Chapter 1104: The Elemental Seas |
After putting away the Heart of Nature, Tang San directed vast amounts of elemental energy toward the four directions. Under the guidance of his faith energy, this process wasn't difficult. Before long, the four Elemental Seas began to gradually take shape, slowly expanding under their respective elemental seed's convergence effect.
Back when he acquired the Heart of Nature at the auction, this had been one of his intended uses. In fact, he had originally planned to find four divine artifacts corresponding to water, fire, earth, and wind, then destroy them to create pseudo-elemental seeds. But those would have required delicate care in their early stages, and their effects would have been far inferior to the elemental seeds derived from the Heart of Nature.
The Sea God's projection vanished; the Sea God's Trident flew into the air and fell back into Tang San's hand. Meanwhile, faith energy continued to flow toward Pearl Island. With the phenomena surrounding the planting of the four elemental seeds, the island had undoubtedly become a sacred land within the Endless Blue Sea—and more importantly, a sanctuary for humanity.
The next moment, with a flash of silver light, Tang San returned to Mei Gongzi and Xiao He's side.
Xiao He looked at him with a somewhat strange expression, exclaiming, "I truly wonder if there's anything in this world you can't do."
Tang San laughed. "Now that's putting me on the spot."
Xiao He burst into hearty laughter as well. "Well, as long as you're on our side! With these Elemental Seas, our chosen people can begin the real trials and cultivation. So what's the next step?"
Tang San's expression grew serious. "Well, you know what they say, the master opens the door, but it's the pupil's job to enter. I can create opportunities, but I can't teach them everything. And I don't think I need to, for that matter. Humanity's greatest strength lies in our creativity. I believe the chance I've created will allow them to forge their own paths, their own methods of using and applying these powers.
"These four Elemental Seas can serve as the foundation. Around them, new elemental seeds will eventually form. Once these seeds are planted elsewhere, they'll form their own Elemental Seas, and they will also be able to support cultivation of elemental abilities. Over time, a complete system will emerge. You are attuned to the space element, so you should find it easier to understand elemental integration. I'll be handing things over to you from here on."
"For those without such gifts, I've prepared a different cultivation path. In the end, all roads lead to the heart of the universe. Any cultivation method can lead to the ultimate truth if practiced in earnest, and this will be another avenue for our people to walk toward the future. Actually, the reason I want to stay here for a while is not just to oversee the development of the Elemental Seas, but also to pass on this alternative method."
Mei Gongzi asked curiously, "You've mentioned it before… but what kind of method is it, really? Can you tell us now?"
Tang San smiled. "The inspiration actually came from one of the champion prizes we received from the Ancestral Court's Elite Competition."
As he spoke, a thick book with a silver feather embossed on its cover appeared in his hand.
"The Book of All Laws?" Mei Gongzi's eyes lit up.
Tang San nodded and turned to Xiao He. "Prime Minister, during our participation in the Battle for the Throne at the Ancestral Court, the final auction item was a Celestial Pillar. A very unique one, too, because it was brought into this world by a human. In other words, a human once became an Emperor on this plane. The final cultivation method I'm referring to comes from that Celestial Pillar."
Before leaving the Ancestral Court after the competition, Tang San had personally visited the Celestial Pillar. He had not disturbed the Emperors, nor did any of them know about his visit.
In fact, he hadn't just visited it; he had communed with it and earned its acknowledgment.
Human blood, combined with a deep understanding of the legacy left in that pillar, and the ambition to forge a new future for humanity—these were all essential traits for an heir, and Tang San possessed them all. Thus, in just a brief exchange with the Celestial Pillar's remnant consciousness, he had obtained its inheritance.
Xiao He was stunned. Naturally, as the Lord of Kali City, he had seen the Celestial Pillars himself, but he had been entirely unaware that a human Celestial Pillar existed.
"This predecessor forged an entirely different path, a route none of us could have imagined. You see, he had no natural gifts at all in terms of spirit or physique, and no bloodline power inheritance. He was just a normal human, is what I'm trying to say. From childhood, he learned the blacksmith trade, and as it turned out, he did have a gift for that; he was able to create many kinds of objects with great skill. Through effort and clever innovation, he forged powerful weapons, developed new alloys, and gradually gained renown.
"As his weapons grew stronger, he amassed wealth. In pursuit of better forging results, he began collecting blood from powerful beings to infuse into his creations. This led to weapons with heightened spirituality and power. Still, because he lacked personal strength, he hit a ceiling: He was entirely unable to forge actual divine items. Unwilling to accept that, he kept researching until he eventually created a unique alloy. Items made from this alloy could absorb the bloodline power of a demon or nymph and reproduce their innate abilities! The effect was limited, but the potential was real.
"To develop this further, he devoted fifty years to refining this alloy, seeking to make its absorption more powerful and the abilities it could reproduce more controllable. At last, he succeeded. He then used the alloy to create sheets as thin as paper, which could store bloodline abilities. These gave him access to brief bursts of different powers, allowing him to develop his forging capabilities far beyond what an ordinary human's strength would have allowed. His dream was to forge divine artifacts… yet he didn't realize that this special 'paper' of his was, in fact, the embryo of a divine artifact.
"When he had imprinted a hundred different bloodline abilities, he also began fusing them, and when he did that, his very level of personhood ascended. The alloy gained a life of its own, much like how nymphs come into being, and granted him an immense feedback of energy, propelling him to the ninth order in a single day. Only then did he understand the true value of his research.
"He then continued to refine and perfect the alloy, and though he had no bloodline talent of his own, the awakened alloy allowed him to wield all sorts of powers. With each breakthrough in his research, his cultivation also grew, until he became the first Human King. And after another fifty years of refinement, he created his own system of cultivation, and finally ascended to Emperorhood. His Celestial Pillar can be considered among the top five in the entire history of the Ancestral Court."
Even though Mei Gongzi had heard the story before, she was still awed by it. Xiao He, who was hearing it for the first time, was even more deeply shocked.