Rivers flowed through the dense jungle, where towering trees grew directly from the water.

The forest was filled with rotting wood and layers of decaying remains, forming a unique landscape.

The air here was humid and damp, and the ground was completely muddy.

This was a world belonging to lizards and insects.

Echilio led his team through the jungle. All Snake People wore camouflage made of leaves, while many ghosts patrolled nearby.

Witch Spirits could control ghosts. This was a gift bestowed by the God of Knowledge and Truth, giving them natural advantages in exploring terrain and gathering intelligence.

Suddenly, a group of shadows swept across the sky.

Echilio immediately said in a low voice, “Winged People.”

The Snake People immediately dropped to the ground and remained still until the flying beings had disappeared.

Before Echilio could speak, a nearby team member spoke.

“There’s a Winged People village nearby—it’s their hunting grounds.”

“Judging by its direction, it should lie to the east.”

Echilio nodded and gave orders to the team member who had just spoken.

“Send ghosts out to scout that direction and confirm the village’s location.”

The team member immediately set out toward the east.

This was the main work of Echilio’s team. They sent out ghosts to explore the surrounding terrain, record it on maps, and collect useful intelligence and clues.

Ghosts could turn invisible, coming and going without being easily discovered.

Unless absolutely necessary, Echilio’s team would not take action against the Winged People. They only gathered intelligence, remaining highly cautious to avoid detection.

The entire team was operating deep behind enemy lines alone. Once discovered by the Winged People, they would have no way to escape.

That night, all personnel who had gone out exploring in different directions returned.

The team member who had scouted the east reported, “There’s a Winged People town to the east with about three hundred people.”

Another team member said: “There’s a Winged People city halfway up the mountain to the northwest—around ten thousand people. It’s probably the largest one we’ve found so far.”

“There’s a sacred hall in the city where, they say, Sky Messengers descend. We need to be extra careful.”

Echilio nodded, recording all the intelligence they had gathered in his book. This was a habit the Witch Spirits had developed over many years.

“There are more and more Winged People in this area. This should be their main living area.”

“It appears our course is correct.”

Echilio held the map he had drawn and reviewed it with everyone.

“It seems Lord Yafuan’s judgment was not wrong. The number of Winged People far exceeds ours. Hundreds of thousands of Winged People live in this area.”

“The Winged People we saw are exactly like in the legends. This indicates that ordinary Winged People are like this, and only some special Winged People possess God’s Form, which ordinary Winged People call Sky Messengers.”

“The Sky Messengers live on Fenbuk Mountain. That is the most important place for the Winged People, where their Queen Melde resides.”

“This queen is likely a Fourth-Rank God’s Apostle, possessing power beyond our imagination.”

At this point, Echilio drew a circle on the unknown Fenbuk Mountain on the map.

This marked the core location they needed to explore as well as their final destination for the mission.

After hearing this summary, the other team members revealed worried expressions one after another.

“The Winged People are very powerful. If they harbor ill intentions toward us, can we really withstand them?”

“A Fourth-Rank God’s Apostle? Do the Winged People even have beings like that?”

“If that’s the case, how are we supposed to fight?”

“No one said we must go to war. We’re only gathering intelligence for now.”

Echilio, as the team leader, immediately stood up to reassure everyone.

“How many challenges have we Avel faced? What desperate situations haven’t we overcome?”

Echilio asked everyone present: “Have we ever been defeated?”

“Have our ancestors ever been defeated?”

“Whether it’s war or peace, we fear nothing.”

“If we retreat at the first sign of trouble, are we still Avel?”

These words made everyone present flush with shame. Someone immediately shouted.

“We’re not afraid! If we must go to war with the Winged People, I’ll definitely charge at the front.”

A devout believer said: “That’s right, believers of the God of Knowledge and Truth would never fear this so-called Lord of Radiance.”

A young Snake Person born on the peninsula said: “Even if we die, we won’t let that Winged Queen have her way.”

Echilio smiled and placed his hand on the young Snake Person’s shoulder.

“Don’t be so pessimistic and desperate. It hasn’t come to that.”

