Chapter 1.1-1.10 At the Beginning of the Epoch, Gray Mist Obscured
Chapter 1.2-1.6 Deathly Silence Pervaded Heaven and Earth, Icy Cold Frozen the Seas
Chapter 1.3-1.9 The Lords Drove Away the Deathly Silence, Initiating a New Epoch
Chapter 1.4-1.10 And then, there was fire.
Chapter 1.5-1.10 When fire burned, wind was born. When wind cooled, water was born. When water stagnated, earth was condensed. When earth accumulated, fire was conceived.
Chapter 1.6-1.10 Endless rotation, is the soul of origin.
Chapter 1.7-1.10 The Lords, through the soul of origin, created all things from the gray mist.
Chapter 1.8-1.10 And in their own image, used the soul of earth to create man, the various races.
Chapter 1.9-1.10 The Lord of Fire bestowed the soul. The Lord of Wind bestowed the bone. The Lord of Judgment bestowed the blood.
Chapter 1.10-1.10 Finally, they bestowed this world upon us.

—The Covenant, New Epoch

Dawn.

Beside a quietly burning, light-gold elemental lamp, a tall man with graying hair sat at a table, reading a thick, iron-bound scripture.

He wore the white and gold robes of a high priest, and there were noticeable wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. Even with his current aged appearance, one could still tell that this man was once a spirited and handsome youth.

"Clang."

Suddenly, he closed the iron-bound covenant in his hands, creating a loud metallic clash.

The man raised his head, his azure eyes, like the sky, turned to the coastal area of Dusk City outside the window, to the dark clouds already gathering in the sky.

"There are clouds, there is wind, today is not suitable for going out to sea... but I still must go."

The priest muttered to himself as he stood up, then picked up the heavy sacred book from the table, hung it at his waist, and locked it with an iron chain, creating another metallic 'clang'.

Priests are not allowed to carry swords, knives, guns, or other weapons with sharp blades or pointed protrusions that could easily harm others. In fact, even for dining knives, priests only use safe knives with serrations on only one side.

Because the Lords love everyone, they established various 'covenants,' one of which constrains their priests – priests are not allowed to use weapons and tools created to harm others, nor are they allowed to initiate any battles; they can only act in self-defense.

Similarly, for any reason, anyone who attacks a priest commits a serious crime, unless the priest actively breaks the 'covenant' and initiates the attack first.

However, it would be too late to find a suitable weapon when a priest needs to defend himself... and the specially crafted iron-bound covenant is a good defensive weapon.

An ordinary covenant contains five records and seventeen books, totaling one thousand nine hundred pages, weighing nine kilograms.

It is thick, sturdy, and can be used as a shield for defense, or wrapped with an iron chain and used as a meteor hammer.

The covenant strengthens both faith and personal safety, and is an essential item for most priests for home travel, preaching, and self-defense.

At this moment, the gray-haired priest had completed all the preparations for his trip. He extinguished the elemental lamp beside him and silently clasped his hands in the darkness, offering a simple prayer.

Now, Aemon would set sail, heading to the sea area where the divine迹(shenji - divine trace/miracle) had appeared last night, to pay homage to the God he truly believed in.

"Good morning, Lord Aemon, you're leaving so early? Are you going to venerate the divine descent?"

Leaving his room and descending the stairs, Aemon encountered the innkeeper cleaning at the entrance, an old man with some white scales on his arm and already white hair.

Raising his head, the boss looked at the fully armed priest with some surprise, almost as if he was going to crusade against pirates. He lowered his head slightly and whispered a blessing, "Glory to our Lord, Judgment and Justice – may you have a safe journey."

"Glory to our Lord, Judgment and Justice. Thank you for your blessing."

Aemon politely bowed slightly to the elder and took out a small bag of silver coins from his arms, handing it to the other party, "I'll be out at sea for some time, please keep my room for me and don't let anyone else enter it, please."

"Of course, your room will be reserved for you." The elderly boss put down his broom and took the silver coins. He squinted his eyes and counted out a small portion of them, then wanted to hand the money bag containing most of the coins back to Aemon, "We are compatriots, and you are a priest of our Lord. We shouldn't take so much from you—"

"If we are compatriots, we shouldn't be so polite."

With his hands behind his back, Aemon smiled gently. He did not take the money bag back, but turned and left directly, walking out of the inn door.

"Hey!"

