In the Temple of Life.

Long before God’s vehicle descended from the sea of clouds and appeared in the sky, Snake Mother Sermos was already kneeling in the temple.

Sermos’s expression was calm, only her eyes showed a hint of bewilderment.

The Mother of Life, Shelly, already knew what had happened. When she descended on the top of the Tower of Heaven and saw the empty nests of the winged people and the broken chains, she knew it was Sermos who had cut the chains and released these winged people.

Besides God, only Sermos could freely enter and exit this place, and only Sermos could cut the chains binding the winged people.

The figure of the Mother of Life, Shelly, appeared on the divine throne. She silently looked at Sermos.

There was no anger in her expression as one might imagine, only indifference.

“So, you killed them.”

“My apostle. Were you jealous of them?”

Sermos quietly raised her head, looking at the lofty deity.

“God,” she said softly, “I didn’t kill them, but their death is related to me.”

“Even though I knew they would die in the mouths of the wing demons, I still cut the chains.”

“I watched them fly into the sky with my own eyes, then perish in the mouths of those monsters.”

In Sermos’s mind, the winged people had already died in the mouths of the wing demons, becoming food for the monsters.

Sermos raised her hands, looking at the half of the chain that was broken and wrapped around her hands.

“Do You know?”

“I had a dream, a dream where You abandoned us.”

“I dreamed of countless winged people circling in the sky above, hunting my children.”

“From that day on, jealousy and fear consumed me.”

“Because I knew it wasn’t just a dream, it was the future I imagined, an illusion born from my insecurity and jealousy.”

Snake Mother Sermos’s voice trembled, her emotions raw and intense.

“My consciousness tells me that I am the apostle under Your throne, I am Your most devout believer.”

“But my body uncontrollably wanted to kill them.”

“I couldn’t control it, couldn’t suppress it.”

Sermos covered her face with her hands, her complexion had turned pale. That nightmare was the most terrifying and desperate scene she had ever witnessed in her life.

The deity addressed Sermos, her words tinged with incomprehension.

“What I’ve bestowed upon you far exceeds the winged people. What you possess is thousands of times more than them.”

“Is it… that you feel what I’ve given you is not enough?”

“Or do you want to obtain even more?”

Shelly chose not to explain to Sermos that she had gone out to find a place for the winged people, that she had already secured a home for them.

It was on a plateau of a continent incredibly far from Ruhe Beast Island.

That place was so distant from Ruhe Beast Island that it was a distance mortals could hardly cross in a lifetime.

She had planned to leave Ruhe Beast Island to the snake people, as they were the first race she created.

But at this moment she didn’t say this, nor did she want to.

She was the lofty God; she couldn’t and wouldn’t explain her thoughts to her creation.

She cared about only one thing.

Her apostle Sermos had betrayed her.

She had given Sermos everything, she had created Sermos with her own hands.

She had given Sermos wisdom, she had made Sermos a fourth-rank ability user, she had personally crafted the Ring of the Serpent and bestowed it upon Sermos as a symbol of her apostleship.

Yet in the end, Sermos still went against her will, killed the anchor points she had prepared for God Yinsai, and disrupted all her plans.

Sermos wanted to explain something, but Shelly spoke, defining her actions.

“None of this matters anymore.”

“What I care about is.”

“You betrayed me.”

Shelly looked at Sermos, her eyes showing not disappointment, but confusion.

She couldn’t understand why these creations always went against God’s will. They always went against God’s guidance. Was wisdom itself a forbidden fruit, destined to lead mortals down this path once consumed?

The moment wisdom awakened, they developed desires.

Beings with desires were destined to never be truly devout.

“You placed your own desires above God’s will, you committed the sin of jealousy, and killed God’s creations with your own hands.”

“Sermos.”

“Your devotion and faith were nothing but empty words.”

“In the face of your desires, your faith in God was like ashes scattered by the wind, like a sandcastle crumbling at the touch of a wave.”

Sermos moved forward, her body tense with emotion. The chains wrapped around her hands rattled on the ground.

She raised her hands high, speaking loudly.

“No!”

“It’s not like that.”

Sermos looked at the Mother of Life, Shelly, the creator she believed in.

She tilted her head back.

The golden ring on her fair neck reflected the shadow of the divine temple. Her jewel-like pupils mirrored the image of God.

In those eyes, sadness, panic, and desperation flashed by.

Finally, all turned into bewilderment.

She wanted to defend herself, but couldn’t utter a word, only managing to show a hollow expression.

