Soul Land V: Rebirth of Tang San

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If it were daytime, the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor even had confidence that he could defeat it, but at night, his chances of victory were almost only ten to twenty percent. This was the gap between the King of Eternal Night in day and night.

"Where is he?" The icy voice of the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor rang out, as the sword beam receded and he transformed into a human form appearing not far in front of the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor.

The expression of the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor was icy as he floated mid-air, "Who are you asking about?"

"That young man, he should be called Asura," the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor said without hesitation.

"He should have been reduced to ashes," the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor responded indifferently.

The pupils of the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor constricted, and the sword beam around him surged instantly. He suddenly had an epiphany; the sword symbolized sacrifice! He clearly remembered the last message that young man had left him. Sacrifice—had he really sacrificed himself?

"What about the Peacock Demon King and his daughter?" Although he was a step behind the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor, the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor had also caught up during their conversation.

"They ran away," the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor said indifferently.

"They ran away?" Hearing this answer, both the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor and the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor felt it was inconceivable.

They were in the presence of a seasoned emperor, and the Peacock Demon King wasn't in Jiali City. Could they actually escape? As for talents like Asura and Pretty Girl, with their cultivation base, they were simply overlooked. No matter how talented and even if they were champions of the elite competition, they were still just part of the younger generation, below deity level, and simply not within their field of vision.

The Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor personally pursued them, and it was a pursuit at night. Could he let them escape? That in itself was an incredible thing.

The Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor coldly said, "That young man named Asura summoned some special power to obstruct me, allowing them to escape. They should have already returned to Jiali City."

The Ancestral Court had very strict rules, where even emperors were not allowed to take action against any main city at will. The Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor had an excuse for causing trouble previously. But now they had no reason at all. This was why the Peacock Demon King stated that once they returned to Jiali City, they would be temporarily safe.

Even for the Ancestral Court, retaking the control of a main city was not an easy task.

That Asura had managed to summon some special power to block the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor, allowing the Peacock Demon King and his daughter to escape, gave both the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor and the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor a baffling feeling. However, the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor also felt slightly relieved that the girl had ultimately not died.

"I am leaving," said the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor, seemingly with no intention of continuing the conversation. After his cold gaze swept over them, he transformed into darkness and instantly merged into the night, disappearing without a trace.

The Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor stood in place, closed his eyes, and expanded his divine consciousness around him.

In the vague sense, he felt there were remnants of powerful divine consciousness fluctuations. A battle had clearly taken place here, a very fierce clash of divine consciousnesses. However, these residual traces of divine consciousness were very weak, not leaving much of a clue.

The Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor was also silently sensing, his divine consciousness cultivation not as advanced as the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor's, which meant he perceived even less. But they both had an incredulous feeling regarding the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor's failure to capture the Peacock Demon King and his daughter.

But an emperor would not lie—it was a matter of pride. The Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor also had no need to lie.

In the mind of the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor, the scene reconstructed was Asura sacrificing his life or at least triggering an artifact-level burst to barely stop the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor, and furthermore breaking the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor's lock on the Peacock Demon King and his daughter, allowing them to evade pursuit.

Even so, this was a feat impressive enough for a young man who was not even at the deity level to be proud of.

Five, he had given them five Sword Orders. Why would those two youngsters not come to the Sword Saint Palace in the Ancestral Court to seek his help? Though he had made a move across the distance, this could not be considered repayment for the unconditional return of the Red-crowned Crane Demon's tribal artifact.

Especially that young man named Asura. The first time he felt him ascend the Holy Mountain in the Sword Saint Palace, the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor admired him greatly, and today, his understanding of the sword made the Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor look at him in a new light. Regrettably, everything was too late, yet with his life as the price, he truly interpreted what it meant that the sword represents sacrifice.

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It's a pity that he didn't get to see his final move, but being able to block a Great Demon Emperor without being at the God Rank, even in death, he could take pride.

Gazing toward the direction of Jiali City, the gaze of the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor was somewhat complex. It had intended to intercept the Peacock Demon King outside the Ancestral Court, kill him, imprison Pretty Girl, and then take down Jiali City. That was the determination it had made after seeking out the Peacock Demon King that day. But in the end, it had let the tiger return to the mountain and allowed the Peacock Demon King to escape back to Jiali City. After all, that was the main city that the Peacock Demon Clan had operated for many years, and even as an emperor, it had to be wary. The injuries it had suffered the last time it went there still hadn't fully healed. It seemed another period of planning was in order.

"Sword Saint, I shall return too."

"Hmm. Let's return together."

The Sword Saint Great Demon Emperor and the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor exchanged a glance before both soared into the sky, heading toward the Ancestral Court.

As the two figures gradually receded, the divine consciousness in the air also slowly dissipated, as if nothing had ever happened here.

About half a day after the three Great Demon Emperors had left, the sky was already bright. The sunlight shone on the earth, bringing warmth and the breath of life.

Under the bright sunlight, the air suddenly slightly distorted. It was a very faint change that unless one was observing from a very close distance, it would be utterly impossible to notice.

After an interval of about ten seconds, the air once again slightly distorted.

Gradually, the frequency of the air distortion began to increase, transitioning from intermittent to constant, from a single point of distortion to an entire area distorting.

At this moment, time and space seemed to become marvelous, and the distorted area appeared out of place compared to everything around it.

Suddenly, light and shadow flickered, and all the distortions converged towards a central point. A figure then appeared out of thin air, and all the twisted light and shadow also instantaneously gathered toward him.

Tang San's mask had vanished from his face, revealing his true features, stark naked without even a single strand of hair, indicating his recent experiences were far from pleasant.

The twisted light and shadow faintly hovered at his chest, where the Time-space marker he had acquired at the Ancestral Court's grand auction was unmistakably present.

The Time-space marker slowly settled on his chest, and another ring of distorted light and shadow emerged. A huge amethyst materialized out of nowhere, hovering above Tang San's head. A soft purple halo then fell down, infusing into his forehead.

This was a silent wilderness, devoid of human or beast. In fact, if there were any Demon Beasts originally in this area, after the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor's visit the previous night, at least for ten days, no living creature would dare to approach this area that had become like a forbidden zone.

The purple halo continuously poured in, and gradually some objects also drifted out from within the Time-space marker—among them were Tang San's two storage rings.

Tang San's brow was like a bottomless pit, incessantly devouring and absorbing. The surface of the huge amethyst began to lose its lustre until the night fell once again. By then, the purple crystal stone had become dull and lightless, rolling off Tang San's forehead to the side, its body nearly as transparent as glass.

Tang San's eyelids trembled slightly. Now, he didn't even have eyelashes, and when his eyelids quivered, his skin even began to crack, spreading from his eyelids throughout his body, turning into fragments that drifted away in the air. Newly formed, delicate skin was revealed, looking extremely eerie.

...

Jiali City.

With tears streaming down her face, Pretty Girl stood in front of the window, murmuring the same words over and over, "Brother, you haven't taken off your mask for me yet, how can you just leave me like this?"

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This segment of the story in the Ancestral Court ends where I had envisioned. I didn't write the battle between Tang San and the Dark Demon Great Demon Emperor in too much detail because it will be explained in the future. I am quite satisfied with how I wrote this segment, the growth of Tang San, Pretty Girl, Tang San's companions, and the changes in the relationship between Tang San and Pretty Girl are all clearly communicated. The chapter of Asura ends in the way that I had ideally imagined, laying the groundwork for what's to come. Next, we will enter the next climactic plot, the struggle for the position of the Peacock Demon Clan Chief. Asura has left, and Tang San is about to return to Pretty Girl's side.