The boss originally wanted to catch up, but his legs and feet were really not nimble. By the time he walked out of the inn door, Aemon's tall figure had already disappeared into the darkness of the early morning at the street corner leading to the port.

With no other choice, the boss could only accept the bag of silver coins. He returned to the inn somewhat dejectedly and continued cleaning, muttering to himself, "If I weren't really old, I'd want to witness our Lord's divine迹(shenji - divine trace/miracle) too..."

"I can only hope that Lord Aemon has a smooth journey."

At this time, walking on the street leading to the port, Aemon breathed in the salty smell of the sea, feeling the special atmosphere of Dusk City, a port city.

At this time before dawn, many people in the city had already started working. Dockworkers and fishermen hurried back and forth, preparing for today's voyage – it was almost low tide, and if they didn't take advantage of this time to go to sea, it would take several times the effort.

But today, there were also many people who were not workers and fishermen walking towards the port.

The elemental lamps along the road flickered with dim yellow light, illuminating the bustling crowd. They stepped on the gray stone-paved streets, mostly fully armed, with excited expressions, and greeted each other when they met.

Aemon was naturally no exception. Most people recognized him as a priest and saluted him, and Aemon returned the greetings one by one with a smile on his face.

If one had keen eyes, they would notice that these people all had traces of white scales on their bodies.

The core residents of the Holy Fire Kingdom are mostly the People of Fire. That is, life with the Soul of Fire, the Bone of Wind, and the Blood of Judgment.

Most People of Fire are humanoid, but some of them will have white scales appear on certain parts of their bodies, or their eyes will have dragon pupils, which is a symbol of the Blood of Judgment.

There are also some people who have exoskeletons on certain parts of their bodies, which is likely because their ancestors had been favored by the Lord of Wind, or were descendants of those who married the People of Wind.

Those with these abnormal characteristics have closer relationships with each other than ordinary People of Fire. They call each other compatriots, just like Aemon and the innkeeper, and they are also more inclined to believe in the God associated with their physical characteristics.

Yesterday evening, at high tide, everyone in Dusk City saw the sacred痕(hen - mark) of divine descent in the distance. This was undoubtedly great news for the believers of the Lord of Judgment. Going out to sea to approach the area where the divine descent appeared was what everyone wanted to do.

Of course, this is just a characteristic. They are all People of Fire. Even if they grow exoskeletons, they are just People of Fire with the characteristics of the People of Wind. These are two completely different races.

The main difference between the People of Fire and the People of Wind is whether the bones are inside or outside, but no matter which race they are, they all respect the Three Gods. It's just that the Lord of Fire and the Lord of Wind are the main Gods of their people.

However, there are very few People of Wind on the Holy Fire Continent.

In the ‘Separation Record’ following the ‘New Epoch’ chapter of the covenant, it is recorded that after the Three Gods worked together to create the New Epoch, the Lord of Wind took most of the People of Wind and a small number of the People of Fire to another continent.

Then the People of Fire lit the Holy Fire in the Holy Fire City and established the first year of the Elemental Calendar of the New Epoch.

Then, more than two hundred years later, people crossed the Yuesque Sea and discovered the New Continent and the kingdom of the People of Wind, proving the truth of the Covenant's records.

In the Holy Fire Kingdom, everyone is a believer of the Lord of Fire.

They worship the very first flame lit at the beginning of the New Epoch, believing it to be a symbol of the beginning of everything.

Whether it is the Holy Fire in each port that guides ships, or the central Holy Fire burning in the main hall of the central sanctuary, it burns to guide people to live on the right path.

However, precisely because everyone is a believer, this has instead become a kind of culture. In addition to the Lord of Fire, people will also respectively believe in the Lord of Wind and the Lord of Judgment.

The believers of the Lord of Wind are mostly scouts, adventurers, explorers, strange inventors, and so on.

The believers of the Lord of Judgment are mostly judges, defenders, wandering adjudicators, and sheriffs.

Only those with truly profound knowledge can simultaneously believe in the Three Gods. That represents supreme glory, being favored by the Three Lords at the same time.

Only those who are recognized by the Three Gods at the same time can become the leader of a town and the high priest above the priest. This is a hard requirement.

And Aemon is a believer of the Lord of Judgment, a Judgment Priest.

His azure pupils and the few white scales behind his ears are clear proof of the manifestation of the Blood of the Lord of Judgment – when Aemon is excited, his pupils will even transform into dragon eyes, which is an extremely rare characteristic among the believers of the Lord of Judgment.