Sermos lowered her hands, the chains clanking on the floor.

“Yes,” she whispered. “God, my faith is like ashes in the wind.”

“I thought I was devout, but in the end, I still betrayed my faith in You.”

“I don’t know why.”

“Perhaps my faith wasn’t as firm as I thought it was.”

But after saying this, Sermos continued.

“However, no matter what, I never thought of betraying You. You are my only God, and my only faith.”

The Mother of Life, Shelly, looked coldly at Sermos and shook her head.

“Such faith is meaningless to God.”

“You are no different from the Trilobite people. You claim faith with your mouths, but you’re merely trying to take whatever you want from God.”

The Mother of Life, Shelly, and Sermos locked eyes, two gazes meeting from high and low.

Sermos saw confusion in God’s eyes; God saw sorrow in Her servant’s eyes.

Sermos looked at God, tears streaming down her face.

Shelly stood up from the divine throne: “I won’t punish you directly. I will give you another test.”

“If you truly have faith in me, if your will is strong enough.”

“You will surely pass my test.”

“Then, I will forgive everything you’ve done.”

Shelly took out the Mother Conch of All Things, looking at the patterns on it.

Besides the Trilobite people and the People of the Abyss, there was also a symbol representing the snake people.

“I created you.”

“I gave you everything you could match and possess, and even gave you the status of an apostle.”

Shelly’s gaze fixed on Sermos as she spoke of the oath Sermos had once made before her.

“Didn’t you say I was your God, your everything?”

“An oath made to God can never be betrayed.”

“Just like Redlichia.”

“Let’s see if your oath is truly genuine!”

Shelly’s dark green pupils now radiated supreme majesty.

A demonic shadow that devoured the sky emerged behind her, with countless tentacles reaching towards the sun, and myriad eyes blanketing the heavens, gazing upon this world.

“If you succeed, I will take you away from the mortal world,” Shelly declared. “You will become my true apostle, free from the corruption of mortal desires.”

Shelly gave Sermos one last chance.

Shelly blew the Mother Conch of All Things, and the sound of this Divine Artifact of Life Ability caused the entire City of Life to begin rising.

The mountain range where the City of Life was located began to slowly elevate, step by step, and then gradually accelerated.

Meanwhile, in the Temple of Life, the Ring of the Serpent worn around Sermos’s neck suddenly burst into dazzling light.

Sermos began her fifth test. This time, it was a test of her devotion.

The power of the Ring of the Serpent surged through Sermos’s body. The bloodline of Life Ability pushed back the Wisdom Ability within her, concentrating all its power in her eyes.

Shelly transformed Sermos into a Life Ability user, with the power of the Ring of the Serpent fully merging with Sermos.

The former Trilobite person, Vivien, had also used a similar method to change herself from a Wisdom Ability user to a Life Ability user.

But Sermos’s situation was different. She was fourth-rank.

For her to become a Life Ability user through this method, the trials and tribulations she needed to endure were unimaginable.

To separate consciousness and memory from a brain that had already become a mythical organ was a feat only the unique Root Divine Artifact could currently achieve.

The Mother of Life, Shelly, transformed all the trials and tribulations into a dream.

As long as Sermos could firmly maintain her will, she could emerge from it.

Then she could gain unimaginable benefits.

Passing the test would grant her everything, which was also the Mother of Life’s consistent approach—

The Temple of Life disappeared from Sermos’s eyes, and the entire world turned pure white.

She began to have that dream again, the dream that had terrified her so much.

This dream was far more real than the one she had before, with every detail exactly the same as reality.

Every day of life.

Every daily trivial matter.

Every person around her.

All were vivid and lifelike.

She could feel the passage of time, and the people here seemed to truly exist.

She forgot everything in the temple, everything seemed to have never happened, and she also forgot about this nightmare.

In this dream world, she followed God’s will and raised the winged people peacefully. Over time, the winged people gradually multiplied into their own clan.

However, the good times didn’t last long.

The winged people received more of God’s grace, accepting divine favor time and time again.

On the other hand, the snake people received less and less divine grace.

Many years later, the winged people completely replaced them as God’s favorites.

The winged people drove them out of the City of Life, occupying this city and simultaneously gaining God’s favor.

The powerful winged people soared in the sky above the City of Life, while the snake people could only look up at them from beneath the clouds.

Snake Mother Sermos left the City of Life, and she could no longer see the deity.

From afar, she watched the winged people circling in the sky.

She was full of fury, full of resentment.

