New Life and Finale

"This is not divine punishment!"

"No! This is both divine punishment and the Father God's favor and blessing upon His people!"

"Just as in ancient times, the Father God granted us wisdom, granted us new forms, and now the Father God has granted us new abilities!"

"Fire!"

Standing amidst the sea of flames, feeling the strange flow of energy within his body, the Dinosaur Elder struggled to control this current. Then, he saw flames burst forth from his fist, glowing red and radiating heat.

He could command fire!

The flame ability that the Lava Warriors had long yearned 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 mighty only in body—they had also received divine grace!

At last, they had truly become the children of the god.

Long before Kangqiao had awakened, generation after generation of Dinosaur People had attempted this. They tried to draw close to the Father God, frequently soaking in magma, all in pursuit of the strongest physique and even the power to control flames. But over countless generations, though their fire resistance had grown considerably, they had never gained the ability to wield flames. They could not even endure soaking in magma for long.

Yet what they had always yearned for, what they had persistently sought, was finally obtained so simply today.

At this moment, not only had the Dinosaur Elder fully restored his original form and successfully mastered fire, but among the nearly ten thousand Dinosaur People and Primal Dinosaurs engulfed in the sea of flames, some were also waking up. From the initial extreme agony to the present comfort, clarity, and a body brimming with power—the crisp cracking sound of bones renewing as fists clenched was unmistakably clear.

The Primal Dinosaurs had extremely low intelligence, but they were still individuals hatched and derived from dinosaur eggs across these generations. Though they seemed not to have received divine grace to become Dinosaur People, their massive bodies and further enhanced strength were still a form of great evolution. Clearly, in the eyes of the Dinosaur People, their Primal Dinosaur kin were also favored by the Father God—just that their path of evolution differed from that of the Dinosaur People.

Of course, in the present era, a small faction of Dinosaur People believed that the Primal Dinosaur kin were individuals abandoned by the god, lacking wisdom. But that was no longer the case now. Because this time, divine grace was bestowed not only upon the Dinosaur People but also upon the Primal Dinosaurs. This proved once again that the Primal Dinosaurs were also favored by the god, truly just differing in their direction of growth, as the elders of each generation had always said.

Within the sea of flames, when a Primal Dinosaur about twenty meters long stood up and opened its mouth to spew fire, it instantly stunned the Dinosaur People and the other two tribes who had not been caught in the divine punishment. This Primal Dinosaur was strikingly similar to a Tyrannosaurus Rex—massive toothed jaws, tough hide, and now the ability to breathe fire, making it a veritable war machine.

Of course, this divine favor went far beyond this, but the Dinosaur People would have to explore the rest on their own in the future.

Time passed minute by minute. Within the sea of flames, Dinosaur People and Primal Dinosaurs kept waking up. They stood on the molten rock of the fire sea, dazed at first, but soon erupted in cheers. They looked toward the towering figure of Red Lotus Kangqiao standing behind them, reaching into the sky, and all shouted in jubilation.

"Praise the Father God for granting us new mighty bodies!"

"Praise the Father God!!!"

"..."

The clamor was a complete reversal of the earlier despair.

However, this brutal divine favor was not perfect. Those Dinosaur People and Primal Dinosaurs who failed to master the flame ability fell silent in an instant as they collapsed. As for the number, it was roughly one-fifth. But this loss of kin hardly stirred much grief in this primitive, intelligent race. Such was the benefit of faith. They firmly believed this was the god's blessing and yet another trial; those who failed the trial died, and that was that. For the tribe's future reproduction, these dead—failures or the weak-willed—meant nothing.

Besides, in this war, the Dinosaur People had already lost enough kin; a few more made little difference. Life in this barbaric era was worthless. They believed in the survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle. Compared to the tribe's newfound strength, the acquisition of new abilities, and the awakening of the god, these losses were nothing. As long as the god remained, as long as the tribe grew stronger, the Dinosaur People's future reproduction was no issue at all.

Thus, within the sea of flames, cheers erupted instantly.

In the distance, not only were the frontline Dinosaur warriors stunned, but the other two tribes were also dumbfounded. The Serpent People and the Shark People were all cowed in that moment. On the great river backing the battlefield, a Shark Person wielding a bone staff sat atop a massive Sea Beast on the water's surface, gazing at this scene from afar.

