Bishop Mayne stepped down the circular staircase, one step after another, heading towards the depths of the earth.

This was a naturally formed sinkhole, deep enough to swallow four Towers of Heaven, with a diameter of over twenty zhang, easily accommodating a lord's castle. Initially, the cave wasn't dim; skylights remained on the high dome, allowing light to stream down through the windows, leaving winding patterns of light on the ice-forged stone walls.

As he descended, the light gradually dimmed, soon merging with the stone walls. However, a faint blue light reflected from the center of the pit, becoming more pronounced as he went down, ensuring that even without a torch, he wouldn't be plunged into complete darkness.

The staircase beneath his feet resembled a small snake coiling around the pit, clinging tightly to the rock face.

The stair treads were cut from granite, rectangular in shape, and three fingers thick, wide enough for two people to walk side by side. One end was embedded in the rock wall, while the other was suspended in the air. To prevent accidental falls, wooden railings were erected at the suspended end, connected by ropes.

He hadn't counted how many steps there were, but he knew that the laying of each stone slab was incredibly arduous. The church's stonemasons were suspended by ropes, chiseling deep enough grooves into the hard rock, then inserting the stone slabs into them. Every movement had to be done with utmost care, as over three hundred people had fallen to their deaths when ropes slipped or broke.

If the Hermes Cathedral built above was a symbol of the church's indomitable spirit, then the Hermes Machina, deeply hidden at the bottom of the cave, was the true core of the church.

The Stone of Divine Punishment was embedded in the rock walls beside the stairs. A Judgment Army soldier stood guard every hundred steps, and a squad of Divine Punishment Army was on standby inside the Machina, ready to repel invaders. In addition, many sandbags and rubble were buried between the dome and the cathedral floor. If the Holy City's defenses were breached and everyone had to evacuate, the Pope would activate the trap, burying the entire area under sand and rubble.

Although Mayne wasn't visiting the Hermes Machina for the first time, the feeling of walking in mid-air still made him dizzy. Especially when looking down, he always had the illusion that he was falling.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief when his feet touched solid ground.

At the bottom of the sinkhole was a huge, disc-shaped white grindstone, its surface as smooth as a mirror. Standing on it, he could even see his own reflection clearly. Through the ingenious design of the craftsmen, the light that shone in from the skylights in the dome was refracted multiple times within the pit walls, converging precisely on the grindstone at the bottom. Even without lighting a torch, the bottom of the sinkhole wasn't pitch black.

Only when one was at the bottom of the pit would one realize that sunlight wasn't colorless. The grindstone, illuminated, reflected a faint blue light. Looking up, the entire sinkhole was lit by this blue light, presenting a cold hue. Looking closely, one could also notice countless specks of dust flying in the brighter areas, like the tiny creatures recorded in ancient books.

Utilizing the naturally formed holes in the mountain walls at the bottom of the cave, the church had widened them, building the Hermes Machina. Thanks to these interconnected holes, the air circulation was smooth, completely devoid of the stuffy, stagnant feeling one would expect in the depths of the earth.

Mayne stepped into the Machina's gate, and the defensive forces immediately became much tighter. Judgment Army soldiers, in groups of five, guarded each checkpoint—they were the church's most loyal warriors. Once they accepted this duty, they would spend their entire lives in the Machina, never able to return to the surface.

In fact, only he and the Pope could enter and exit the Machina; even Archbishops Hisea and Taifulun couldn't set foot here.

But Mayne didn't know how many branches there were inside the Machina. Besides the main path to the south, there were many branching passages on either side. Following them, one would often find even more branches. Some were utilized by the church, while others were simply sealed off. He had heard that when the Machina was being built, several craftsmen had accidentally entered those unmarked branch passages and lost their way, never finding their way back.

The straight main path led deep into the mountain. Every thirty zhang (about 100 meters), there was a checkpoint. Mayne knew that the Machina between each checkpoint served different purposes. The outermost section was the living quarters, for the warriors stationed at the bottom of the cave. The second section was the archives, used to store documents, fragments, and ancient books. The third section was the prison area, where prisoners who couldn't be seen in the light were held... and innocents.

After passing three checkpoints, Mayne stopped. Further ahead was the Machina's secret zone. All of the church's research and inventions came from there. Without the Pope's permission, he couldn't go there on his own. In the three years since he became an archbishop, he had only been there once.

Mayne turned to the left, entering a branch passage.

The branch passage was short. Soon, he reached the end. Seeing the bishop appear, the Judgment Army soldier guarding the door immediately clenched his fist and struck his chest, "Your Excellency!"

Mayne nodded, "Open the door."

Inside the door was a corridor, with burning resin torches hanging on the walls, like countless dancing points of light, extending along the corridor to the end. Many thick wooden doors were arranged in a row on either side, with a number plate hanging in the middle of each door.

The Judgment Warrior raised his torch and led the way. Mayne walked, paying attention to the changes in the numbers on the number plates. When he saw the mottled number plate marked with the number thirty-five, he stopped, took out the key, inserted it into the lock, and gently turned it. The sound of the lock opening was particularly harsh in the silent cave, and a faint echo came from the end of the corridor. As if sending a signal, wails and cries sounded from behind many of the doorways, some from men, some from women. Listening carefully, most were pleas like "Let me out!" "Save me!" "Please, kill me!"

Mayne remained unmoved. He ordered the warrior to guard the door, then entered the room, closed the wooden door, and shut out the chaotic and noisy sounds.

Through the iron bars, the bishop saw an old man sitting against the head of the bed—perhaps he wasn't that old, but at the moment, his hair was gray, and his forehead was covered with wrinkles. He hadn't shaved for a long time, and his beard almost reached his neck. Having not seen sunlight for too long, his skin was a horrifyingly pale white, and his hands and feet were as thin as bamboo poles.

Mayne glanced at the meal box beside the iron bars. The food inside was almost untouched. He sighed, "You should be kinder to yourself. The church isn't short of this little bit of food. Your meals are prepared according to the king's standards, except for the wine. Even the fish is the finest cod from Bishui Port. You should be familiar with its taste, shouldn't you, Wimbledon the Great?"