Douluo Dalu 5: Rebirth Of Tang San

The downside of the Tome of Duplicates was that while it could indeed record abilities—one for each page—the abilities had to be activated using power of the same level. For example, if it recorded a Nymph King's ability, it required tenth-order bloodline power to activate it. In terms of functionality, it was quite versatile, but it didn’t provide a significant boost to combat power—of course, except to a Celestial Fox, who had no combat power to speak of. Moreover, the imprinted ability only had eighty percent of the original power.

In other words, while it was indeed a very useful divine item for those who needed it, it was not a particularly powerful one.

The reason Tang San chose it was actually to study the mechanism behind it. A divine item that could imitate bloodline abilities was extremely rare, and more importantly, in Tang San’s eyes, it had a lot of potential for development.

After carefully studying the Celestial Plume, Tang San had come up with an idea. To better utilize the power of the Celestial Plume without suffering a backlash from the laws of heaven, the artifact itself wouldn't be enough. It would need to be combined with other things, and this book was a prime candidate.

Moreover, Tang San was also thinking about how to grant ordinary humans the ability to cultivate and improve themselves without resorting to things like intermarriage, and when he heard the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor’s explanation, he instantly knew he had made the right choice with the book; there was a lot of potential between those dark-golden covers.

The book had twelve pages in total, but instead of using them to imprint twelve abilities, Tang San carefully dismantled it. He used Rainbow Skyfire Liquid to dissolve the binding and take the book apart.

He was probably the first person on the Daemon Continent to take apart a divine item for research. But Tang San didn’t feel any regret; as the saying goes, destruction comes before creation. He was a hidden weapon craftsman and a master blacksmith, so it was perfectly natural for him to do such things. Moreover, creating artifacts of this level wouldn’t be difficult for him once he broke through to godhood, especially in this plane, where there were more natural treasures than he’d ever seen.

Time flies by at breakneck speed when you’re researching something interesting. By the time Mei Gongzi teleported over the next day, Tang San was still deeply engrossed in his work, so much so that—in a rare display of personality—he didn’t even notice her arrival.

Seeing the scattered pages on the ground, Mei Gongzi couldn't help but exclaim, "Don’t tell me you took apart that divine book?!"

Belatedly noticing her arrival, Tang San looked up and said, "Yup, sure did! I have some ideas related to your Celestial Plume, this book, and the future of our human race. If I succeed, then humanity will truly have hope."

"That… sounds pretty grand. What do you plan to do?"

"I couldn’t give you a concrete plan right now; I need to do more research. But I do have some ideas. Right now, I'm just laying the groundwork. To truly be able to do it, I'll need to wait until I reach godhood."

"Then maybe you should focus on cultivating yourself first! You can do this research later. Since becoming a god is so difficult, you need to be fully prepared. Will I be able to help you when the time comes?"

Tang San shook his head, smiling bitterly. "You can't help. When I undergo my tribulation, I have to do it alone. I'll be facing the power of the entire plane, and the entire plane will be trying to suppress me. That's something no force can interfere with, not even an Emperor… or several."

Mei Gongzi sighed. "Well, for the time being, I've raised the price for Heavenly Fire Essence Iron, and we're searching across the entire continent. We should be able to find more of it soon enough."

Tang San nodded. "Thank you, that’s great. You start cultivating, and I'll continue with my research and organize my thoughts."

"Alright."

Mei Gongzi didn't say anything more and went to meditate under the Golden Tree. Meanwhile Tang San resumed his research.

Even without meditating himself, the Golden Armor Transformation subtly enhanced Tang San's other bloodline imprints under the nourishment of life energy. Currently, only the Celestial Fox Transformation imprint couldn't progress past the bottom of the ninth order, and the Blue Silver Emperor needed some more work before it could do that. The other imprints were doing great, either at the peak of the ninth order or close enough.

A whole month passed just like that—Tang San delved into his research, to the point of almost forgetting to eat or sleep. Mei Gongzi often sensed intense fluctuations in his spiritual power, and the energy he manipulated was strange and varied. She frequently saw him experimenting with different materials to construct particularly complex arrays.

In that month, Tang San acquired three more batches of Heavenly Fire Essence Iron. It made sense, of course; the largest merchant caravan of the Empyrean Dominion was incredibly effective at procuring items. His total amount of Rainbow Skyfire Liquid was now more than ten times what it had been initially, and the speed at which he was refining the Spacetime Beacon continued to increase.

Tang San smiled as he saw Mei Gongzi arrive once again. "Welcome back!"

Looking at his disheveled blue hair, Mei Gongzi said, "Let me comb your hair for you. You should take a break; you can't keep working yourself to the bone like this." 𝘳Ａɴọ₿ĘS

Tang San smiled warmly. "No worries. I've pretty much figured out my approach. Starting today, I won't be doing any more research. Next, I'm going to start building the long-distance teleportation array. The Spacetime Beacon is now capable of meeting our needs. When you head back today, help me gather a batch of items. I've prepared a list for you."

As he spoke, he handed Mei Gongzi a list that detailed over a hundred different metals, gemstones, and other materials.

Mei Gongzi glanced at the list briefly before putting it away. "I'll get these for you as soon as possible. How far can the long-distance teleportation array send us?"

Tang San's lips curled into a slight smile. "In theory, if we have enough energy, we could teleport directly from here to the Ancestral Court. But that’s just in theory. With our current cultivation, the energy cost would be too high. I'm planning for two intermediate stops."

"Two stops to the Ancestral Court? That’s incredibly fast!" Mei Gongzi exclaimed in surprise.

Tang San nodded. "We can take turns powering it. We'll need to restore our bloodline power once in between. Since you're a god now, your recovery is faster, so I estimate it should take about an hour to reach the Ancestral Court from here."

Hearing his words, Mei Gongzi couldn't help but take a sharp breath. As the new city lord of Kali City, she had encountered and learned much over the past two months, so she understood the significance of such a teleportation capability.

"How much would each teleportation cost in terms of resources?"

Tang San explained, "That depends on the volume and mass of what's being teleported. For example, teleporting just the two of us would consume resources equivalent to about five hundred naturae coins. It wouldn’t make much sense to use that for business purposes, if that’s what you’re asking. If we were to teleport directly to the Ancestral Court in one go, it could cost up to two thousand naturae coins’ worth of resources."

Mei Gongzi's eyes sparkled. While the cost was undeniably high, what did it matter compared to the ability to teleport over such vast distances and reach the Ancestral Court instantly? This was a capability that only they possessed, and nobody else! The value of certain time-sensitive matters simply couldn't be measured in money.

Tang San smiled as he watched her excitement. "If I become a god in the future and set up the teleportation arrays in advance, we could teleport almost without consuming any resources, thanks to the Spacetime Beacon. Now that will be real teleportation. Even large-scale teleportation won’t be a problem."

Mei Gongzi took a deep breath. "But don't rush it. You must be fully prepared before attempting your tribulation."

She had heard him talk many times about how crucial his tribulation was, about what becoming a god could bring. But the more she heard, the more she understood how dangerous his tribulation would be.

The Six Directions Eight Desolations Golden Fiend Tribulation she had faced had left a deep impression on her. If his tribulation was even stronger than that, it had to be unimaginably terrifying!

"Don't worry, I'll be extremely careful, especially for your sake. By the way, get ready and make arrangements with the queen consort. Once the teleportation array tests are successful, I want to take you to the Ancestral Court. There are some things we need to prepare in advance."