In the quiet Radiant Temple.

A young Winged girl knelt before the deity’s statue, while behind her, the Winged Queen Melde faced the sunlight streaming through the windows.

The thin garment could not conceal the Winged Queen’s graceful figure. She wore a loose white robe with an air of elegance.

The simple robe reached only her ankles, and she stood barefoot. With no other adornments except her sacred white wings, her presence perfectly combined the qualities of “divine” and “beautiful.”

The Winged Queen Melde gazed at the deity’s statue with rapt devotion, while the young Winged girl’s eyes filled with unease and terror as she turned her head.

“Mother,” Duma asked hesitantly, “do we really need to make the deity descend?”

“Perhaps the deity should reside in the divine realm, and everything we’ve done is merely disturbing His peace.”

“From the beginning, the deity didn’t need our sacrifices, and everything we’ve done isn’t what the deity requires…”

Before Duma could finish, the Winged Queen Melde immediately fixed her with a stern gaze.

“What are you saying, Duma?”

“Are you questioning our faith, or are you doubting the deity’s will?”

Melde walked toward the deity’s statue.

The sun shone through the window behind, illuminating the stone-carved statue of the deity and casting shadows upon Melde and Duma.

The Winged Queen sternly challenged Duma’s faith and devotion as she knelt beneath the deity’s statue.

“As a believer of the deity, haven’t you felt the deity’s will?”

“The deity is awakening from His slumber. He will return in this era and in this world.”

Melde asked Duma, “What have you encountered that makes you so hesitant and unsettled?”

“Is it just because you’ve seen a false god that your faith has become unstable?”

Duma immediately replied, “No! I still believe in the Lord of Radiance.”

“He granted us power and civilization.”

“He is our true deity.”

Her mother’s questioning terrified Duma.

For these believers, devout faith in the deity and total dedication was a given.

It was so in the hearts of these believers.

Even Duma herself would consider it her supreme honor if she were to sacrifice herself for the deity.

Her doubts all along were not about questioning the deity, but whether her mother’s actions truly represented the deity’s will.

But even before her mother could respond, she suddenly wondered if she might be wrong.

How could such a devout believer who had dedicated everything to the deity misinterpret the deity’s will? How could she ever act against His wishes?

Melde needed to prepare for the deity’s upcoming descent. Although displeased with Duma’s words, she didn’t rebuke her daughter too harshly.

“I must welcome the deity’s descent. There are more important matters to attend to.”

“As for those Snake People far away on the peninsula and by the sea, you can proclaim the deity’s power to them. Let them know the greatness of the Lord of Radiance.”

“I allow them to become believers of the Lord of Radiance. This is their honor and also the deity’s grace.”

Melde looked at Duma: “Put away your weakness and pity. At appropriate times, you must give mortals some severity and punishment.”

“I hope you can handle this matter well.”

“If you cannot do it, or if those Snake People cannot appreciate the deity’s greatness.”

“I will let them know what the deity’s punishment and wrath are like.”

Duma had her own plans in mind. She had originally wanted to take on this task herself.

She asked her mother: “What do you plan to do for the deity’s descent?”

“How can I help you?”

The Winged Queen Melde said, “The deity needs more Sky Messengers to welcome His descent and create His kingdom in the mortal realm.”

“If you don’t want to do this, just focus on your own tasks.”

In the following days, the Sky Messengers of the Radiant City conducted several more sacrifices.

At the deity’s call, more people came from afar.

The Radiant City gained many more Sky Messengers.

This Radiant City became increasingly like a realm of divine messengers.

Beautiful, pure beings with white wings served the great deity, living in a city that resembled a sky kingdom, ruling over the highest mountains in the northern continent.

Meanwhile, the overcrowded Trial City below gradually regained balance.

At least there were no more cases of large numbers of people starving to death or dozens of people fighting over a single portion of food.

Some in the Trial City passed through the sky trial and ascended the mountaintop, becoming the deity’s Sky Messengers.

Some bathed in holy light and were reborn, regaining healthy and whole bodies, starting their lives anew.

The worlds above and below the mountain achieved a perfect balance through cruelty disguised as divinity.

The Sky Messengers got what they wanted, and the mortals got what they wanted.

However, the master of the Radiant City, the Winged Queen Melde, didn’t seem too pleased.

Despite the sacrifices, the deity only became slightly more active, showing no signs of descending to the mortal realm.

In the Radiant Temple.

The Winged Queen Melde, who had just finished the Sky Trial, looked up at the sky.

Her spiritual sense and vision had already pierced through reality to reveal that majestic and imposing mythical gate.

The Path of Wisdom pattern on the Gate of Spirituality grew more radiant as the once blurry patterns were illuminated one by one, emitting colorful fluorescence.

“Why?”