She envied everything the winged people had, because those were things she once possessed.

On a night when God was absent, she sneaked into the City of Life.

The power of the Ring of the Serpent activated, and she transformed into a terrifying serpent monster.

Her body alone was several hundred meters long. No matter what divine technique the wing demon clan used to strike her, it couldn’t harm her in the slightest. Wherever the serpent monster rolled along the road, swarms of winged people were crushed into a bloody paste.

In their terror, the winged people spread their wings and soared towards the sky.

The grotesque snake head raised, its gaze turning into beams of light sweeping across the sky.

The winged people turned into stone statues under its gaze, then fell from the sky and shattered into pieces.

The serpent monster opened its blood-filled maw, and a special power emanated from it, melting and devouring the flesh and blood of these winged people throughout the city.

Moreover, the blood it devoured continuously gathered towards the serpent monster’s eyes, making them increasingly powerful.

The serpent monster let out a hoarse roar, filled with violent rage.

“Kill you!”

“Kill you all.”

“I am God’s apostle, I am…”

In her rage and frenzy, the serpent monster gradually lost her sanity.

She chased those winged people all the way to the Temple of Life, intending to exterminate these beings who had taken everything from them.

In her fury, she accidentally shattered a pillar of the temple.

The pillar toppled and crashed onto the empty divine throne.

The fall of God’s throne also represented the collapse of Sermos’s faith.

The serpent monster’s eyes gradually regained sanity, and she looked at the fallen divine throne, letting out a sharp cry.

“No!”

“No.”

Sermos rushed forward, as if wanting to raise the divine throne again.

But then, the entire Temple of Life came crashing down.

Dust rose.

The dream ended.

She was still in the Temple of Life, everything that had just happened was an illusion, and only a moment had passed.

The deity of the Mother of Life was still on the divine throne, the Mother Conch of All Things in her hand still faintly echoing the sound of the horn.

God spoke to Sermos.

“See.”

“This is all your faith amounts to.”

“As long as God doesn’t satisfy your desires, as long as you don’t receive enough, your faith is worthless.”

God’s voice echoed within the temple, with a sense of sighing.

The emotions were faint, but there was truly a hint of feeling.

No sadness, just a sense that some things she had believed in before were somewhat laughable.

“Even just a nightmare made you abandon your devotion to God.”

“Even if…”

“It was only in a dream.”

Shelly no longer looked at Sermos, rising from the divine throne.

The figure of the Mother of Life gradually dissipated before Sermos’s eyes.

At the same time, Sermos felt her body changing. She sensed an immensely powerful force devouring her body.

This power felt the same as in her dream, the power of the serpent monster.

She gradually transformed into a terrifying serpent monster, possessing Life Ability, an unmatched apostle of God and monster.

“No!” Sermos cried out in desperation. “Master, don’t abandon me… please!”

The Snake Mother’s body grew larger and larger, she gradually lost her human form, turning into a great serpent.

Sermos had failed. She did not pass the final test.

Her will and faith were not strong enough; in the end, she couldn’t resist the power of frenzied desire.

Within her body, this manifested as a violent conflict between the Wisdom Ability and the Life Ability.

Fortunately, she had persisted long enough in the dream that the Life Ability had completely overwhelmed the Wisdom Ability, forcing all of its power into her eyes.

The downside was that, having failed the test, her consciousness and memories were rapidly retreating under the chaotic onslaught of the Life Ability.

The bloodline of Life Ability devoured her, consuming her will and everything else.

She was consumed by the blood of the Life Myth, her thoughts and memories drowned in madness, transforming into a colossal monster with a clouded consciousness.

Her eyes became Divine Artifacts, known as the Eyes of Sermos.

The power of the Ring of the Serpent fully merged with her body.

The world’s first serpent monster had appeared.

The snake people in the City of Life immediately noticed this enormous being, and panic quickly spread. No one understood what was happening.

“Look!”

“What is that?”

“Quick, look at the temple!”

“Something’s happening.”

All the snake people looked up to see a giant serpent crawling out of the Temple of Life, its body continuously growing larger.

Snake Mother Sermos felt the backlash of her failure, the chaos and madness of the life blood gradually eroding her sanity. She became incredibly frenzied and malevolent, even towards her own offspring.

Using her last shred of reason, she shouted to all the snake people: “Leave!”

“By the name of Snake Mother Sermos, all snake people must leave the City of Life.”

“Forever.”

“Never return.”

Only then did all the snake people realize that this monster before them was Snake Mother Sermos.

