Chapter 1 A Fresh Start

In a hazy daze, she felt a refreshing sea breeze.

In her stupor, Sarah awoke from a long nightmare.

Immediately, she realized that she was no longer in the dark, gloomy dungeon of Twilight City, and the air was no longer filled with the restraining magic that sapped the strength of prisoners.

"Where am I?"

The girl blinked in confusion, and then she saw the source of that refreshing sea breeze—an endless, vibrant blue sea.

The seawater churned with waves, accompanied by a rumbling tide, quickly sobering her up.

"Wait, wasn't I captured by the People of Fire, imprisoned, and about to be judged?"

"Why am I on the beach? Could this be heaven? Am I dead?"

Although she had regained consciousness, it only brought greater confusion.

Sarah was not a girl ignorant of the world. Having lived with her tribe on the sea, she knew very well that her people, who lived on the sea, and the People of Fire and Wind, who lived on land, were mutual enemies.

Now that she had been captured, even if she wasn't a pirate, she certainly couldn't escape judgment.

Moreover, Sarah remembered that she was about to be taken to be judged and executed before she lost consciousness.

If that was the case, then was this the divine realm of the Wind God? Could it be that… those who had abandoned the path of the Wind God could also be accepted by the god?

Her mind somewhat chaotically pondered these thoughts, and the Wind Folk girl's eyes shifted, only to see a gray-haired cleric not far away on the beach, following behind a black-haired young man, seemingly in conversation.

The gray-haired cleric was tall and carried a heavy iron-bound codex at his waist. His face was somewhat aged, but his eyes shone with vitality.

As for the black-haired young man, because he was facing away, his face could not be seen clearly, only a solemn and grand aura could be sensed… but with just this back view alone, his presence surpassed the entire ocean, as if he were the center of the world.

—Who are they, and why are they here?

The Wind Folk might be inferior to the Fire Folk in terms of agility, but they were far superior in terms of basic vision and hearing.

Feeling somewhat apprehensive and unsure of the current situation, Sarah listened intently and heard their conversation.

"Aemon, why can't the power of the gods extend into the sea?"

This was the voice of the black-haired young man. His voice was sacred, as if it did not come from this world, but had descended into reality from a distant place. His tone was indifferent: "And what exactly are those fellows who live in the sea?"

—The Sea Folk? Could it be a topic related to me?!

Immediately, Sarah fell silent and held her breath. She closed her eyes, pretending to still be unconscious, while calming down to listen.

"My Lord, I am not very clear about pirates."

Standing with Su Zhou on the edge of the beach, watching the tide rise and fall, Aemon gazed at the faint shadows of islands on the distant horizon, his tone solemn: "But at least one thing is certain."

"That is, the origin of all pirates comes from a 'rebellion' more than a hundred years ago. A rebellion that occurred in the central sanctuary and then spread throughout the Holy Fire Nation—and at that time, you unleashed an unprecedentedly powerful divine punishment, killing many rebels."

"However, some rebels still survived. They fled to the sea, and for some reason, your divine punishment ceased when they left the continent. These survivors wandered and multiplied on the islands, eventually evolving into the many pirates who now roam the seven seas."

"What kind of rebellion was it?"

"…I'm sorry, my Lord, that is information that at least senior Chosen Ones and those blessed by the gods can obtain. My authority is not sufficient to know."

Aemon shook his head slightly. He recalled the pirates who had attacked the Twilight City temple and stolen the shards of the Source Water Soul a few months ago, and his voice couldn't help but carry a hint of disgust: "But no matter what, those who live on the sea are lawless people who despise the code."

"They don't understand love and friendship, kinship and morality, they only know how to plunder, kill, do as they please, and…"

"Nonsense!"

A clear, slightly angry female voice rang out.

Immediately, Aemon turned in surprise to look behind him.

Su Zhou, who already knew the other party had awakened, also turned with interest to look in the direction of the Wind Folk girl.

"We Sea Folk are not monsters who only know how to plunder and kill, and don't know about kinship and friendship!"

It could be seen that the Wind Folk girl had stood up, and the wings behind her, which mimicked long hair, trembled slightly, looking as if her hair was moving without wind.

