It was a simple shrine, nestled quietly in a corner of a street in the western part of the City of Delan.

Though the building was modest and unassuming, the presence of a divine being gave it an undeniable sense of sanctity.

The shrine’s attendants were absent. Perhaps they had been reassigned due to the war and had not yet returned, or maybe they had fallen in the conflict.

Beneath the statue of the divine being stood King Osis. He remembered how this deity had crowned him King of Yinsai and how her protection had allowed him to survive into this era.

“Goddess, I am here,” Osis said.

In a flash, the Blood Mist Cups unfurled beneath his feet.

A delicate mist expanded outward, enveloping Osis and transporting him to the enigmatic Blood Kingdom.

When Osis regained his awareness, he found himself standing behind the Temple of Truth, deep within the heart of the Blood Kingdom.

The Scarlet Goddess stood beneath the genealogy chart of the Creator Divine Beings. The chart showed three beings holding supreme authority under the Eternal Stars. Her gaze rested on the King of Wisdom, Redlichia, who was positioned at the center.

The Scarlet Goddess shifted her gaze back to Osis, her expression firm and unyielding.

It was the kind of look a mother gives a child who has acted carelessly, or a teacher evaluating the progress of her student.

And in truth, that was precisely what it was.

Vivien had personally crowned Osis and had watched him grow up. She had also supported his father, his grandfather, and even his great-grandfather as they ascended to the throne.

She understood the burden that weighed on Osis’s heart. She had tried to counsel him once before, though her efforts had not been very effective at the time.

Now, Vivien posed a question to Osis.

“Osis, what are your thoughts on this era?”

Osis merged with the blood shadow behind him. In this Blood Kingdom, his full memory returned, and he once again became the King of Yinsai, Osis Henir.

“This era,” Osis said, “is rich in resources, filled with life, and home to many intelligent races. It is both the age of the wise and the Age of Gods.”

“However, because of this, the competition between races is far more intense.”

“I can see that in the future, the struggles among the various races will only grow fiercer.”

“And this may not be limited to races alone. I believe the same will be true among the divine beings themselves.”

Vivien nodded with quiet approval, glad that Osis had such insight. “And what of the previous era?” she then asked.

“The previous era was the Age of Yinsai,” he finally spoke, his lips quivering slightly. “Both we and the Demon Abyss Kingdom were fragments that had separated from the Yinsai of the God-Given Land. We were all descendants of King Redlichia’s Bloodline.”

“We and the People of the Abyss were the central figures of that time, each ruling over the land and the sea.”

“Resources were scarce back then, yet the competition between us was not fierce. This was because we were blessed with an abundance of gifts from God Yinsai.”

“But it was precisely because those blessings were so plentiful that we grew overly dependent on the grace of the Supreme Divine Being. We were so absorbed in enjoying the divine gifts that we never truly created anything of our own. And in the end, the God-Forsaken Era arrived.”

“Even after the God-Forsaken Era began,” Osis went on, “we still had more than enough of the divine grace left behind by the gods. We could have sustained the kingdom even without their presence.”

“But because we believed there was no hope left, we all succumbed to despair. We wasted what remained of the divine grace until it was completely depleted.”

“We could have chosen to persevere, to live on with determination, but it was as though everyone had lost the will to continue.”

The clearest example of this failure, the one Osis alluded to most, was himself.

“Every era is like this,” the Scarlet Goddess told Osis. “We enjoy the blessings that the age brings, and we bear the crises it carries in equal measure.”

“I was born in the era when the Evil God descended.”

“The Little Person in the Bottle emerged during that time. My homeland of Cross City was sacrificed, and my teacher, Lan, lost his life to Xiao.”

“At that time, the Evil God and Xiao had joined forces and nearly controlled the entire world. Even so, we still chose to destroy the Evil God.”

Having spoken of her beginning, the Scarlet Goddess then spoke of her end.

“I met my end in the God-Forsaken Era.”

“The Supreme Divine Being left. Both Anli and I reached the end of our lives. I did not know if the Trilobite Men would survive or vanish. All I could do was carry the finest of them and their Bloodlines into the next age.”

“None of us can choose the kind of era we are born into. Every age brings both opportunity and crisis.”