“I believe Lord Yafuan will definitely lead us toward the light. He will solve all kinds of problems alongside King Sidi.”

“The future will certainly be better,” Echilio said, reassuring everyone.

After concluding the discussion, they began discussing business matters.

The team member who had explored the northwest direction earlier spoke up: “If we push forward, we’ll enter the heart of Winged People’s territory.”

“I estimate we’re not far from Fenbuk Mountain now. According to the intelligence we’ve gathered, there are no more large forested areas, and many Sky Messengers are patrolling.”

“If we continue moving as a group, we’ll easily be discovered.”

Echilio had also sensed that they were approaching the core area of the Winged People, Fenbuk Mountain.

Therefore, they had been increasingly cautious lately, basically hiding during the day and moving at night.

They advanced stealthily during the day and sent out elites at night to explore various Winged People villages and cities.

“We must figure out where Fenbuk Mountain is and what the Winged People’s true strength is like. Only when we understand these things and understand the Winged People’s trump cards…”

“Only then can King Sidi and Lord Yafuan formulate future plans based on the intelligence we’ve gathered. The more we obtain, the greater our advantage for the Avel City-State.”

“Every move we make affects the future of the entire Avel City-State.”

Everyone immediately straightened their posture, feeling their responsibility and mission.

After two generations of practical Chief Divine Servants in Xiuborn and Yafuan, this generation of Temple of Knowledge Ability Users who pioneered the wilderness had an extraordinary sense of responsibility.

Echilio considered for a moment, then issued orders.

“Tomorrow everyone will split into three teams and explore the terrain in three directions. Mapping is secondary. Focus on gathering intelligence about Fenbuk Mountain’s location.”

“We must find Fenbuk Mountain as quickly as possible.”

A few days later.

Echilio looked at the plateau mountains in the distance and that city of peaks that towered above all other mountains.

The members of Echilio’s team gaped in astonishment.

Their eyes reflected the image of a city carved out of a giant peak, with massive gates forming its entrance.

They could even see the sun on the other side through the hollowed mountain gates.

That light shone through the gates of the Radiant City, so bright and dazzling.

There were also waterways on the mountain, cascading down to form a modest waterfall.

But the mist from the waterfall radiated a rainbow of colors in the sunlight.

“Is this… the Radiant City of the Winged People?”

The rainbow light and massive gates made the Snake People watching from afar feel as if they were witnessing something otherworldly.

“How did they build this place?”

Some found it hard to believe, unable to imagine how such a city was established.

“Sky Messengers, they really do live in the sky and sea of clouds.”

The interplay of colored light, the sun, massive gates, and cloud layers evoked exclamations of wonder.

This peak was shaped entirely by transcendent power, radiating mythic energy and light.

Even the Snake People were stunned by this Radiant City. One could only imagine how the Winged People living below the mountain yearned for the world above.

At that moment, a group of Sky Messengers descended through the cloud layer, landing in the Radiant City.

Wing Demons danced alongside them.

“Sky Messengers… and Wing Demons?”

Those present looked fearful, not of the Sky Messengers but of the terrifying demonic Wing Demons.

The Snake People’s fear of Wing Demons was ingrained in their bones, instinctive from birth.

Echilio’s expression grew serious.

“Fenbuk Mountain.”

“Lord of Radiance?”

Although Echilio had mentally prepared himself, witnessing the might of the Winged People and the presence of divine beings made his heart sink.

An immense and intense pressure weighed upon his mind, causing him to unconsciously clench his fists.

After a long while, Echilio gave his orders.

“Everyone, stay in position.”

“I’ll go in alone. No one should act until I return.”

At the foot of Fenbuk Mountain.

The Trial City of the Winged People.

This city was less a city and more like an enormous slum.

Except for several proper buildings in the inner city, everything consisted of dilapidated shacks, with emaciated Winged People curled up sleeping in every corner.

Echilio infiltrated the city in the dead of night. Ghosts under his control patrolled the Trial City, gathering intelligence and warning him of approaching Winged People so he could avoid them.

But after entering this city, Echilio was greatly shocked.

This was right at the foot of the Radiant City. By all rights, it should have been the most prosperous and important place.