Faced with the slander against herself and her family, she couldn't help but stand up in a moment of agitation and loudly denounce the gray-haired cleric's slander: "We just live on the islands, not relying on a lord, living independently—not everyone is a crazy pirate, don't lump us in with them!"

But soon, after saying these words, her body stiffened, and she realized the foolishness of her actions. Immediately, Sarah squatted down again, clutching her head with both hands, trembling.

—Crap, crap! One of these two is a cleric, and although I don't know what the other one's identity is, he looks very strong at first glance, and that cleric is so respectful to him…

Am I, am I going to die?

However, after a brief moment of silence, Sarah did not receive the expected reprimand or attack.

"Then can you tell me?"

Su Zhou turned around and asked the somewhat frightened Wind Folk girl in a calm tone: "Tell me the specific situation of the sea dwellers."

Grand and majestic.

When gazed upon by those purplish-blue dragon eyes, the trembling Sarah felt as if she was being watched by the overlord of the Frantic Sea, a sea demon whale that could contend with several Chosen Ones.

No, it was a hundred times grander than the aura of a sea demon whale!

However, it was unexpectedly without any sense of oppression.

It was like facing the sea, facing the sky, facing the endless starry sky above one's head at night—one was certainly small, but when looking up at it, one didn't have to worry about it harming oneself.

For a moment, looking at Su Zhou, Sarah forgot her fear and dread, but she also forgot to reply.

It wasn't until the gray-haired cleric coughed slightly to remind her that she came back to her senses and murmured, "Okay, okay."

Some time later.

"Esteemed sirs, we Sea Folk don't actually have a very good relationship with those pirates."

Around Twilight City, along the coast of the Frantic Sea.

Beside a bonfire on the coast, the Wind Folk girl, who hadn't eaten anything for a long time, took a string of grilled fish from the helpless-looking Aemon, and then, without caring whether it was hot or not, she impatiently opened her mouth and bit down.

It could be seen that Sarah's mouth was full of dense, sharp, and incredibly hard teeth—that was a characteristic of the Wind Folk with a strong bloodline.

With a bite, she even crushed the fish bones. The hungry girl tore off a mouthful of fish and swallowed it, then opened her mouth in satisfaction, continuing, "Although some people in our tribe do choose to join the pirates, most of the time, we actually live on our respective islands, without interfering with each other."

"Of course, they have always wanted to plunder us, but who told us that we live in remote places and are not weak in strength? Moreover, there are very dangerous sea beasts lurking around. Unless necessary, those pirates would not risk shipwrecking themselves to come over, after all, the islands they occupy can also be self-sufficient, and there is no reason to fight us."

"Is that so? So there are not only pirates on the sea, but also you 'Sea Folk'?"

Sitting in front of Sarah, having roughly understood the other party's situation, Su Zhou looked with great interest at the Wind Folk girl in front of him, who was quite cheerful, talkative, and had a very upright mentality. He sat on a reef, without any divine airs: "And it sounds like your tribe didn't come from the Holy Fire Continent in the past, but from the New Continent, the real Wind Folk?"

This was not Su Zhou's random speculation, but in his eyes, Sarah did indeed give him the same feeling as the Wind God of the past.

For example, Sarah's hair and headdress, although they looked like real hair, were actually the mimicry of her wings.

And the ornaments that wrapped around the girl's abdomen, which looked like belts, were actually the mimicry of the other party's second pair of hands.

Although Sarah was far from reaching the level of the Wind God of the past, where even the clothes on his body were mimicked by exoskeleton armor, at least, that appearance and form, which were nearly half-human, was indeed the result of mimicry.

"Yes, sir, we do come from the Wind Continent."

In response, Sarah readily admitted Su Zhou's guess: "On our side, you are the Old Continent."

"Then why did you abandon the Lord of Wind, leave the continent, and go to sea?"

"This…"

Noticing Sarah's hesitation and her somewhat fearful gaze towards Aemon, Su Zhou reached out and waved his hand: "It's okay, I don't mind."

"…The Lord doesn't mind, and I have no reason to mind." The gray-haired cleric shook his head slightly and said.

Although he still felt a little awkward in his heart, since the god didn't care, what else could he say?

