Chapter 894: Adamant Lion-Tiger Transformation

Altogether, Tang San currently possessed ten bloodline imprints. Now that he was at the eleventh order, he could afford adding another one, but that was not going to be the Adamant Nymph bloodline.

The Adamant Nymph Emperor's bloodline was naturally a first-tier bloodline, but not all first-tier bloodlines were equal. In Tang San's opinion, in its pure state, this bloodline wasn't particularly useful. Its greatest advantage was boosting his defensive capabilities, but that was that. Integrating it in the free slot was certainly possible, but the problem was that Tang San preferred to leave one slot open, just in case. For instance, when he encountered Jin Miaosen, it was only by absorbing her Blue Gold Tree bloodline that Tang San was able to conceal his true identity before the Ancestral Tree, leading to a series of important benefits. Therefore, this slot had to remain available for emergencies.

Among Tang San's bloodline imprints, the best choice to combine with the Adamant Nymph bloodline was the Lion-Tiger Transformation, which offered both offense and defense. The Dragon Roc Transformation was also a possibility, but its primary function lay in flight, and activating it would cause wings to appear, making it harder for Tang San to conceal his identity. Additionally, its flexibility would be diminished. As for the other bloodlines, they were even less suitable; Tang San didn't dare to fuse more transcendent bloodlines right now, so the Golden Armor Transformation wasn't an option.

Before killing the Adamant Nymph Emperor, Tang San had already decided on the fusion path for the Adamant Nymph bloodline. Thus, now that he was in a safe and quiet place, he immediately used the Lion-Tiger bloodline imprint to absorb the power of the Adamant Nymph bloodline.

The latter's aura was incredibly dense, and as soon as it came into contact with the Lion-Tiger Transformation, it immediately began to take effect. Under the pressure of Tang San's powerful divine consciousness, the two started to fuse. However, during this process of extraction, the originally sealed Adamant Nymph Emperor's bloodline imprint began to stir restlessly.

Even Tang San found it difficult to suppress it. He had to use the power of all his other bloodlines to block it, preventing the aura from bursting out and overwhelming him. Thankfully, the life energy of the Ancestral Tree washed over his body repeatedly, helping him endure the strain.

The initial part of a fusion was always the most challenging. His body, despite its strength, struggled to withstand the impact of the Emperor-level energy. Tang San constantly felt as though his body might explode from the pressure.

Yet his mind remained calm and steady. He had thoroughly prepared for this moment, and if his body couldn't withstand it, he had other methods at his disposal.

The Spacetime Lighthouse guarded his sea of consciousness. As the Adamant Nymph bloodline power began to lash out wildly, space ripples appeared around the yet-to-be-fused bloodline imprint.

Space Shift!

Tang San channeled the power he couldn't bear into the Spacetime Lighthouse and sent it to another space. Basically, what he was doing was creating a pocket of space that allowed him to store the energy he couldn't process immediately; it was just a temporary fix that could not be sustained indefinitely, but it was exactly the help he needed right now.

With the assistance of the divine artifact, Tang San's condition stabilized once more. The Lion-Tiger bloodline imprint, stimulated by the infusion of Adamant Nymph bloodline power, began to radiate increasingly intense light. At the same time, Tang San could feel the changes within himself.

From his bones to his meridians, and then to his internal organs, muscles, and skin, every part of his body was continuously being nourished. As this nourishment progressed, his body became increasingly tough. Every part of his body gradually took on a translucent quality, and the more transparent and brilliant it became, the more solid it felt to Tang San.

The power of the Lion-Tiger bloodline originally felt rather wild and unrestrained, albeit majestic; after merging with the Adamant Nymph bloodline, it gradually became more weighty, and a domineering aura began to emerge.

