Seeing the torch in Leng Yaozhu's hand blazing with the brilliant flames of the Seven-Colored Lotus, Huo Tian was stunned. He hadn't expected this outcome.
"No, that's not right. The Seven-Colored Lotus is rejoicing, and my connection with it hasn't been severed." Huo Tian abruptly looked up and, with a thought, attempted to retrieve the Seven-Colored Lotus.
The Seven-Colored Lotus did not resist and was about to fly out of the torch.
"I didn't permit you to take it back," Leng Yaozhu coldly snorted and forcefully suppressed the Seven-Colored Lotus back into the torch. With a wave of her hand, she cast a barrier that instantly cut off the connection between Huo Tian and the Lotus.
"You!" Huo Tian staggered. With his lifebound flame severed, the flames on his body visibly weakened significantly.
Leng Yaozhu glanced at him and said indifferently, "I'll give you a chance to explain. Tell me what's going on."
Looking at Leng Yaozhu's now calm gaze, Huo Tian took a deep breath and said, "I told you, it was the will of the Plane's Master. As long as our race could kill you, he would allow us to regain our former divine power. Only by becoming gods can we roam the universe and seek a way back to our home plane. We don't belong to the Douluo Plane. That's why we're confined to this place. We want to go home—desperately want to return to our homeland, so…"
"Enough. I don't want to hear meaningless excuses. Tell me how you arrived in the Douluo Plane," Leng Yaozhu interrupted flatly.
Faced with her cold gaze, Huo Tian took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking again: "We come from another world. In that world, we originally lived peacefully, but due to a great catastrophe, we were sent here."
"Another world? A plane, or a god realm?" Leng Yaozhu asked.
Huo Tian replied, "It was a main plane, one much more powerful than your Douluo Plane. Our world is called the Falan World, and our race is the Fire Li Tribe. I am Huo Tian. Though I am the current leader of our branch of the Fire Li Tribe, in the Falan World, I was only one of several contemporary leaders. Above me were even more powerful chiefs. Within the Falan World, there is a continent called the Fairy Continent. To be honest, don't be offended, but on the Fairy Continent, it is the Yao (Monster) and Jing (Spirit) races that rule. There are humans as well, but they are merely vassals of the Yao and Jing."
Huo Tian continued, "Our Fire Li Tribe originally lived near the Fairy Continent, in a place called the Crimson Sea of Lava. Our tribe is full of warriors—every member is born with formidable combat power. A newborn has fourth-tier strength, and even without cultivation, they reach the sixth tier by adulthood. Although we cannot stray far from magma-rich areas, in such places we are virtually indestructible. Even the powerful Yao and Jing races couldn't make us submit. We were equals and traded with each other. Apart from the mysterious Purple Gold Race, no other race in the Falan World rivaled us in strength."
Pride filled his voice as he spoke of his people.
"Until one day, our tribal chief was invited by the Empress of the Yao race to discuss something. He was gone for a long time. Then we received news—the Yao and Jing powerhouses had divined a great disaster approaching our world. A catastrophe so severe it could destroy everything. To counter it, we had to unite all forces."
"So, the Yao and Jing powerhouses allied with our Fire Li Tribe, the Sea Dragon and Sea Giant Tribes from the Endless Blue Ocean, and sought aid from the mysterious Purple Gold Race and the Green Tribe from the Life Green Sea. Together, we aimed to create a set of divine artifacts to resist the disaster."
"Since you're here, I take it you failed?" Leng Yaozhu said flatly.
Huo Tian answered, "No, we succeeded. We pooled all the resources from the Falan World and Fairy Continent and finally forged the divine artifacts—a set of seven divine beads named the Falan Seven Divine Orbs. They were jointly wielded by powerhouses from all races to face the disaster."
"The catastrophe eventually came. The Yao and Jing powerhouses' predictions were not wrong. But what we never expected was the sheer scale of it. I remember vaguely that our chief mentioned a spatial turbulence had brought a much smaller planet crashing toward us. Then, he and the other powerhouses took the divine beads and went to confront the calamity."
He fell silent, and the grief among the surrounding Fire Li Tribe members was palpable.
From their expressions, it was clear that although they succeeded to some degree, the resistance was far from a complete victory.
When Leng Yaozhu heard "spatial turbulence," her heart skipped a beat—her earlier suspicions had been right.
