Chapter 651: Accompanying You in Seclusion

The Discerning Eye of Heaven had just reached the ninth order, while the others were already at the peak of the ninth order.

After advancing, the Discerning Eye of Heaven seemed to have encountered some kind of limitation, and it did not seem to want to move any further. Even the integration of the Polar Luck Domain with it couldn't enhance it further.

Crystalline’s imprint[1] was rather special; she seemed to be in a constant state of slumber, yet she still absorbed Tang San's internal energy.

Tang San had been observing this process, and had concluded that it did not pose a problem to his cultivation. Crystalline seemed to only absorb the surplus of energy; her imprint was only drawing in the energy that the other imprints could not absorb, and when Tang San’s energy was running low, she stopped absorbing it.

He had also tried to awaken Crystalline, but with no success.

Crystalline was connected to the Crystal Demon Emperor, yet even now, he hadn't figured out the exact nature of this connection. The imprint within his dantian hadn't played any major role within him, but it hadn't caused him any trouble either. It wouldn't be entirely accurate to say it had played no role at all—there had been times when Crystalline woke up and helped him in a moment of danger, after all, but Tang San had no way of predicting how things would go in the future.

In any case, as far as he could sense, the energy level of this imprint matched that of the other imprints that were at the peak of the ninth order, so he simply considered it to be at the peak of the ninth order as well. Its aura was not powerful, but he felt that the imprint was not weak.

Thus, what he had to do was cultivate the Discerning Eye of Heaven to the peak of the ninth order, enhance the Blue Silver Emperor so it could contain the power of the fused yin-yang energy, and select one last bloodline.

Tang San thought that to elevate the Discerning Eye of Heaven to the peak of the ninth order, he could wait until his tribulation. The location where he planned to undergo tribulation might just provide the opportunity for the enhancement.

As for the Blue Silver Emperor... the inevitable path was fusing it with the yin-yang energies into a second transcendent bloodline, but this also inevitably required another trip to the two Sacred Mountains at the Ancestral Court. The vacant slot would come in handy at that time; he might need to integrate another bloodline to assist with the fusion.

The problem was that fusing the Blue Silver Emperor was one thing, and keeping the result under control was another thing altogether. It would only be more difficult than it had been with the Golden Armor Transformation.

He could merge the Rainbow Skyfire Liquid into the final vacant imprint if all else failed. The Spacetime Beacon would serve as his life-bound artifact during his breakthrough attempt.

Summoning the Sea God’s Trident to his side was not something he could accomplish in a short period. Fortunately, the Spacetime Beacon was a very adequate replacement. After all, it was the largest Spacetime Beacon Tang San had ever seen, and it had the potential to become a transcendent divine item itself, so he wasn’t too concerned about taking a loss.

For now, during his cultivation, his focus had to be on his divine consciousness. He could not cultivate it directly, but he could now somewhat speed up the process of converting spiritual power, and he had to give that his all. He had to recover his divine consciousness to the maximum extent possible before thinking of other things.

As for the bloodline power, he would let it naturally elevate to the peak of the ninth order under the nourishment of the Golden Armor Transformation.

Tang San planned to enter seclusion for a month, reach optimal condition, and push his spirit core to convert his spiritual power into divine consciousness. After that, he would return to the Ancestral Court to seek opportunities at the Sunborne Sacred Mountain and the Earthshade Sacred Mountain.

With that, Tang San began to plan things out. He pondered on his various abilities, analyzed the possibilities that each bloodline imprint offered, and thought of how to best integrate them with each other. Now that he had so many of them, using them randomly was a waste of potential; they could only unleash their true power when they were used in synergy with each other.

By the time he was done sorting his thoughts, dawn had already arrived. Taking advantage of the faint light in the eastern sky, Tang San cultivated his Purple Demon Eyes.

Just as he was about to return to the Golden Tree to continue his seclusion, his long-distance communicator suddenly rang.

This specific communicator was exclusive; only one person could connect to it. Tang San answered the call without hesitation, and Mei Gongzi's voice immediately came through.

—Where are you?

"I'm in seclusion!"