"Then, I'll say it…"

And after confirming that Su Zhou and Aemon's attitudes were indeed not like those of the other Fire Folk and Wind Folk, Sarah calmed herself, and then said briefly: "Because there is no freedom."

"Under the Lord's rule, we have no freedom."

Starting with this sentence, Sarah took a breath and began to narrate in a concise but refined manner.

The situation regarding the Wind Folk and the New Continent was much simpler than Su Zhou had imagined.

According to the codex 'Record of Separation', in the past, after the Wind God created the new era with Su Zhou and Elias, He re-elevated a group of Wind Folk, that is, the Insect People, and lived with them.

But after Su Zhou left, because the living habits of the Insect People and humans did conflict, in order to avoid conflicts between the two sides and destroy the hard-won peace, the Wind God and Elias joined forces to separate the ocean, and moved most of the Wind Folk to the New Continent.

This was the process of separation between the Wind Folk and the Fire Folk—and the various stories that occurred within it, as well as the relationship between the gods, were collectively referred to as the 'Record of Separation'.

But unlike humans, the Insect People were, after all, evolved from insects. The social clusters of the Wind Folk were very different from those of the Fire Folk.

"Every tribe can only do the same kind of work. We divide the work among ourselves and form the entire society of the Wind Folk."

Having eaten all the fish bones and restored a little strength, Sarah sat in front of the bonfire, resting her chin in her hands, gazing at the leaping flames in front of her.

The Wind Folk girl seemed to be recalling the inherited memories in her bloodline. She pondered while earnestly repeating, "Spider People can only engage in sewing, Armor People can only labor, Ant People do nothing but farm, and Bee People like me have to be flower farmers and honey gatherers for the rest of their lives."

"Even those tribes responsible for exploring the New Continent can only explore the continent for the rest of their lives. Everyone has a corresponding job reservation from birth, which will not be changed."

She raised her head and looked at the sky, which was now darkening and beginning to show twilight and starlight. Sarah murmured, "Although those jobs are the most suitable jobs for us, we are, after all, intelligent, living people, and there will always be dissatisfaction—occasionally Ant People also want to explore the frontier, occasionally Bee People also want to engage in art, there's nothing strange about that, right?"

Speaking of this, the Wind Folk girl, who looked only a little over ten years old, but whose actual age was unknown, showed an expression close to 'fear'. Her gaze at the bonfire became blurred, and she muttered to herself, "But the Lord, the Lord has merged into our souls. The Lord has become the bridge connecting our various Insect People tribes, a 'network consciousness' that connects all of us Insect People together."

"Through this network, the thinking of all Insect People gradually merges together. Our thoughts gradually synchronize with the thoughts of others, gradually sharing, able to know each other's joys, sorrows, and happiness… but that feeling, that feeling as if a drop of water merges into an ocean, made my ancestors shudder."

Hearing this, Aemon didn't feel anything yet, but Su Zhou frowned.

—A collective consciousness?

He remembered the Sky Devils he had seen on Azure Hill Star not long ago, and the great existence 'Destiny' behind the Sky Devils.

—Whether it is the codex that restricts the people, or this collective consciousness, they are all civilization and life forms that are favored by Destiny… Elias and the Wind God have both adopted this method of ruling the people. Could it be that they are both subtly influenced by Destiny?

All of this was just speculation, and the thoughts in his heart flashed past. Su Zhou calmed down and continued to listen to Sarah's story.

The Wind Folk girl did not notice Su Zhou's momentary distraction. Her expression carried a hint of fear and confusion as she narrated the memories in her bloodline: "We know that the Lord loves us and wants us to love each other. He hopes that we will be the best, and the jobs allocated according to each person's talents are naturally the most suitable for us. Free choice is obviously not the best choice."

Sighing softly, Sarah raised her head and looked at Su Zhou and Aemon, her eyes still containing some of the fear from her inherited memories: "But my ancestors, and I, could not accept that kind of life—so my ancestors left the Wind Continent and went to sea, and firmly engraved this memory in our bloodline."

"In this way, we can escape the network created by the Lord, and we can also freely choose how to live!"

