Over a decade later on the Avel Peninsula.
The cities of the former Avel City-State had crumbled into ruins after more than a decade of wind and rain.
In the towns, villages, and wilderness that once belonged to the people of Avel, terrifying monsters now roamed everywhere.
These monsters, known as Snake Demons to the people of Avel, bore a twisted resemblance to the Snake People.”
Indeed, these monsters were all Snake People who had been corrupted and fallen to the Abyss.
The ordinary Snake Demons still had human torsos and snake tails, but their bodies were covered in scales, and their heads resembled massive, hideous snake heads. Horrific flesh tentacles grew from their chins, and their faces were ugly and bloodthirsty.
Ordinary Snake Demons lacked higher intelligence, behaving more like wild beasts.
However, beyond these, there were also black-scaled Snake Demons with transcendent powers. Their scales were as dark as the Abyss itself, and they possessed a degree of intelligence.
They generally served as leaders of these Snake Demons, able to transmit simple commands through consciousness and divine abilities.
In some large Snake Demon settlements, there were Four-Armed Snake Demons that could rival powerful Second-Rank Ability Users.“Screech!”
A row of black shadows flew across the sky above the ruins. These were Eagle Demons on patrol.
The Snake Demons raised their heads and glanced at the sky, but then paid no further attention because they all belonged to the Abyss.
The Eagle Demons’ sharp gazes surveyed everything below. At the sight of any living, intelligent beings, they would strike—either killing and devouring them or corrupting them into Abyss Monsters.
The Eagle Demons were also divided into ordinary ones and Evil Eye Eagle Demons.
Eagle Demons with transcendent powers had a special organ between their brows, a stone with bizarre patterns that resembled an evil eye, which gave them their name.
The Abyss Queen Melde had established an Abyss kingdom that had rapidly expanded over these ten-plus years, constantly pressing against the living space of the Snake People and Winged People.
She dwelled within the fallen Abyss, possessing evil power beyond mortal imagination.
She created terrible Abyss Monsters by corrupting the spirituality of other living beings.
The Abyss Queen’s immense power shrouded the skies of the Avel Peninsula like dark storm clouds. Countless Abyss Monsters wandered across this land, bringing fear and despair to all living things.
In the forest, a group of Snake People moved swiftly.
“Hurry!”
“Keep up!”
They avoided the Eagle Demons in the sky while circumventing several Snake Demon settlements.
They arrived before a great mountain.
On a hidden watchtower, guards blew whistles, and the vine-covered great gates slowly opened.
This was a hidden mountain city.
At the foot of the mountain were simple wooden cabins with camouflaged decorations on their roofs.
The mountain had layers of entrances resembling caves, inside which were structures similar to cave dwellings.
Several thousand Snake People lived within.
Over these years, Abyss Queen Melde and her subordinate monsters had been constantly searching for traces of the Avel people. Once discovered, they would destroy their villages and towns, conducting large-scale sacrifice rituals.
These Abyss Monsters seemed endless, amassing in hordes of hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands.
Even if the Avel people could defeat these monsters head-on, they could summon even more terrible power through Abyss rituals.
In direct confrontations, the Avel people had suffered too many losses.
Each encounter resulted in devastating casualties.
With no choice, the Avel people had to abandon their habit of living in concentrated cities.
They began dividing into settlements ranging from dozens to hundreds and even thousands of people in small towns and villages.
The Avel people no longer engaged in large-scale direct confrontations, instead hunting and clearing these monsters through small squad tactics. As long as these Abyss Monsters did not gather in army-level numbers capable of performing Abyss rituals, the Avel people could still maintain some advantage.
But even so, the Avel people had suffered heavy losses in this kind of confrontational war of attrition over the past decade and more.
Civilization’s development had stagnated. During these years, the Avel population not only failed to grow but continued to decline.
The returning Snake People entered a cave, removing their leaf garments used for concealment.
“Lord Yafuan.”
An attendant came to help the lead Snake Person remove his leaf garment and brought a copper basin filled with burning firewood for warmth.
Yafuan had returned from afar, his expression heavy with worry.
King Sidi of Avel had been waiting for Yafuan: “You’re back.”
“How did it go? Any good news?”
Sidi very much hoped Yafuan could bring back some good news, though this was impossible.
From the moment the Abyss appeared, their situation worsened day by day, even though they had avoided the greatest disaster thanks to Echilio’s warning that helped them escape an event capable of destroying cities and exterminating species.
But this slow bleeding, along with days without any hope in sight, was equally devastating.
Yafuan shook his head: “Several more villages out west have been destroyed by Abyss Monsters. Many people lost their lives.”
“We arrived too late. There was nothing we could do.”
