Aiden froze for a moment.

He looked at the Extreme Cold Crystal in front of him, still giving off white mist, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He reached out and took the icy crystal. A sharp but strangely gentle cold spread through his palm. In an instant, it wiped away the last trace of heat in his heart.

"I’m out."

Aiden held the Extreme Cold Crystal tightly and looked at the young woman in front of him. His voice was low and gentle.

"Yes, you’re out."

Cheryl lifted her fair chin with a proud little look. But at that moment, her tense shoulders finally relaxed.

The wind and snow howled around them, but when they came within three feet of the two, an invisible force pushed them away. For a moment, the world became almost too quiet.

"Let’s go. Back to the city."

Cheryl could not stand the slightly strange mood between them. She turned around first and started walking toward Celestial Imperial City.

Aiden looked at her slightly flustered back and smiled silently. Then he followed her.

In the endless snowstorm, the two walked one behind the other, leaving a line of uneven footprints in the snow.

Aiden took a few long steps and soon walked beside Cheryl.

He turned his head slightly and glanced at her hand, hidden inside her wide sleeve. Because of the cold, her soft fingers were clenched a little.

Without any hesitation, Aiden reached out and gently, accurately took her soft, delicate hand in his.

Cheryl’s body suddenly stiffened. Even her steps paused for half a beat.

By instinct, she wanted to pull her hand away.

But when she felt the warmth from his large hand, and the firm strength that left no room for doubt, she finally gave up struggling.

She did not move her hand away. She simply let Aiden hold it tightly and continued walking forward.

There was no earth-shaking confession.

There was no grand vow full of ceremony.

There was not even an extra word of explanation.

After surviving a deadly illusion together, the two simply walked calmly through the wind and snow, hand in hand, heading back to the place they belonged.

But both of them knew clearly in their hearts.

Some things had been settled in this moment.

And they would never change again.

As Aiden walked, he felt the surging divine power inside him.

The recognition of the six pillars was complete.

Only one final divine pillar remained before he could piece together the complete Primordial Law.

"The Pillar of Gluttony..."

Aiden said the name silently in his heart.

A sharp light flashed in his double-pupiled eyes.

That was the final obstacle on his path to becoming a god.

At the same time, on the high walls of Celestial Imperial City...

Kelsey was leaning over the battlements, her big eyes shining as she stared at the two figures walking side by side through the snow.

When she saw their hands tightly held together, she got so excited that she almost jumped up. She quickly turned around and jabbed Rainn hard with her elbow.

"Rainn! I told you! Aiden was never going to escape Cheryl’s grasp!"

Rainn’s usually mysterious Miko face was now burning with the fire of gossip. Her beautiful eyes were so bright they almost seemed to glow.

"Wait, let me count first."

Rainn began to calculate with a very serious look on her face, muttering under her breath,

"They finally held hands. That really wasn’t easy!"

Beside them, Bella stood quietly in white, cold and graceful like an immortal.

She did not turn to look at the two people in the snow. Her stunning face remained calm and icy, as if nothing in the world could stir even the smallest ripple in her heart.

However, the pale hand she had placed on the city bricks tightened slightly at that moment.

The ice-cracked teacup she usually loved most gave a faint little groan under her fingers.

A moment later, Bella let out a silent sigh and slowly loosened her grip on the cup. She let the cold feeling fade from her fingertips, while her eyes remained calm and unreadable.

The wind and snow swirled along the edge of the high walls of Celestial Imperial City, then slowly settled.

Aiden and Cheryl walked up the city wall side by side. Under everyone’s teasing looks, their hands naturally parted.

Kelsey leaned on the battlements and covered her mouth as she giggled. Rainn wore an expression that clearly said, "I understand." Only Bella remained cold and calm, as if the slight tremble of her fingers had never happened.

"Let’s talk business first."

Aiden gave a light cough.

A serious look flashed in his double-pupiled eyes, instantly pulling the slightly strange mood on the wall back to normal.

Buzz.

He flicked his finger.

A broken ancient jade slip floated in the air, giving off a faint glow.

It was a damaged part of the notes left behind by Yves, the first legendary ruler of the Great Shaw Empire. It was also the only clue they had for now.

"The sixth pillar, Lust, has been broken. My understanding of the Law has reached 57%."

Aiden’s voice echoed across the empty city wall. It carried the calm and weight that belonged to an Intermediate God.

