He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Chapter 59 The Trial of the Flying Bird

The Archbishop is the only faith that Agdeweg has held since ancient times.

This village is too small and too remote. Although it has existed here for hundreds of years, it still maintains its old scale. The population is unknown, perhaps a thousand or so. They are scattered on both sides of the Ilo River, living along the river and lake, and taking root in the mountains and hills. This is just like the medieval European villages in Ai Yi's memory. They usually use the village chief's house or the church as landmark buildings, and their way of life is ancient and simple.

Charon is the priest here.

Although the old pastor always said, "I have not yet joined the Lord's side," as Agdewey's only recognized clergyman, all of the Lord's teachings flowed from his mouth, so Charon's canon was no different from that of a true pope.

In Agdewu, a village isolated from the outside world, few new things happen. Coupled with the Agdewu people's innate worship of God, religious activities such as "worship" or "preaching" serve as one of the few forms of social interaction and channels for expressing their faith, naturally earning the villagers' attention.

The pews in the chapel were already full from early morning.

"Buzz"

The chimes of the Heart of Ys symbolize the rebirth of daylight.

As the morning light shone through, a tall, slender figure, as thin as a withered pine tree, pushed open the white wooden door and strode into the church. His long white robes billowed behind him, adding to his solemn and sacred aura.

"Praise be to the Lord!"

As he walked along, everyone he encountered bowed and prayed to him, and the old pastor responded with a smile on his withered face. If Ai were here, he would have noticed that the old man with skin covering his bones was not the same person as the handsome old man he had seen yesterday.

"Your Majesty—it seems you've taken another step forward."

Some sighed with emotion, while others murmured in the audience, "Your Majesty Charon, who listens to the word of the Lord all day long, even though he is born of wingless blood, he is able to wash away leadenness, his joints hollow, and his feathers full—"

Fat and flesh are symbols of burden and filth in Agdewey, and those who worship birds abhor bloated and heavy bodies as they would resist downward gravity.

Amidst respectful or adoring gazes, the old pastor walked to the pulpit. Just as he was about to sit down, his gaze unconsciously drifted in one direction, and he frowned almost imperceptibly.

The pews at the very front of the chapel are usually occupied by the most devout believers, but today, a young man sat there quietly, clutching his shoulder bag tightly, as if he had been waiting there for a long time.

—Gern.

His murky, bloodshot red eyes slowly narrowed, and the young man below the stage also looked up, his gaze icy.

Charon then looked at him, and neither of them spoke.

A few seconds passed, and without paying any more attention to Gern, the old pastor habitually reached out his hand, intending to open the book, but found that the familiar book was not on the table.

He paused for a moment, only then remembering that the strange guy had taken the original teachings yesterday. He shook his head helplessly, then let out a cold smile.

—A madman outsider who dares to try to uncover Agdeweg's secrets—even with his strange abilities, his death is inevitable under the grace of God.

Oh----

Clearing his throat, Charon faced the crowd, slowly removed the papal cap from his head, and proclaimed loudly, "The Lord once..."

""

The sermons lasted from early morning until noon.

Contrary to Charon's expectations, Abram in the audience was as quiet as a pile of extinguished embers. He simply listened to Charon's sermon without uttering a sound or making any movement.

Several hours passed in the blink of an eye, and the entire chapel became empty as all the believers left.

Charon dismissed the priests who were standing nearby, gently closed the wooden door himself, and then walked to the front bench.

Abram remained seated there.

"Gh—" The words that had just been uttered were interrupted.

"Abram".

Abram raised his head and stiffly repeated, "Abram, Your Majesty, at least address people by their names correctly; this is the respect you owe to those who have been promoted."

"Promoted/Selected"

Charon didn't even react at first, perhaps because he hadn't faced such a strong rebuttal in a long time. He then continued with a calm, unwavering laugh, "Abram, look at yourself now—you've cast aside the Lord's favor, yet you still cling to false pride. If it were before, I might have called you a disgrace."

He looked at the young man's now flat back, his tone somewhat wistful, and then shook his head with regret.

"But since you are still willing to come back here, I will not mention it any more—after all, you were once born with wings and were a fine offspring of Agdeweh—even if you remove the vessel of this favor, it will still leave its mark on your bloated body, and the wing bones you have not completely removed will tell you—Abram, you will always belong here."

A barely perceptible hint of amazement flashed in Charon's eyes.

—However, old Gern's son, the little brat who escaped from here six years ago—has grown up so much.

Are you surprised?