King Sidi: “There are more and more monsters appearing on the Avel Peninsula lately, and we haven’t seen any sign of the Winged People’s army in ages. What happened to them?”
This was the main purpose of Yafuan’s journey, to investigate why there had been no movement from the Winged People’s army recently. At the same time, they had hoped to establish communication and exchange with the Winged People.
Although there had been friction between both sides in the past and the birth of the Abyss was directly connected to the Winged People, it had given the Snake People a very negative impression of them.
But at this time, having more strength to bear the pressure from the Abyss would naturally be beneficial.
The worry in Yafuan’s eyes deepened: “More and more monsters are crawling out of the Abyss. The Winged People’s army in the west has completely collapsed. They had no choice but to all flee to an island called Moonlight Island in the south.”
King Sidi: “Has it really come to this? The Winged People just couldn’t hold on?”
“But what about Queen Duma? Isn’t she powerful? Didn’t they have a massive army?”
Yafuan: “Their deity’s Gate of Spirituality, the Lord of Radiance they worship, fell into the Abyss. Ever since, they haven’t been able to create new Sky Messengers.”
“And the power of ordinary Winged People Ability Users is nothing like that of Sky Messengers.”
“Furthermore, Abyss Queen Melde is obsessively fixated on the current Winged Queen Duma. She’s been repeatedly sending Abyss Monster armies to attack the Winged People in an attempt to drag Duma back into the Abyss.”
“Their days have not been easy either.”
At this point, Yafuan shared news he wasn’t certain about.
“I also received some information.”
“It’s just hearsay, I don’t know if it’s true.”
King Sidi: “What information?”
Yafuan: “I heard the Winged People are planning to migrate both south and north. Over a hundred years ago, some of them flew across what they call the Desert of the Fallen Sun and discovered a vast, habitable world beyond.”
“That news caused quite a stir among them back then.”
“But because they weren’t facing any threats back then, no one dared to fly across the Desert of the Fallen Sun again.”
The Desert of the Fallen Sun was what the Winged People called the desert west of the Winged People mountains.
They believed that a vast, endless sea of sand had formed because the sun had fallen upon the earth.
It was where the sun descended, with each descent burning the earth into a sea of sand and creating a terrifying land of death.
But a hundred years ago, a Winged Person disproved this belief.
He personally flew across the desert, proving that beyond the Desert of the Fallen Sun, the sun did not descend but instead there was a habitable land.
Currently, the Winged People’s situation was dire, even worse than the Snake People.
They could no longer hold on.
Many Winged People, unable to accept the terrible reality, even willingly fell into the Abyss to become monsters.
This forced the Winged People to seek an escape route, which surprisingly brought up the topic of migration.
A chill ran through Sidi. If the Winged People abandoned the continent, his people would bear the full brunt of the Abyss alone.
“Is this true?”
Yafuan: “Given their current state, it’s highly likely that the news is true.”
Sidi finally could not contain his resentment, slamming his hand on the table. “Despicable. They brought disaster upon us, and now they flee.”
The Winged People could choose to leave, but the Avel people had no way to cross that terrible desert.
After all, Snake People did not have the Winged People’s wings to easily traverse that immense distance.
The Avel people could not even retreat back across the sea to Ruhe Beast Island anymore.
Even for the Winged People, whether they could ultimately cross that terrible desert and find the world they spoke of beyond remained unknown.
—
Yafuan and King Sidi of Avel discussed for a long time about the future of the Avel people and how to face the threat from the Abyss, but in the end, neither could devise a solution.
The Abyss Queen Melde’s power needed no explanation. She was already a Fourth-Rank Ability User, not to mention she controlled the terrible Abyss.
The Abyss was, in some ways, a divine realm that had fallen into the mortal world.
Besides possessing mythical‐level power, Yafuan and Sidi did not know how to defeat Abyss Queen Melde.
Even if they defeated Melde, would the Abyss cease to exist?
Those terrible monsters would still endlessly crawl out from the Abyss, continuously corrupting and eroding everything outside.
At first, there were only First-Rank Eagle Demons and Snake Demons. Later, terrible Second-Rank Evil Eye Eagle Demons and Four-Armed Snake Demons appeared.
Recently in the great battle to the west, there were reports of Third-Rank Evil Eye Eagle Demons.
These Eagle Demons now possessed some intelligence and could use language. However, they were still corrupted by filthy desires and chaotic power, with their spirituality and consciousness filled with violence and uncontrollable bloodthirst.
Who knew what would appear next?
Even if they defeated or killed Melde, as long as the Abyss existed, another Melde would surely emerge in the future.
