Chapter 401: Comprehensive Enhancement

The domain would undoubtedly grow with cultivation, and Tang San had just sensed the changes in Du Bai after advancing to a four-tailed Celestial Fox. Although he could better control luck and misfortune without a domain appearing, it was different from Tang San's domain. This meant that the domain didn't necessarily appear after reaching the four-tailed Celestial Fox but was related to Crystalline's assistance during that dangerous moment.

With his experience as a God King, Tang San understood that the emergence of his domain was more likely due to a mutation.

It was a mutation that occurred instantly under specific circumstances and opportunities. This mutation appeared to be benign so far. What needed to be observed was whether the domain would change once he was outside.

Within the Hell Garden, having this domain meant that this place was now effectively his home turf. In the future, if he wanted to enter here again, he would be at ease. This was the biggest gain from Tang San's Hell Garden journey.

Now, he needed to control this domain, allowing its power to be wielded at will.

The journey into Heaven Garden strengthened his spiritual power and significantly improved his divine consciousness in the spiritual core.

If the divine consciousness strength of a god-level powerhouse was one hundred, Tang San's strength when he arrived in this world was one. That was all he could retain at the time. However, his divine consciousness origin was at the God King level, with no bottlenecks in its evolution.

Over the years, his divine consciousness reached about eight during the last burst when he transformed into the Sea God. After consumption, it was left at two. Subsequent nurturing and the life energy from the Golden Tree, along with various opportunities, raised it to around twenty.

Tang San’s trip to the Heaven Garden had improved his divine consciousness to thirty. This was already one-third of the strength of a god-level powerhouse, even without considering his God King foundation. Between that and the mysteries of divine consciousness, he now felt confident that he could take on ordinary gods without overexerting his divine consciousness.

However, becoming a god once more wouldn't be easy. Tang San had decided that he would need his divine consciousness to reach divine level first, and then he needed nine bloodline imprints at the peak of the ninth order before considering breaking through.

This journey to the Ancestral Court had been immensely beneficial, providing him with crucial information that would play a significant role in his future breakthrough.

Of course, it also brought new variables, such as Crystalline. Now that Crystalline had hatched, he had to decide whether to return her to the Crystal Demon Emperor or keep her by his side.

If Crystalline were just a normal little girl, he would send her back; she was a real hot potato. But now, Crystalline had simply merged into his body, transforming into an imprint in his dantian. He couldn’t even take her out; how was he supposed to return her like this?

The Crystal Demon Emperor had already sensed something peculiar about him before—namely, his multiple bloodline abilities. If Crystalline's imprint was revealed, he would have nowhere to hide. So he didn't really have a choice now.

Once they left the Hell Garden, he had to wait and see if the Crystal Demon Emperor contacted him. The remnant consciousness on the crystal egg had disappeared completely, so the Crystal Demon Emperor shouldn't know anything directly unless he could sense Crystalline's aura inside Tang San’s body. Thus, Tang San could only take it one step at a time.

Tang San's biggest regret now was going to the Crystal Palace. Even with his experience as a God King, he found it hard to see through the top-ranked Demon Emperor.

Boom, boom, boom!

Three explosions startled everyone from their quiet cultivation.

They stood up and looked into the distance, seeing a mushroom-like fire cloud rising near the exit. Numerous flowers around them were shredded to pieces. They could feel the shockwave from thousands of meters away, causing the cool-colored flowers to tilt outward from the blast.

Goodness... This must be the power of a god's strike.

The distant battle seemed to have subsided entirely as the booming sound ended. The pillar of light representing the exit began to tremble, its original white gradually turning to gold. Tang San could vaguely see a large white flower-like shape in the center of the pillar.

He blurted out, "The exit is open!"

Yes, this was probably the sign of the exit opening, which meant that more than half of the participants in the team battle had died.

The massive explosion just now had undoubtedly claimed the lives of many participants, though it was unclear what exactly had caused it.

"Let's go take a look," Tang San said as he quietly expanded his domain, leading his companions toward the exit.

Within the pillar of light, light rays began to flicker—silhouettes being shifted in some unknown direction.

The place was already empty when they reached the exit, and no one was in sight.

Well, no one

alive

. Fragments of various corpses were being slowly devoured and absorbed by the earth, silently melting into the ground.

What the hell happened here... Wait... If nobody’s here anymore, aren’t we too late?!

The five looked at each other, and the other four focused their gazes on Tang San.

Tang San's mouth twitched slightly. Clearly, the Aetherhorn Merchant Association's plan couldn't be carried out. They couldn't find the team that was supposed to be cooperating with them, and they had no idea what had happened.

"Smear some blood on yourselves, try to look like we had a fight, and let's get out first. What happens after that, we’ll have to see," Tang San said. Even if the Aetherhorn Merchant Association's plan failed, it didn't matter much to him. After all, he already had tokens from the three Demon Emperors' palaces, and they were more than enough to protect him.

While the flesh and blood of the other participants hadn't been completely absorbed by the earth, they quickly smeared some of it onto themselves and ripped their own clothes, pretending they were seriously wounded. They put on their masks and headed toward the light pillar.

***

Outside the valley, Xu Ziran had been waiting with several carriages. However, his face was now livid.

No one knew who had leaked the information, but other participants discovered the identities of the strongest team they had secretly bribed. As a result, during the final battle, they were the first to be attacked by everyone else, and one of them resorted to self-destruction, taking many of the attackers with them.

Less than a third of those who had entered the Hell Garden came out alive, and most of them were heavily injured. He learned the specifics from the surviving participants.

Well, that was one thing. The problem was that the plan had failed! The Shrek Squad led by Asura was nowhere in sight!

After meeting the array master, he and the entire Aetherhorn Merchant Association greatly emphasized this cooperation. Yet if Asura was dead, the connection with Master Lou would be cut off! The originally foolproof plan had been fooled, and he, the person in charge, couldn't escape responsibility.

"Yo, isn't this Brother Xu? Why do you look so upset? You didn't place a big bet on the Bubble Squad, did you? Hahahaha." A somewhat hoarse and unpleasant voice sounded beside Xu Ziran.

Xu Ziran didn't need to turn around to know who it was—the Ancestral Court manager of the Skyway Merchant Association, an organization comparable to the Aetherhorn Merchant Association and backed by the Animator of the Inanimate, the Soul Capturer Nymph Emperor.

The Skyway Merchant Association and the Aetherhorn Merchant Association didn't have much overall business conflict, as Skyway operated more within the Solstice Empire's nymph world. The only place they clashed was in the Ancestral Court.

In terms of status, Xu Ziran was not on par with this Skyway manager, who was responsible for all of Skyway's operations in the Ancestral Court. Meanwhile, Xu Ziran was only a caravan leader, just a deputy within the Aetherhorn Merchant Association's Ancestral Court operations. However, Xu Ziran was practically the representative of the business, so he was immediately recognized.