“But even in the most desperate circumstances, one must at least fulfill their purpose,” the Scarlet Goddess said, her gaze fixed on Osis as she delivered her final words.

“In the last era, you failed to carry out your duty as a king.”

“You are a descendant of Henir. Tracing your lineage further, you carry the blood of the Royal Bloodline, the Hosen Kingdom. Every generation of your ancestors is etched into the history of Yinsai. The names of your forebears are held in every chapter of its myths and epics.”

“Your line can be traced all the way back to King Redlichia and the God-Given age, the very origin and beginning of all things.”

“King Henir refused to acknowledge he was a child of Hosen, but that does not change the blood flowing through your veins.”

“Osis, you come from the noblest of origins. I placed the crown of Yinsai upon your head with great expectations.”

“Yet you disappointed me.”

Osis was overwhelmed by shame. He knelt before the Scarlet Goddess, his gaze fixed on the stone wall that displayed the genealogy of the Creator Divine System.

“Even in the God-Forsaken Era, you never gave up. You used every bit of your strength to try and salvage the situation.”

“Lady Vivien, you were the one who carried Yinsai forward. You crossed an entire era to preserve our civilization.”

“I did not deserve to survive. I did not deserve to follow you into this age.”

“You should have left me behind in that old era. I was not a worthy king. I should have been buried with everything that came before.”

Osis grew more impassioned as he spoke. Despite his strength and stature, tears streamed down his face. He pressed his forehead against the ground, unable to meet the gaze of the Scarlet Goddess.

The Scarlet Goddess did not dwell on the subject. Instead, she posed another question to Osis.

“This time, you have marched to war. Your goal is to resolve the problem of Suinhor completely and leave behind a great nation.”

“However, your enemy is no ordinary foe. He will be difficult to overcome.”

“The King of Ghouls, Akmanmon?” Osis asked, steadying his emotions as he raised his head.

“The true Akmanmon already died by my hand,” the Scarlet Goddess said, “after he swore the Crown of Wisdom Covenant.”

“But he had long anticipated his own death. In the end, he fused his Life Dream into an artifact and used Xiao’s methods to cleverly obtain the power of the Ritual’s source.”

“The Akmanmon now in the Red Earth Territory is merely a ghoul created by the Divine Artifact, the Silver Insect. It possesses Akmanmon’s memory, but it is not truly him. It does, however, wield Akmanmon’s power and carry his Knowledge.”

“He cannot be killed. Even if you destroy this body, the Divine Artifact, the Silver Insect, will immediately create a new Akmanmon.”

“So everything those heretics from the Church of Silver and White claimed is true?” Osis asked, recalling the rumor. “Akmanmon truly cannot be killed?”

“It is not that he cannot be killed,” the Scarlet Goddess replied. “The issue is that we do not yet have a way to destroy the Divine Artifact, the Silver Insect, directly. Though I am a Demigod of the Life Ability, the Dream Realm is still an unexplored domain for me.”

“However, I have a method to seal him. Without the King of Ghouls, the ghoul race will lose its ability to cause destruction across the Earth.”

At this point, the Scarlet Goddess handed Akmanmon’s skull to Osis.

“This is the skull of the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon.”

“It has a natural connection to the Divine Artifact, the Silver Insect. If used correctly, it can also neutralize the artifact’s power.”

The Scarlet Goddess explained to Osis the process of using the skull, detailing the ritual and the method required to seal Akmanmon.

“Lady Vivien,” Osis asked, holding Akmanmon’s skull, “after we seal this Akmanmon, won’t the Silver Insect just create another one?”

“A mere artifact does not possess that kind of Wisdom,” the Scarlet Goddess told Osis, “except for Mythical Artifacts.”

“Without Anhofus’s 《Immortal Form and Artificial Humans》, Xiao’s 《The Path of Wisdom》, or the Divine Grace Four-Part Secret Technique of the Royal Bloodline Samo family, such things can never give birth to true Wisdom or a self-aware personality.”

“No matter how clever Xiao’s methods are, they are still just objects. They function only according to their original design.”

