Soul Land 5: The Rebirth of Tang San-Chapter 842: The Fire God Cavern

Tang San couldn't help but shake his head with a hint of helplessness, but at the same time, he felt a pair of heated eyes watching him. Instinctively, he looked over, only to meet Huo Ling'er's burning gaze.

"If you want the Fire God's Scepter's protection, you'll have to be with me, because I'm the heir to the scepter, the Fire God's emissary. No one in the clan has ever caught my eye before. You're strong, and I like you," Huo Ling'er declared bluntly, leaving Tang San feeling a little flustered.

"I don't actually need the Fire God's protection," Tang San quickly replied.

The Firedawn clan leader, who had been flying ahead, immediately stopped, and his expression darkened. "Then what did you mean when you said you would fulfill the agreement?"

Tang San realized he was being severely misunderstood and quickly explained himself. "Don't get me wrong. I simply wish to help the Firedawn clan. Gaining your friendship is more than enough. I have no need for the Fire God's power, and I have no intention of taking it from you, whether you offer it to me or not."

Huo Quan was taken aback. "So what you're saying is... you're helping us just because?"

He found this hard to believe. Was there really such a thing as a free meal? Power that could stabilize and revitalize the Fire God's Scepter always came at a cost, and no one knew that better than him.

Tang San said earnestly, "Exactly. I'm willing to help your clan for free and stabilize the divinity of the Fire God's Scepter."

Huo Quan replied in a deep voice, "Follow me." With that, he sped up and flew toward the center of Fire God City.

He flew until they reached the center of Fire God City, where he finally stopped and began descending slowly toward the middle of the city.

They descended toward a massive stone building, and as they did, the roof of the structure opened up by itself to let them in. The Fire God's Scepter in Huo Quan's hand emitted a faint rainbow glow, which was immediately echoed by the surrounding light. These rainbow flames enveloped the three of them as they slowly descended. Beneath the open roof was not a room, but a cavern—a vast underground cave. Huo Quan led Tang San and Huo Ling'er down into the cavern.

Even with Tang San's cultivation level, he could feel the intense heat here. The Immortal Flame Phoenix bloodline in his body surged fiercely, greedily absorbing the pure fire energy in the air.

The fire energy in Fire God City was already thick enough, almost palpable, but here in the cavern, it felt practically like a fluid, several times more concentrated than outside.

The three continued descending for several hundred meters before they saw a trace of light coming from somewhere inside the cave. It was a deep golden-red color and it flickered faintly.

As he landed on the bottom, Huo Quan didn't say anything; he just walked straight ahead. Using the light of the Fire God's Scepter, they could see everything around them clearly.

Tang San and Huo Ling'er followed behind him, venturing deeper into the cavern. Although this was Tang San's first time here, he understood that this must be the most important place for the Firedawn clan, likely only accessible to the clan leader.

They continued moving diagonally downward for nearly a kilometer when the cavern ahead suddenly expanded, and dazzling golden-red light flooded their vision. The entire cavern was bathed in this brilliant hue.

Tang San looked closely and couldn't help but gasp. The walls of the cavern were composed of nothing but golden-red crystals—pure fire-element crystals! The sheer quantity and concentration of fire energy within these crystals was unlike anything he had ever seen before. These crystals rivaled in quality the amethystine crystals that nurtured divine consciousness, except, of course, they could only be used by people with an affinity to fire.

The "hall" they were in was approximately two hundred meters in diameter and thirty or so meters high. In the center, there was an altar-like structure.

Huo Quan stepped forward cautiously, placing the Fire God's Scepter on the altar. Immediately, the fire energy in the cavern began converging toward the scepter, causing the temperature in the cavern to drop slightly.

Nourished by the dense fire energy, the Fire God's Scepter emitted a faint glow, casting a soft rainbow aura over everything in the cavern.

Huo Quan turned to Tang San, his face once again showing respect. "Your Majesty, this is the most sacred place of our clan. Now that we are here... there are some questions I must ask you. How did you come by your divinity? Are you also from outside this world? I sense the presence of a true god in you."

Tang San didn't hide the truth and nodded slightly. "That's right. I come from another plane and I arrived in this world due to some circumstances. To the outside world, it seems as if I'm becoming stronger, but that's not exactly true—what I am doing is merely recovering my former power. As you could see earlier, I have a true divine seat. I am the Sea God. The Endless Blue Sea is my domain in this world."

Upon hearing Tang San's confirmation, Huo Quan's eyes lit up with awe. The Sea God!

"So you are not just an envoy or an avatar, but a true god?" Huo Quan's voice trembled.

Tang San nodded again. "I used to be one in my former world, yes. I brought a fragment of my divine consciousness when I reincarnated in this plane, retaining my original memories and gradually regaining my power. That's why I could sense the divine energy radiating from the Fire God's Scepter, and that's how I know it's something only true gods can manifest. Since Falan Planet isn't anchored to any divine realm and has no true gods of its own, I concluded that you must have come from elsewhere."

The clan leader's breathing became rapid. "Yes, you're right. We did come from outside. To be precise, our divine realm was destroyed. Lord Fire God sacrificed himself to protect our clan, allowing us to scatter and flee across the universe. We are one of the surviving branches. Eventually, we found our way to Falan Planet and made an agreement with the planar ruler here, which allowed us to survive." freёnovelkiss.com

Tang San asked curiously, "What agreement did you make with the planar ruler?"

Huo Quan didn't hesitate and directly answered, "Cleansing toxins. As you well know, Falan Planet is an incredibly fertile and powerful world. According to our ancestors, its wealth of energy was almost on par with that of our former divine realm, making it a perfect place for us to settle and thrive. However, this planet with great potential lacked the protection of a divine realm, which led to many issues—parts of the crust on the planet were still unstable. When we first arrived, Falan was plagued by natural disasters, the most common being earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

"Our Firedawn clan, of course, specializes in dealing with fire. After negotiating with the planar ruler, our ancestors decided to settle here. Using the power left behind by Lord Fire God, we created Fire God Mountain, which serves as a vent for the planet's internal pressure. This continuous release of pressure stabilized the planet, allowing life to flourish.

"At the same time, we agreed with the planar ruler that no one in our clan would ever try to ascend to the twelfth order. We have always suppressed ourselves beneath that level. Whenever one of our clan members reaches the peak of the eleventh order, they must sacrifice their excess power to the Fire God's Scepter to preserve the remnants of Lord Fire God's divinity. That is how we have lived on Falan Planet for thousands of years.

"As the Fire God's Scepter lost Lord Fire God's protection, its divine energy began to dissipate. If it weren't for the abundant fire energy here, the scepter would have long ceased to function. We've tried everything to stop the dissipation, including trading with the Scorching Sunflower clan for resources, but nothing we did could stop it. At most, we could slow it down for a while. Until today, we've never seen the divine energy actually increase; even though it was just by a little, it's still something that never happened in our entire history. It deeply moved me to witness such a change. And to think we have a true god before us! If you help us restore the Fire God's Scepter to its former glory, we will do everything in our power to meet your conditions, whatever they may be."