All he saw here was despair and poverty.

Skeletal believers clutched sacred seals of radiance in desperate prayer, while others who had lost everything gazed toward the mountaintop, clinging to their last thread of hope.

Here everyone moved about in a daze like walking corpses, with faith in the Lord of Radiance being the only thing sustaining them.

Most of these people were not pilgrims of faith but more like those who had lost all hope.

Echilio used his ghosts to confuse some drowsy Winged People with spiritual power, extracting the intelligence he needed.

He stood before an elderly Winged Person, listening as the man, plagued by illness, awaited death.

“Trial City?”

“Sky Trial?”

Echilio finally understood the meaning of this city’s existence, and how Sky Messengers came to be.

It was survival of the fittest. Only the strong could conquer the sky.

Yet beneath the light lay darkness’s reflection.

Echilio raised his head, looking at the world above the mountain.

“Hundreds fly toward the sky, only dozens survive, and among them, one becomes a Sky Messenger.”

As a Witch Spirit, Echilio was quite familiar with how to select those with potential.

He understood even more clearly the meaning behind this so-called Sky Trial.

Suddenly, the city no longer seemed stunning to him, and the Sky Messengers with God’s Form living on the mountain had lost their holy luster.

“If the Lord of Radiance is also divine, I still prefer a deity like the God of Knowledge and Truth.”

“If this counts as mercy, I would rather choose the equivalent exchange of truth and knowledge.”

Echilio opened his leather notebook and wrote down the intelligence he had gathered.

He had all but confirmed the existence of the Lord of Radiance. What remained was verifying information about the Winged Queen Melde.

This would be difficult.

The mountaintop was full of Sky Messengers. If he dared send ghosts up there, they would likely be discovered instantly.

Echilio’s pen paused on the page as he fell into deep thought.

But suddenly, dark clouds gathered in the sky.

They blocked out the moon.

“Whoosh!”

Wild winds tore through the streets, blowing at Echilio’s leather notebook, rapidly flipping its pages and nearly sending it flying into the sky.

Echilio immediately closed the notebook and looked up toward the distant wind.

But the gale forced him to stumble backward, unable to even keep his eyes open.

The downpour began suddenly.

“Pitter patter!”

This storm had come suddenly. Before Echilio could react, his clothes were soaked and his hair hung in wet strands.

His intelligence notebook was tightly wrapped in leather, so he quickly stowed it in the leather bag he carried.

Echilio took cover, wiping away the rain that blurred his vision.

Thunder crashed from the sky, so deafening it seemed to numb the ears.

A ripple, imperceptible to ordinary people, spread from the mountain. Suddenly, Echilio could see no trace of light before him.

“Why is it so dark?”

Echilio immediately sensed something was wrong. Even with the moon covered, this was not normal.

How could it be so completely dark?

All light seemed to have vanished from the world, leaving nothing visible at all.

“Someone is interfering with the laws here!” Echilio cried out in alarm.

Though he said “someone,” he knew whatever could accomplish this was likely beyond what could be called mortal.

Echilio raised his hand, manifesting the Book of the Witch Spirit. Ghost after ghost emerged from its pages, spreading out in all directions.

The ghosts became Echilio’s eyes.

However, before he could investigate his surroundings clearly, one of the ghosts he controlled lost connection, completely severing its link with Echilio.

“Above?”

Echilio looked up. His spiritual intuition and mental probe reached upward, and then he let out an agonized scream.

He seemed to have seen something utterly terrifying.

When Echilio’s spiritual probe encountered a mass of flowing blackness, his head felt like it was splitting apart.

“Something is wrong.”

“Have I been discovered?”

Echilio clutched his head, stumbling as he fled outside.

He continuously cast divine techniques on himself, moving so fast that only an afterimage could be seen. He leaped up, and ghosts caught him as he tumbled into a valley below.

He moved with incredible speed, quickly rushing out of the Trial City.

Only then did he truly escape the area covered in darkness.

At that moment, he raised his head and used the lightning flashes to see directly what was happening on Fenbuk Mountain.

“Hiss!”

Echilio could not help but draw in a sharp breath.

