"This isn't divine punishment!"
"No! This is divine punishment, but it is also Father God's favor and gift to His children!"
"Just like in the ancient age, Father God gave us wisdom, gave us new forms, and now Father God has given us new abilities!"
"Fire!"
Standing within the sea of flames, he felt an inexplicable current flowing through his body.
The Dinosaur Elder reluctantly tried to control that current, and then he saw flames erupt from his fist as it turned red-hot.
He could control fire!
The fire ability that the Lava warriors had always longed for had truly been obtained.
Just as the Serpent People could spit venom and the Shark People could release freezing cold.
The Lava warriors were no longer powerful merely because of their bodies; they had also received divine grace!
They had finally become true children of the gods.
Long before Kangqiao had awakened, generations of Dinosaur People had been trying.
They tried to approach Father God and regularly bathe in magma, all in order to gain the strongest bodies and perhaps even the ability to control fire.
But after so many generations, although the Dinosaur People had greatly strengthened their resistance to fire, they had never acquired the power of flames. Even bathing in magma could not be endured for long.
Yet what they had always desired, what they had always persisted in pursuing, had been gained so easily today.
At this moment, not only had the Dinosaur Elder completely recovered his original form and successfully gained control of fire, but some of the nearly ten thousand Dinosaur People and Primal dinosaurs enveloped by the sea of flames had also awakened.
From the extreme agony at the start to the comfort and clarity now, their entire bodies brimmed with strength. The crisp cracking sounds of rebirth from their bones when they clenched their fists were exceptionally clear.
Primal dinosaurs possessed very little intelligence, but they were ultimately individuals hatched and bred from dinosaur eggs over countless generations.
Though they seemingly had not received divine grace or become Dinosaur People, their greater size and strength still counted as a tremendous evolution.
Clearly, in the eyes of the Dinosaur People, the blood relatives of the Primal dinosaurs had also been favored by Father God.
Their direction of evolution was simply different from that of the Dinosaur People.
Of course, a small portion of the Dinosaur People in the current generation believed the blood relatives of the Primal dinosaurs to be individuals abandoned by the gods because they lacked intelligence.
But things were different now.
Because this time, it was not only the Dinosaur People who had received divine grace, but also the Primal dinosaurs.
This once again proved that the Primal dinosaurs were also favored by the gods. Just as generations of elders had said, they had merely grown in a different direction.
Within the sea of flames, when a Primal dinosaur roughly twenty meters long rose to its feet, it opened its mouth and breathed fire, instantly leaving the Dinosaur People outside the divine punishment, along with the other two races, utterly stunned.
This Primal dinosaur was incredibly similar to a tyrannosaurus rex.
Its maw of giant teeth, its tough hide, and now its ability to breathe fire made it a veritable war machine.
Of course, this divine favor extended far beyond that, though the Dinosaur People would need to explore it themselves in the future.
Time passed second by second, and Dinosaur People and Primal dinosaurs continued awakening from the sea of flames.
They stood upon the magma within the fiery sea, each of them somewhat dazed, but they soon began cheering.
They looked toward Red Lotus Kangqiao, who stood behind them, towering into the sky, and all shouted in jubilation.
"Praise Father God for giving us new, powerful bodies!"
"Praise Father God!!!"
"."
The uproar was completely unlike the despair from before.
However, this brutal divine favor was not perfect, because the Dinosaur People and Primal dinosaurs who failed to gain control of fire fell and went silent forever the instant they collapsed.
As for their number, they accounted for roughly one-fifth.
But the deaths of so few tribesmen clearly would not make this primitive intelligent race too sorrowful.
And that was the benefit of faith.
They firmly believed this was the favor of the gods and another trial. If someone died because they failed to withstand the trial, then they died.
For the tribe's future reproduction, the deaths of these failures or weak-willed individuals would not matter at all.
Besides, the Dinosaur People had already lost enough tribesmen in this war. A few more made little difference.
Life was simply not valuable in this savage age. What they believed in was survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle.
Compared to their now stronger tribe, their newly acquired abilities, and the awakening of their god, this was nothing at all.
As long as their god remained, as long as their tribe grew stronger, the Dinosaur People would have no problem reproducing in the future.
Thus, cheers filled the sea of flames in an instant.
In the distance, not only were the Dinosaur People warriors at the front line dumbfounded, but the other two races were equally stunned.
At this moment, both the Serpent People and Shark People were terrified.