Abram slowly stood up. Although he was thin, the young man looked taller and more imposing than the skinny old pastor in front of him.

"As a chosen one, although not very healthy, I still lived to be over twenty years old—simply because I had these two vertebrae removed, I was able to live many, many years longer than those 'bone carvings,' 'nightingales,' and 'vultures' in the village."

He said softly, with a hint of sarcasm, "The doctor is right. Wings are never a blessing—they are just a disease, a tumor parasitizing our bodies. Only in this ignorant land of Agdewey would you equally ignorant fools consider this life-sucking thing a good thing—"

"I am disappointed, Abram."

Charon interrupted him, a rare anger rising within him. "I don't know how many filthy ideas you've learned from the outside, but you shouldn't question the power of God—those changes in the distance, no matter how glamorous they may seem, are merely old forms existing on earth, yet they have made you put the cart before the horse and forget our heavenly home."

His gaze darkened, and then he suddenly laughed as if he had remembered something: "The way you look now is more and more like old Gern when he was young."

"————" Abram paused for a moment, seemingly not expecting to hear that name from Charon again. He took a deep breath. "I don't quite understand."

"Of course you don't understand. After all, in your eyes, old Gern, your father, is a complete fanatic—you despise the teachings of God, so you think all Agdeweys are the same, as rigid and backward as you imagine."

Charon mocked the young man, as if crushing the beliefs he had picked up: "Your father, the old Gern I speak of, was also a rebellious child—clearly possessing the blood of a bird, yet he willingly succumbed to the outside world—"

"He was obsessed with those new technologies. That guy, he secretly removed his own wing bones, and if we hadn't discovered him, he would have even removed the wings of his children as well—but in the end? He still came back here, to meet his death in this village, like a native Agdewey—he accepted his fate because he knew the determination of the birds and the greatness of the sky."

"However—before he compromised, he had already made a grave mistake."

Charon's tone turned sinister: "Old Genn, your father, it was he who destroyed one of our trial participants closest to the sky—your sister, Lily. She was the bloodline closest to the 'Fledgling,' but your father instilled a bunch of disgusting ideas in her. She was disobedient, unwilling to accept her fate, and even passed this vice on to you. How much of your knowledge about Ys comes from your father, and how much from your sister?"

"Father—?" Abram murmured in a daze.

"Abram"

Charon didn't give him time to think further. His voice suddenly grew louder, and before him stood the boy with his eyes closed. "Let me guess, why have you come?"

His tone grew increasingly cold: "It must have been that damned outsider who lured you in. He wanted you to betray Agdewe, to betray the faith we've upheld for centuries. How laughable! What do you think you're facing? The entire sky is your enemy."

"Tsk." Abram clicked his tongue helplessly.

—This perceptive old man seems to have discovered my determination to transform, which is why he talked to me about so many "crossing the line" topics.

It's quite normal; when someone is riddled with time bombs, a certain quality can be discerned from their appearance.

Abram sighed. "All that's left is threats and declarations of power. It seems you're not prepared to try to persuade me with reason."

"That's up to you, Abram. Besides, have you forgotten—you were once one of us? Don't forget what you did to Lily."

Charon lightly touched Abram's chest with his fingertips, trying to bring his breathing and erratic heartbeat under control.

"Even if you want to change now, no matter what you think, it will never shake the birds' determination to return home—because the sky will witness us, and when the trial is complete, we can shed this damned body, escape the damned gravity of the ground, and become true winged beings."

He touched his thin, withered skin with his twig-like fingers. His dry, decaying face and hollow bones seemed as fragile as a withered vine, yet also infinitely light.

"Hollow Bone"

And then there's the pair of large wings on its back, close to the spine, whose shape is no longer known, along with the feathers covering them.

"Full Wings" and "Complete Feathers"

besides----

Before Charon could sink into his own thoughts, Abram had already recovered from the emotional turmoil of those words. He narrowed his eyes and said calmly, "What if the end stands in your way—what if tomorrow, the bird's cause, and your sins, will meet their doom? Will you still be so carefree?"

"sin?"

Charon suddenly chuckled, and then a prayer-like whisper rose from his sunken chest.

"The color of the wicked will be extinguished, and his wings will not be light."

Charon maintained his compassionate posture, seemingly focused solely on reciting his prayers.

"The wicked toil because of their evil deeds; they harbor poison and produce falsehood."

"He will be lifted up from the heavens to the earth, and he will be driven out of the world."

"Gern".