Alone and away from Duma, Melde revealed a hint of confusion in her heart.

“We have continued sacrifices for nearly two hundred years, and the mythical gate has been open for decades.”

“Why is the deity still unable to descend into this world?”

Two hundred years ago, the Winged People received the deity’s call over the great sea and began to believe in the Lord of Radiance.

Decades ago, the Winged Queen Melde pushed open the Gate of Spirituality, transforming all Ability Users into powerful Sky Messengers, ushering in a new era.

The deity was certainly going to descend into this world.

At least on this point, Melde was absolutely certain.

She had heard the deity’s whispers time and time again, listening to the divine revelations of the Lord of Radiance.

The Great God Xia would return from the depths of time to reclaim everything He had once lost.

She remembered the first part clearly, repeating it countless times in her heart during prayer.

However, what Melde didn’t know was that the latter half, which she had never paid attention to, was actually the most important content of the divine revelation.

It wasn’t that the Lord of Radiance would reclaim everything after His return.

Rather, He must reclaim everything before He can return from the depths of time.

Melde asked herself: “Is it that the sacrifices are not enough?”

Then she immediately denied this doubt: “No, it shouldn’t be like this.”

“Two hundred years of sacrifices, with so many Winged People given, have been offered. If that still isn’t enough, then even sacrificing all of them would be useless.”

Melde felt it wasn’t a problem with the sacrifices.

Sacrifices only gradually awakened the deity’s consciousness. To make the deity descend into this world again required other conditions and factors.

“Sacrifices alone are not enough to make the deity descend.”

“Other conditions are needed.”

And this answer could only be found within the Gate of Spirituality.

Only the great Lord of Radiance, only the deity.

Only He could tell her.

Melde clasped her hands together and uttered the incantation.

“Divine Incantation: Light.”

Light descended from the heavens, illuminating the interior of the temple.

The eight pairs of sacred white wings on Melde’s back unfurled, bathed in radiance and carrying her skyward.

In the light, Melde vanished from the mortal world.

Melde once again walked to the edge of the Dream Realm, guided by the Gate of Spirituality.

The Eight-Winged Sky Messenger gradually approached, walking towards the sacred Gate of Spirituality.

The massive gate loomed larger and larger until it was too vast for her gaze to fully encompass.

She stood at the foot of this gate and reached out her hand.

“Oh Deity!”

“Open the gates of Your kingdom for me!”

Melde pushed open the Gate of Spirituality, entering it once more.

The sea of spirituality enveloped Melde, pulling her into the world within the gate. She felt herself plunged into the ocean of ancient times, with one translucent ancient creature after another swimming past her.

Melde once again witnessed that awe-inspiring scene, the journey of changing times and evolving species recorded in the Gate of Spirituality.

Beneath the vastness and vicissitudes of time, her insignificant self was instantly submerged.

Not only her body but also her will was submerged.

The brief history of the Winged People became utterly insignificant here.

Melde finally steadied herself.

She stood above the ancient ocean, looking at her surroundings and calling out loudly.

“God of Dawn and Dusk, Eternal Lord of Radiance.”

“I am your believer, your humble and devout follower, Melde.”

“I have heard Your call. I obey Your will. I will spare no effort to help You descend into this world. Even if it means sacrificing everything I possess, I am willing.”

Melde turned her body and twisted her head to look in all directions, as if searching for the deity.

Above this boundless ocean, she shouted with all her might.

“Oh Deity!”

“If You have heard my wish, please give me guidance!”

As her words fell, Melde plunged from the sea surface into the vast ocean.

A fish Melde had never seen before swam past her.

The fish leisurely swished its tail, swimming through the clear blue ocean towards the depths.

It was the world’s most ancient fish, a species crafted by the Creator’s own hands.

The Ancestral Fish.

It was born over two hundred million years ago, created at the request of the first King of Wisdom, King Redlichia.

This ancient ruler hoped his descendants could survive in the savage ancient oceans and lands, so the God Yinsai created it for his firstborn son.

Countless years had passed, and it had long since disappeared along with the Trilobite Man.

But just like the bloodline of wisdom, its bloodline had also endured, evolving into the various animals of today’s oceans and lands.

In the seas and on the land, countless species originated from it, becoming its descendants.

Melde followed this Ancestral Fish, accompanying it towards the distance.

She watched as the Ancestral Fish vanished in an instant, replaced by another species, then another, cycling endlessly until the present day.

A whisper fell into Melde’s mind, as if telling her what this scene truly meant.

“Path… of Wisdom… Reincarnation!”

“Reincarnation…”

“Reincarnation…”

“Again and again… reincarnation…”

That voice held no emotion, yet it conveyed endless desolation.

Two hundred million years of cyclic reincarnation, with repeated cycles of rebirth and death.

It was something mortals could never comprehend.

