Chapter 753: The Crystal's Fall, The Emperors' Sorrow

The sudden fall of the Crystal Demon Emperor undoubtedly concluded everything that had happened before. In such circumstances, who could question anything anymore? No matter what she had done, she had already fallen and left no descendants behind. Who could they assign blame to, and what meaning would that even have? Moreover, she used her last strength to reinforce the Crystal Celestial Pillar, ensuring it would likely never be surpassed in history and ensuring the stability of the Ancestral Court. What was there to criticize?

Whether she was right or wrong with her previous actions, her death seemed to be the best conclusion to everything before them. Even though the Celestial Fox clan had suffered greatly, the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor couldn't bring himself to feel any hatred in his heart.

All the Emperors lowered their heads. Their emotions varied, but they all felt a sense of sorrow—the fox mourns the death of the rabbit, they say. Even someone as powerful as the Crystal Demon Emperor could not prevent her own demise. To them, this was naturally the result of a failed tribulation.

***

In a cave, somewhere far in the distance.

A strange radiance filled the air as a figure silently emerged within an array of light and shadow.

Golden light flickered across him, sometimes flashing like lightning, other times glowing in many hues, appearing very unstable. The patterns of light formed cracks that appeared and disappeared like the fractures on porcelain.

Tang San put his hand on the ground to prop himself before sitting down cross-legged. In spite of his obviously dire state, his face could not be more relaxed.

Although everything had gone according to his calculations and plans, and he had finally overcome the most challenging hurdle since arriving in this world, it was only now, after truly crossing it, that he could finally breathe a sigh of relief!

Crystalline's figure appeared before him, and she had a rather complex expression on her face. She looked like a perfectly normal human, with no trace whatsoever of that transparent and illusory feeling she used to give off.

"The Crystal Demon Emperor has fallen," she said softly.

Tang San looked at her deeply. "It seems you've made up your mind, no retreat?"

"What retreat is there to have now?" Crystalline said bitterly. "When I followed you to godhood, my divine consciousness was completely anchored to you. I couldn't maintain things on the other side anymore. I dispersed my remaining power and merged it into the Celestial Pillar. If you go back to the Ancestral Court in the future, that power can still support you—consider it my fee. Also, my fall should serve as an explanation for the huge commotion you caused. Otherwise, they'd keep looking to see if the person undergoing tribulation succeeded. I suppose I covered your tracks."

Tang San chuckled and said, "Is that how you talk to your dad? Show some respect."

The Crystal Demon Emperor rolled her eyes. "I've lived for three thousand years, and you still have the nerve to call yourself my dad!"

Tang San snorted. "If you want to factor in our previous lives, I don’t even know how many millennia older I am. Calling me dad isn't a loss for you. Alright, enough talk. I need to stabilize my cultivation. The Nine Heavens Ten Earths Divine Extinguishing Tribulation was too overwhelming; the power of annihilation is still rampaging inside me. I need to quickly gather and fully absorb it before I can say I've truly completed the tribulation."

"Right, about that... After passing such an unprecedented tribulation, I'm really curious—just how strong are you now?"

"I'm definitely still not as strong as an Emperor. But I should be more than capable of protecting myself."

"My fall will allow for two ordinary Emperors to appear, or perhaps one transcendent Emperor. I believe the plane can bear that much, but you need to work hard. Don't forget what you promised me—you'll take me with you to your Divine Realm. I want to see what immortality really feels like."

Tang San smiled and nodded. "Don't worry. Before the tribulation, I wasn’t really sure I could do that. But now, I'm confident."

"Alright then, hurry up and cultivate," Crystalline said. With that, she transformed into a ray of crystalline light that instantly merged into Tang San's body and disappeared.

Tang San focused his mind and looked inward, sensing his condition.

The power of his bloodlines had been baptized by the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Divine Extinguishing Tribulation, undergoing a profound transformation.

At this moment, the Chaos Blue Silver Emperor was seated at the center. The droplet of chaos energy had once again settled like a dewdrop upon a blade of Blue Silver Emperor Grass, and it was this drop of chaos energy that was the most precious thing to Tang San. It was the source of the innate energy of the entire plane, which would greatly benefit his future cultivation and the restoration of his previous level.

Floating around it were the other eight bloodline imprints. Moreover, they did not fill the space completely, which indicated that Tang San could now integrate another new imprint.

This tribulation was not just about achieving godhood for Tang San; he had also used the energy of the tribulation to perform some feats that would have been quite difficult otherwise.

The most crucial of these was naturally the perfect fusion of the yin and yang energies into the Chaos Blue Silver Emperor. This was fundamental to Tang San’s further development. Then, there was the further refinement of the Spacetime Lighthouse.

After undergoing the baptism of the tribulation, the Spacetime Lighthouse was now fully integrated with Tang San's Peacock Transformation and Chrono Croc Transformation, making these two bloodline imprints closely connected with the Spacetime Lighthouse. Although neither had reached the level of a transcendent bloodline, the Chrono Croc Transformation had at least advanced to the first tier, while the Peacock Transformation had also seen a significant boost. His control over both time and space had grown much stronger than before.

The other bloodline imprints had also undergone tempering, experiencing varying degrees of enhancement.

Then, there was the metamorphosis of his sea of consciousness into a sea of divine consciousness.

Before this, every time Tang San used his divine consciousness, it was gone for good. He had to painstakingly condense divine consciousness from spiritual power, an excruciatingly slow process. Even with the boundless faith energy of the sea, there was a limit to what he could do. But now, things were different.

In Tang San's sea of divine consciousness, the shadow of the Sea God’s Trident had fully solidified. It was once more serving as the foundation of his sea of divine consciousness, just as it had in his previous life when it was a transcendent divine weapon. With it at the core, his divine consciousness was self-replenishing, and

Finally, during the tribulation, Tang San also perfected his Immaculate Golden Body, not only reaching the peak but also transforming it into a divine body. In terms of physical strength, he could now be considered the best of the best on the Daemon Continent. Even an Emperor might not compare to him in terms of physique. If that weren't the case, the cracks on his body would not have been this superficial. The destructive force of the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Divine Extinguishing Tribulation wasn't something easily endured, much less retained inside the body for further refinement.

After this transformation, he had truly shed his mortal body and attained godhood. In terms of energy level within this world, his power was equivalent to the peak of the tenth order, but compared to an ordinary Demon or Nymph King, he was many times stronger.

Each of his bloodline imprints was equivalent to the peak of the tenth order, and each of his two transcendent bloodlines gave him the power of a Great Demon King. The combined power of his nine imprints was no joke. This was Tang San's true strength now. Moreover, he had the combat experience of a God King from his previous life and a profound understanding of various energies. The path to becoming an Emperor would be smooth and straightforward; it was simply a matter of time.

For now, the most important thing was to fully digest the tribulation energy and integrate the things he had gained.

His internal energy began to circulate on its own, and the power of his bloodlines surged within him, starting to repair his body. The Immortal Flame Phoenix imprint radiated a golden-red halo, working in conjunction with the yin-yang energy emitted by the Chaos Blue Silver Emperor. This was the best way to recover.