Chapter 1101: Pearl Island |
With a quick expansion of his divine consciousness, Tang San located the person he wanted to find.
Before long, Xiao He appeared before them.
"Hi Dad!" Mei Gongzi greeted Xiao He with a bright smile.
Xiao He nodded at her, then looked at Tang San. "I swear, Tang San… I once thought I was shrewd enough, but compared to you, I'm still far too naive. You truly are audacious! And the best part is, you actually pulled that off!"
Clearly, he had already learned from his wife about Tang San's impersonation of Jin Miaolin to participate in the Battle for the Throne.
"Prime Minister, you flatter me. These past days must have been hard on you, but thanks to your efforts, our Skytree Realm has grown so much. How's the progress of the construction?"
A trace of pride flickered in Xiao He's eyes. "Faster than we initially planned. The islands have now been fully connected and everything is functioning properly. The smooth transportation allows the islands to support and guard one another. Look here—this additional bridge is for the second route. As we agreed with the Seasky Tree clan and the Sea Giant clan, once three full routes are built, we'll begin filling in the empty space and building a complete small continent. At that point, we can truly say we have our own homeland. That is, as long as we remain hidden from the Ancestral Court. The bridges can be submerged with help from the Seasky Tree clan, but once the main project is complete, it will be hard to conceal. I wanted to consult with you about that, actually. Should we maintain the current state for secrecy, or continue with the original construction plan?"
"Continue with the construction," Tang San answered without hesitation.
Xiao He raised a brow. "That confident? Even if both of you are Crown Princes now, there's only two of you and a lot of Emperors. If the Ancestral Court decides that humanity's evolution goes against their collective interest, we could face huge trouble."
Xiao He gave Tang San a thumbs-up. "Alright, very well then. I believe in you."
"How's the selection of people with elemental affinity coming along?" Tang San asked.
"We've conducted a full screening," Xiao He replied. "About one-third of the immigrants have shown some measure of response from the elemental pools. A number of them are too old, but apart from them, over two hundred thousand youths and adults can attempt to cultivate. But this would require a tremendous amount of elemental energy, wouldn't it?"
Tang San smiled faintly. "I have a way, don't worry. I've returned this time to begin building a cultivation system truly belonging to our human race. That is the true foundation for our survival on this planet, and one day, it'll be the foundation for our rise to power."
"That's wonderful. Now, if we're talking about migration itself, I think that's not an issue. Even if millions relocate here, we can sustain them. The resources of the Endless Blue Sea are abundant, and with the support of the sea clans, feeding more people won't be a problem. What worries me is the long-term development of our people. We might have some powerful individuals, but without strength as a whole, we can't protect ourselves. That's something only you can solve."
Tang San nodded. "That's exactly why I'm here now. I have a question: If I were to establish a number of actual Elemental Seas to support human cultivation, where would be the best location? Somewhere discreet, yet accessible to our people for elemental trials."
Xiao He answered without hesitation, "That would be Pearl Island. It's one of the most central islands among our settlements, and the largest by area. It connects to everywhere else in all directions. It's also quite special in that much of its land is actually just half a meter underwater; it's a very interesting scenery. Unless you run a thorough scan with your divine consciousness, you really can't tell how big it is. But with that said, once the Elemental Seas are established, won't they be easy to detect?"
Tang San shook his head. "No worries about that. Let's head to Pearl Island and take a look. If it's suitable, then that's the place."
Xiao He had regained his strength as a Demon King, and though he was far from his former peak, transporting two people was no issue. Silver light enveloped the trio as they were teleported away in a flash.
They reappeared on another island.
Sure enough, this place had even more bridges than Crescent Island. With a cursory sweep of his divine sense, Tang San counted seven of them. It was also farther away from the Daemon Continent than Crescent Island, and the aura of the sea felt even stronger. The faith energy surrounding Tang San increased, and due to him being able to use holy energy now, even as he stood there doing nothing, he appeared like the divine descent of a heavenly being.
What a perfect place!
Faith energy from the sea beasts converged from all directions, and there was a large human population here too. In the future, he could cultivate here for some time, using the power of faith to refine his various abilities and prepare for the final breakthrough.
The island was indeed larger than Crescent Island. As Xiao He had said, it also looked rather curious; a large part of it lay just half a meter or so below sea level and consisted mostly of white sand, creating the appearance of a pure, shimmering white sea. The name Pearl Island was well deserved—clearly, it was due to the aerial view of the island itself.
Tang San observed the elemental fluctuations in the air surrounding the island. As it turned out, all types of elemental energies were abundant. It was indeed a very suitable location.
"How is it?" Xiao He asked with concern.
Tang San nodded. "It's a good place. This is the one."
Xiao He was just about to ask when they would begin, but Tang San had already floated away from them and higher into the sky.
Mei Gongzi watched curiously; she too wanted to know how Tang San planned to create Elemental Seas. She herself controlled space and understood quite well how elemental energies worked. All elements were free and circulated everywhere in nature; having only one pure element in any given area was nearly impossible. Divine items that could force such condensation existed, but those were extremely rare—like the Fire God's Scepter, for instance.
Yet Tang San wasn't trying to gather just one element.
There were countless humans, and only a small number could resonate with any given element. But this plane had many elemental energies, so wouldn't it be a waste if they weren't used? If more people were to be accepted by elements, then the place needed to contain more kinds of elements.
Tang San flew higher and higher, soon passing a thousand meters above sea level. The faith energy in the air gathered around him in even greater density. He could clearly see many tiny motes of golden light flying toward him from the distance.
He took out a small droplet of chaos energy, and with the support of yin and yang, his aura began to shift. In that moment, he seemed to merge with heaven and earth. From below, his figure appeared to blur and fade.
Seeing this, the former Peacock Great Demon King was startled. Merging with heaven and earth? That's a sign of becoming one with the world? No… That would be disastrous!
But in the next moment, he realized it couldn't be the case. Only peak Emperors could achieve such a feat, like the Ancestral Tree, for instance. Tang San hadn't even become an Emperor yet, so there was no way for him to achieve such a tight connection to the planar Laws. But then… what was he doing?
In spite of Xiao He's reasonable thoughts, with the support of chaos energy, Tang San was, in fact, beginning to fuse with the world. But it was not the same kind of fusion as the Ancestral Tree's. Instead, it was on a far more fundamental level—the chaos energy that Tang San used was the same as the primordial energy from the beginning of the plane itself, the very energy that gave birth to yin and yang and eventually all existence.
The faith energy continued to gather, though more slowly now, while Tang San's bloodline imprints faintly glowed as they resonated with the expanding aura of chaos.
the poing team's Thoughts
TN: Parts of this chapter and the next, which talk about the Elemental Seas, have been revised and do not entirely reflect the raws. It appears that the author has entirely forgotten about the Elemental Pools that Tang San built a while back, which in the raws are also called Elemental Seas—we just chose to call them pools instead because they are, well, pool-sized.