He saw terrifying black mud slowly pouring from the great gates of the Radiant City, flowing down toward the Trial City below.

That black, filthy mud was like nothing known, as if it contained all evil, chaos, desire, and ugliness, and continuously devoured everything around it.

It sought to drag everything in this world into the fallen abyss.

Terrifying Eagle Demons circled up through the wild storm from the mountaintop, flying toward the sky.

Echilio had thought they were Winged People, but when he saw several Sky Messengers fighting these monsters, he realized they were hideously ugly creatures he had never seen before.

Black sludge continuously flowed down from the mountaintop, already surging into the Trial City.

Countless Winged People in the Trial City were devoured in their sleep, falling into the abyss amid sweet dreams.

Echilio simply watched silently.

He watched in complete silence as a city vanished.

Thousands of intelligent beings were erased from existence as if they had never been.

Only a few Winged People noticed in time, flying from the mountain’s foot into the sky.

However, once airborne and without spiritual power to probe their surroundings, they crashed blindly in the darkness.

In the end, they were contaminated by drops of black mud spraying down from above, transforming into mindless monsters.

“Screech!”

Those Eagle Demons let out piercing cries, madly turning to attack other Winged People.

Although Echilio could not see the situation at the mountaintop, the terrible contamination from the black mud and the mythical power that polluted and devoured everything likely inflicted heavy casualties on the Sky Messengers.

Echilio was soaked to the bone, but the physical cold paled in comparison to the ice piercing his heart. This scene left him so stunned that though he wanted to cry out, he could only gape wordlessly at Fenbuk Mountain.

He remained frozen as rain poured into his mouth and drops struck his eyes.

He could not comprehend or understand what was happening.

“What is this?”

“Who is attacking the Winged People? Who is orchestrating such a tragedy?”

In the wild storm, Echilio gazed up at the black mud flowing down from the mountaintop.

He could even sense that all of Fenbuk Mountain was slowly melting away under the devouring contamination of the black mud.

“Is it man?”

“Or perhaps…”

“God?”

Though he had secretly believed the Winged People would become their enemies, he was filled with profound sorrow watching this scene unfold. Countless Winged People transformed into monsters amid screams, and tens of thousands died helplessly.

Still filled him with a profound sense of sorrow.

Echilio turned and fled. As he passed through villages in other mountains and valleys, he had his ghosts mimic the sound of the Avel City-State’s bell tower.

“Dong dong dong!”

Though the sound was not prominent amid the thunder and lightning, it still awakened groups of Winged People outside.

“Boom.”

Lightning illuminated Fenbuk Mountain, and these Winged People immediately saw the terrible scene unfolding above.

After a moment of panic, swarms of Winged People took to the sky, fleeing into the distance.

As Echilio was about to escape the Winged People mountains, he suddenly heard a splitting drone from the sky.

It sounded as if giant hands gripped the sky, trying to tear it in two.

Echilio looked up and saw the most terrifying sight of his life.

The sky had turned completely black as clumps of black mud fell from above.

Within the black mud was an enormous gate.

Unlike the Door of Truth, this gate was carved with countless ancient life forms, depicting the path of life from its beginning until now.

Like the Door of Truth, it gleamed with mythical radiance.

This was a mythical gate, a demigod artifact belonging to the lineage of wisdom.

Echilio finally broke down. Having been too stunned to speak until now, he let out a piercing scream in the downpour, as if using every ounce of his strength.

“God? The Lord of Radiance!” he cried out in despair.

The mythical gate fell from the edge of the Dream Realm, descending into the mortal world.

Even the rain turned black, carrying that filthy evil power and corrupting life at its very source.

“No!”

In the downpour, believer after believer of the Lord of Radiance saw the Gate of Spirituality fall into the mortal world and cried out in despair.

“Lord, this isn’t real, this isn’t real!” Many who had been fleeing simply stopped in their tracks, waiting for death.

“Someone save us, I don’t want to… become… a monster.” A Winged Person weakly flapped its wings in the rain, begging those nearby for help.

But before they could finish speaking, its body had already twisted beyond recognition.