With a heavy sigh, Huo Tian continued: "The Falan Seven Divine Orbs still had some effect. They at least slowed the collision. But I still remember that moment—it felt like the end of the world. The smaller planet shattered the Seven Divine Orbs and crashed into the Fairy Continent."
"At that moment, it was as if the entire world was ending—earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions everywhere. Our Crimson Sea of Lava was half-destroyed in an instant. Our chief never returned. I can only guess, but likely the Yao and Jing powerhouses all perished in that battle."
"The Fairy Continent broke apart into several fragments, and the incoming planet shattered as well. The catastrophe devastated our world. Spatial rifts appeared, and countless lives were lost."
"It was during that chaos that our branch of the tribe was swallowed by a spatial rift—and ended up here."
Leng Yaozhu frowned. If Huo Tian wasn't lying, then the Falan World truly was far stronger than the Douluo Continent.
But if it wasn't a god realm, then why did the torch in her hand resemble a core artifact of one?
"When we first arrived, our population was several times what it is now. But lacking a suitable environment, most perished. Only after finding this place could we barely survive. Still, this area is too small—nothing compared to the Crimson Sea of Lava. Once our numbers grew too much, we could no longer support more lives due to lack of energy. We had to remain here and reached an agreement with the Federation and War God Temple to guard the seventeenth layer—this place became the Lava Inferno. That's our origin."
"Spatial turbulence... a meteorite?" Leng Yaozhu murmured. The thought of a main plane being struck by another planet—it was horrifying. Just imagining it evoked terror.
If one day the Douluo Plane faced such a disaster... would it survive?
No one had an answer.
The only solution was to raise the Douluo Plane to the level of a god realm as soon as possible, activate Leng Yulai's grand formation—only then would they have a chance of resisting cosmic threats.
"Then what is this?" Leng Yaozhu asked, raising the still-burning torch with the Seven-Colored Lotus.
"This flame is our Fire Li Tribe's lifebound flame—the Seven-Colored Lotus. Only those of the purest royal blood possess it. Originally, I was one of the successors to the tribal chief, but unfortunately, I was forced to come here." Huo Tian sighed. "As for the torch in your hand, it feels familiar—similar to our tribe's ancestral divine artifact, the Fire God's Scepter. But that scepter is in the Falan World. Otherwise, maybe we could figure it out."
"Then tell me about the Fire God's Scepter," Leng Yaozhu demanded.
"It's a divine artifact left behind by our ancestor, the Fire God," Huo Tian said, biting his lip. "The Fire Li Tribe wasn't native to the Falan Star—we came from outside. Our original god realm was destroyed. The Fire God sacrificed himself so that our tribe could scatter and survive in the universe. Our branch luckily arrived at the Falan Star and struck a deal with its plane's master, allowing us to stay. The Falan Star is rich and powerful—comparable to our original god realm, which is why it was suitable for our survival. But it lacked a god realm's protection, so its structure was unstable. When we arrived, natural disasters were frequent—earthquakes and volcanic eruptions most of all. We specialized in fire and, after negotiations, our ancestor settled here and used the Fire God's legacy to open Fire God Mountain. It served as a release valve for the planet's internal pressure, stabilizing the plane and allowing life to flourish."
"At the same time, we promised the plane's master that our Fire Li Tribe would never surpass Tier Twelve. Whenever a clansman neared that level, they would sacrifice their excess power to the Fire God's Scepter to maintain its divine spark."
"Oh, let me explain—Tier Ten is god-level, and Tier Twelve is equivalent to a First-Class God in the Douluo Plane," Huo Tian added.
"Tell me about your original god realm," Leng Yaozhu said seriously.
"I don't know much. Although our tribe survived thanks to the Fire God, most of the original survivors have died. The current Fire Li Tribe mostly came into existence after arriving on the Falan Star. I only heard from elders when I was little that our original god realm was devoured by a massive abyssal plane. I don't know the details—maybe a few elders on the Falan Star still do." Huo Tian suddenly looked up at Leng Yaozhu. With her power, becoming a god would be easy.
Perhaps the plane's master couldn't stop her—hence their mission.
If Leng Yaozhu became a god, perhaps she could help them return to the Falan World.
With her talent, she might surpass even the great Demon Emperors of the Falan Star.
In the future, she might have the power to help them go home.(End of Chapter)