Soul Land 5: The Rebirth of Tang San

Chapter 471: Inheritance Test

This time, there was no more interval between the attacks. Eight more silver rays appeared almost immediately, shooting in from all directions.

At that moment, Mei Gongzi couldn't help but recall the Peacock Great Demon King's words before the test, just one sentence: "Step on the Yellow Silk and dance the Celestial Dance!"

She began to dance gracefully in the next instant, her lithe body flickering as she slipped through the gaps between the silver lights. The silver lights fell and merged into the altar.

But more silver rays were already shooting toward her.

Mei Gongzi had to fully extend her spiritual power, so she started dancing the Celestial Dance, which she had just begun to master. She tightly held the Fortune Stone in her hand, continuously weaving through the silver rays that could easily slice through her.

Perhaps being hit by the silver rays wouldn't kill her, but it would most certainly cause her to fail this inheritance test. Before entering, the Peacock Great Demon King had told her that there was only one chance for the test, which would differ based on one's cultivation level. She was at the peak of the eighth order, not yet at the ninth, but she had already reached a certain level of proficiency with the Celestial Dance; this was the perfect time to take the test. Whether she could indeed pass depended on her.

Under the immense pressure, the Celestial Dance seemed to come naturally. Mei Gongzi's dance became faster and faster as she moved through the increasingly dense spatial rifts like a weaver’s shuttle. The silver light under her feet grew increasingly intense, making her figure look even more dazzling and captivating.

Gradually, Mei Gongzi began to feel exhausted. First, it was her spiritual power. She had to extend her spiritual power to find those tiny gaps, after all; not only that, but it was impacted by the cracks in space, so it was consumed at an even higher rate. Then, her body started to lag behind her senses, due to physical fatigue.

Yet, the spatial rifts around her showed no signs of decreasing.

She didn't even know how many attacks she had dodged. But since the spatial rift attacks hadn't ended, she hadn't passed the test yet! She could only grit her teeth and persist.

These attacks were genuinely terrifying. She had even had strands of her hair cut off, and the sensation of these close brushes with death made shivers run down her spine, and at the same time, made her even more awake and alert.

But her body's limits were approaching. No matter how hard she tried or how much she pushed her potential, the fear of death was there.

At that moment, a light flickered in her other hand. The spatial rifts speeding toward her suddenly slowed down.

The silver net of spatial rifts was so dense that the whole world around her looked like a shattered window, as if the mere touch of a finger would cause pieces of it to fall.

The slowed speed allowed Mei Gongzi to truly see for the first time what she had been dodging. Most of the altar beneath her feet was now lit up.

She stepped along the peculiar rhythm of the Celestial Dance, weaving through the spatial rifts that seemed to cut through the entire world. Despite the density of the rifts, the reduced speed made it much easier for her.

A crystal-clear mirror glowed with a magical light in her hand, emitting a soft halo that caused everything around it to slow down.

If a power in this world could influence space, it would undoubtedly be time. The two concepts were equally profound and mysterious, and the two powers could influence each other in a way inaccessible to other types of power.

The crystal mirror was the Crystal Demon Emperor’s token, imprinted with the Chrono Croc bloodline that Tang San had decided to place in it after some deliberation. He was well aware of the profundities of space and time, and he naturally expected that a Peacock Demon clan’s inheritance test would involve space manipulation, so he thought that the power of time would be the best assistance to Mei Gongzi. And indeed, at this critical moment, it proved to be of immense help to her, ensuring her survival—or at least allowing her to continue with the test, which was indeed tied to her survival as well.

Strands of silver light silently imprinted on the altar beneath her feet, making the altar's glow brighter and brighter. The dazzling light filled the surrounding space with strange fluctuations.

The Chrono Croc's cloned bloodline ability didn’t last very long, but it was enough for Mei Gongzi. After the densest spatial rifts passed, only some scattered spatial fluctuations remained. She used the slowed time to catch her breath, readjusted, and started dancing again.

The brief slowdown in time allowed her to process her new understanding of the Celestial Dance.

At this moment, she realized that the Celestial Dance was not just about dodging but actively guiding the space around her. Under the guidance of the mystical spatial fluctuations accompanying the dance, the densely packed spatial rifts that had seemed unwavering initially now began to follow a pattern, changing direction according to her movements. She was no longer dodging them—they were going around her as if of their own initiative.

Without the slowed-down time and the much-needed break, she might have needed much longer to uncover these mysteries.

Finally, when the last silver light quietly swept past, guided by Mei Gongzi's Celestial Dance to merge into the ground and light up the final dark bit of the altar, the entire world seemed to turn silver instantly.

In Mei Gongzi's vision, everything was filled with brilliant silver light, and at that moment, she felt as if she was crossing millions of kilometers of space.

Her body felt light, and she felt the ground beneath her feet again. She realized she was back in the cave she was in previously.

However, at this moment, the cave was no longer dark. A giant silver peacock appeared before her, spreading its dazzling feathers, its eyes seemingly filled with a smile.

The next moment, the eyes on each of its feathers shone with dazzling silver light, illuminating Mei Gongzi and cleansing her body. It was as if she was bathed in a river of space, undergoing wondrous changes.

The Peacock Crown silently emerged on Mei Gongzi's forehead, and under the cleansing of the silver light, the originally golden crown began to turn platinum.

In her consciousness, she felt like she had become a silver-white peacock, her form merging with the giant peacock before her. They danced gracefully throughout the entire silver-lit world, guiding and transforming the heavenly secrets into her own spatial world.

The marvels lasted for a long time, or maybe it was a short time? She didn’t know. But when she regained her senses, everything seemed extraordinarily beautiful. She could sense every subtle spatial change in the world.

Not far in front of her, a magnificent feather gently floated. It was entirely platinum but emitted a blue halo, and the three eyes on the feather seemed to have three spaces rippling within them.

The Celestial Plume was the Peacock Clan's divine token. Mei Gongzi had held it before, but now it seemed somewhat different. It emitted a gentle glow and she felt a feeling of affinity toward it, as if it were her very own feather.

She raised her hand and gently waved at it. The Celestial Plume silently flew to her, dancing joyfully around her. The eyes on the feather emitted brilliant streaks of light, making her vaguely glimpse into a distant future.