“Because of this, when Akmanmon created the Silver Insect, he would never have designed it to produce multiple Akmanmons. That would only lead to infighting among the ghouls, which would scatter and weaken the power of the Divine Artifact.”

“One Akmanmon would never tolerate the existence of another. From what we can observe, that seems to be the case.”

Osis nodded in understanding.

“Aside from that,” the Scarlet Goddess then asked, “how do you plan to defeat a Fourth-Rank Apostle of the Wisdom Ability?”

“I have already written to Kurmis,” Osis replied. “He will lend me his strength.”

“It seems you have prepared well,” the Scarlet Goddess said.

“This is my responsibility,” Osis responded.

The Scarlet Goddess looked at Osis, and the stern expression she had worn finally softened. A gentle smile spread across her face as she gazed at him, as if she were looking at her own child.

“This time, you must be a proper king.”

Osis knelt upon the ground and finally lifted his head, meeting the gaze of the Scarlet Goddess directly.

“Thank you, Lady Vivien.”

“I will no longer drown in despair. I will confront my duty with resolve.”

In that moment, he began to grasp why the Scarlet Goddess had chosen him, at least in part, to be the king of this generation.

Volcano Forest

Lately, the base of the Feathered Serpent’s pyramid had been bustling with activity. New Lizard People had been born.

These tiny Lizard People were not yet able to walk and could only crawl along the ground.

Still, the joy and energy of new life filled the entire Lizard People tribal village.

Anu was the chief and village leader of this Lizard People tribe, as well as the Chief Divine Servant of the Feathered Serpent God.

At that moment, he found himself surrounded by a crowd of Lizard People. Among them were men and women holding children in their arms. Everyone approached Anu with requests, treating him as if he were a source of endless resources.

“Chief Anu, do you have any more of that food paste you mentioned? The one that’s good for the children?”

“Chief Anu, is there any Divine Weave left? I would like to have some more.”

“Chief, the library we are building in the village needs a whole slab of glass.”

“Chief…”

Anu possessed a miraculous pouch, a gift from an encounter in the Moonlight Jungle. It was believed to have been given to him by a being suspected of being a Spirit.

He called it the Pouch of Woven Hope.

The pouch had a unique power. If you held hope in your heart, made a wish to it, and paid the price, it would grant your request.

He did not know that the name ‘hope’ happened to correspond with a certain Supreme Divine Being.

The pouch was so extraordinary that even the will of the Feathered Serpent Kurmis within the pyramid had awakened specifically to examine it.

In the past, Anu had granted nearly every request to understand the full extent of the pouch’s trading capabilities. Over several months, he had meticulously recorded everything it could exchange.

This time, however, Anu chose not to fulfill everyone’s requests.

“The pouch can only be used a limited number of times,” he announced. “We cannot afford to use it recklessly.”

“From now on, every use must be carefully considered. We must reserve the Pouch of Woven Hope for our most essential needs and only in the most pressing situations.”

“We must also plan ahead and ensure that we exchange enough supplies in a single use to avoid wasting any activations.”

The Lizard People nodded in agreement, recognizing that this was the more thoughtful approach.

“What we need most right now is food for the children. The food from the Pouch of Woven Hope is better suited for them and will help them grow stronger.”

“Next, we need a large supply of paper. Our children must learn, so the knowledge we possess must be passed down. Even the methods for our rituals need to be recorded.”

“After that, we need to trade with the outside world…”

Anu carefully listed every resource the tribe most urgently needed.

Once the list was complete, he read it aloud to everyone and outlined the schedule for what would be exchanged each day.

The Lizard People then brought forth their sacrificial offerings to serve as payment. This time, it was a crystal obtained from the body of a mutated wild beast.

They placed the crystal into the pouch, and a cascade of colorful light radiated outward. The pouch seemed to open a connection to another world, the legendary Spirit Country.

Almost immediately, the items they needed began to flow steadily out of the pouch, one after another.

Though the goods seemed to flow endlessly, there were clear limitations. The amount of trade goods placed inside was restricted, and the pouch’s opening was only so wide. Even with items emerging without pause, the total quantity was capped.

For the Lizard People at their current stage, however, this was more than sufficient.

“It’s coming out! It’s coming out!”

“How does this pouch even work? How can it make all this appear?”