"But the last divine pillar is the real barrier."

Zoey stepped forward, her expression more serious than ever.

She raised one fair finger and gently tapped the air. A star-map-like diagram of the Abyss appeared before them.

"The Pillar of Gluttony is sealed in the Endless Black Hole at the deepest part of the Abyss-the Devouring Abyss."

"That place is beyond even the knowledge of the countless races ranked in the Abyss. It is far deeper than the Burning Abyss and the Still Depths."

Aiden nodded slightly.

He held two fingers together like a blade and lightly cut through the air.

Rip.

Space was torn open by force, revealing the chaotic and violent currents of the void inside.

But when Aiden tried to use his divine sense to copy the law of the Devouring Abyss, the crack in space began to devour itself like mad.

There was no sound.

No light.

Only a chilling emptiness.

Even the golden lightning released by Aiden died out the moment it got close.

This was the nature of the Devouring Abyss.

Anything that entered it would be digested and absorbed.

Nothing could keep its original form.

All laws would be broken down inside the Devouring Abyss.

All minds would be thinned and scattered inside it.

Aiden looked at that mass of emptiness. Divine patterns flowed in his double-pupiled eyes, and his tone became heavy.

"In his notes, Yves left one final sentence about Gluttony."

His voice was low, as if it carried the helplessness and sorrow of a thousand years ago.

The jade slip in the void suddenly shone brightly.

A faint figure slowly appeared.

It was Yves, the brilliant legend of the past.

His face looked bitter. There was a lost look in his eyes, almost like despair. His broken voice drifted through the wind and snow.

"Gluttony... was the one thing I could not understand, even until my death."

"I tried to understand Gluttony. But every time I got close to it, my thoughts themselves began to break apart."

"I could not keep any clear awareness long enough to understand it, because it was digesting all awareness."

"The true nature of Gluttony may not be something the human mind can understand at all..."

As his voice faded, the figure disappeared.

Only a deathly silence remained in the snowstorm.

This was a problem that even Yves, the first legend of the Great Shaw Empire and a pioneer who had almost reached godhood, could not solve before he died.

Aiden withdrew his hand.

The empty black hole in his palm turned into a wisp of smoke and vanished.

His white clothes snapped in the wind and snow, making him look like a god looking down on all living beings.

"The problem is right in front of us."

Aiden turned and looked at everyone. His gaze was deep, like the night sky.

"If we cannot understand it with thought, then how do we gain its recognition?"

"The moment we get close, our thoughts are broken down. Even the act of thinking itself is swallowed."

"This is a dead end with no solution."

Jade frowned deeply.

Sword intent surged in her Divine Eyes, but she could not find where to strike.

Rainn and Cheryl looked at each other.

Even in the ancient inheritance of the Miko, there had never been any record of something that could "digest even thought."

Zoey let out a sigh.

Even though she could trace history backward, she could not calculate an answer from nothingness.

The wind and snow seemed to grow heavier.

It struck the city bricks with a soft rustling sound.

The city wall fell silent.

Only the cold wind howled around them.

Bella quietly looked at Aiden.

A faint ice-blue light flashed in her cold, beautiful eyes.

She thought for a long time. Even her breathing became extremely slow, as if her whole body had become one with the snowstorm.

At last, she slowly spoke.

Her voice was cold and clear, like shattered jade.

"Thought may not be able to understand Gluttony. But perhaps... feeling can."

Aiden turned his head slightly.

His double-pupiled eyes looked at the woman who was as cold and graceful as an immortal.

"Feeling?"

Bella stepped over the snow and walked to the edge of the city wall, looking out at the endless darkness in the distance.

"Some things are not understood by thinking. They are accepted through experience."

"Gluttony devours everything. But what would happen if you did not fight it, did not try to understand it, and simply allowed it to devour you?"

Aiden’s pupils shrank slightly.

"If I don’t resist... and allow it to devour me..."

He looked down at his hands.

The divine glow of space and lightning laws still lingered on them.

"Then maybe I would be completely eaten by it, with not even my Inner Spirit left."

Aiden’s voice was calm, but it carried a chill that made the heart tremble.

Bella turned around and faced the storm of wind and snow.

She met Aiden’s double-pupiled gaze.

The corners of her lips pressed together slightly, forming a very faint but stunning curve.

"Or maybe, after it eats you..."

"It will realize that you are different from everything it has ever digested before."