Chapter 1149: Hey, Don't Be Naughty |
Tang San had once told her that after she successfully passed her tribulation, there was a high chance she would recover the memories of her previous life, merging them with her current ones and recalling everything from before.
She had once felt a little uneasy about remembering her past, but now that anxiety was gone—replaced by an impatient longing to remember it all, to relive how he had loved her in their previous life.
She had asked him before what differences there were between her and Xiao Wu, but he had merely smiled and refrained from answering, telling her that once she remembered, she could compare for herself.
Tang San came to her side, pulling her into his arms. "Little Mei, do you know something? I kind of regret it."
Mei Gongzi was startled. "Regret what?"
Tang San chuckled. "Regret marrying you before my tribulation. Right now, I actually don't want to face the tribulation at all, you know?"
As he spoke, he lowered his head and gently kissed her cheek.
Her pretty face instantly flushed crimson. "Your mind is always full of indecent thoughts."
Tang San laughed. "How is that indecent? You seem pretty happy about it."
***
"What I said just now is true," Tang San murmured in her ear. "I really do want to delay it a bit longer. Ever since our wedding, I've felt so happy. Truly, incredibly happy."
The warmth of his breath on her ear made Mei Gongzi shrink her neck slightly. "Happier than in the previous life?"
"It's a different kind of happiness. In our last life, I was even busier than now. I had many companions and far greater responsibilities. In this life, my only true responsibility is you. I came here for you, and I live for you. In that life, I became the Sea God, ascended to the divine realm, and eventually became a God King. I was constantly busy, with very little quiet time to simply be with you. But this past month, it's been just us here in the Blue Gold Palace, spending every moment together. It feels as if all the fatigue I've accumulated since I was reborn here is gone. My heart is calm for once, and all I feel is happiness. I just want to be with you like this."
Mei Gongzi raised her hand and gently stroked his cheek. "If you want to delay the tribulation, then we'll delay it. You're too tired. I don't really know what you went through in your last life, but in this one, you've already done too much for me, far more than I've done for you."
Tang San clasped her hand. "You're already here with me. What else could I possibly want? There's nothing more beautiful than this. I can't think of anything. Little Mei, I'm truly grateful you're here with me. I love you so much."
"I love you too." Mei Gongzi pressed her face against his chest. These days, she too had been filled with nothing but happiness.
"But," Tang San went on, "we really have to start our seclusion and get ready. I can already sense the Asura Sword and the Sea God's Trident drawing closer to us. Once they arrive and sense our presence directly, they'll stop at nothing to return to us. Before that happens, we must be fully prepared to deal with them, or else the entire plane could be in danger."
"Mhm. I'll follow whatever you decide," Mei Gongzi said softly, nodding.
Tang San's lips curved into a slight smile. "That said… I think delaying by a day or so won't hurt anyone."
"Hey, don't be naughty—mmph!"
**
The completion of the Tower of Life had an enormous impact not just on the Ancestral Court, but on every main city of the Daemon Continent. It made the Towers of Life already built in those cities more valued than ever, prompting the city lords to pour even more resources into them.
With the Blue Gold Tree elders presiding, the life energy in these cities had clearly increased. Though they couldn't yet blanket an entire city in life energy, the closer one was to a Tower of Life, the richer the energy, leading to fierce competition for premium land. City lords had to step in to keep order.
Meanwhile, after the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor's proposal for further investigations into humans was rejected, the Ancestral Court returned to calm.
The Emperors remained in the Court, slowly absorbing the pure life energy from the tower to enhance their vitality, improve their health, and lengthen their lives.
Within this calm, Tang San and Mei Gongzi began their true seclusion.
For them, the most important goal was harmonization—bringing all their existing abilities into balance, finding the Laws they wished to embody, so that in the Emperor Tribulation they could face the test of the Laws and the will of the plane.
Mei Gongzi had chosen her Law as early as her godly tribulation. The Asura Sword was at the core of her sea of consciousness, and it was a sword of judgment and justice. This was going to be her Law: Judgment. Casting judgment upon all evil and protecting all that must be protected. To the plane itself, that meant safeguarding the world.
Thus, in seclusion, she focused all her divine consciousness on nurturing the seed of sword intent. Her three bloodline imprints existed to serve this purpose. The Asura Sword stimulated her bloodline power, subtly changing it at the same time. Bathed in lesser immortal energy, she quickly entered a stable meditative state.
Tang San, by contrast, was in a far more complicated situation. He had too many bloodline imprints, including several transcendent ones. These had to be fully integrated. The reason transcendent bloodlines were forbidden on Planet Falan was that their power inherently stemmed from the power of Laws; even Emperors didn't possess power at that level.
By masking himself from the planar ruler's eyes, he had managed to acquire several transcendent bloodlines. They were a boon to his strength, but also a tremendous risk when crossing tribulations.
During a tribulation, everything about him was laid bare before the plane, and all his abilities would be exposed. The heavenly calamity he would face during his Emperor Tribulation would bring the full weight of the plane's suppression against him, making it far harder than what any other Emperor in history had experienced.
Of course, there was a simple way for Tang San to pass: wait for the Sea God's Trident to arrive. With the power of a transcendent divine weapon, not even this entire world could prevent him from doing whatever he wanted. It could suppress all his bloodlines, the tribulation, and even the will of the plane, and restore his original cultivation level. But such an act would inevitably bring catastrophic disaster to Planet Falan.
And if both the Sea God's Trident and Mei Gongzi's Asura Sword descended together… There was no need to talk about what would happen afterward, because there would be no "afterward." The cataclysm they would trigger could easily destroy the entire plane and obliterate all life.
This was something Tang San would never allow. Even setting aside the fact that the laws of the universe would undoubtedly punish them, the slaughter of countless living beings was against his principles.