He read out that equally guilty name, his posture condescending, his voice, though ostensibly a question, sounded like a pronouncement:

When we symbolize the wishes of all the people who have lived on a piece of land.

"Are you saying we're bad people?"

Abram neither agreed nor disagreed, and slowly opened his eyes.

"In this world, there has never been a saying that 'what remains unchanged is right.'"

Slowly, some unknown change occurred; that cracked gaze, like dead iron, seemed poised to hatch something new from within its dark pupil—

"Of course, we are all sinners."

Don't even think about trying to convince me anymore.

—Everyone should atone for their sins.

Abram took a deep breath and then said, "I'm not going to change my mind, Charon. All I want to do next is make a deal with you."

Under Charon's chilling gaze, he spoke softly.

"Before tomorrow arrives—"

the other side.

While stalling for time, the teammates rapidly improved and negotiated fiercely.

Meanwhile, the fox was still enjoying his time alone with the little girl.

"Should we just leave it here?"

"This is enough."

Away from the sheep, Anda carefully handed the swaddled baby to Ai, who gently placed the stillborn infant on the soft grass. She whispered, "The Agdewe people prefer to leave the body on the ground rather than bury it, waiting for birds to peck at it. This way, it's closer to the sky, after all, that's our homeland—"

"The Agdewe people truly consider themselves descendants of birds—"

Ai sighed, then asked softly, "Now, can you tell me something? About the infant's death, and the wings it was born with."

Anda was silent for a moment, then sat down with her arms wrapped around her knees, and Ai followed suit.

"This baby is the 'Trial Bearer'."

She first uttered a familiar term, perhaps related to the "Trial of the Birds" that Ai had previously heard in the revelation.

related.

"I've heard people say before that in Agdio, there's a group of people called 'the promoted ones.' What's the difference between the two?"

Ai asked, and then waited for an answer.

"Those who are chosen—they are also offspring of birds, but not as pure as the trial participants. They only inherited a portion of the birds' characteristics, such as the wings on their backs, eyes that see through the night, and claws that can tear flesh apart—"

Anda explained, lying down to face the midday sun.

"And the trial participants are children of the sky, birds born from the earth—their bones are hollow, their backs are covered with full wings, their eyes can see far into the wilderness, and their beaks are well-versed in the principles of echo and song. They are the ones who can challenge the trials."

Ai tilted her head, looking puzzled. "Even if this trial participant died at birth?"

"This is quite common; very few trial participants survive—most return to heaven at birth. Only those who reach the age of ten can inherit the will of the 'fledgling' and attempt to fly like a real bird."

Anda gazed directly at the blazing sun, and murmured, "This is the trial of the birds. The fledglings must rely on their own strength to reach the sky and realize the long-standing method of returning home passed down by Agdewu."

—The Trial of the Flying Bird—

Ai fell into deep thought.

If we consider what Anda and the revelation both mentioned, he also seems to know the key conditions for this trial.

If we assume that Anda is the "red bird" that challenges the trial, then one question remains.

After hesitating for a moment, Ai silently bent down, blocking a ray of sunlight, and gently pressed her fingertips against the girl's cheek. "Wh-what's wrong?"

Anda shifted slightly and opened her eyes wide.

one second.

Two seconds —

"It's alright, it just got a little dirty, I've already wiped it clean for you."

He quickly chuckled and released his grip, as if nothing had happened—and incidentally, he quietly tucked the dagger that had been pressed silently against Anda's eyeball back into his waistband.

At such close range, the pupils didn't even show any sign of contracting.

—It really does look like it can't be seen.

Ai sighed, suppressing the surging guilt, and tried to distract herself by thinking.

—Hollow bone, complete wings, intact feathers, far-reaching gaze, beak chirping—

Other possibilities may apply, but how can a blind bird like Anda challenge the sky?

Unable to get an answer to this question, Ai rubbed her aching temples, moved a little away from Anda, and lay down in the sunniest spot.

He was just about to rest for a while when he suddenly sensed a presence beside him and a shout close to his ear.

Lot————

"Hmm?" he responded blankly, then felt the hot and sweet breath.

"Next—I'm going to a place, and if you're willing to come along, then I'll grant your previous request, that part about companions—I'll take it seriously—"

At this point, Anda's voice paused for a few seconds, her turbulent breathing and heartbeat replacing her turbulent emotions.

"If you choose to stay, then—"

She hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "Then I would hope that you—leave here as soon as possible."

Before Ai could react, he quickly heard the girl stand up abruptly, stepping on the soft grass like a lamb, and running steadily and firmly in one direction.