In addition to his work as a priest, he also works part-time as a professional defender and a wandering adjudicator... In simple terms, he defends people and, as a mobile adjudicator, provides services to suburban residents who cannot go to court to judge and adjudicate the crimes of criminals.

This time, he came to Dusk City because some time ago, there was a surprise attack by an elite pirate fleet on the temple here.

A total of three large pirate ships jointly attacked the temple of Dusk City. They broke through the defenses of the Holy Temple and seized the Fragment of the Soul of Origin Water preserved within, but because they feared the divine punishment of the Lord of Judgment, they did not kill a single person after completing their mission, and returned to the sea just like that.

The Central Sanctuary believes that this attack was too suspicious. The pirates seized the opportunity to attack the temple too accurately – Dusk City High Priest Gelo happened to be in the suburbs at that time, comforting local farmers who had poor harvests due to heavy snow, taking more than half of the priests and transcendents of the entire temple with him, so that the empty Dusk City Temple had no power to fight back in the face of the pirate attack.

So the Sanctuary sent Aemon to investigate the situation and find out if there were any traitors or informants inside the temple.

"...Since the rebellion more than a hundred years ago, heresy has spread more and more widely, and even inside the temple, not everyone is 100% pious anymore."

Recalling his mission, Aemon couldn't help but sigh. While checking whether he had brought all the prepared items with him, he looked at the still dark sea in the distance, his heart filled with worry and confusion, "But the Lords have always remained silent, never answering, allowing these lies to fill the world."

"Why is that?"

With such doubts in mind, he had now arrived at the port of Dusk City.

The port of Dusk City has a classical design, built with large blocks of rock. Most of them were foundations laid by the first wave of explorers from the Holy Fire City three hundred years ago. They used stone pillars that were difficult to corrode with seawater to support the docks and berthing points, and artificially built dikes to keep the harbor calm.

Beside the port, on a protruding coastline, stood a towering temple. The temple had a huge dome design and a bell tower, which made it look majestic and spectacular – but one could see that there was a very obvious semicircular opening on the side of the temple. Although it had been mostly filled, the traces of destruction were still very obvious.

Those were the traces left by the pirates when they seized the Fragment of the Soul of Origin Water months ago.

The Fragment of the Soul of Origin Water is a strange thing that randomly appears in certain secret realms of the sea.

It is shaped like a crystal sea urchin with soft thorns. If someone eats it, they will have various special water-related superpowers, depending on the person.

However, not to mention that, in the rumors, the taste of the Fragment of the Soul of Origin Water is so bad that it can cause people to faint... After eating the Fragment of Origin Water, if the eater leaves the sea for a long time, they will lose all their power, even their lives.

So even if the Holy Fire Sanctuary collects it, it is nothing more than using the power of this fragment to warn of sea storms and the movement of fish schools, and will not actually use it.

In the mouths of pirates, the Fragment of the Soul of Origin Water is a fragment derived from the 'Soul of Water,' the only one of the four Souls of Origin left by the Lords – unlike the Holy Fire Sanctuary, they have been chasing the power of these fragments.

Speaking of this, it involves the content following the 'Covenant, New Epoch'.

Legend has it that the Lords used the 'Soul of Earth' to create the bodies of the various races, then used the 'Soul of Fire' to give the mud shells life and vitality, and finally used the 'Soul of Wind' to make their minds work, gain wisdom, and be able to move.

When the Three Souls are united, people are transformed from mud into life – but in this process, the Gods did not use the 'Soul of Water', so it remained in place, eventually turning into the current Seven Seas.

Because there is no power of the Soul of Water in the body, everything in this world feels thirsty and needs water to continue to survive.

However, because the Lords did not bestow water on all things, life certainly needs water, but rashly entering the water will lead to death – especially the water in the sea, which cannot be drunk directly, and will make one more and more thirsty, and even poisoning if one drinks too much.

It is recorded in the covenant that the God of Fire once had a sacred saying:

[Do not rashly approach water. All rivers, lakes, seas, and wells are dangerous. Good people should not approach water unless necessary. People can drown in a foot of water.]

Therefore, most People of Fire will never get too close to water in their lives. Except for fishermen and sailors who transport goods, only the heretical pirates will actively go to the sea.

But this time, Aemon had to do the same thing as the pirates.