—I'm at Kali Academy. Come pick me up!

Mei Gongzi's voice was still as melodious as ever, but the words she was saying surprised Tang San.

"Pick you up?"

—Yeah! Pick me up and I’ll keep you company during seclusion. I'm a god now, so with my help, won't your seclusion go more smoothly? I've already made arrangements. From now on, I'll accompany you in seclusion for three days a week and handle the other affairs for four days. When I'm not there, I'll have the queen consort handle things. I've already explained to her that I'm helping you with your seclusion so that you can become a god sooner and revive my father. She said yes.

"You want to accompany me in seclusion?" Tang San asked again, somewhat unsure.

—What? Am I not welcome?

She sounded a bit irked now.

"Welcome, haha, of course you're welcome!" Tang San smiled so widely he felt as if the corners of his mouth would meet at the back of his head. His heart seemed like it might melt.

He jumped on his feet, and after just a few breaths, he saw her again.

It was still the same old spot at Kali Academy. She had changed into a simple white dress; her long hair was casually tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, and she looked fresh and natural.

The moment their eyes met, they both froze.

Even though it had only been a day since they last saw each other, in that moment, the longing in their hearts erupted like a geyser.

Tang San suddenly stepped forward and tightly pulled her into his embrace. In that instant, he couldn't care about anything else—he just wanted to hold her, to have his lover in his arms.

Mei Gongzi was startled by his sudden bold move and tried to struggle for a moment, but she quickly gave up.

With her cheek pressed against his chest, she felt perfectly at ease. His embrace was warm. Leaning against him felt like finding the perfect support, and all her fatigue seemed to dissipate in that moment.

Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his waist. The two of them held each other tightly like that.

"You know... I missed you so much," Tang San said softly, inhaling the faint fragrance of her hair.

"If you like being with me, why did you run off?" Mei Gongzi replied, slightly annoyed.

"I didn't run off, I just wanted to protect you better...."

"Then don’t leave me. You need to be with me all the time to protect me, got it?"

"Yes, Big Sister Mei. I am at your command."

"Good, that's more like it." Mei Gongzi couldn't help but smile, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the special sense of safety that came from leaning against him.

Although they had been apart for just one day, she constantly felt a sense of emptiness during that time. Without him by her side, it was as if she had lost her footing and lacked confidence. Everything she did felt awkward and uncomfortable.

It was only then that she realized she had grown accustomed to having him by her side. Perhaps it started during the competition, and continued through this time they spent together. He was always so calm and composed, and whenever she encountered a problem, he always found the best way to solve it and offered rational suggestions.

Even the Golden Deer Demon King and the Aetherhorn Deer Demon King couldn’t find any flaws in her orders. Whenever she saw their admiring and approving gazes, Mei Gongzi couldn’t help but blush a little because those ideas weren't hers—they came from her personal encyclopedia.

She would have been a complete mess without him.

The queen consort wasn’t helping her manage the affairs because she wanted to see if Mei Gongzi could be a competent city lord by herself.

Having sufficient strength to protect the clan

could

make someone a clan leader, more or less, but being a city lord was something else entirely. Governing a major city was no easy task.

In just a month, while providing benefits to humans, she managed to organize Kali City in an orderly fashion, minimizing the negative impact of the change in power structure, bringing everything back on track, and maintaining stability within the Peacock Demon clan.

Everything she was doing was observed by the Peacock Demon clan's powerful members, and they acknowledged her more and more by the day.

1. At this point, the raws start calling it "Crystal Transformation imprint." We will not be doing the same, at least for the time being, for two reasons. First, there is no transition; Tang San is calling it Crystalline (the original literally means "crystal-crystal," so that was a fairly easy decision for a little girl’s name) and then he is suddenly calling it "Crystal Transformation imprint." They are both used concurrently, but with no particular pattern, and we’re not sure why the sudden change. Second, the imprint has nothing in common with the other imprints and is in fact a separate, sentient entity, so it doesn’t quite make sense to us to call that "something-transformation." This is subject to change in the future based on what the next chapters have in reserve for us. ☜