“It can even produce Divine Weave! Where does it all come from?”

The Lizard People broke into cheers. No matter how many times they witnessed it, the pouch never ceased to amaze them.

Anu gazed at the pouch, feeling his previous exchange had been well worth it.

This pouch, capable of producing a bounty of supplies, would later be revered as a sacred relic of the Lizard People and become an enduring part of their legends and myths.

After finishing his duties as chief, Anu made his way to the altar at the base of the pyramid.

Tomorrow was this month’s ceremony, and all preparations for the sacrifice and worship of the Feathered Serpent God needed to be completed by day’s end.

As Anu finished sweeping the altar, the pyramid’s stone doors creaked open. He paused, then realized what the sound signified.

He placed his belongings on the ground and stepped inside.

In the pyramid’s innermost chamber, Kurmis had awakened at some point and was now waiting for him.

“Lord Kurmis,” Anu said, kneeling at the end of the passage before the Seed Jar of the Feathered Serpent God.

The moment they met, Kurmis presented a gift to Anu.

“This is a leaf from the Dream Vine of the Lake Nymph. It is a ritual medium that allows you to connect with the Nymph’s Barter Dream.”

“It is somewhat similar to your Pouch of Woven Hope. Your pouch can trade vast quantities of various supplies, and in that respect, nothing else compares. Through the Lake Nymph, however, you can trade for extraordinary items, including artifacts ranked within the top one hundred Sequence Numbers. That is something your pouch cannot do.”

“How you choose to use it is entirely up to you.”

As a candidate divine being, the Lake Nymphs had naturally provided Kurmis with a leaf. Since Kurmis had no immediate need for it, he decided to give it to Anu instead.

After hearing Kurmis’s explanation, Anu understood the leaf’s purpose and stored it away with great care.

According to Kurmis, the Lake Nymph’s abilities seemed to share similarities with the pouch Anu possessed.

Unbeknownst to Anu, his pouch was an earlier design created by the Dream Sovereign before the Lake Nymphs were formed. It served as a prototype connected to their intended role.

“Lord Kurmis, is this the only reason you awakened?”

Kurmis sat on the golden seed jar, shaking his head as he looked at Anu.

“There are a few other matters I must entrust to you.”

“Something unusual happened recently. God’s Moon appeared in the sky.”

“I saw it as well,” Anu said with a nod.

“I have heard that God’s Moon is the moon of the Dream Realm, and that it is said to originate from the Creator’s Domain.”

“Oddly, the more powerful someone is, the less they can truly gaze upon it. It is actually lower-ranked Ability Users like us who can gain certain benefits from its moonlight.”

“My only regret is that it stayed for such a short time before disappearing.”

Anu thought back to that moon, and the memory of it was still vivid. He could only regret how quickly it had disappeared.

“That is because this time, the appearance of God’s Moon was unlike any other,” Kurmis said. “Someone succeeded in connecting with the power of that moon.”

“Someone connected with God’s Moon?” Anu was stunned. “What kind of person could possibly achieve something like that?”

“It was the same ghoul that broke into the pyramid before,” Kurmis answered.

“I heard that the southwestern territories have been overrun with ghouls,” Anu responded immediately. “King Osis himself has led a great army to suppress them.”

“Even in the Maya Territory, a few ghouls were spotted, but they were eliminated as soon as they were discovered, so the situation never spiraled out of control.”

“But I never imagined God’s Moon appeared because of that ghoul. What could that creature have possibly done?”

When Anu spoke of Akmanmon, his voice was filled with anger and hatred.

“I once heard certain secrets,” Kurmis said, “while I was in the Royal Court of Ten Thousand Serpents, now known as the Executive Nation of Ten Thousand Serpents.”

“At that time, I was living in Apostle Sukob’s Contract Lawyer Academy. Sukob carried the blood of the Avel people, remnants who had long ago stayed on Ruhe Beast Island. According to their legend, the Avel hero Yafuan once swore an oath to God’s Moon and imprisoned the Abyss in eternal darkness.”

“From that day on, the Abyss could no longer interfere with reality directly. It could only act when a fallen individual offered themselves as a medium, making a request for the Abyss to open its gates.”