One was violent, the other was heavy, and their combination began to exude an aura of truly sovereign-like authority. This proved Tang San's sharp judgment: the compatibility between these two bloodlines was exceptionally high, even surpassing the Golden Mammoth and Behemoth bloodlines he had fused into the Golden Armor Transformation. Furthermore, Tang San now had the Chaos Blue Silver Emperor to mediate the fusion, and perhaps even more importantly, the fortune he controlled through the Discerning Eye of Heave was far greater. As a result, the fusion process was exceptionally smooth.

However, the energy of the Adamant Nymph Emperor's bloodline was simply too vast. There was no way to fuse the imprint directly with the Lion-Tiger bloodline imprint as he'd done with the others; instead, he had to draw power from the former and infuse it into the latter. As the energy from the Adamant Nymph bloodline reached parity with the original level of the Lion-Tiger imprint, Tang San halted the process.

The impact of the Adamant Nymph's bloodline imprint on his body had weakened somewhat. But in Tang San's estimation, "somewhat" meant around one-tenth. Such was the terrifying gap between the twelfth order and the eleventh.

Reducing the power by one-tenth provided some relief for Tang San but didn't completely solve the problem. Meanwhile, the Lion-Tiger Transformation had evolved into a new transcendent bloodline—the Adamant Lion-Tiger bloodline. This time, the fusion was completed without any particular celestial phenomena or rejection from the plane, as it was done under the protection of the Ancestral Tree's life energy. Tang San could clearly sense that Falan Planet's rejection of him had diminished significantly. This was one of the enormous benefits brought by the Ancestral Tree's acknowledgement, perhaps even more important than the life energy itself. Had he attempted this just a few weeks before, he would have been struck down by the plane without a doubt.

But even so, Tang San found himself in a dilemma. What could he do with the remaining Adamant Nymph bloodline power? While he could in theory seal the remaining power indefinitely, maintaining the seal would consume a great deal of his mental energy, to the point where he wouldn't even be able to fight properly. If he were to engage in battle at full strength and lost control of the seal, he wouldn't even need to lose the fight; he would be blasted apart from the inside.

Should he release it? He was truly reluctant to do so. After going through so much to obtain the power of an Emperor, how could he just give it up? But continuing to absorb it wasn't an option either. If the power of the Adamant Lion-Tiger Transformation imprint was out of balance, it would simply collapse, and he would be forced to restock on Lion-Tiger bloodline power.

If worse came to worst, he would have to attempt a fusion of three bloodlines, allowing the Golden Armor Transformation to absorb some of the energy, and then even feed some to the Dragon Roc Transformation. However, he had no idea whether this would come with side effects. The only way to know was to try.

As Tang San was contemplating the best approach to this fusion, a voice suddenly echoed in his divine consciousness.

"Daddy, let me handle it."

Hearing this voice, Tang San couldn't help but shiver.

Crystalline!

Ever since the Crystal Demon Emperor fell, Crystalline had been in a deep slumber. Throughout Tang San's cultivation, he could always feel Crystalline absorbing his energy. He had nothing against it—after all, she was not absorbing much, and she was now truly reliant on him. She no longer had a physical body, and since Tang San was not in a divine realm, he could not help her gain one either. Of course, he was not worried about that; when he returned to his world, he would simply take her with him and let her out there.

But the fact of the matter was that she was still taking up one of his precious bloodline imprint slots, and since he hadn't absorbed her bloodline power, the imprint was not his to control. He certainly wanted to know if there was anything that could be done, but with her fast asleep, he had no chance to find out.

Now, with Crystalline suddenly speaking, Tang San was startled.

"Crystalline?"

Tang San called out tentatively.

"Yep, it's me, Daddy. You're really amazing! You've managed to combine all these mixed powers in your body—I couldn't even do that back in the day."

Tang San smiled wryly and said,

"You can stop calling me Daddy, okay? You're an old granny."

Crystalline giggled.

"Heh, this is this and that's that. The old granny died, no? I am little Crystalline, and you're the one who hatched the egg, so you're my parent. Also, I was born from the power of fortune, and I can already tell that recognizing you as my dad comes with a lot of benefits, so you can't get rid of me even if you want. Anyway, let me help you solve this problem first, okay?"