Soul Land 5: The Rebirth of Tang San-Chapter 863: The Rebirth of the Divine Body

Tang San stood beneath the tree, his body also turning a crystalline blue. Vaguely, streams of black and white energy could be seen swirling within him.

If they relied only on their divine consciousness to sense what was going on, the elders felt that Tang San had merged completely with the Ancestral Tree, becoming indistinguishable from it. Their divine sense could no longer tell where the Ancestral Tree ended and where Tang San began.

"The Ancestral Tree... has awakened?" an elder said in a trembling voice before kneeling and bowing down in the direction of the Ancestral Tree.

With the first came the second, and soon, all the elders, without exception, knelt toward the Ancestral Tree. Even the Grand Elder. The Blue Gold Tree clan was born because of the Ancestral Tree. The Ancestral Tree was the core and foundation of their entire existence; without it, everything would lose its meaning. They all owed it the utmost respect.

According to records passed down by the clan, the Ancestral Tree at its peak had precisely this appearance, and the description in the records had turned into a phrase known to every member of the clan—"blue trunk and golden leaves."

At this very moment, the trunk and branches of the Ancestral Tree had taken on the appearance of blue crystal, exactly as depicted in the ancient records. The leaves of the tree were still a vibrant green, but this intense green color was due to the overwhelming concentration of life energy. Drops of green liquid constantly fell from the leaves, transforming into life-giving moisture that merged into the air, drifting far into the distance. And as the green flickered away, the leaves slowly revealed a golden glow.

This was a form of the Ancestral Tree that hadn't appeared for countless years, long enough that it had practically become the object of myths and legends. Seeing it now, the elders' first thought was that the Ancestral Tree had awakened. They were aware that the Ancestral Tree's consciousness had spread across the planet, and they believed that it would never return. Yet now, it seemed to be awakening!

No matter what personal ambitions the Grand Elder had, in the face of such a scene, he dared not resist in the slightest. Otherwise, he would become the enemy of the entire Blue Gold Tree clan.

Tang San slowly opened his eyes, his heart filled with a sense of wonder.

In that brief moment, he had used chaos energy to stimulate the Ancestral Tree, awakening the life force of the planet that the tree represented. His chaos energy had benefited from this interaction, and at the same time, the Ancestral Tree had also been strengthened.

The Ancestral Tree had once been so powerful that it nearly reached the level of a deity, which the plane did not allow. Thus, its divine consciousness had dissipated and merged with heaven and earth, becoming eternal... in a sense. While this ensured its existence throughout the ages, it had also reduced the tree to a state of pure instinct. Its massive husk remained as a source of life energy.

But under the stimulation of Tang San's chaos energy, it appeared that some of the Ancestral Tree's consciousness had begun to reform. Although this was not enough for the tree to reawaken properly, its instincts had grown stronger and more refined, allowing it to mobilize the life energy of the plane better and make its life essence more concentrated.

In this way, the level of the Ancestral Tree's husk had been raised by more than just one level thanks to Tang San. He had thus fulfilled what he had promised the elders—even if he did inherit the Ancestral Tree's legacy, this would not cause a drop in its life energy and thereby endanger the clan. Not only did his actions not have a negative impact, but they also showed that there was hope—hope of the Blue Gold Tree clan's revival.

As he was bathed in this high-level life energy, Tang San's body was also undergoing a transformation akin to rebirth.

During his tribulation, his mortal body had transformed into a divine body. However, due to the overwhelming power of the tribulation, although he had successfully crossed it, his divine body had suffered some damage, requiring a long period of nurturing to fully recover. Right now, his cultivation was fine, and thanks to the power of his divine seat, his body was slowly but continuously improving. But it would still take time, and he had to prepare himself for eventually becoming an Emperor.

At this moment, in front of the Ancestral Tree, his body began to undergo changes. First, the injuries from his previous tribulation were being healed. The cracks left by the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Divine Extinguishing Tribulation were slowly mending under the nourishment of this extremely pure and high-level life energy. The recovery, enhanced by the chaos energy, was happening many times faster than it would have normally.

At the same time, Tang San's divine body was evolving, undergoing a complete transformation as it absorbed the planet-level life essence and the chaos energy. This metamorphosis would strengthen his foundation even further. For him, this transformation was more valuable than directly inheriting the Ancestral Tree's power. After all, no matter how great the Ancestral Tree's power was, it still paled in comparison to the level he had been at as a God King. What he needed most was to restore his former strength.

The process of becoming an Emperor involved far more than a simple heavenly tribulation, and it would undoubtedly also bring great trouble from the existing Emperors. The phenomena it triggered were impossible to conceal. No matter where on the planet someone became an Emperor, the existing Emperors would inevitably sense it. And whether for demons or nymphs, the emergence of a new Emperor carried massive implications.

When the Crystal Demon Emperor was still alive, demons in the Empyrean Dominion suppressed nymphs with overwhelming power; the might of the continent's strongest figure influenced the balance of power on the Daemon Continent for millennia.

Now that the Crystal Demon Emperor had fallen, although demons still had an advantage in the number of Emperors, their overall strength was no longer superior to nymphs. The combined might of the Sunborne Nymph Emperor and the Earthshade Nymph Emperor was something for which demons had no countermeasure.

With the Crystal Demon Emperor's death, the question of who would fill the vacant position was crucial. Both demons and nymphs would undoubtedly go all out to claim it. Whichever side produced a new Emperor would gain a significant advantage in the struggle between the two countries. Thus, the entire Daemon Continent was simmering in an atmosphere of intense tension. Conflict seemed inevitable, and the seemingly calm status quo was nothing but the calm before the storm.

This was why demons were pressuring Mei Gongzi to marry soon and secure the full support of the Empyrean Dominion, as she was seen as the most likely candidate to reach the level of a Demon Emperor. And on the nymph side, they would certainly not let this matter pass easily. When the time came, it was sure to be a spectacular and chaotic event.

The competition between demons and nymphs over becoming an Emperor was already fierce, so what would their reaction be if someone who belonged to neither side happened to claim that throne? If a human, of all races, were to claim the title of Emperor during such a time, what would happen? Without a doubt, all the existing Emperors would rise against them. Even the White Tiger Demon Emperor and the Sword Saint Demon Emperor, who were close to Tang San, would not support him in this situation.

Meanwhile, although Mei Gongzi had human blood, she was still the granddaughter of the White Tiger Demon Emperor and even had the bloodline of the phoenix race, although the other Emperors were still unaware of that. Her becoming an Emperor was something demons could reluctantly accept. But were it Tang San instead, the outcome was certain: everybody would be against him.

This was why Tang San had previously said he would participate in the competition for Mei Gongzi's hand in marriage, using his identity as the so-called heir of the Sea God. He hoped to test whether demons might accept sea beasts as a legitimate power, which could allow him to become an Emperor without interference in the future.

However, he was fully aware that this possibility was slim, and recently, he had been contemplating what method was optimal for him to become an Emperor without having to fight the entire Daemon Continent for a spot. The most straightforward option was to flee to a location far away from the Daemon Continent to undergo the process and finish it before the other Emperors could arrive. But he had no way to know whether this method would succeed, as he wasn't entirely sure what the process entailed.

But as his power intertwined with that of the Ancestral Tree, a new idea began to take shape in Tang San's mind.