Kurmis’s voice trembled slightly as he recounted this.

“A single oath that could imprison the entire Abyss, with its countless Abyss Monsters and even the Evil God of the Abyss.”

“It is truly beyond imagination.”

He could not understand it himself, and he muttered quietly, “How could such a thing even be achieved?”

Anu’s mouth fell open in astonishment. This was the first time he had heard such a legend, and he never imagined such a story was connected to the Abyss.

“You can swear an oath to God’s Moon and achieve that?” he asked quickly. “Why would it respond to such an oath? What exactly is God’s Moon?”

“I do not know the specifics,” Kurmis admitted.

“But King Osis contacted me recently through the Blood Mist Cups. He sought my help and shared some information with me.”

“These ancient divine races know far more than we can imagine.”

“He told me God’s Moon appeared because that ghoul, the one who came here before, swore a Race Covenant. It is also known as the Crown of Wisdom Covenant.”

“That ghoul has now become an Apostle and poses a threat to countless lives.”

“He hopes for my assistance in eliminating this ghoul who now wields the power of an Apostle.”

After hearing everything, Anu found himself completely at a loss.

“Lord Kurmis,” he asked, understanding the deeper meaning behind his words, “are you asking me to join the war to exterminate the ghouls?”

“We have to kill it,” he said, his tone resolute. “For Lek.”

Lek was the Lizard Person who had ridden a Wing Demon and had been consumed by the Plague Blood Curse during Akmanmon’s rampage.

“It is not just about that,” Kurmis told Anu. “If the Lizard People want to survive on Ruhe Beast Island and grow stronger, they need to integrate into this world. This is an excellent opportunity.”

“I will attach a seed to your body. When the time comes, you can temporarily borrow most of my power through a Ritual and gain the rank of an Apostle for a short time.”

“King Osis has made other preparations on his side as well. He is of a divine race and has a goddess supporting him.”

“As long as you proceed with caution, there should not be any problems.”

“I understand,” Anu said with a nod.

The next day, after the ceremony, Anu chose a small group of Lizard People and departed immediately for the border between the Delanvos Territory and the Red Earth Territory.

Armies gathered from all corners of the land, streaming steadily into the Delanvos Territory and the Char Territory. The local forces of both regions were gradually brought under King Osis’s command and integrated into his ranks.

The allied forces systematically cleared the ghouls rampaging through these lands, steadily closing in on the Red Earth Territory.

Yet, everyone understood the reality.

The ghouls roaming the outer regions were nothing more than minor threats. The true terror lay deep within the Red Earth Territory.

Osis had advanced the front line to the border of the Red Earth Territory. As night fell, he stared into the distance, but he could not see even the faintest glimmer of lamplight, only an endless expanse of darkness.

Within that darkness, he could not tell how many hidden monsters were waiting.

“King of Ghouls, Akmanmon.”

Osis spoke the name of the greatest enemy he now faced. This was a foe who could not be permanently killed, and the immense difficulty of the challenge made Osis’s brow tighten with concern.

Even with the Scarlet Goddess’s support, executing the plan would be anything but easy.

At that moment, several cloaked Lizard People appeared.

“Chief Anu,” Osis said, stepping out of his tent to greet them. “I reached out to Kurmis for assistance, but I did not expect you to arrive so soon.”

When Osis saw them, his face brightened with relief and joy. Their arrival at this critical moment felt like a blessing in a time of great need.

“The people of Suinhor will always remember the help provided by Lord Kurmis and all of you.”

“We also hope that we can live in peace with Suinhor forever,” Anu replied with a nod.

“That is a certainty,” Osis said, clapping him on the shoulder.

With Kurmis backing him, Anu was brimming with confidence and showed no fear toward the King of Ghouls.

“Your Majesty, when do we begin reclaiming the Red Earth Territory? Has the King of Ghouls been located?”

“The King of Ghouls has not yet been found,” Osis said, “but he is likely somewhere within the Red Earth Territory.”

“At the moment, the ghouls are frantically plundering the Divine Blood of the intelligent races. They offer it to what they call the God of Silver and White, the Silver Insect.”