Because today, he also had to actively go to the sea to explore the traces of the Lord of Judgment's divine descent.

At this time, the gray-haired priest had arrived at the corner of the port, at the dock dedicated to the Holy Temple, beside a single-person skiff.

This ship was approved by the Central Sanctuary for Aemon to investigate the attack on the Dusk City Temple. In the past few months, Aemon has been driving it, analyzing from the sea and the land at which angle the pirates had entered the temple, and what clues they had left.

Because the investigation ended some time ago, this boat is no longer needed, so now is a good time to use it for personal purposes.

"No, no..." Thinking of this, Aemon couldn't help but shake his head vigorously.

– When it comes to matters of the Lord, can that be called using public resources for private gain?

For a priest, matters concerning the God are of utmost importance. What pirate attacks and possible traitors should all get out of the way!

One must know that not only Aemon, but all the residents of Dusk City saw the various divine迹(shenji - divine trace/miracle) of the Lord of Judgment – although they quickly disappeared, like illusions, the huge dragon-shaped phantom, and the lightning-streaked light, could all prove this point.

Unlike the Lord of Fire and the Lord of Wind, who have descended several times, even in the covenant, the Lord of Judgment has never descended even once.

And yesterday's appearance was the first time since the New Epoch!

Aemon was 100% sure that the investigation order from the Central Sanctuary would come down soon, requiring him to investigate the divine descent as quickly as possible. He was just taking action in advance.

In fact, many locals were preparing to do the same.

One could see that, for the divine迹(shenji - divine trace/miracle), many fishing boats gave up their plans to go out to sea to fish today, and merchant ships also unloaded their goods. They suspended their work for a day and all decided to go out to sea to explore.

So, just as this gray-haired priest boarded his single-person skiff and prepared to depart.

At this dark dawn, at low tide, hundreds of fishing boats and small ships of various sizes set sail at the same time, drawing white waves on the blue sea, heading towards the distance.

At this moment, the bell tower of the Dusk City Temple at the port also rang, echoing between heaven and earth.

In the center of Dusk City, the pure white Holy Fire burning in the Holy Fire Tower suddenly shone brightly. It cast a straight beam of light, pointing remotely to a certain sea area in the distance.

That was the sea area where the Lord of Judgment descended during high tide yesterday.

This is the light that guides everyone to the place of the divine迹(shenji - divine trace/miracle), and it also shows the official attitude of Dusk City.

So, in this silent blessing, everyone set off, following the instructions of the Holy Fire, sailing in the darkness.

Aemon turned his head with a smile, then entered his single-person skiff. He started the skiff's elemental engine, causing the rotating elemental power to push the boat forward, following the receding tide, heading towards the depths of the ocean.

For a time, the wind and waves began to surge, and the white skiff quickly surpassed many ships that had departed earlier, leaving the coastal area behind and leaving the coastline on the horizon.

This is not surprising.

This seemingly ordinary skiff actually contains the most advanced technology of the Central Sanctuary – the elemental furnace core, which seems to be only the size of a human head, can release tens of thousands of times the power of an elemental lamp furnace, allowing the skiff to cut through the waves and sail normally in the wind and waves.

It is said that the Sanctuary is developing a larger-sized elemental furnace core to drive a super warship cast in iron... With this kind of large warship that does not need to worry about wind direction or ocean currents, the pirates' doomsday is coming.

However, in the final analysis, this elemental skiff is just an experimental product. Ordinary wind and waves are fine, but it cannot withstand the most terrible storms in the summer ocean.

And that is what Aemon worried about – even if the sun hadn't risen yet, he could see that the sky above the Yuesque Sea at this time was full of dark clouds, but there was no sign of rain or waves... This proved that a real storm would arrive soon, and at that time, even the largest mast sailing ship would probably be in danger.

"But if I wait until after the storm to look for it, I definitely won't find any traces."

There is always risk involved in everything. Aemon would rather take the risk than miss it.

But not everyone is as devout as him. After the initial passion, noticing that the weather was wrong, some ships had already begun to stop their actions one after another and start to return.

Gradually, a strong wind rose on the sea, dark clouds surged in the sky, and thunder rumbled faintly.

Three hours after setting sail, what Aemon was worried about finally happened – the storm did come.

Accompanied by a dull rumble like a drumbeat, the wind began to rage, the dark clouds hung down as if collapsing, and at the same time as the downpour, they also stirred up stormy waves.

