By the vast ocean, Duma gazed at the sailing ships on the water, her heart filled with complex emotions.

For these people of Avel had arrived on such great ships from the edge of the world. They were neither born from the earth nor did they suddenly appear.

They came from another world, from across the sea.

These ships, along with the coiled ferns they cultivated and everything they brought from Ruhe Beast Island, all proved their origins.

She strained her eyes to look into the distance. The Snake People spoke of a massive island across the sea.

Ruhe Beast Island.

According to Yafuan, that was the origin of everything.

Vestiges of the previous era remained, along with the lofty gods above.

“Our god is not the only one.”

The moment she saw Yafuan’s paper flying dragon, she understood that truth. In the distance, a more terrifying answer awaited.

Duma spread her wings and flew forward. Seeing the terrifying Storm Sea ahead, she realized that her god was not supreme either.

Only the residual power that had escaped from the edge of the world could disturb everything. Dark storms swept across millions of miles, their fearsome influence reaching every known corner.

It was a majesty capable of destroying everything and a will that transcended all life.

All of this made Duma tremble.

“Is this the power of the Life Sovereign?”

“How can such a terrifying place exist? What kind of power could create such a horrifying scene?”

Her transcendent spirituality and keen eyes could perceive what was invisible to mortals. She raised her head to gaze into the depths of the black storm, staring at the source of the dark power.

She saw the roars of evil gods within the dark storm and countless tentacles stretching toward the sky. She heard the horn that heralded the world’s end.

The one who blew the horn was a great being capable of creating all life and destroying it.

Amid thunder, torrential rain, massive waves, and celestial phenomena sweeping across thousands of miles, she felt as insignificant as an insect.

Though she was among the most powerful mortals, with power and status that ordinary people could only admire, she fled in utter terror.

Perhaps she could cross this ocean of black storms using her power, but she was utterly overwhelmed by the force behind these terrifying phenomena.

She had seen the Gate of Spirituality.

Yet that mythical gate seemed utterly insignificant compared to a power that could create and destroy everything.

A being capable of creating a world and all life within it was merely one of the three gods below the Creation Throne.

Then what kind of being sat upon the Creation Throne?

She flapped her wings and fled in disarray, not daring to look back.

She no longer had the courage to see what lay beyond the sea.

Everything behind that black storm, that realm of all origins.

She now believed in the existence of it all.

Duma flew all the way back to Fenbuk Mountain. She channeled all her power to stir up fierce winds as she crossed the sky at maximum speed.

It was late at night when she finally landed in front of the Radiant Temple.

Looking around at the familiar halls, layers of gates, and waterways flowing with clear streams and springs, she finally felt her heart begin to calm.

“Huff huff!”

She breathed heavily, her spirit shaken.

She clasped her hands together and looked up at the Lord of Radiance, continuously chanting the eulogy:

“Great Gate of Spirituality, Eternal Lord of Radiance, Ruler of Dawn and Dusk.”

“Please protect me.”

“Please guide me to find spiritual belonging amidst the fierce winds and darkness.”

“Please forgive me, forgive my wavering faith, forgive my weakness.”

She chanted again and again until her emotions gradually settled.

At this moment, she truly understood Yafuan’s words.

“Deities are like the sun.”

“Getting too close or too far will bring disaster.”

The Winged People were the same. They gained everything they had now through the power of the Lord of Radiance. It was the sun’s descent that lit the flame of civilization for them from the dark wilderness.

They were created by the Mother of Life and emerged from darkness because of the Lord of Radiance.

Without the gods they would not exist. Without the gods they would be mere beasts.

But what was even more terrifying was another thing Yafuan had said.

“Tell me, how do you think deities view the faith of mortals?”

The Lord of Radiance had long been in slumber, never truly awakening.

The power the Winged People gained was all because Melde opened the Gate of Spirituality. Their so-called divine revelations and guidance were merely the ramblings of a dream, heard by Melde.

Her mother, Queen Melde, had desired all her life for the god to awaken from darkness and descend upon this world once again.

She had never seen a deity. Everything mortals knew about deities was merely the product of self-indulgent imagination.

Mortals always believed that gods were benevolent and fantasized that they would grant them everything they desired, as if gods were omnipotent wish-granting chalices.

Now Duma wondered, if the deity awakened, what would become of everything?

They had gotten too close to the god, endlessly approaching the sun in the sky.

Arrogant mortals, trying to grasp divine power with their foolish delusions, wondered whether true light awaited them or if they would turn to ash under the sun’s fierce flames.

Duma closed her eyes, not daring to think further as she forced herself to forget the wild words Yafuan had spoken.

At that moment, someone entered the Radiant Temple. It was a beautiful, mature Sky Messenger with white wings, dressed in light robes made of feather weave.