"This is a True God, far beyond the reach of any Pseudo-God, and far beyond what mortals like us can contend with."

"Pass the order: have all of Water's Children withdraw. This battle is no longer necessary."

"Though Lava and Earth may be drowned by water, water too has its limits. This matter must be reported to our god. Let it be so."

"Also, do not forget to go to the Poison Fog Tribe and demand the Blood Food they promised in advance."

"Tell them that this time, Water's Children have suffered great losses. The offerings to the God of Water must not be lacking. Otherwise, next time, it may be us and the Lava Tribe coming to trouble them."

The Shark Priest spoke to the subordinates beside him.

"Understood!"

The three tribes had been entangled for a long time, their hostility stretching back nearly ten thousand years. After all, territory disputes meant no shortage of skirmishes, large and small.

Thus, all three sides had a fair understanding of each other's strength.

Of course, this understanding excluded information about the gods. The gods might not show themselves even once in a thousand years, and even if they did, they rarely ventured out, let alone fought for their so-called favored tribes.

So the real battles were always the affairs of us 'mortals.'

At the same time, many gods would sleep, and in that sleep, their 'tool' tribes might go extinct. Such events were far from rare in the course of this world's development.

Almost every intelligent race knew one thing: true gods were mostly extremely lethargic.

They were hard to wake, and when they did wake, it was to feed. Refuse them food? One could practically count on annihilation.

This shared trait of divine drowsiness was the real reason the Serpent People and Shark People dared to attack the Dinosaur People's stronghold without knowing if the Dinosaur People truly had a god's protection.

Wiping out the Dinosaur People would certainly be better. But if a god appeared—a Pseudo-God, they would destroy it as well; a True God, then treating it as a probe was no loss either. At least this battle had truly revealed the opponent's real foundation.

For these primitive intelligent races, whether True God or Pseudo-God, everything came down to strength. A powerful giant beast was naturally a True God; a weakling was a Pseudo-God.

This time, if the Dinosaur People hadn't thought themselves sufficiently recovered to consider wiping out the Serpent People and unifying the continent, they wouldn't have fallen into the ambush.

And now they faced another hundred or thousand years of recovery.

Of course, the Serpent People's price was also immense.

The Dinosaur People lost seven out of ten; the Serpent People lost about half.

The smallest losses were suffered by the Shark People, who had joined as allies.

The ocean was vast enough, and the Shark People's territory covered a quarter of the sea.

Far beyond what any land race could compare.

If not for the entanglement of the other three ocean tribes, and setting aside the existence of gods, wiping out the Serpent People and Dinosaur People wouldn't have been too difficult for the Shark People.

Still, compared to land, the Shark People had some interest, but not much. They were an ocean race after all, preferring to stay in the water.

What interested them were the two land tribes' pastures and the potential abundance of Blood Food.

After all, their god was far too voracious.

The Shark People and the Sea Beasts withdrew without hesitation.

"Who would have thought the Lava Tribe truly had a god's favor, and one that just happened to wake!"

"What a pity, what a lament, what a curse!"

The Serpent Priest retreated unwillingly, turning back to mutter in frustration as he walked.

But no matter how frustrated, nothing could be changed. The Shark People had already withdrawn, and they could not—dared not—fight such a terrifying god.

So, with massive losses and the Blood Food owed to the Water Tribe on his mind, the Serpent Priest nearly cursed aloud if not for his station.

The losses were far too great, and this was how it ended?

The only saving grace was that they had ambushed the Dinosaur People's expeditionary force of fifty thousand and their blood kin.

Half the corpses for Blood Food had to be given to the Water Tribe, but the Serpent People kept the other half. Combined with a small number of 'livestock' from their own land pastures, it was enough to fulfill this contract with the Water Tribe.

In short, the Serpent People's losses were heavy, and the Dinosaur People's were heavier.

So when the Shark People and Serpent People fled without a care, the Dinosaur People had no thought of pursuit.

Thus, the only one left on the scene was Kangqiao, staring blankly at ten thousand excited Dinosaur People.