she carried.

The faint light from the God’s Grace Stone shone on her, like the gaze of God.

The God’s Grace Stone burst forth with power, a layer of intense spiritual pressure transformed into a storm vortex enveloping her.

Silver stardust continuously drilled into Sermos’s body, her form encircled by a silver galaxy.

The Seal Spirit disintegrated, merging into Sermos’s body.

Spirit, consciousness, and divine blood united as one.

Sermos felt her brain transform from a mortal structure into something completely unknown, an organ entirely constructed from the divine blood of Wisdom Ability.

That power extended from her brain, spreading throughout Snake Mother Sermos’s entire body.

It counteracted the erosion of time on Sermos’s body, even reversing time as if making her young again.

The crow’s feet at the corners of Sermos’s eyes gradually faded, her pupils becoming pure and bright once more.

She returned to her youth, becoming like a young girl again.

Sermos, coiled on the ground, slowly stood up. She looked at herself in disbelief, stroking her arms, then touching her face.

She felt as though she had reverted to her original state.

She was once again that timid Sermos from long ago, hiding behind the pillars of the temple.

The one who would secretly watch her creator, the Mother of Life, and would be overjoyed when thrown some cakes, devouring them ravenously in a corner.

“I’ve become young again.”

“Is this the power of breaking through mortal limits?”

Snake Mother Sermos extended her hand, and power flowed out from within her body.

One colossus puppet after another stood up from the mountain top and bottom, as if paying homage to their king, looking at her and bowing their heads—

When the colossus puppet carried the great wing demon back, the entire City of Life was in an uproar.

The snake people looked at Snake Mother Sermos sitting on the shoulder of the colossus puppet, continuously shouting the Snake Mother’s name, their faces flushed with excitement.

Even though the snake people clan was growing increasingly prosperous and powerful, they still couldn’t forget the terror of the wing demons.

Those days of trembling as they passed through the wilderness under the power of wing demons.

“A wing demon, it’s a wing demon!” In a corner of the street, a female snake person pointed at the wing demon, her voice shrill.

“The wing demon was defeated by the Snake Mother.” Many snake people slithered through the streets, shouting loudly as they passed.

“God has given the Snake Mother unrivaled power. God’s power is omnipotent, letting us defeat all enemies.” Some snake people danced around the colossus puppet, praising God.

“We have defeated the rulers of the sky. We are the race that dominates here,” someone said, seeing their future in this scene. They had defeated even the wing demons; nothing on Ruhe Beast Island could threaten them anymore.

Moreover, Snake Mother Sermos had also brought back the baby wing demons.

She had already formed a contract with one monster; she planned to leave the wing demons for the more promising young people in the clan.

The snake people cheered all the way, escorting Snake Mother Sermos to the base of the Temple of Life. They watched as Sermos descended from the colossus puppet and walked up together with it.

The colossus puppet knelt before the temple, offering up the sealed wing demon.

Snake Mother Sermos entered the temple, thanking God for the power bestowed upon her.

“Great God!”

“It is You who reversed the marks of time on my body, You who granted me the power of longevity.”

“Your kindness and grace are something I can never repay. Your humble servant is overwhelmed by Your favor.”

“I hope to guard by Your side forever, to be Your eternal servant.”

Shelly wasn’t particularly surprised that Sermos had brought back the wing demon.

After all, to her, it was merely a minor achievement.

She didn’t know that Sermos had exerted all her strength for this,

And had even almost sacrificed her life.

She looked at Sermos. Mortals always spoke the word “forever” too lightly.

The corner of her mouth lifted as she asked Sermos.

“Forever?”

“Do you know how long forever is?”

A mortal’s “forever” seemed so small, so unreal, before a god from over two hundred million years ago.

Snake Mother Sermos looked up at Shelly, recalling once again the scene when she had been on the brink of death earlier.

That image deeply etched in her memory and mind, imprinted in the depths of her bloodline.

The scene of her timid, frightened self hiding behind a pillar, fearfully looking at this world, and the Mother of Life extending her hand, giving her the food of the gods.

It was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten in her life, and also the warmest scene.

“I know it’s laughable for us small and humble beings to speak the word ‘forever.’ But, Eternal God! Only the word ‘forever’ can express the devotion in my heart for You, and our faith in You.”

Sermos said this to her creator, and Shelly casually replied.

“I have felt your devotion, and my promise to you is fulfilled today. Sermos, you will become my apostle.”

All the snake people gathered together, holding a ceremony under the bonfire. The snake people sang and danced, offering the Dance of a Thousand Snakes to their god.

They continued through the night without rest.

The female snake people swayed their agile tails and twisted their slender waists.

Their faces were full of joy in the firelight, their laughter blending with the shadows of the flames.

Snake Mother Sermos was especially so.

She knelt before the Temple of Life and put on a golden ring, placing it around her neck.

The golden ring on her swan-like, slender white neck made Sermos look incredibly beautiful. Paired with her pure white clothing, it gave her an indescribable elegance.

At this moment, she was truly a queen.

Not just the leader of a primitive tribe.