King Sidi looked up at Yafuan, his voice heavy. “Yafuan, can we seek the power of the gods?”
Yafuan said to Sidi, “The deity still slumbers. The Door of Truth would not grant our request.”
He shook his head, extinguishing Sidi’s fantasy.
“We are believers of the deity.”
“And we are merely believers of the deity.”
Sidi pressed further: “When will the deity awaken?”
“As believers, is there anything we can do?”
Yafuan shook his head: “That is beyond our knowledge.”
Yafuan left some words unsaid.
He knew some things about the deity Asai, including the reason for Asai’s slumber.
He even thought in his heart, “Deity, do you truly wish to awaken?”
Sidi sighed: “Is survival in this world always so difficult for mortals?”
“Why does the path of civilization have to be so rugged and challenging?”
Yafuan could only comfort him: “Your Majesty, things will get better.”
Sidi nodded, saying nothing more.
At this point, that was all that could be said for now.
Things will get better.
Yafuan felt troubled. He walked out of this hidden city at the mountain’s foot, surrounded by layers of forests and mountains.
He walked on, passing numerous hidden sentries.
He gradually moved farther until he reached a place without people.
It was quiet here. No one could disturb him, and he finally felt his heart begin to calm.
He stood at a high point, overlooking this land.
He saw clear skies and white clouds, along with green forests and lakes.
“What a beautiful world.”
He recalled his emotions upon first seeing the New Continent and couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Why does filth always hide beneath beauty?”
Yafuan looked to the sky, thinking of the Creator whose existence he knew of but whose name he did not know.
“Supreme Creator, when you created the world, did you blend both beauty and filth into this world?”
“Just as shadows were born with the rising sun, evil has always existed alongside the light in our mortal realm.”
No one answered his questions, but speaking them aloud made Yafuan feel much better.
He looked around and suddenly noticed something strange at the foot of the mountain.
There was a patch of colorful light.
Yafuan walked toward it, only realizing what the light was when he got close.
It was a flowering tree, its blooms in all colors, looking like a rainbow in the sky when he gazed up at it.
“What a beautiful tree!”
Yafuan exclaimed in amazement that, whether on Ruhe Beast Island or the Avel Peninsula, he had never seen such a magnificent flowering tree.
This rainbow-like great tree was tall and massive, requiring several people to encircle its trunk.
The trunk had a regular hollow. Yafuan poked his head inside to look, and before he knew it, his entire body crawled in.
He curled up inside, feeling this was truly a comfortable place.
He put his hands behind his head, feeling sleepy as soon as he lay down.
Surely he could have a good dream.
However, before he could fall asleep, a distant voice reached his ears.
“You cannot sleep in this tree hollow. This is not a place for you to sleep.”
Yafuan was startled, standing up and crawling out of the hollow.
He circled the flowering tree, then pushed aside the colorful blooms to look above.
There was nothing.
But he could not have misheard because someone had just spoken to him.
“Who?”
“Who is speaking?”
No response.
Yafuan stared carefully at the flowering tree. The tree itself was the strangest and most magical part of it.
Even stranger, despite the tree’s mystical nature, Yafuan felt no sense of danger.
Yet from the moment he discovered the tree, he felt in his heart that it was safe and could not possibly pose any threat.
“Was it… you speaking?”
Yafuan’s voice held disbelief. He had never heard of a tree that could speak.
A voice came again from within the hollow, clearly that of a young woman.
“Do you have a letter to send? If not, please leave.”
Yafuan asked: “Sending letters?”
“Can you help me send a letter?”
There was no response.
Afterward, no matter how many times Yafuan asked, the voice completely ignored him.
Perhaps it grew tired of his constant questions, or perhaps upon discovering he had not come to send a letter, it chose to ignore him.
Yafuan could only leave dejectedly.
He had planned to return the next day for another look, but after moving a certain distance from the flowering tree, he found that no matter how hard he searched, the rainbow-like tree had vanished.
Yafuan vaguely understood he had encountered something not of the mortal realm.
—
On the Dream Continent.
The Rainbow Spirit Realm.
A great grove of Rainbow Trees grew on the barren land, their presence bringing color to the gray and white world and suddenly infusing life into the rigid, dark realm.
The extension of miraculous power around the Rainbow Spirit Realm gradually caused various miraculous things to grow.
Beautiful buildings appeared here, along with flowing streams and fairy tale-like windmills.
Rain occasionally appeared in the sky above, eventually transforming into rainbows.
Many Wood Nymphs had already been born in the Rainbow Spirit Realm.
They built beautiful wooden houses in the trees, connecting tree houses with flower vine ladders and bridges, with swings hanging beneath them.
