The World Within the Body, The Divine Kingdom

Unlike the sunless depths of the ocean, here beneath the earth lay a sea of molten rock.

Whether it was the mantle or the outer core of the planet, this place was filled with searing lava.

The lava at the planet's core was not still; it churned and roiled constantly.

Like water drifting, yet unlike water, this lava flowed excruciatingly slowly.

It merely drifted in a slow circuit around the core, pulled by magnetic fields.

The temperature here was horrifying—no life could possibly reach or exist here.

But nothing was absolute, especially in this primordial era of the supernatural world.

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

"Thump..."

Within the sea of lava, ripples of disturbance echoed from an unknown source.

The closer one drew to the source of the sound, the more violent the surrounding lava became.

Finally, at the very center of the disturbance, a bizarre and terrifying scene unfolded.

Here, the sea of lava had formed a massive, spinning vortex, pulled by an inexplicable force, as if something was rapidly devouring it.

As the view drew closer, a colossal, terrifying figure came into sight.

Yes, this behemoth was none other than Kangqiao, slumbering within the sea of molten rock.

The source of the disturbance and the immense pulling force was the giant heart in his Godzilla-like chest.

That heart blazed brilliantly, like a black hole, endlessly absorbing everything from the lava.

In his slumber, Kangqiao should have continued sleeping.

But suddenly, at some point, in an invisible space, a great mass of noise gathered.

These noises, accompanied by white specks of light, converged on Kangqiao's heart.

Then, in an instant, Kangqiao was jolted awake.

But the very moment he woke, his heart seemed to explode.

At the same time, Kangqiao's soul felt as if it were being ripped from his body.

In that moment, Kangqiao saw it.

His heart had transformed into pure molten lava.

And his soul was now drifting within that lava.

"What the hell is going on?"

The sudden upheaval left Kangqiao, just roused from sleep, dazed and confused.

Yet he was given no time to think.

At some point, Kangqiao saw it.

At the center of his heart's lava, a vast number of white specks of light had gathered.

The specks pulsed like another heart within Kangqiao, rising and falling.

But this pulsing did not last long. Then Kangqiao saw the sphere of white light burst open.

In that moment, Kangqiao felt as if he had gone blind—he could see nothing.

But at the same time, countless voices flooded his ears.

"Ah! Great Father God! May I enter your divine kingdom after death and serve you forever."

"Great Father God, I am about to die. Will I ever see your majestic form again? The divine kingdom? Does your divine kingdom truly exist? If it does, Father God, would I be fortunate enough to serve you forever? Ah! Father God, please tell your lost children."

"Father God! Why can't we find you? Father God! Your children are lost. I have failed you."

"Father God! You are the lava, you are the earth, you are the incarnation of the blazing star. Your children are about to depart. Please forever bless your children who still live upon the earth! Ah, great Father God, wuwuwu..."

A sea of countless voices completely drowned Kangqiao's thoughts, and at the same time, it made him seem to see, one after another, the final devout moments of a Dinosaur Person's life.

Kangqiao understood. He knew.

This must be faith, right?

Watching the Dinosaur People's expressions—crying, fearful, or hopeful—as they neared their end, Kangqiao's thoughts fell into a profound silence.

For the first time, Kangqiao realized how heavy life was, and at the same time, he understood the importance of faith to these fragile lives in this era.

The scenes were like bubbles, flashing through Kangqiao's mind before bursting and vanishing.

Though brief, these scenes were countless.

They relentlessly battered Kangqiao's understanding of the world, and also made him realize something.

That was, as these subjects neared their end, every single one of them was chanting about the divine kingdom!

They wanted to enter the divine kingdom, to continue serving him, to obtain another kind of eternal rest that would make their existence feel uniquely meaningful.

Time passed—how much, Kangqiao did not know—and he finally awakened from his state of 'blindness.'

But this awakening was not of the body; it was something else entirely.

Kangqiao opened his eyes, and what he saw was a world of pure white.

Mist and clouds everywhere, a soft and peaceful aura permeating everything.

There was nothing here, but as Kangqiao stirred his thoughts, the white smoke parted, and in an instant, a barren desert appeared.

There was nothing here—an emptiness so vast it was terrifying.

And he could see countless rivers of magma surging beneath the desert.

Calling this place a land of doom would be no exaggeration.

The entire world was not large, either—a ring shape, less than a kilometer in diameter.

At the edges of the world, fractured, chaotic flashes of light flickered.

That was the storm, the chaos, the ultimate void.

But this terrifying void was kept at bay by this small doomsday world, as if an invisible hemispherical shield surrounded its outer space.

Frowning at the horror of the chaos, Kangqiao pondered for a moment, then moved his will.

Instantly, the dissipating white mist reappeared, but this time it formed a curtain of cloud, completely sealing off the dreadful scene of chaos.

Only after doing this did Kangqiao feel satisfied.

Then he looked up at the sky, where a phantom sun hung high in the small world's heavens.

That sun was the manifestation of Kangqiao's life essence.

As long as Kangqiao lived, the sun existed; if Kangqiao died, the sun would vanish, and the world would shatter into nothingness.

A grain of sand, a world; a flower, a heaven. A Buddha's realm in the palm, a world within the body.

This was a piece of Zen verse that suddenly came to Kangqiao's mind.

This small doomsday world was Kangqiao's 'divine kingdom.'

But unfortunately, this divine kingdom was not the fantastical land of soul-reception that the Dinosaur People yearned for. It was a special material interface that truly existed within Kangqiao's heart, manifested by the gathering of spatial laws and molten energy.

Whether every Giant Beast was destined to birth such a world, Kangqiao did not know.

But one thing was certain: this kind of small world, this divine kingdom, possessed extremely high value.

Moreover, the divine kingdom would grow larger and more stable as Kangqiao grew stronger.

This was the kind of information Kangqiao had received—like how all living beings seem to know from birth that they must eat.

Gazing carefully at the world within his consciousness, Kangqiao felt an inexplicable emotion.

Though it was small, and indeed barren like a doomsday, it was an excellent beginning.

Because with this world, if the Dinosaur People who believed in him ever faced an environmental disaster that threatened their extinction, Kangqiao could use this divine kingdom to shelter them, allowing their race to continue.

After all, in this supernatural world, if two Giant Beasts fought—or several—the resulting shockwaves could easily annihilate an entire race or destroy a region.

And Kangqiao, who understood the concept of the universe, knew that far more than Giant Beasts could devastate a planet's environment: there were also the unpredictable meteors and massive asteroids that could strike at any time.

In short, after carefully examining this barren, molten divine kingdom, Kangqiao finally lost interest.

It was time to wake up. Time to see how the Dinosaur People had developed over these years.

PS: Thanks to book friends 20190808181715336 and Mao Nan Bei Na for their 100 starting point coin tips, and also to the book friends who voted. That is all.