Aemon stared at the high waves on both sides of the skiff and the completely dimmed sky. Although the momentum wasn't great now, he was almost certain that this was a rare big storm. The waves were okay now, but later the huge waves that would be higher than the entire ship would definitely rise up, like a wall, sandwiching it in the blue waves.

Even with more power than an ordinary sailing warship, this skiff could not overcome the power of nature.

Faced with this storm, even more ships that had prepared to venerate began to retreat – the sails were already useless. Under the impact of irresistible waves, no matter how hard they paddled, they would only be driven around like toys. Even the most pious heart could not overcome the fact that if they did not retreat, they would be swallowed by the storm at any time.

For a time, more ships decided to return, and Aemon was also worried.

"This storm is almost like the Lord doesn't want us to get close..."

The skiff that the gray-haired priest was riding in had water-tightness and special materials. It was not like ordinary wooden sailing ships, which would be shattered by huge waves, nor was it like ordinary skiffs, which would be submerged by seawater and suffocate.

He could continue to move forward. Anyway, as a priest at the peak of the 'Revelation Stage' with transcendent power, he might drift to an unknown distance due to the wind and waves, but it was basically impossible for him to die because of it.

Revelation, Chosen, God-blessed, these are the ranks of transcendent power in the Holy Fire Kingdom.

God-blessed, as the Lords' representatives on earth, have power close to that of the Gods, enough to suppress the power of the storm itself.

Chosen cannot suppress the storm, but can slightly manipulate the elements and shelter a few ships in this storm.

Revelation might be able to protect themselves, but would not have the spare strength to help others.

Naturally, Aemon is not God-blessed, nor is he Chosen. Although he has a devout faith, his talent is not good. After practicing for decades, he is only at the peak of the Revelation Stage, and it has always been difficult for him to advance to the realm of Chosen.

It is also a strange thing – in fact, all People of Fire with the blood of the Lord of Judgment are not very strong.

It can even be said that the more devoutly one believes in the Lord of Judgment, the lower their strength will be. In the temple of the Lord of Judgment, those Chosen and God-blessed with high strength are mostly somewhat heretical, do not follow the classics, and are disliked by most believers.

Aemon, who is extremely devout in his faith, is naturally no exception. Although he had already reached the Revelation Stage decades ago, he has been unable to take it a step further, to obtain true revelation from the gods and advance to the Chosen.

"This must be because I am not pious enough, and have not verified the Lord's Dao."

This has been Aemon's idea all along.

But even such a devout Aemon could not help but feel like retreating in the face of such a storm.

– If I don't leave now, it will be too late to retreat and I can only drift with the flow.

In this sea area, the original mighty fleet of hundreds of ships was only left with a handful. Apart from the skiff Aemon was riding in, all of them were large merchant ships. Although their ships were not as well-manufactured as Aemon's, they were large enough and heavy enough not to be afraid of storms.

But even so, these large ships were still forced by the violent wind and could not normally sail to the place where the divine descent was, and slowly shifted their direction.

At this moment, Aemon couldn't help but fall into memories, and his mind began to flash back to why he had chosen to believe in the God of Judgment.

Aemon's full name is Aemon Stell. His family used to be a big merchant in the south of the Holy Fire Kingdom. Their life was happy and fulfilling. Their home was full of gold and silver jewelry. It can be said that they were extremely happy and fulfilling. The young Aemon was even engaged to the daughter of a local Chosen, destined to step into the real upper class.

However, during a drought, Aemon's family was accused of hoarding grain maliciously and making a fortune during the disaster – the people who came to search actually found several large warehouses full of grain, but Aemon's family was at a loss about this, because those warehouses were not their property at all.

Maliciously hoarding grain during a disaster is a serious crime. In just a few days, the entire family's property was confiscated, and the young Aemon immediately fell from heaven to hell. Not only did he have to endure the contempt of others in prison and be forced to become a servant taking care of horses, but he was also divorced by his childhood sweetheart and lost everything.

No one doubted whether Aemon and his family were innocent – their luxurious life was too hateful, and the Stell family must have offended many people to become a big merchant.

Under the propaganda of overwhelming public opinion, the Stell family quickly became the archetype of local greedy merchants, vicious merchants who ignored the disaster and made money with black hearts, destined to never be able to turn over.

No one spoke for them. Even Aemon and his parents fell into despair. After all, there were too many mouths to argue with. When everyone thought they were bad people, even if they were not bad people, they were still bad people.