Occasionally one could see beautiful spirits wearing flower wreaths swinging beneath the trees, or running across the flower vine bridges above.
The spirits were not as boisterous as the nymps, living a peaceful and tranquil life.
Therefore, the forest had a completely different style from the Sun Cup Flower Sea and Spirit Country. It lacked the dazzling radiance of the Sun Cup Flower Sea and instead carried a serene and peaceful atmosphere.
A group of Wood Nymphs sitting on a tree house roof looked up, as if they were waiting for something.
They saw the Dream Sun appear again in the sky.
These spirits immediately came down from the tree house, running barefoot across the flower vine bridges toward the tallest and largest Rainbow Tree in the Rainbow Spirit Realm.
As they ran they called out: “Quick, tell Sister Florrie! The sun has appeared again, Lady Hila must have returned from touring the Dream Realm.”
In the tallest and largest Rainbow Tree, the massive hollow contained a special space, divided into multiple rooms like a house.
Currently, a Wood Nymph inside was staring at a mirror on the wall.
When someone entered the Rainbow Tree’s vicinity, images would appear within this mother tree that had given birth to the Wood Nymphs.
The image showed Yafuan and the scenery of the New Continent.
“A person not sending letters.”
“Why could he see the Rainbow Tree?”
The Wood Nymph looked carefully at Yafuan and said, “He must be a follower of a Demigod, but which one? I don’t think I’ve seen this one before.”
At this moment the Wood Nymphs from outside finally ran in, standing before her.
She was the first Wood Nymph born in the Dream Realm, named Florrie.
Florrie turned and said, “Let’s ignore him. If he wants to send a letter and knows how, he will place it in the tree hollow.”
Florrie turned and left the tree house with the other nymphs, then flew toward the sun in the sky.
She gradually approached the sun and the Divine Cup, finally landing on that sacred, dreamlike island.
A large group of little spirits saw Florrie and immediately gathered around her.
The spirits loved new things and all invited Florrie to be their playmate.
“Look, Florrie, I just made this ceramic doll for you!”
Another little spirit waved the hem of her dress, causing a beautiful garment to appear with a puff of air as she said, “Here is the most beautiful dress for you!”
“Florrie, if you play with me, I’ll give it to you.”
There were also little spirits flying in the air: “Florrie, Florrie!”
“Could you plant a Rainbow Tree in front of our houses? Then I could write letters to everyone.”
At this moment, a large spirit walked over and said to the little spirits,
“Don’t crowd around! You’re making Florrie uncomfortable.”
The large spirit stared at the little spirit who asked Florrie to plant trees: “And you.”
“Don’t make such unreasonable requests. When you trouble others, you must say thank you and offer gifts in return.”
The little spirits immediately pouted: “We understand, Simila.”
“Thank you, everyone, but I can’t play right now. I came to see Lady Hila.” Florrie replied.
Hearing Florrie say this, the other little spirit immediately dispersed to find new playmates.
Florrie lifted her skirts and walked into the Pyramid Temple, her face somewhat nervous and serious.
But she relaxed when she saw the Creator was not present.
Although the Creator was not stern and usually spoke little, his quiet presence in the temple, along with the eternal star-like power emanating from him and his timeless magnificence, filled people with a sense of awe and terror.
A massive boat was sailing toward the dreamlike star sea overhead, while Dream Sovereign Hila stood by the window watching it.
Florrie bowed to the Dream Sovereign: “Lady Hila.”
Hila turned around: “Ah, Florrie! What brings you here?”
Florrie had already become a peak Second-Rank Wood Nymph, and she was recently preparing to break through to Third-Rank.
But she remained completely confused about what to do next and how to break through.
“Lady Hila, what should I do?”
Dream Sovereign Hila: “When Dream power enters Third-Rank, it truly steps into the realm of domains.”
“Although Wood Nymph power differs greatly from Spirit power, as a Dream Ability, it is fundamentally the same.”
“At this level, you must merge with a place in reality.”
“For example, this God’s Island beneath your feet is the real place I merged with when I reached Third-Rank long ago, and it has now become my domain.”
Hila looked at Wood Nymph Florrie: “Next, you must choose a place in the mortal realm and extend your domain there. A space that will become your very own spirit realm.”
Florrie finally got her answer, but although she had seen many places in the mortal realm, she still did not understand the mortal world.
The Wood Nymphs lived on the Dream Continent. They could travel between reality and the Dream Realm through spatial power, but most Wood Nymphs never truly went to the mortal realm.
Even when delivering letters, they mostly just used their power from the Dream Continent rather than going in person.
Florrie left the Pyramid Temple, gazing at the Sun Cup Flower Sea below the pyramid.
“Which place should I choose?”
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