This time, Melde saw everything with utmost clarity, unlike her previous visit when she was too overwhelmed with shock to understand.

She saw the deity’s will descend upon different species time and time again.

But it could never truly descend into this world.

In the whirlpool of the ocean, she saw the sea receding, saw plants and animals crawling onto land.

She stood on the shore, watching as a fish with two fins crawled into the swamp.

“Were these species too weak? So they couldn’t bear the deity’s descent?”

Melde seemed to have found the answer, to have understood the truth of everything.

A flush rose to her face as a terribly frightening idea occurred to her, yet it was an idea that excited and enthralled her.

She stood on that illusory continent, looking up at the sky.

“If no other life in this world can bear the deity’s greatness and nothing can allow the deity to truly descend into this world, then…”

“Let your humble servant become the gateway for your entry into this world!”

She spread her arms, embracing the sky.

She stood on tiptoe, her entire body trembling with excitement.

“Let the deity… be born from my body!”

As soon as Melde’s words fell, all the scenes vanished.

The entire world within the gate turned dark, and within that darkness, a massive vortex appeared like a giant eye gazing at her.

Melde knelt on the ground, prostrating herself before the deity.

“Great Deity!”

“Please forgive this lowly one, your follower Melde, who is as insignificant as dust, for harboring such thoughts.”

“But if You truly need it, please use my body.”

“Please, become one with me!”

Light engulfed the entire world.

When Melde raised her head, she found herself already outside the Gate of Spirituality.

She watched as the Gate of Spirituality slowly closed, but all the patterns on the entire mythical gate lit up.

She felt the deity fully awaken as all power converged on the gate, illuminating mysterious patterns that no one could understand.

Melde knelt before the Gate of Spirituality, her hands clasped and placed on her chest.

Her eyes fixed intently on the Gate of Spirituality, the eight white wings on her back trembling slightly.

That enormous mythical tree and the path leading to the end of wisdom appeared before Melde.

Two hundred million years.

The Path of Wisdom, which had remained at the first step for two hundred million years and had never been fully traversed, now began to operate in its entirety.

Following the sequence, it merged the knowledge, desire, and wisdom on the gate into light that poured into Melde’s body.

“Boom!”

Melde, with a posture of reverence and an expression of devout excitement, accepted everything from the deity.

She willingly became the vessel for the deity’s descent into this world.

Light brushed past Melde, stirring her long hair.

Infinite power transformed into mythical light and poured into Melde’s belly, becoming the seed of life, condensing into an embryo radiating mythical power.

The Path of Wisdom opened once again.

But what underwent the cycle of reincarnation was not the Lord of Radiance’s original wisdom, desire, and memory, but all the wisdom, desire, and memory sacrificed by the Winged People over the past two hundred years.

That defiled and chaotic power, along with the power of the Gate of Spirituality, began the Path of Wisdom.

The vast sea of spirituality flowed endlessly from within the gate, but only a small portion ultimately merged into the mythical embryo.

Even an Eight-Winged Sky Messenger and God’s Apostle such as Melde could not contain the full power of the deity’s reincarnation.

But this was already powerful enough, unimaginably powerful.

The light faded.

The Gate of Spirituality also dimmed.

Melde stood up and looked at her abdomen.

“Did I succeed?”

“Did I really succeed?”

She gently caressed her belly, her face showing an indescribable fascination and intoxication.

But Melde did not notice that one of the feathers on her white wings had quietly turned black.

Avel City-State.

Yafuan was organizing books in the Temple of Knowledge, categorizing volume after volume and placing them on wooden shelves.

He enjoyed doing this work that should have been done by apprentice priests.

Yafuan came to the library of the Temple of Knowledge every day to inventory books, deriving great pleasure from it.

He coiled around the ladder post and spoke to the apprentice priest holding books at the bottom of the ladder.

“Knowledge is sacred, and we should treat it with the utmost reverence.”

“If you treat knowledge with care, you will receive the richest rewards, truly your own rewards.”

“It is obtained through your own efforts and wisdom, the most reliable thing in this world.”

The Snake People’s ladder was quite unique, not layered but more like a patterned and grooved pillar.

Snake People could coil around the pillar to climb up, which was more convenient for them.

The apprentice priest beside him could only respond nervously to Yafuan, constantly nodding.

“I understand, Lord Yafuan.”

Although he remembered these words, he didn’t truly grasp the deeper meaning of what Yafuan was saying.

Yafuan suddenly turned his head to look out the window, his pupils slightly contracting.

He lowered his head and said to the apprentice priest.

“You may leave now. I want to read for a while.”

“Don’t let anyone disturb me.”

Just as the apprentice priest left, a gust of wind blew the wooden windows open.

A beautiful Winged girl appeared inside the library, surveying the surrounding bookshelves.

