Chapter 1132: Thirteen Floors |
The Chaos Blue Silver Emperor's main role was to mediate between his bloodlines, and it had little use in combat. It was also difficult to improve by now, but it just so happened to be the only bloodline imprint that could be directly nourished by life energy. Normally, chaos energy required a vast amount of yin-yang energy to be slowly refined, but with the life energy generated through the Heart of Nature, things were moving far, far faster.
The reason he poured so much care into building the Tower of Life was not for the Ancestral Court, of course, but for his own secluded cultivation. Though most of his preparatory work for Emperorhood was already complete, the closer he drew to the breakthrough, the more tedious it became. The energy needed was astronomical. But now, he had a way to acquire this energy quickly and with little effort on his part.
While not quite in as dire a situation, Mei Gongzi felt the benefits even more. Under the harmonizing effect of the tower's life energy, the three bloodlines within her body, which normally had to be kept apart to prevent them from clashing, now felt entirely at peace. They were no longer in conflict. Instead, there was a strange, cohesive quality binding them, something all three bloodlines seemed to instinctively love. They ceased struggling for dominance and absorbed the energy together, acquiring traits not unlike those granted by the Ancestral Tree's imprint.
With this subtle transformation, her three bloodline imprints began to move toward a shared identity. And this high-level life energy also gave her a deeper understanding of the Laws Tang San had spoken of, which meant that she would be able to access even more high-level Laws in the future.
The glow and vitality radiating from the Blue Gold Sacred Mountain now openly declared to the entire Ancestral Court that a new Sacred Mountain had been born and it was in no way inferior to the Emperors' own mountains. And though the Tower of Life wasn't finished yet, the benefits it was already bringing to the Ancestral Court had exceeded those of nearly all existing Sacred Mountains.
The Emperors were naturally delighted. The tower was merely one floor tall and already surpassed their expectations. That high-level life energy promised profound benefits in terms of both longevity and cultivation. Thanks to that, their support for Tang San's path to Emperorhood grew even more resolute.
After resting for two days, Tang San began building the second floor of the Tower of Life. From this level onward, he used no other materials apart from bluegold wood, and not a single nail; everything was put together using ancient joinery techniques. This floor was just slightly narrower than the first, and it took him two full days to finish. Then came the inner formations, inlaid with the corresponding gemstones, linking the second floor with the first in both energy and structure.
Once the second level was completed, the tower's life energy output increased by close to thirty percent. The cloud mist at the summit of Blue Gold Sacred Mountain began to thicken and swirl around, and only during brief gusts of wind could one catch a glimpse of the summit.
"How many floors are you planning to build?" Mei Gongzi asked curiously.
Mei Gongzi was startled. "That many? I thought six or seven would do."
Tang San smiled. "If we're going to do it, we're going to do it right. The Tower of Life will be crucial for our tribulation. But don't worry. Once I reach the seventh floor, we can get married. I'll continue building the rest during closed-door cultivation. After all, it wouldn't be good if the Emperors felt too much benefit all at once. It might stir up unwanted greed."
Hearing his mention of marriage, Mei Gongzi blushed and looked down. "That's not what I meant… I wasn't rushing you."
Tang San laughed. "Who needs you to rush him? If I could finish this tomorrow, I would! I can't wait to marry you!"
Her lips curled into a soft smile, satisfaction blooming on her face. "That's more like it," she replied with a playful pout.
They laughed together and got back to work.
Mei Gongzi cut and trimmed the materials while Tang San designed and assembled, then stood guard while he engraved formations. Their cooperation grew ever more seamless, and the Tower of Life continued to rise floor by floor.
The mist atop Blue Gold Sacred Mountain thickened with each completed floor, spreading outward and upward. It obscured the mountain, palace, and tower, but at the same time, it made them stand out even more.
This expanding mist infused the Ancestral Court with ever-richer life energy, especially in the vicinity of Council Mountain, where the energy was nearly tangible. People could feel a damp sensation on their skin, as though they were swimming in pure life energy.
It was blissful. Even the Emperors who otherwise were in their own palaces or their own cities had begun spending most of their time near Council Mountain, bathing in this precious energy.
With that, they became an unofficial guard over Blue Gold Sacred Mountain. No place on the entire continent was safer now than Tang San's Sacred Mountain.
With each additional level of the tower, the city's life energy thickened further. Even the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor's own Sacred Mountain experienced stronger waves of fortune. Clearly, this amplification of life energy had a direct and powerful impact on the entire plane's fortune.
All the main cities of the Daemon Continent were currently building their own Towers of Life to gather life essence. But even combined, their influence paled compared to what Tang San's tower was already doing. And it wasn't even finished.
No one felt this more acutely than the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor.
He repeatedly visited the Blue Gold Sacred Mountain, attempting to discern what made this tower so different. Outwardly, the design didn't seem like all that. But the concentration of life energy being emitted here was orders of magnitude beyond that of any main city. It was as if the entire plane's vitality was being drawn into this one location, causing the continent to tremble—yet at the same time, enhancing its fortune tremendously.
If this continued, he believed the number of Emperors that the plane allowed could actually increase!
Since the fall of the Crystal Demon Emperor, and the subsequent deaths of both the Adamant Nymph Emperor and the Tenebrous Demon Emperor, four Emperor seats had become vacant. Now, with the continent's fortune increasing at such a tremendous rate, he could easily see five new Emperors appearing. In fact, it was entirely possible that there would be even more!
From the Celestial Fox clan's perspective, this was a major blessing. The stronger the plane's fortune, the better it was for them. The Celestial Fox Demon Emperor had recently felt his cultivation and lifespan both increase, and even the wrinkles on his aged face had begun to fade.
He couldn't help but feel conflicted. Just when he had thought his opinion of Jin Miaolin couldn't get any higher, the latter had produced yet another miracle. At the same time, he also felt somewhat reluctant.
The other Emperors, by contrast, were nothing but satisfied. For the past two to three thousand years, under the Crystal Demon Emperor's rule, peace had reigned on the Daemon Continent. The Solstice Empire and the Empyrean Dominion had coexisted without war. Most of the Emperors had lived long, quiet lives. Apart from the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor, all the rest were over a thousand years old. Emperors like Sunborne and Undying had even surpassed two thousand years of age.
Even with the astonishing talent of the Crystal Demon Emperor, she had still fallen right past the age of three thousand. The others were hardly confident that they could surpass her lifespan. Yet, with the construction of the Tower of Life, they were beginning to see a little glimmer of hope.