It was Duma’s mother, the Winged People’s Queen Melde, the Six-Winged Sky Messenger.

“Duma,” she called out softly. “Have you come to pray to the god as well?”

Melde held a lamp as she walked barefoot on the stone floor.

Though her face remained expressionless, her tone conveyed satisfaction: “This is good. The Lord of Radiance will recognize your devotion.”

Duma turned to look at her mother. She wanted to tell her about the intelligence gathered from her investigation of the Avel City-State, but the news was too shocking and terrifying. She did not know where to begin.

She felt these revelations would be unacceptable to her mother.

Melde asked her directly at this point: “How did your investigation of those intelligent beings with tails go?”

“They are called Snake People, and they come from a place called Ruhe Beast Island,” Duma replied.

“They can communicate and possess high intelligence.”

“I discovered they have mastered some technologies we lack. They can grow a plant called coiled fern to obtain stable food sources. They can make very light paper that can replace the stone tablets we used before.”

“Their metalworking techniques are also more advanced than ours. I think we could also acquire these skills if we learn from them.”

But the Winged Queen Melde cared nothing for these things. What interested her was that these Snake People truly had intelligence.

“Even their ordinary beings can communicate? They really are another intelligent species.”

“Does this mean they too can believe in the Lord of Radiance?”

Duma did not know how to respond. After much hesitation, she finally said:

“However, they already have their own deity they believe in.”

The Winged Queen Melde listened as Duma spoke of the God of Truth and Knowledge, and of Yafuan and his paper flying dragon. Duma dared not say more than this.

First, her mother would never believe it. Second, nothing from that distant world could directly connect with or influence them. She feared that saying too much might lead to unpredictable consequences.

Ruhe Beast Island was another world entirely to both the Winged People and Snake People.

Just as the Snake People referred to the continent beneath their feet as the new world.

As Duma had predicted, the Winged Queen Melde did not believe in the existence of another deity.

Moreover, given her faith, even if Melde directly encountered another deity, she would immediately denounce it as evil and wage war against it and its followers.

“That is merely a false god,” she declared. “When they witness the power of the Lord of Radiance, they will know who the true deity is.”

“But this matter is not urgent. We have more important things to attend to.”

Melde had recently obtained the Art of God’s Grace.

This divine technique, which allowed mortals to access mythical power, transform their fragile bodies, and form mythical organs, left Melde in awe.

She had been studying the Art of God’s Grace lately, preparing for her own breakthrough.

If successful, she would possess a fragment of divine power.

She would break through mortal boundaries and become God’s Apostle.

Melde shared this joy with her daughter: “Duma, my child.”

“Because of our devotion, the god has granted us the opportunity to become His apostle.”

“I will become God’s Apostle.”

Melde looked devoutly at the deity and whispered, “When that time comes, I will open the Gate of Spirituality and enter the divine realm to truly see the deity.”

Radiant Temple.

After a night of prayer and preparation, Melde led numerous Sky Messengers to commune with the Gate of Spirituality.

They maintained the pathway between the Gate of Spirituality and the mortal realm, walking out of the temple in formation.

They passed through layer upon layer of gates before the Radiant Temple, arriving at the cliff’s edge.

The Sky Trial was about to begin, and this time, more people waited at the foot of the mountain than before.

Like the previous group, they were filled with anticipation and longing, their faces blazing with fervor.

Voices called out in wonder, “The god’s radiance! Look, the sky’s messengers are opening the gates to the divine realm for us! Lord of Radiance, I see your kingdom!”

The ruthless competition of a hunting civilization far exceeded that of an agricultural society.

Those who could not hunt or demonstrate their value had no reason to live.

These people could no longer survive, and the Sky Trial was their only chance.

This time Duma also stood beside Melde.

Though she did not fully agree with her mother’s methods, she understood.

Even the Radiant Temple could not save everyone. As more and more Winged People gathered at the mountain’s foot, it struggled to feed the ever-growing crowd.

Food supplies did not increase as the population multiplied, causing many Winged People to die from starvation or in conflicts over food, leading to various tragedies.

For those who willingly participated in the Sky Trial, she sometimes thought that death might be a form of salvation, a way to escape suffering.

Among them, some elderly Winged People sought the chance to enter the Lord of Radiance’s realm, yearning to become part of the deity’s power.

Melde stood in the light, her three pairs of wings radiating intense brilliance.

Her form grew larger and larger in the light, finally becoming a holy form thirty meters tall. In the intense white light, those at the mountain’s foot could not clearly see what was happening at the summit.

Only by flying to the highest point could one faintly see the outline of a six-winged holy messenger.

