Douluo Dalu: Volume 43: Tang San Battling the Angel Page 2
Qian Renxue had never been a mild mannered person. The reason she directly tried to convince Tang San today rather than suppressing him with force, really wasn’t because Tang San was the only man she thought highly of. Qian Renxue had never reflected on matters of emotion. The tragedy between her parents had already left her thoroughly disappointed in feelings. The reason she didn’t want to easily harm Tang San was in the hope of forcing him to compromise with her, for the sake of Tang San’s shadow that appeared when she became god. Tang San had become the largest weakness to her as god of angels. If she killed Tang San like this, this weakness could never be repaired. It would be a big problem if she faced an opponent on the same level.
But if Tang San chose to submit to her, then her good opinion of him would shrink considerably, Tang San’s position in her mind would shrink, and subsequently, she could slowly erase him from her heart. Only then could she truly amend this flaw. Moreover, as long as Tang San was by her side, this weakness in her heart wouldn’t become a flaw. That’s why Qian Renxue plotted to persuade Tang San to compromise with her. Even to the point that she didn’t hesitate to throw out authority equal to hers as bait.
Unfortunately, Tang San’s character was even more unyielding than she thought. Especially when Tang San used two classical lines from his previous world, his shadow in Qian Renxue’s heart grew even deeper.
“Better broken jade than intact tile. What a good line. Tang San, you really are worthy of the man I chose.”
Qian Renxue looked in the direction Tang San disappeared, the corners of her mouth showing a complex smile. Recalling Tang San’s appearance from before, upright and fearless, shouting angrily, she couldn’t keep her heart from undulating.
The six golden wings on her back spread out, and with a flash of light and shadow, QIan Renxue’s figure flitted across the Star Dou Great Forest like a golden shooting star. Tang San was unable to sense her presence through mental strength, but how would she be unable to target Tang San? Her flight speed could no longer be described as just fast, she crossed several kilometers in an instant.
While flying, Qian Renxue muttered to herself:
“I like life, and I also like righteousness. If I cannot keep the two together, I will let life go, and choose righteousness. Tang San, oh Tang San, don’t tell me you are destined to be the nemesis of my life? Yi……”
Qian Renxue was targeting Tang San from the start, but now she suddenly shocked discovered that, as she sent out her divine power in pursuit, what appeared in front of her wasn’t Tang San, but rather a tall and dense tuft of blue silver grass.
Holding the Seagod Trident and the sword of angels, she floated down in front of that blue silver grass condensed into the shape of a man. Qian Renxue’s suddenly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. As the god of angels, after she was actually hit by Tang San, she was then tricked. He was actually able to escape her divine strength. This really was far beyond Qian Renxue’s expectations. But it also made her feel like a cat toying with a mouse.
Man and god, the gap in strength was doubtless a vast chasm. Even though Tang San was already close to god level in several ways, and even close to completing the Seagod’s eighth trial, right now he was still just a man, and not a god. But, he also had his strongest point. At least in two kinds of circumstances, it was possible for him to escape Qian Renxue’s mental targeting. Of course, this was also due to Qian Renxue’s carelessness. If she’d attacked Tang San from the start before, Tang San absolutely wouldn’t have time for tricks.
These two areas were the forest and the sea.
Tang San would inherit the Seagod’s position, and once in the sea he would possess survival abilities ordinary people wouldn’t. Relying on the Seagod’s presence, the boundless ocean would shelter him. It would be extremely difficult even for god level powers to hunt him in the sea.
And in the forest, Tang San possessed the Blue Silver Domain with the ability to control all blue silver grass. True, blue silver grass were extremely weak, to the point that ordinary people could easily snap it. Compared to the lofty god of angels, blue silver grass was definitely heaven and below ground, like dust compared to the glorious sun. But, thin strands weave thick ropes. And in this dense Star Dou Great Forest, how many blue silver grass were there?
In the moment of danger, Tang San had hid in the forest and immediately released the Blue Silver Domain again, and moreover expanded it to the greatest degree, releasing the Blue Silver Domain’s evolved abilities. Boundless Nature and All Rivers Run Into The Sea took effect simultaneously, absorbing the energy of the blue silver grass and returning him to peak condition, exploiting their effect to fully meld together with the blue silver grass in the forest. His method to puzzle Qian Renxue was to turn his presence into a blue silver grass, and to strengthen the presence of all blue silver grass for an instant. He used that instant of contrast to forcefully escape Qian Renxue’s mental lock. At the same time he used the blue silver grass to simulate his presence to escape in one direction, while he himself relied on the Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone’s flight ability to fly close to the ground.