Flying Winged People in the downpour were engulfed one after another by the filthy black rain, transforming into terrible monsters amid their despair.

Endless black mud tangled around the Gate of Spirituality as it fell into the mortal world, crashing heavily onto Fenbuk Mountain.

“Rumble…”

The massive sound could be heard hundreds of miles away.

The earth shook and mountains trembled as huge boulders tumbled down from above.

And where the Gate of Spirituality fell into the mortal world.

All of Fenbuk Mountain melted away, every trace of the Trial City vanishing.

An endless black hole appeared in the earth, an abyss whose bottom could not be seen.

The abyss contained endless black mud.

A fallen chasm representing death, evil, and chaos, gathering all the world’s evil.

Thousands of Eagle Demons revealed their forms in the black mud, struggling to take shape within the filth.

The demons burst from the black mud, soaring skyward from the abyss.

Echilio fled like a madman. He no longer wanted to know what had happened. He only knew to flee, to call everyone to escape this place.

To escape this world where divinity had fallen from its realm, to flee this land where divinity had fallen.

The Winged People were the same.

They either flew away from the black rain amid screams and breakdown, or transformed into Eagle Demons in the darkness.

Echilio no longer made any attempt to conceal himself. He only wanted to escape the ever-expanding range of the filthy black rain.

On such a night of chaos, few Winged People would notice a lone Snake Person slipping through the darkness below.

In the face of natural disaster, all were merely ants struggling to survive.

Echilio found his team members waiting for him in the distance. They too stared at the distance in near breakdown, watching the mythical gate falling from the sky.

Echilio wasted no words, immediately ordering everyone to move out.

The dozen or so people quickly formed ranks and burst out of the jungle onto the main road.

They could no longer prioritize stealth now. Returning as quickly as possible was most important.

At that moment, nearly a hundred Sky Messengers flew overhead.

The two fleeing groups’ eyes met, each discovering the other.

In the stormy black night, both sides stopped.

A six-winged Sky Messenger flickered down from the sky and landed on the ground.

“It’s you.”

Echilio’s team remained silent, their eyes fixed gravely on Duma and the hundred Sky Messengers above.

Those Sky Messengers now stared at them too.

But these Sky Messengers were all nearly broken, their expressions completely blank. They looked at Echilio’s Snake People as if they saw nothing.

If not for Duma, they would likely have been little more than walking corpses who had lost all purpose and will.

Duma knew why Echilio had come, but that no longer mattered now.

Echilio finally spoke, asking Duma.

“What exactly happened?”

Duma’s face showed only numbness, though Echilio noticed her eyes were still red.

Duma only said: “Divinity has fallen into the mortal world.”

Echilio looked at Duma, suddenly understanding something.

His face instantly turned pale as he demanded of Duma.

“You did this?”

“What did you do?”

“What did you do to your own deity to cause the mythical gate to fall into the mortal world?”

Duma offered no explanation, only saying to Echilio.

“My mother has gone mad. She wants to drag everything in the world into the abyss, to become part of the divine.”

“She herself has already become part of the abyss and cannot easily leave it.”

“She has sent monsters to various Winged People towns, preparing to assimilate all Winged People into Abyss Eagle Demons.”

“You likely won’t be spared either.”

Duma raised her head, staring at Echilio as she spoke.

There are no more suitable sacrifices than intelligent beings, and she has surely sent monsters to your territory as well.

Duma summoned a Wing Demon, which descended and landed before them.

The Sky Messengers could all fly, so Wing Demons weren’t as crucial now.

“That’s all I can do for you.”

“You can take it back to warn your people. I have to go help my own.”

Having said this, Duma flew into the sky.

The many Sky Messengers quickly dispersed toward distant places, heading for various Winged People cities and tribes.

Looking at the distant mountains where black rain fell and watching the mythical gate slowly sink into the abyss, Echilio pondered deeply on what Duma had just said.

He suddenly turned his head, letting out a grave shout.

“Move out and get back to the city!”

The massive Wing Demon spread its wings and carried the team of over a dozen people away.

Behind them, more and more Wing Demons burst forth from the abyss, their numbers darkening the entire sky.