King Srkel and Xiuborn exchanged a glance before plumting from the void.
The world spun as their surroundings dissolved into fleeting shadows.
They fell into the boundless waters, enveloped by stillness and profundity.
Xiuborn extended his hand, seeing only darkness before him.
Yet he could feel bubbles slipping through his fingers, rising to the surface and bursting upon the waves above.
The rhythmic sounds of the tides echoed in his ears, wave after wave.
“I am in the deep sea,” Xiuborn imdiately realized.
He did not understand how he had suddenly been transported from the palace of the Suinhor City-State to the ocean depths.
But he knew who had brought him here.
This must be related to the deity King Srkel believed in, the Ruler of the Blood Kingdom of the Deep Sea worshipped by Suinhor.
Beside Xiuborn, King Srkel, who had descended with him, also knew where he had arrived. Looking down, he saw the lighthouse radiating light amidst the darkness.
“The Blood Kingdom of the Deep Sea.”
He had heard his father, King Alpens, speak of this place again and again.
He said there was a lighthouse illuminating the seafloor, an ancient city of indescribable style, a creation from an unimaginable ti long past.
It was a divine miracle, a myth, a godly realm.
The two n passed through the crimson crystals, landing within the Blood Kingdom.
Xiuborn gazed upon the lighthouse, its light a beacon of civilization amidst the depths.
Once more, he heard the chanting of epics and myths.
King Srkel, anwhile, stared into the distant halls above, his heart stirring with anticipation and excitent.
This was his first ti in the Blood Kingdom, and he felt that perhaps he would see his father, King Alpens, on this occasion.
Without a word, Xiuborn and King Srkel began walking upward together.
They knew a great presence awaited them there.
They were about to et a deity.
The Temple of Truth was embedded with stone tablets on all sides, mysterious runes extending from the floor to the walls and all the way to the do above.
At the foot of the throne of flesh and blood stood a tall man. Though his serpentine tail was gone, his hair and features still bore the characteristics of the Snake People.
“Father.”
Srkel couldn’t help but step forward.
He finally confird that his father had not died.
Rather, he had returned to this vast ocean, to the divine realm.
Alpens’ appearance was completely different from his aged form before. He was so young, so strong and valiant.
But Srkel recognized him at a glance.
That unmatched spirit and kingly bearing were qualities no ordinary person could possess.
King Alpens smiled and nodded at Srkel, who then raised his head.
He beheld the deity high above.
Upon the throne of flesh and blood sat a woman in a robe, her hair blood-red, a scepter in her hand.
This ocean and the underwater kingdom were under Her control. She possessed eternal life.
“Blood Progenitor.”
“Ruler of the Blood Kingdom, the great Scarlet Witch.”
“Your faithful Srkel has co to pay homage.”
Srkel prostrated himself before the deity.
Beside him, Xiuborn did the sa. Though this was not the god he believed in, worship and reverence were required for a deity.
Or rather, the mont he saw the deity, he was involuntarily pressed to the ground by Her might.
“Avel man, Xiuborn.”
“I pay homage to the Ruler of the Blood Kingdom of the Deep Sea, the Blood Progenitor beneath the Throne of Life.”
As Xiuborn lowered his head, he noticed a symbol on the deity’s robe.
It was the symbol of truth, imprinted upon the ceremonial robe of the Temple of Truth.
Xiuborn had also seen this symbol in the temple of the God of Knowledge and Truth.
“What does this symbol represent?” The thought suddenly arose in his mind, leading him to speculate whether the deity before him had so direct connection to the God of Knowledge and Truth.
Although Xiuborn had seen the murals in the Sky Temple and heard the epic myths written by the saint Tito, they all recorded stories of the creation myth, with so scenes of saints entering the divine realm.
The Temple of Truth was established by Sandean, the Sage of Truth, a student of the second-generation saint Stan Tito.
Xiuborn was unaware of the existence of this temple and the stirring story behind it.
But whether it was Vivien, Asai, Xiao, or others, everything from the previous era seed inseparable from the Temple of Truth.
A lineage.
Everything began and ended with them; they created all, only to ultimately take it away.