On the Great River behind the battlefield, a Shark Person holding a bone staff rode atop an enormous sea beast floating on the water, gazing into the distance at this scene.
"This is a True God, far beyond the likes of a Pseudo-God and far beyond anything mortals like us can resist."
"Pass down the order. Have all of Water's Children retreat. There is no need to continue this battle."
"Though Lava and Earth will be covered by water, even the reach of water has its limits. This matter must be reported to our God of Water. Let that be the end of it!"
"Also, do not forget to demand the Blood Food promised in advance by the Poison Fog Tribe!"
"Tell them that Water's Children suffered heavy losses this time, so the food offered to the God of Water cannot be lacking. Otherwise, next time, it may be us and the Lava Foreign Race going to trouble them."
The Shark Person priest spoke to his subordinate beside him.
"Understood!"
The three races had been entangled for a long time, their hostility tracing back nearly ten thousand years. After all, they were fighting over territory, so large and small battles had been frequent.
Thus, all three sides actually understood one another's strength to some extent.
Of course, this understanding excluded information about the gods. After all, gods might not show themselves even once in hundreds or thousands of years, and even when they did, they might not leave their domains, much less fight for their so-called followers.
Therefore, the real fighting had always been the business of these "mortals" themselves.
At the same time, after many gods went to sleep, their tribes of "tools" might very well perish. Such things had happened countless times throughout this world's development.
Nearly all intelligent races knew one thing: true gods were mostly extremely fond of sleep.
They were difficult to awaken, and whenever they awoke, they needed to eat. No food? The extinction of an entire race could practically be expected.
Thus, the shared trait of gods being sleepy was also the true reason the Serpent People and Shark People had dared attack the Dinosaur People's main base this time without knowing whether they were truly protected by a god.
If they could wipe out the Dinosaur People, that would naturally be best. But if a god appeared, they could kill it if it was a Pseudo-God. If it was a True God, then they could treat it as a test of the waters. Either way, they would not lose out; at least this battle had revealed their opponent's true foundation.
To these primitive intelligent races, the distinction between True Gods and Pseudo-Gods ultimately depended on strength. A powerful Giant Beast was naturally a True God, while a weak one was naturally a Pseudo-God.
If the Dinosaur People had not believed they had recovered enough strength to consider wiping out the Serpent People and unifying the continent, they would not have fallen into an ambush and surprise attack.
And ended up needing to recuperate and rebuild for hundreds or even thousands of years again.
Of course, the Serpent People had also paid an enormous price this time.
Seven out of every ten Dinosaur People had been lost, while the Serpent People had lost about half.
The Shark People, who had joined the battle as reinforcements, had suffered the fewest losses instead.
The ocean was vast, and the Shark People occupied a quarter of it.
They were far beyond any land race.
If not for the other three ocean races restraining them, then without considering the existence of gods, it would not have been too difficult for the Shark People to destroy the Serpent People and Dinosaur People.
However, compared to the land, the Shark People had interest in it, but not much. They were an ocean race and still preferred staying in the water.
What interested them was merely the ranches of the two land races and the potentially vast quantities of Blood Food.
After all, their god could eat far too much.
The Shark People and sea beasts retreated without the slightest hesitation.
"Who would have thought that the Lava Foreign Race truly had a god's favor, and that he would awaken at just this moment!"
"What a pity, what a lament, what a hateful turn of events!"
The Serpent Priest retreated unwillingly, repeatedly turning back and voicing his frustration.
But no amount of frustration could change anything. The Shark People had already withdrawn, and the Serpent People could neither possibly nor dare fight such a terrifying god.
Thus, considering their immense losses and the Blood Food they would have to hand over to the Water Tribe, the Serpent Priest nearly cursed aloud despite his status.
The losses were enormous, truly enormous. And this was how it ended?
The only fortunate thing was that they had previously ambushed the expeditionary force of fifty thousand Dinosaur People and their blood relatives.
Although half of those corpses, that Blood Food, had to be given to the Water Tribe, the Serpent People would receive the other half. Combined with a small portion of the "livestock" in their own land ranches, it was enough to fulfill their agreement with the Water Tribe this time.
In short, the Serpent People had suffered heavy losses this time, but the Dinosaur People had suffered even greater ones.
So when the Shark People and Serpent People fled without caring about anything else, the Dinosaur People had no thought of pursuing them.
Thus, Kangqiao was left at the scene alone, staring blankly at more than ten thousand excited Dinosaur People.
Before you continue