She thought that one day she must also establish such a library for the Winged People.

Although her understanding of knowledge wasn’t as profound as Yafuan’s, she could equally comprehend the importance of written records for a civilization.

Without writing, without records, a civilization could never grow.

At this moment, Yafuan spoke first: “I knew you would come again. It must have taken you quite some time to fly all the way here?”

The visitor was Duma.

She had come to the capital of the Avel City-State once again, and once more sought out Yafuan.

She knew that Yafuan was the most powerful person in the Avel City-State and also the chief priest of the Temple of Knowledge.

Yafuan’s position was, in some sense, similar to that of the Winged Queen Melde.

Except that the Winged Queen held both divine and royal authority, while in the Avel City-State, divine and royal powers were separate.

Duma had learned to be a bit smarter this time, though she still appeared naive.

“You don’t need to pry or try to deduce our location from my words.”

Duma warned Yafuan: “Don’t try to approach or find us. That would bring disaster upon you.”

Yafuan’s conversation with Duma indeed had the intention of gathering information. While telling her some truths about Ruhe Beast Island and the deities, he was also collecting news about the Winged People.

Duma also had her own purpose for coming this time, and she was more direct.

“If you could gain more, would you be willing to change your faith?”

Yafuan smiled: “What faith could be more reliable than believing in knowledge and truth?”

Duma didn’t understand the deeper meaning of Yafuan’s words and frowned.

“Although you also have the protection of a deity, the Lord of Radiance is more merciful and generous than your god.”

“Your most powerful force and Ability User is only you, a Third-Rank Ability User.”

Duma stared at Yafuan, slowly spreading the three pairs of wings behind her.

Like Yafuan, she was also a Third-Rank Ability User.

Yafuan’s expression became serious. He could sense the power behind those wings.

When he saw that light, his intuition warned him that she posed a great threat.

He even had a strange feeling that his body and bloodline began to become active under that light.

Duma wasn’t displaying her power to start a war.

However, she wanted to show Yafuan the power belonging to the Lord of Radiance, that the strength of the Lord of Radiance and the Winged People surpassed the Snake People’s imagination.

“If you believe in the Lord of Radiance, you can gain even greater power.”

“My mother, the Queen of the Winged People, has become a Fourth-Rank Ability User under the deity’s grace.”

“She has transcended mortal ranks and become God’s Apostle.”

“She alone could destroy your homeland, annihilate all your cities.”

“She’s different from me. She won’t tolerate the existence of those who don’t believe in the Lord of Radiance on this continent.”

“You have great talent. If you could also believe in the Lord of Radiance, the Lord would surely bestow rich blessings upon you.”

Yafuan frowned.

He had anticipated that the Winged People’s population would be larger than that of the Avel people.

Over thousands of years of reproduction, the Winged People not only had a vastly larger population than the Avel people, but they also had more Ability Users.

After all, the Avel people were originally just a small group of Snake People huddled in a corner of Ruhe Beast Island, while the Winged People were indigenous to this continent.

The sheer size of a population couldn’t truly determine the strength of a force.

But at this moment, he suddenly felt immense pressure. The fact that there was a Fourth-Rank Ability User among the Winged People was completely beyond Yafuan’s imagination.

No wonder Duma had never taken Yafuan seriously.

The Winged People possessing apostle-level power was entirely beyond Yafuan’s expectations.

Even true deities wouldn’t easily create their own apostles.

Firstly, it would disperse the deity’s power, and secondly, when a god needs to create an apostle, it’s usually for a specific purpose.

On such a continent, what could require the descent of a God’s Apostle?

Yafuan began to doubt the state of the deity Duma believed in: “Sometimes, excessive blessings from a god are not a good thing.”

“Do you remember what I told you?”

“When you get too close to the sun, it can also bring disaster.”

Seeing Yafuan speak this way, Duma’s heart became somewhat chaotic.

She grew a bit angry. Last time, Yafuan had also disturbed her heart and faith in this way.

“Don’t try to bewitch me, Snake Person.”

“I am a devout believer of the deity.”

She prepared to leave, speaking with a serious tone.

“I came to tell you that my mother has noticed your presence.”

“If you’re willing to believe in the Lord of Radiance, you can preserve your people. If you choose to resist the power of the deity, you’ll face only cruel divine punishment.”

“You still have time to consider, but my mother’s patience is limited.”

“She’s different from me.”

The Winged girl Duma walked towards the door. She summoned the wind, causing the pages of books in the library to flutter and the curtains to dance.

With her back to Yafuan, she suddenly asked him a question in an uneasy tone: “Can a deity really descend into this world?”

Yafuan didn’t know why Duma asked this question. He frowned and said, “Why are you asking this?”

Just as he finished speaking, the Winged girl had already soared into the sky accompanied by fierce winds and light.