The demigod on the throne of flesh and blood also noticed the symbol Xiuborn had seen, and at the sa ti, She saw through Xiuborn’s power and the Divine Artifact, Polik’s Right Hand, within him.
Vivien had already forgotten many stories, but after Alpens’ return, she had obtained and recalled quite a few past monts from him.
Especially the battle on Sacred Mountain and the key figure, Asai.
If not for Asai’s intervention, even if they could defeat the Little Person in the Bottle, killing this man-made myth would have been incredibly difficult.
She and Alpens both knew Asai’s story, a heartbreaking and despairing tale.
Looking at Xiuborn, she sighed and said, “So Asai has also co to this era?”
“Has he broken free from the painful cycle of reincarnation, willing to awaken from his eternal dream?”
However, when the Blood Progenitor said this, Xiuborn appeared perplexed.
He did not know the past of the God of Knowledge and Truth.
In his eyes, Asai was a deity, an immortal myth.
Even the na Asai carried a sense of ancient mystery and legend.
Without any additional na, the na alone made one feel this was a divine being.
But in Vivien’s eyes, Asai was a living person with a story and a past.
Seeing Xiuborn’s reaction, Vivien understood.
The man before her was rely a mortal, a person chosen by Asai.
Xiuborn said humbly, “I am but a faithful of God.”
The Blood Progenitor nodded, Her gaze growing solemn.
With Her seriousness, an air of gravity and solemnity enveloped the temple.
Both Xiuborn and Srkel felt as if a great mountain pressed down upon them.
A deity’s gaze carried weight.
“Then,” the deity asked, Her voice tinged with a hint of excitent and trembling.
“Chosen of Asai, did you see it?”
“The Sky Temple.”
Srkel heard this na once more. The last ti, he had heard it from the Avel man beside him.
He had never heard of this place before and did not know the significance of this so-called Sky Temple.
To the point that even a deity regarded it with such importance.
But to the Trilobite People, the Sky Temple was their faith, their history, the traces of their existence in this world.
It was the temple built by the second-generation King of Wisdom, the capital of Yinsai.
Within it were enshrined the relics of the First King, King Yesael, the two generations of saints, and the ancestors of all generations, burying the remains of their forefathers, resounding with their devout faith and will.
The Snake People could not possibly understand the significance of the Sky Temple to the Trilobite People and the price they had once paid to reclaim it.
Xiuborn prostrated himself on the ground, revealing everything he knew without any concealnt or reservation.
Because he knew that when he arrived here, his request had already been granted.
He had originally thought that King Srkel might request an oracle from the deity, and the deity would bestow a divine decree.
But the significance of the Sky Temple to the Trilobite People far exceeded his imagination. The Blood Progenitor directly drew their consciousness into the Blood Kingdom, summoning them here.
Xiuborn opened his mouth, but the sound disappeared directly into the temple.
Srkel knew then that it was a secret only known to deities.
“My God bestowed an oracle, telling
that on the frozen plateau, there exist secrets from the previous era, holding the answers I seek.”
“There, beneath Heaven’s Mirror.”
“I saw an ancient city, built upon a mountain peak.”
“The lower half of the mountain could not be seen, descending into endless darkness.”
The deity on the throne of flesh and blood suddenly gripped the scepter, silently reciting in Her heart, “Sacred Mountain, the God-Servant City.”
Her eyes held a sigh, a sense of vicissitudes after losing everything across the ages, witnessing the end of a civilization.
Xiuborn continued.
“I saw two giant statues kneeling to welco the Creator, and suddenly realized there was a more important place above the path.”
“I looked up, and then I saw…”
At this point, Xiuborn couldn’t help but swallow.
“The Sky Temple.”
Everything he had seen inside the Sky Temple was so shocking that every ti he recalled it, he would tremble uncontrollably.
Xiuborn summarized.
He had seen the Sky Temple and the true statue of the Creator.
He heard the epic praising King Redlichia, the King of Wisdom, and saw the stories of the Trilobite People.
Finally, he also described how he had seen one terrifying monster after another rising from the depths of the earth, chasing after him.
The Door of Truth had saved his life, but as he left the mortal realm, he saw a giant eye upon the earth.