But at this time, a roving adjudicator who was wandering around came here and raised doubts.

"Have you investigated? Why did you directly judge the Stell family guilty? They are obviously doing business in luxury goods such as stone and carvings. Why would they inexplicably hoard grain?"

"The Stell family does live a luxurious life, and big merchants can't be said to be kind, but one thing is one thing. Can you be 100% sure that they are going crazy and hoarding grain this time? This doesn't make any sense!"

"You think it makes sense? You think? Who are you? If you say it is, then where is the truth and justice?!"

Even in the face of the coercion and temptation of the entire local force, the roving adjudicator had no intention of compromising. Realizing that he alone could not get past these local forces to investigate, this believer of the Lord of Judgment directly called the Central Sanctuary headquarters, calling in hundreds of Revelation priests and twelve Chosen of the Lord of Judgment.

Even a God-blessed, who was the highest high priest of the Lord of Judgment at the time, was alarmed by this news and turned his attention to the south.

Everyone had no intention of compromising, and no intention of using force to suppress them. Their only requirement was to allow them to investigate the ins and outs of the matter normally and determine whether Aemon's family was really guilty.

They only asked to know the truth of justice.

Soon, without the slightest obstruction from the local forces, who were so shocked that they did not dare to move, the whole truth came to light – Aemon's family did not maliciously hoard or resell. It was another giant merchant in the south who had colluded with a large number of officials to eliminate competitors and threats, setting a trap for Aemon's family.

Naturally, the Stell family was restored to its original state and its reputation was restored, and the giant merchant who framed them and all the bribed officials were all arrested and put on trial.

Rescued from the abyss of death, freed from despair, Aemon's family originally wanted to donate most of their family property to the temple of the Lord of Judgment as a reward, but the roving adjudicator refused this.

"Wealth is only an external object for faith. Only truth and justice are eternal in this world, and can be called pursuit."

He said so, his tone decisive, causing Aemon's family to completely join the Lord of Judgment, and as the eldest son of the Stell family, Aemon was sent to the temple of the Lord of Judgment to become a priest.

Decades have passed. Although Aemon's strength is only at the peak of Revelation, his position in the temple of the Lord of Judgment is not low. If not, the Central Sanctuary would not have entrusted him with such an important task as 'finding traitors'.

Memories flashed before his eyes like smoke. In the midst of the storm, Aemon's eyes gradually cleared.

"This is revelation."

He whispered to himself, "I must go."

"Whether it is the Lord's test or not, no matter how dangerous it is, I must take a look – if I don't even have this courage, then decades of persistence would be too ridiculous."

It is not that he is not afraid of danger, but that he knows the danger, but is already prepared to pay the price for his choice.

Is it a test, or a normal natural phenomenon? Aemon didn't know, but he understood what it meant that the Lord of Judgment, who had never descended even once since the New Epoch, had appeared for the first time in hundreds of years.

He must not miss it.

In the darkness and storm, the gray-haired priest was determined. He drove the elemental skiff and sailed as far as possible towards the increasingly turbulent end.

The waves pounded against the hull, and the waves churned endlessly. Wave after wave of huge waves rose high, even larger than the skiff itself. They came intertwined, like two cliffs merging, crushing Aemon and his boat completely.

But even so, the priest did not give up. He gathered strength to strengthen the already tough cabin. The elemental skiff is a sealed structure, and it is not afraid of flooding, which is its advantage over other ships.

But even so, under the increasingly loud thunder and the increasingly violent waves, Aemon still felt like a fallen leaf in a storm, constantly drifting in the sea, and even occasionally being thrown up by huge waves, really floating in the air, and then falling back into the sea, creating a little insignificant splash.

"Ah, as expected, it still won't work."

But, just as Aemon felt hopeless to successfully approach the sea area of the divine descent, and this desperate struggle could only end in failure.

Suddenly, there was a light, illuminating a figure, walking out of the stormy waves, towards the skiff that was drifting around.

For a moment, an indescribable fear and awe overwhelmed Aemon's heart. Even though this gray-haired priest had fought against the storm for several hours without slackening, he slowly widened his eyes when he saw the figure, forgetting the surrounding wind and rain.

Aemon's azure pupils gradually transformed into dragon pupils. He could see that a figure was slowly walking on the water, walking towards him.