This was the Third-Rank form of a Sky Messenger, an upper echelon among them. This Sky Trial was particularly important because Melde had summoned all her power.

Every movement of the massive six-winged divine messenger’s holy form shocked those around her.

Even her tone when casting divine techniques carried the authority of a divine proclamation.

Melde opened the Gate of Spirituality with her divine technique, uttering “Divine Incantation: Light.” Intense light engulfed the Radiant Temple and spread downward to cover heaven and earth.

Melde spoke again, “Divine Incantation: Sacrifice.” Most people dissolved into light dust, flowing toward the Gate of Spirituality that stood in the void.

With another word, “Divine Incantation: Salvation,” the injuries, disabilities, and illnesses of dozens, even hundreds, of people were healed and restored in an instant.

After once again sacrificing so many people, one could see the main trunk of wisdom, the branches of desire, and the abundant leaves of knowledge on the Gate of Spirituality replenishing and growing.

The originally hollow and gray Gate of Spirituality became vibrant and colorful.

Yet that vibrant color lacked the pure holiness of its original white, instead revealing chaos. The being behind the gate grew more active but also more chaotic.

Melde, transformed into her six-winged divine messenger form, looked up at the Gate of Spirituality. She seemed to hear the being inside calling her name.

She could not wait any longer and shouted, “The power of the deity descends here! Look, He is watching us!”

Melde knelt at the center of the plaza.

“All messengers of the sky, let us together welcome the god’s grace!” she called out.

All the Sky Messengers had already assembled, surrounding Melde at the center of the plaza.

This formation had been prepared in advance using a technique from the Art of God’s Grace to merge seals, spirit, and bloodline into one.

Today was not only for conducting the Sky Trial as a sacrifice to the deity, but also the day Melde would become God’s Apostle.

The formation alone would not be enough because advancing to Fourth-Rank authority required all the techniques from the Art of God’s Grace.

All the Sky Messengers connected their spirits, their spiritual force barriers gathering into a massive boundary that continuously compressed toward the center.

To sustain their will, the Sky Messengers sang hymns, praising the Lord of Radiance beneath the Gate of Spirituality.

The tall, six-winged divine messenger’s holy form, the groups of beautiful Sky Messengers with white wings, the carved gate towers, the bell towers, the fountains and ponds with springing water, and the holy hall accompanied by beautiful species and sacred songs all merged into one awe-inspiring vision.

That massive six-winged divine messenger also gradually became transparent and smaller under the sacred songs.

Finally returning to normal human size.

The transformation continued as the divine stone hidden beneath Melde’s flesh, deep in her brow, also began to change.

The divine stone began to merge her will, thoughts, spiritual power, seals, and divine blood, fusing everything into one.

The divine stone emitted a mythical light as complex structures grew within it. Meanwhile, that radiant power spread throughout her head and then through Melde’s body.

Terrifying pressure emanated from her body.

All mortal beings immediately fell prostrate, unable to move. Even those at the mountain’s foot knelt en masse.

More than a thousand years after the Mother of All Snakes became the first to pass the trial and reach the apostle rank, a second apostle had emerged, with one being the Life Sovereign’s apostle and the other the Lord of Radiance’s apostle.

Like the Mother of All Snakes, this new Fourth-Rank was still created by a deity.

“God’s Apostle,” Duma whispered as she watched her mother, feeling the continuously expanding power.

This was no longer power that belonged to mortals.

This rank not only possessed power beyond mortal limits but also granted nearly a thousand years of life.

To mortals, they were the deity’s representatives in the mortal realm, manifestations of divine power.

Melde stretched out her arms and her form expanded once again. Her body grew to over eighty meters tall, with four pairs of wings spreading behind her.

Eight-Winged Sky Messenger.

The majestic form floated in midair, and Melde appeared like a deity walking among mortals.

The massive white wings spread out with indescribable magnificence.

Her entire body surged with spiritual and mythical power, and the divine patterns on her brow flowed with the force of cosmic laws.

“Divine Incantation: Spirit Descent!”

The wings behind Melde spread open, forming a gate of light.

Melde’s feathers fell.

Those white wings continuously transformed in the light and evolved.

Finally, they turned into Sky Messengers.

One by one, six-winged divine messengers were summoned. They were born from the light, descending while singing sacred songs.

However, these six-winged Sky Messengers possessed only spirituality, with no wisdom or desire in their eyes. They were merely weapons summoned by Melde.

This was the power of a Fourth-Rank Sky Messenger.

She could summon groups of Third-Rank divine messengers to serve at her command.

The light in the sky slowly faded, revealing the scene above to the Winged People at the mountain’s foot.

They saw a massive, eight-winged divine messenger bathed in divine light, surrounded by groups of six-winged divine messengers.