“Even so, they are contained for now. Most of the ghouls in the Delanvos Territory have been cleared out, and I have used artifacts to seal and destroy the Cannibal Worms within them.”

“Can you confirm that Akmanmon is in the Red Earth Territory?” Anu asked.

“The King of Ghouls himself acts as a medium,” Osis told him, “serving as the ritual’s center to channel the power of the Silver Insect.”

“Wherever he resides, the number of ghouls multiplies at an extraordinary rate, sometimes dozens or even hundreds of times faster than normal. Based on the current state of the Red Earth Territory, we are confident he is there.”

“At the very least, he is there for now.”

Anu nodded with a sense of reassurance.

Their greatest concern was not the strength of the King of Ghouls, but the possibility that the monster had already escaped.

“As long as he is in the Red Earth Territory, this will be his end.”

“He may not die easily,” Osis said with a hearty laugh, “but his ultimate fate will be no different from death.”

At that moment, a dreadful horn echoed from the dark jungle in the distance.

It was the chilling roar of the ghouls. In the shadows, it seemed as if fresh corpses were clawing their way out of their graves.

King Osis narrowed his eyes, his brow tightening as he stared into the darkness.

“These monsters. They do not even allow the dead to rest in peace.”

“This time, we will destroy them entirely.”

At that very same moment, in the dark jungle far away, a young man appeared in God’s Form. He was dressed in garments woven from the silk of Silk-Weaving Spirit Insects.

He walked over a hillside where the slope was lined with the wooden frames of a graveyard.

As he moved, an invisible force radiated outward, unsettling everything in his path.

Suddenly, the soil began to shift. Strange noises echoed from beneath the ground, and rotting hands burst through the wooden planks, clawing their way to the surface.

The corpses buried in the graves rose one after another, their shrill and haunting cries piercing the night.

The figure who had arrived was none other than Akmanmon.

Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to call him Akmanmon the Second.

The King of Ghouls was not in the Red Earth Territory at all. He had already left it behind and approached King Osis’s encampment, completely on his own.

Akmanmon turned toward King Osis’s encampment and spoke in a cold, mocking tone, his voice devoid of any warmth or emotion.

“What is the point of killing ghouls? You might as well kill everything that lives, including yourselves.”

Akmanmon had no interest in engaging in a grand decisive battle with King Osis, nor did he see the Red Earth Territory as his stronghold for a futile last stand.

To him, it was nothing more than a place to manufacture ghouls and harvest Divine Blood.

He cast a brief glance at the troops guarding the fortress pass before turning and walking away into the distance.

His true target was not King Osis and his army.

While Akmanmon the Second continued to create more ghouls, his ambitions reached far beyond that.

Simply accumulating Divine Blood and manufacturing ghouls was insufficient. What he truly sought was the method of becoming a god.

In truth, the latter held far greater significance to him than the former.

No matter how much Divine Blood one accumulated, without the method, one would remain nothing more than a mindless tool or an artifact controlled by others. Only by acquiring the method to create a Mythical Artifact could one claim the authority and power of myth.

Under the night sky, Akmanmon the Second’s eyes shone with a deep yearning.

Like the original Akmanmon, his ambition remained the same. He sought to ascend to divinity and grow ever stronger.

The stronger he became, the more freedom he would gain, free from the threats of others.

The power of an Apostle was insufficient. Only by becoming a true divine being could he find the security he craved.

He was chasing the same goal that Akmanmon had always pursued.

At the very least, the current Akmanmon the Second saw himself as the true Akmanmon. He believed he was the one who had emerged from the Life Dream and entered the mortal world through projection and ritual.

He continued walking east without pause.

“The Feathered Serpent Kurmis, a mortal striving for godhood, a Child of Fortune who has uncovered the secrets of the divine.”

“Let me witness the true path to becoming a god!”

His target was the Maya Territory, specifically the Volcano Forest.

Once again, he had set his sights on Kurmis. His purpose remained the same as before: to steal the method of becoming a god.

This time, however, he was already an Apostle. He was the true King of Ghouls.

As for the Red Earth Territory and its ghouls, Akmanmon the Second had completely abandoned them. He treated them as nothing more than a decoy to divert the attention of King Osis and even the divine beings themselves.