But they couldn’t comprehend why Snake Mother Sermos would issue such an order; it defied all logic.

The snake people were completely bewildered by the unfolding events.

The serpent monster grew larger and larger, until it was hundreds of meters long.

She opened her eyes, and beams of light from her pupils swept across the center of the city.

Everything they touched turned to stone statues. Fortunately, Snake Mother Sermos controlled this power to deliberately avoid the snake people’s dwellings.

But this terrifying power and scene frightened all the snake people out of their wits. Only then did they realize that Snake Mother Sermos had gone mad, her power completely out of control.

All the snake people immediately fled in panic, rushing towards the outskirts of the city.

The snake people twisted their tails as they crowded the streets, thousands of them escaping the city in fear and confusion.

The snake people who had escaped turned back to look at the City of Life, only to see that the giant serpent had already left the Temple of Life.

The serpent monster named Sermos slithered across the ground and city walls, arriving before the Tower of Heaven.

She coiled around the tower, letting out a mournful hiss towards the sky.

As if calling out the name of God.

From that day forward, the City of Life fell under the dominion of Sermos, the serpent monster.

All the snake people who had lived in the City of Life fled, never to return.

The mountain continued to rise until it reached the clouds.

This place became a true forbidden zone of death, with no one daring to approach.

Any being that dared to come near this city and temple would be killed by the terrifying serpent monster Sermos.

And in this world, apart from God, no being could kill or defeat her.

The serpent monster Sermos remained in the City of Life, guarding the Temple of Life and the Tower of Heaven.

She often coiled around the Tower of Heaven, gazing up at the sky above.

It was as if she was waiting for the day when God would forgive her.

Forgive Her apostle, and take her back to the realm of God—

The snake people fled the City of Life in panic.

By the time they escaped down the mountain, they discovered that the mountain was continuously rising, until they could no longer see the city and the giant tower at the peak, even when craning their necks.

Facing the steep mountain, even if they wanted to return, they could no longer easily climb those sheer cliffs.

The snake people were at a loss about their future, wailing at the foot of the mountain.

But soon, the children of the Snake Mother stepped forward.

The leaders of the hunting team, taming team, and planting team automatically took over the authority after Snake Mother Sermos’s disappearance, becoming the leaders of the snake people.

The three team leaders gathered all the snake people who had left the City of Life. After some heated debates, they decided to part ways and seek new lands.

The hunting team headed north, where there were dense forests near the ocean.

They had left many skilled warriors there to guard against and capture fire demons. These snake people, adept at hunting and fighting, would use their strength to carve out a new home for themselves.

The taming team stayed at the foot of the mountain, as there were rivers and lakes there. They would tame beasts in this area.

The planting team headed to the eastern part of Ruhe Continent, where there was already a developed planting area and a half-built new city.

The three teams each established their own new bases.

Gradually, walls were built around these bases, imitating the style of the City of Life.

Over time, the snake people established three new cities of their own.

The three cities also developed different customs and styles due to their different skills, laying the foundation for their future development—

On the continent northwest of Ruhe Beast Island, the winged people — whom Snake Mother had believed dead — had crossed the sea and arrived at their new home.

The winged people flapped their wings, finally landing in a swamp forest.

Hungry, they hunted the beasts in the jungle, gnawing on their raw flesh and drinking their blood.

They were born with hunting instincts, their strong lower limbs and sharp claws were the nightmare of jungle beasts.

They continually flew deeper into the continent, crossing one forest after another.

They perched on rocks and cliffs, where nothing could threaten them.

This place was rich in resources, and apart from a few monsters, there were no natural predators in sight.

Despite this abundance, the winged people felt a constant yearning for greater heights; they believed their true dwelling place should be far above the ground.

They were the people of the wind, their nests should be built in the highest places.

They stood on mountain peaks, overlooking the entire world from great heights.

Finally, they flew to a range of mountains and plateaus. The winged people joyfully circled in the sky, letting out cries of delight.

They liked it here.

At last, the winged people settled down here.

On one side of the highlands and mountain ranges were endless forests, on the other side was barren desert.

Fierce winds howled between the mountain ridges.

However, the winged people thoroughly enjoyed this feeling of being one with the wind. It seemed that their innate bloodline power became more active here.

What the winged people didn’t know was that this was the homeland that the Mother of Life, Shelly, had chosen for them.

The winged people settled down on this plateau, reproducing and thriving here.

In time, they would grow into a vast and powerful clan.