In this moment, all of Fenbuk Mountain transformed into a divine realm.

“How holy… how beautiful,” the gray-winged Winged People in tattered clothes wept and knelt upon witnessing this sight.

“God, is this Your messenger?” they asked, for the world above was far too beautiful compared to the ugly, impoverished world below.

“So beautiful, Lord of Radiance, You are the incarnation of light, the Ruler of Dawn and Dusk…” Those who had just been healed by the Sky Trial loudly praised the Lord of Radiance.

Everyone wailed and shouted, desperately wishing they too could become part of the sky and enter that holy realm.

But Melde did not indulge in her power. She led her summoned divine messengers to fly toward the sky, merging into the gradually diminishing light.

She actually entered the realm not meant for mortals, crossing the boundary between illusion and reality.

She approached the Gate of Spirituality.

This time, she did not pause.

She walked directly inside.

Beyond the gate lay the world of spirituality, revealing how it served as the foundation of life and wisdom and showing the very birth of consciousness from physical form.

Flesh could generate spirituality, and life could generate wisdom. In turn, spirituality could transform flesh, reversing and influencing a person’s original appearance. This was the power of the Lord of Radiance, the power He bestowed upon the Winged People.

Within this realm, the Winged Queen Melde witnessed ancient seas, the passage of time, the origins and extinctions of countless species, and the evolution and progress of life.

She heard the deity’s whispers.

The voice was unclear, resonating in her ears, with only a few syllables heard clearly and their meaning unknown.

“Countless years.”

“Countless ages.”

“Through cycle after cycle, I reached my limit, yet still could not regain my wisdom.”

“Who am I… what is my name?”

“Am I the Ancestral Fish? Am I the Trilobite?”

“I am the water dragon. I am the spined newt. I am the forest lizard.”

“I am…”

But immediately after, He became chaotic and mad.

“No, I am the Winged People.”

“Winged People.”

“Winged People!”

“Winged People.”

The Winged Queen Melde stood inside the gate. Outside, on the Gate of Spirituality, she saw one Winged Person after another struggling to squeeze their faces through, letting out insane wails.

She listened to the deity’s whispers as if in a sleep-talking trance.

She watched those ancient scenes of swiftly flowing time, completely unable to understand what the god was saying because she was overwhelmed by the endless species and ancient oceans.

She was amazed by the deity’s antiquity and believed it was revealing the secrets of the world to her.

Melde watched as oceans became land, barren terrain sprouted all kinds of plants, and species after species climbed onto land to compete for supremacy, only to be eliminated in the end.

Melde’s spirit stirred as she wondered, “What is power? What is divinity?”

How could any power compare to a mythology spanning endless ages?

What were deities? They could ignore the passage of time and reach the other end of the ages.

That was divinity.

“This is divinity.”

“Ancient deities.”

“Countless years ago, deities descended upon this world.”

“They witnessed the changes of ages, observed the origins and extinctions of countless species, and disregarded the vastness of time to reach the end of eternity.”

Then the Winged Queen heard the deity’s final roar, an ancient, hollow voice carrying endless despair and terror.

Xiao had the determination and will to abandon everything and journey to the next era, but he had not expected that era to last two hundred million years, a span of time far beyond anything he could have imagined or endured.

“I will… return.”

“I shall return, in… a deity’s form.”

“Descend upon this world once again, I will recover… everything from before.”

That voice was deafening, carrying an unwavering conviction.

At the same time, everything behind the Gate of Spirituality vanished, transforming into a massive vortex.

Melde looked at the vortex, feeling as if an immense eye were gazing at her.

She was overwhelmed with emotion and knelt devoutly before the deity.

“Oh deity!”

“I will exhaust everything to fulfill Your will.”

The Gate of Spirituality closed with a boom, and Melde was thrust back into the mortal realm.

The other Sky Messengers had been waiting for Melde, and she led them back to the Radiant Temple to complete the final prayer ritual.

Everyone slowly withdrew, leaving only Duma behind.

“Mother,” Duma asked softly, “did you enter the deity’s realm?”

The Winged Queen Melde looked devoutly at the deity’s statue. “I saw the deity… its majesty was unprecedented.”

“Before anything was born, before the earth was empty, the deity existed in this world.”

“He is the true deity.”

“Of course,” Duma replied with reverence, “that is the majestic deity.”

Melde turned to Duma and declared, “My child, I will let the Lord of Radiance descend upon this world once again. This is both the deity’s will and my own.”

Upon hearing these words, Duma felt a chill run down her spine.

“Let the deity descend?”

A scene began to float before her eyes.

She saw the sun fall upon the earth and then light engulf everything.

What kind of scene would that be?

No one had ever tried it, and no one had ever witnessed it.