After speaking, Sarah paused, then turned her head and looked at the frowning Aemon. She waved her hand and emphasized, "Cleric, I know that you have great misunderstandings about us Sea Folk, but you must know that we are different from pirates. We only pursue freedom, but we never hinder the freedom of others!"

"And those pirates are the thugs who like to hinder the freedom of others the most!"

"Yes, now I understand, Miss Sarah."

After hearing all of this, Aemon nodded somewhat heavily.

If they really left the continent for this reason, he actually had a little approval in his heart.

After all, although there were many codices of the Fire Folk, they had never restricted 'who should do what'.

"Could it be that the Lord of Wind really did something wrong?"

Even, Aemon had such a thought in his heart that would have been considered rebellious in the past: "At least according to what Sarah said, their choice is not a 'crime', and can even be said to be an act worthy of encouragement."

"Then why, before meeting the Lord, did I not have the slightest desire to understand the Sea Folk, but simply disliked them, and no matter what they said, I didn't believe it?"

Since choosing to follow Su Zhou, the gray-haired cleric had discovered that he had a faint suspicion in his heart about all the oaths and creeds in the codex.

It was not a question, but Aemon, after learning that 'gods can also make mistakes', understood that since gods can make mistakes, then people will definitely make mistakes and have misunderstandings and prejudices.

The prejudices between the Fire Folk had long disappeared due to the restrictions of the codex, but no one had ever corrected the prejudices against the Sea Folk—most people had never even seen pirates in their lives, let alone lived in the sea themselves, but they could greatly criticize the other party's way of life and morality. This kind of thinking was, to be honest, indeed strange.

Although Aemon did not completely believe Sarah's words now, what Sarah said did conform to logic, and the Lord had no doubts, proving that the other party was not lying… so believing a little was not impossible.

At this time, Su Zhou, who had deactivated the Heart of No Thought, nodded slightly—he could be sure that what Sarah said was indeed the truth.

The bloodline memories of the Wind Folk, like the bloodline inheritance of the Ni Dao family, recorded the real sights and sounds of the ancestors who left this memory, which was almost impossible to be false. The Heart of No Thought could also confirm this.

Moreover, whether it was the living conditions of the Wind Folk, or the reason for the rebellion of Sarah's family, they were all very real.

"I see, so this is the order chosen by the Wind God?"

The youth thought so, and then couldn't help but sigh: "Collective will, or rather, a spiritual network collective. In addition to species division of labor, generation after generation, it is indeed a living method suitable for insect collective civilizations."

Insects are indeed a large race in which each species has extremely differentiated strengths. Each group taking on one job is indeed naturally efficient—just like letting ants dig holes, letting bees build nests, letting dragonflies explore, letting spiders sew… what's so strange about that?

On the contrary, letting ants fly, letting dragonflies spin silk, and letting bees run to dig holes and plant mushrooms would be abnormal.

However, wanting to freely choose the work that one wants to do, rather than the work that one is good at, is also normal.

"I see, this is 'the freedom to choose wrongly'…"

But in a sense, for the Insect People, for the civilization of the Wind Folk, this is also a kind of evil. After all, if all the Insect People ignored their innate talents and recklessly engaged in other jobs, then the Insect People civilization would undoubtedly fall into chaos.

'The freedom to choose evil'.

Although he had been thinking about it for a long time, Sarah's words did indeed make Su Zhou understand more clearly what kind of 'freedom to choose evil' it was that Yala had told him long ago, in the reincarnation world, after he killed the Water God.

They are all part of the correct, but none of them are completely correct.

—If this is also evil, then as the Lord of Devouring Evil, I am unwilling to be hostile to it.

Feeling something in his heart, immediately, the purplish-blue 'Sky Soul' in Su Zhou's soul, which condensed all his divine powers, began to tremble slightly.

Like a dragon pearl, the 'Sky Soul Throne' in Su Zhou's soul space shone brightly, constantly spewing out streams of spiritual energy like coronal rays, illuminating all the darkness.

At the heart of the countless runes intertwined in the divine power, a brand-new thing was beginning to be derived.

And it gave birth to a realization in the youth's heart.

"The essence of the Lord of Devouring Evil's divine power has begun to lag behind my needs."

"It needs to be sublimated."