At this moment, the storm on the sea gradually subsided – it was still raging before, and the violent wind and rain stirred up stormy waves, but after a moment, as the storm stopped and the dark clouds scattered, the stormy sea became gentle, at most whimpering softly like a docile cat being petted, and became calm.

The sky was clear and the clouds were still. The white waves calmed down. The azure Yuesque Sea restored its original appearance, like a piece of碎(sui - finely crushed) blue gemstone, stretching endlessly to the end of the horizon, with the sea and sky blending into one.

The white elemental skiff quietly floated on this calm sea. At some point, the elemental furnace core had stopped running, but Aemon had no energy to pay attention to these things.

Because the gray-haired priest could see that after the dark clouds had receded, the morning sunlight rising from the east shone on the heaven and earth, and the bright sunlight was projected on the figure in front of Aemon, making his face clear.

That was a young man with long black hair. He had facial features that were not like the People of Fire, but they were so perfect that it was unbelievable, and it was impossible to pick out even the slightest flaw, and he revealed a majesty originating from the essence of his soul, and there was a brilliant aura flashing deep in those purplish-blue dragon pupils, and his whole body was filled with an unspeakable solemnity and holiness.

In this instant, it was as if daytime had arrived.

"You, you are..."

Opening the sealed cabin door of the elemental skiff, Aemon subconsciously walked out of the skiff, wanting to approach the figure – when he took a step out, the priest remembered that he was at sea.

He stepped on the surface of the sea, thinking that he would fall into the sea, but the opposite was true. Aemon felt as if he was stepping on solid ground. The seawater carried his weight like land, allowing him to walk normally.

There was no time to think too much. Everything was a divine迹(shenji - divine trace/miracle). Aemon clasped his hands together in front of his chest, and he walked forward step by step.

A strong intuition.

A kinship originating from blood.

An instinct from the highest of spirits.

And, invisibly, the gathering of that冥冥(mingming - in the dark; unseen) desire, the冥冥(mingming - in the dark; unseen) prayer.

Aemon even vaguely saw that behind the figure, there was a great dragon, a huge, white-winged, double-horned, immortal ancient dragon soul entwined with thunder roaring up to the sky, and on the top of this ancient dragon soul's head, there was an extremely bright 'Eye of Judgment' condensed from pure soul light, releasing a purplish-blue radiance, like a crown, worn on the dragon's head.

He was only standing there, as if he could illuminate the heaven and earth. Even the brilliance of the stars in the sky was dimmed by his existence. The vast sea with no boundaries was completely occupied by his sense of existence, making it appear narrow and solidified, as if frozen.

– This is something that does not need to be questioned at all.

Step by step, the gray-haired priest soon arrived in front of the figure, and only at this time did Aemon realize that he was the only ship in this sea area. Everyone had already returned in the storm, and only he had persisted until now.

And the black-haired youth smiled and looked at Aemon.

"– My Lord!"

Facing the figure, Aemon piously clasped his hands together, wanting to kneel down and worship, but a gentle force prevented him from kneeling down and could only straighten his chest and stand in place.

Then, he heard a calm voice, speaking in ancient Tartadis, echoing in both his ears and the depths of his soul.

[There is no need to kneel to any existence.]

The voice said, as if containing truth: [People only need to bow to their own hearts.]

"Yes, that's right –"

Suddenly, the gray-haired priest suddenly realized. He muttered to himself, "The Lord of Judgment's holy words say: There is no need to bow to people for a long time in the world, only true justice is worth bowing to – I actually forgot your teachings, I am truly ignorant!"

Su Zhou, who had roughly figured out the attitude of the living beings in this world towards the Lord of Judgment through the storm and the heart of non-thought: "?"

– Did I say that?

"You definitely didn't say it, but the 'Lord of Judgment' in this world may not be the same."

In the soul space, Yala smiled happily and said, "As an existence that has begun to have legends sung and even become a deity's myth, you must be prepared that every word you say in the future will become the source of classics and 'holy sayings' for some people – just like I didn't actually write that Holy Snake Spirit Litany, but it appeared, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"That's not the problem – the main thing is, why in this world would I become the Lord God worshiped by the entire world?"

Facing the respectful gray-haired priest standing in front of him, Su Zhou looked at the other person, and couldn't help but feel even more confused: "There are even such devout believers! He is even reciting the original text of the classics related to me in the 'Covenant' by heart! No wonder I was locked in by such a huge force of desire as soon as I arrived here, no wonder!"

"What kind of existence