As he spoke of this scene again, Xiuborn still trembled like a sieve.
He covered his eyes as if afraid of seeing that horrifying scene once more.
The Blood Progenitor imdiately understood—it was the Sele Sea Spirit, one of the seven Ruhe beasts once bestowed by the Creator to King Redlichia as the authority of the throne.
Only they could preserve the Sky Temple intact, allowing it to span over two hundred million years.
The Blood Progenitor, Vivien, had a certain association. The previous unrest of all the giant beasts…
It turned out to be because this mortal before Her had intruded into the Sky Temple, causing the awakening of the Ruhe beasts.
After hearing everything Xiuborn described, the Blood Progenitor suddenly felt an indescribable emotion in Her heart.
Joy, sorrow, lancholy, and a sigh all surged in Her heart, leaving Her with no desire to speak.
She only said faintly, “I understand.”
Then with a wave of Her hand, She sent Xiuborn and Srkel out of this realm.
The two felt a dizzying sensation, and when they ca to their senses, they were back in the palace.
King Srkel looked at Xiuborn before him with scrutinizing eyes.
Although this was King Srkel’s first ti seeing the deity he believed in, it was not the first ti he had received an oracle.
But he had never seen a deity with such an urgent emotion.
Yes, it could be called urgent.
Although the Blood Progenitor did not appear very impatient, for an immortal deity, Her summoning could already be considered impatient.
Their deity was so eager to find sothing, a place.
That Sky Temple must be extraordinary.
But in the end, King Srkel asked nothing.
He understood.
As a believer, as a mortal, not prying into the secrets of the divine, not seeking to know what one should not know, that was how it should be.
Those mysteries, those things that should not be known, were often the beginning of disaster.
King Srkel said to Xiuborn, “I agree to your condition.”
Xiuborn’s face lit up with joy. “You are a true king.”
He bowed to King Srkel and then vanished from the palace.
As a third-rank Ability bearer, there were few places in this world that could restrict his movent.
—
After sending Xiuborn and Srkel away, the Blood Progenitor, Vivien, sat alone on the throne of flesh and blood, her expression unreadable.
She rested her head on her arm, looking sideways at the scene below.
“The Sky Temple.”
“So it has appeared as well?”
The Temple of Truth was utterly silent, with no sound except for the Blood Progenitor’s sigh.
Alpens knew that at this mont, there was no need to say anything. His emotions were so similar to those of the deity on the throne of flesh and blood.
Finally, the Blood Progenitor couldn’t help but descend from the throne of flesh and blood. She left the Temple of Truth and ca to the cliff mural behind it.
The mural was magnificent and weighty, its colors filled with the style of the late Henir Dynasty, the pinnacle of the Trilobite People. With the power of miracles, they had possessed almost everything, lavishly squandering seemingly inexhaustible resources.
That extravagance, that grandiosity…
It was expressed to the fullest in this magnificent style of painting.
Vivien touched the sun cup flower sea in the painting, as if following the stairway leading to the clouds, ascending to the heights, entering the temple that rged with the sun.
She looked up at the King of Wisdom, Redlichia, standing at the feet of the Creator.
At the Mother of Life, Shelly, to the left of the divine throne, and the Dream Sovereign to the right.
These were the original deities, just like a big family: the descent of the Creator gave birth to Them.
Their birth brought this beautiful and bountiful world, a race with the possibility to create everything.
Whether this race was good or evil, whether this story was beautiful or ugly, they all added the most vibrant colors to this empty and lonely world.
They composed the most enchanting movent for this gray earth.
This painting…
She had completed it according to the scenes in the Sky Temple. It was their indelible past, an image that even reincarnation dared not forget.
Vivien raised her hand high, like a believer looking up at the realm of God.
“Our holy land.”
“Our faith.”
Alpens walked out, unable to help but say, “Lady Vivien.”
“Do you want to go and see?”
The Blood Progenitor did not speak.
She was thinking…
Are we still Trilobite People like this?
Our ancestors, the source of wisdom, the two generations of saints, the two generations of sages…
How would they view her, view them?
She had originally yearned for it so much, anticipated it so much.
But at this very mont, she felt fear and hesitation.
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