Douluo Dalu 5: Rebirth Of Tang San

The order it had received was clear: even if it couldn't defeat the opponent, it had to exhaust her as much as possible.

Its bloodline power and divine consciousness merged into one, and the massive red saber light concentrated all of this power. Its divine consciousness locked onto the layered space around Mei Gongzi.

Affected by the blade light, the layered space Mei Gongzi had created seemed to momentarily freeze, causing her true form to faintly appear.

Now! The Ruby Princess's eyes suddenly flashed with intense light, and it brought down its giant curved saber in an instant.

The massive red light turned the entire floor of the Council Hall crimson. As the red light passed through, the layered spaces around Mei Gongzi shattered, crumbling into dust. In the next moment, the blade light had swallowed her and all the space layers she had created.

The Emperors watching this scene had varied reactions. The Celestial Fox Demon Emperor's eyes showed a hint of surprise, the Undying Demon Emperor frowned, while the White Tiger Demon Emperor, usually stern, allowed a rare smile to cross his face.

"Pft—" The Ruby Princess spat out a mouthful of blood mist, so forceful that it even knocked off its mask, revealing that there was in fact a face behind it… and that face, by human standards, was stunning.

At this moment, that stunning face was deathly pale; its breath was unsteady, and its eyes filled with disbelief.

On the surface, it appeared that its all-encompassing strike had swallowed Mei Gongzi, but only it knew the truth. When it delivered the strike, it had already lost its lock on the opponent. That brief moment of shock and the ensuing sense of danger, combined with the force of its attack, caused its own energy to backfire, severely injuring it.

Meanwhile, Mei Gongzi had somehow moved behind it, and the Celestial Plume lightly rested on her shoulder.

No killing! This was the goal Tang San had set for Mei Gongzi. In the Council Hall, no matter who her opponent was, she was not to kill them. That would give the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor no excuse to act against her.

The Ruby Princess's full-power divine consciousness lock was somehow evaded. What did this signify? It meant that Mei Gongzi's divine consciousness far surpassed that of her opponent, perhaps even existing on an entirely different level. Though Mei Gongzi was still a Demon King and had not yet broken through to the Great Demon King realm, she completely dominated the other in terms of divine consciousness. The solidity of her divine consciousness astonished even the Emperors present, especially with how seamlessly she combined it with spatial power.

The phenomenon of being unable to lock onto someone of the same level was so uncommon that even the Emperors couldn’t remember seeing something like this before.

Only Mei Gongzi herself knew what was really happening.

When Tang San was guiding her in her cultivation, he had told her that time and space are the most profound principles in the universe, connected to all forms of energy. Thus, any energy could be altered by time and space. This applied not only to bloodline power but also to the body itself, and even consciousness could be altered with changes in time and space. Therefore, divine consciousness could be altered too!

In this world, no one could compare to Tang San when it came to controlling divine consciousness, so his guidance was naturally beyond what this plane of existence could comprehend.

Divine consciousness could lock onto another consciousness within the same space, but what if that consciousness suddenly left that space? Could it still be locked onto? Unless one could follow their target into that space, the target would naturally be lost.

Mei Gongzi's understanding of this concept had not been deep enough when she stepped into the Council Hall, but her three days of enlightenment at the Celestial Pillar, where she grasped the profound secrets of her ancestor's spatial techniques, allowed her to finally gain a basic ability to manipulate divine consciousness through space.

The Ruby Princess she had just faced was no match for her in any aspect. Mei Gongzi could have won in multiple ways, but since three battles had been arranged and the first opponent's abilities were specifically selected to target her, the intention was clear: to wear her down. Therefore, she needed to win while conserving as much energy as possible.

"The first round is over. Stand down," the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor's voice rang out.

The Ruby Princess bowed deeply toward the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor's Celestial Pillar, then cast a long, intense gaze at Mei Gongzi before quickly springing up and vanishing into a corner.

"The second round starts in fifteen minutes," said the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor.

Despite being under the watchful eyes of the Emperors, Mei Gongzi calmly sat down and immediately began meditating to recover her previous expenditure without any hesitation or pretense.

The White Tiger Demon Emperor nodded slightly.

Since participating in the Ancestral Court Elite Tournament and winning the championship, the progress of his granddaughter was practically visible to the naked eye. In just over half a year, she had grown to an extent that surpassed even his greatest expectations.

The White Tiger Demon Emperor wasn't particularly concerned about whether Mei Gongzi succeeded in her evaluation. Rather, he was contemplating whether, if she failed this time, he could bring her into the White Tiger clan to become his heir instead.

The White Tiger bloodline was a mutation, and true White Tigers were extremely rare; in all fairness, they couldn’t even be termed a "clan" proper. The White Tiger Demon Emperor's descendants were fewer still; this was one important reason why, despite Su Qin having human blood, she was still deeply cherished by this Emperor.

Mei Gongzi naturally also had human blood in her veins, but what mattered most was the potential she was now displaying—a true Emperor's potential. It wasn't just that she had a chance to become an Emperor; if things went like this, she was practically guaranteed to become one.

Such an heir was not easy to find! If he could make her his successor and allow her to inherit the White Tiger lineage, then combined with her own understanding of space, her achievements as an Emperor in the future would almost certainly surpass his.

The White Tiger Demon Emperor's attention to Mei Gongzi wasn't solely because of their blood relationship; her potential was the real reason. Moreover, there was that young man by her side. That young man was extraordinary as well.

As a top-tier Emperor, the White Tiger Demon Emperor had his own main city. If she couldn't become the lord of Kali City, why couldn't she, under his protection, become the master of his city in the near future? By then, she might have been groomed into another Emperor. The Crystal Demon Emperor was nearing the end of its life, so there was no reason why she couldn’t replace it. Who could predict the achievements of an Emperor with dual bloodlines?

The Celestial Pillar of the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor was the shortest among the Emperors' pillars and was located toward the gate of the Council Hall. As he stood on it, watching Mei Gongzi sit quietly in meditation and recovering her energy, his heart was filled with a complex mix of emotions.

He was on the verge of cursing the Peacock Demon King to death. If that bastard hadn’t replaced his daughter’s bloodline, then now, with his daughter by his side, they could have seized control of Kali City together. The future ruler of the city would already be decided! What place would the Peacock Demon clan have then?

Yet at the same time, he couldn't truly hate the Peacock Demon King. If it weren’t for him, his wife and daughter would have long been dead. And the fact of the matter was that he had raised her well, and he had raised her to be strong.

Since returning from Kali City last time, the Crystal Phoenix Demon Emperor's entire mindset had drastically changed. The hatred and jealousy that once filled his heart had been replaced by regret. He had never imagined things would turn out this way. Although he had achieved the rank of Emperor, he had truly lost to the Peacock Demon King, in every respect. He had lost in a way that left him no choice but to concede—he was far inferior to that dead bastard in terms of strategy and cunning. He had lost to a dead man!

In the end, he had been the fool all along.