This was the artifact bestowed upon her by the Mother of Life, a symbol of her status as God’s apostle.

【Life Artifact: Ring of the Serpent】

【Sequence Number 5】

【This is an artifact exclusive to Snake Mother Sermos, a divine grace bestowed by the great deity Mother of Life Shelly to Her apostle.】

【Snake Mother Sermos can transform into a serpent form through the Ring of the Serpent, becoming a giant snake hundreds of meters long. The giant snake possesses city-destroying strength, near-immortal regenerative power, and the serpent’s mouth holds the power of laws, able to devour and dissolve power to incorporate into itself.】

The Life Artifact created by the Mother of Life possessed extraordinary power.

Just the near-immortal regenerative power alone granted Sermos an ability that made her almost unkillable.

When she finished creating it, Shelly specifically checked the ranking of this artifact she had made on the Divine Cup.

It ranked fifth.

Shelly wasn’t too satisfied, but it was enough as a divine grace bestowed upon a servant.

For the snake people, this was the highest honor.

Snake Mother Sermos, at the bonfire ceremony, called out loudly to God.

“God! Your apostle will follow You forever, never abandoning their faith even until the end of time.”

Thousands of snake people cheered along, paying homage to the Temple of Life.

This ceremony was not only for God but also for Snake Mother Sermos, the most glorious moment of her life.

The grand ceremony left Sermos with a lingering blush on her face, feeling as if she were floating on clouds.

“I am God’s apostle now?”

She believed she had become the closest person to God, the one and only apostle in this world.

Snake Mother Sermos looked at the temple, her eyes brimming with light.

And her journey to becoming God’s apostle became an enduring legend among the snake people.

She had undergone God’s four tests, finally becoming God’s apostle.

The first test was to obtain the power of fire. Sermos used the power of her companions and the suppressive power of stone against fire to successfully subdue the fire demon. It was the trial of fire.

The second test was to acquire knowledge of farming and planting. Sermos had to cross the vast sea to the continent on the other side, seeking the foundation for the snake people’s survival. It was the trial of water.

The third test was to obtain the power bestowed by God. Sermos had to defeat the powerful third-rank stone demon to break free from the constraints of lifespan. It was the trial of earth.

The fourth test was to become God’s apostle. She had to defeat the wing demon, ruler of the sky. Sermos had to fight these monsters that dominated the sky and claim final victory. It was the trial of wind.

Throughout her journey, Snake Mother Sermos made great sacrifices. She ventured across the vast sea, bravely faced the stone demon in desperate situations, and confronted death in her battle with the wing demon.

Finally, she became God’s apostle—

In the Mother Conch of All Things, the Mother of Life Shelly finally created the second intelligent race.

Shelly watched eagerly as over a dozen eggshells cracked open, revealing small beings that crawled out one after another.

They were curled up in balls, their bodies wet.

Shelly examined them; these little ones couldn’t even open their eyes yet.

Shelly was puzzled: “Why are they so ugly?”

These newly born lives had human-like upper bodies and a pair of wings that hadn’t yet grown feathers.

But their lower bodies had claws,

And it was clear that their lower bodies should also be covered in feathers.

The power of the wind seal flowed through their bodies; they were born to belong to the sky, able to control the power of wind.

Their appearance, however, differed greatly from the beautiful creatures Shelly had envisioned. They were far from beautiful, even bordering on ugly.

Although Shelly was a bit disappointed, this was the only stable life form she had managed to create after a very long time.

Moreover, this life form’s structure was more suitable for flying than her previous concept.

“Well, that’ll do.”

“It’s close enough!”

After confirming the birth of the new race, Shelly also gave them a name.

Winged people.

Mother of Life Shelly placed these not-yet-grown winged infant at the top of the Tower of Heaven, and simultaneously summoned Snake Mother Sermos.

Snake Mother Sermos excitedly climbed to the top of the giant tower. As soon as she stepped onto the stairs, she saw the sea of clouds and the Mother of Life sitting on the edge of the tower with her back turned.

Shelly could create life; that was exercising Her authority as a deity.

But she wouldn’t look after these young winged people, nor did she have the patience.

She decided to entrust this troublesome task to her apostle, Snake Mother Sermos.

She had raised many children; she was a great mother.

In Shelly’s view, she was very suitable for this task.

“These are the new lives I’ve created. You are my apostle, so look after them on my behalf!”

Snake Mother Sermos also saw those newly born winged people. They were crawling around in a nest lined with blankets, making cooing sounds.

The Snake Mother didn’t pay much attention, assuming they were just some small animals newly created by the Mother of Life.

In the past, the Mother of Life had also created some lives without much intelligence, letting her raise them.

Unfortunately, most of these lives died shortly after birth due to unstable life forms.

“Great Sovereign of Life.”

“How long should I look after them?”

Mother of Life Shelly looked at the sky and world outside the giant tower, spreading her arms as if imagining the scene of piercing through the clouds in God’s Dream.

Suddenly, she turned her head and glanced at Snake Mother Sermos.

“Until they can fly, then I will arrange their destination.”

After saying this, Shelly’s shadow disappeared from atop the Tower of Heaven.