Tang San’s escape method was now simple and extremely cautious. Besides relying on the Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone’s ability, he relied on the blue silver domain to restrict himself, and then escaped after releasing the Vast Sea Barrier’s stealth ability.
Just using the Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone he could undoubtedly keep his aura unanimous with the blue silver grass without mistakes, and with such multilayered protection, even Qian Renxue wouldn’t have a way to deal with him quickly in the Star Dou Great Forest. Finding him wouldn’t be easy.
The key issue was that Qian Renxue was too overconfident. Even when Tang San harmed her with the Seagod Trident, she still didn’t regard Tang San as an opponent she had to spend much effort on.
However, Qian Renxue didn’t stay careless long. Standing in front of the the human shaped blue silver grass, she temporarily stabbed the Seagod Trident into the ground. Pressing her hand to her forehead, a circle of golden light instantly spread out with her as the center. This time, she wasn’t just scanning with mental strength, but rather searched the Star Dou Great Forest with her divine senses, searching for Tang San’s tracks.
The golden light spread into the surroundings at a rate of a kilometer per moment, and in just the time it takes for a meal, she had scanned the entire range of the Star Dou Great Forest.
“How is it possible?”
As the hand left her forehead, having completed the scan, Qian Renxue couldn’t help talking to herself from astonishment. Because even when she scanned with her divine senses, she still couldn’t find any tracks of Tang San. She was very certain that Tang San was still within the Star Dou Great Forest, he couldn’t possibly leave so quickly. And that her divine senses couldn’t find him, meant that he was now using a god level escape ability.
Qian Renxue’s expression instantly turned serious. This was her first action after becoming god of angels. Originally she was preparing to head for the front line at Jialing Pass and take control of the Spirit Empire army. While passing by the Star Dou Great Forest she sensed enormous energy fluctuations, and her divine senses urged her to take a look, finding the scene of Tang San killing the three Fifteen Ton Ant Emperor brothers and absorb their spirit rings in one go. Having come across Tang San, she of course wouldn’t let the chance by. But who could have thought that, after they chatted, in one exchange, the one who lost out was her, and moreover that Tang San even escaped. If she gained anything, it was the Seagod Trident she held. But Qian Renxue had closely checked before, and her angelic power was fundamentally unable to enter this weapon. Let alone using it, she couldn’t even destroy it easily. This was the same as her sword of angels, a true divine instrument.
Now unable to find any tracks of Tang San after scanning with her divine senses, Qian Renxue immediately turned serious. In her first battle after becoming a god, Tang San escaped. That was her loss!
How could she resign herself to that?
No matter what is said, aren’t you in the Star Dou Great Forest? You’re definitely relying on some Seagod treasure plus the Blue Silver Domain to hide from me. Fine, then I’ll wait you out. I want to see if you can leave. As long as you exit the Star Dou Great Forest, you won’t be screened by the presence of the Star Dou Great Forest, you won’t be able to hide from my divine senses.
Thinking of this, Qian Renxue didn’t move. Withdrawing the six angel wings on her back, the sword of angels also turned into golden light and disappeared into her. Removing the clothes cut open at the shoulder, she changed into a new palatial robe, then sat down cross legged in front of the blue silver grass effigy.
She wasn’t sitting on the ground, but in the air, suspended cross legged two meters from the ground. Her skin occasionally flashed with faint golden light, as if she was shining. Only the angel brand on her forehead stayed bright the whole time. With every third breath, a golden ring of light rippled out with her as center, scanning the Star Dou Grea Forest.
From now on, Qian Renxue showed the power of god level strength. Nearly constantly scanning the entire forest didn’t seem particularly exhausting to her. Even with the Blue Silver Domain, Tang San was still far away from doing that. If Tang San appeared in her divine sense search, Qian Renxue was determined not to let him escape again.
When Qian Renxue did her first scan, Tang San had turned completely rigid when that strange golden light swept across the Vast Sea Barrier. Crawling to the ground, he quietly waited for the divine sense to sweep past. Possessing the Blue Silver Domain, he of course knew what Qian Renxue was doing. She was scanning the same way he did. Only he could clearly feel that Qian Renxue’s divine sense search was far stronger than his Blue Silver Domain search.
Fortunately he always kept the Blue Silver Domain within himself, and adding the Vast Sea Barrier’s stealth effect, thus deceiving the god of angels’ divine senses. Only, Tang San also whined to himself. He naturally also thought of what Qian Renxue thought of. Even if there was a gap between the divine sense scans, and Tang San could use this gap to move inside the Star Dou Great Forest, once he reached the edge, he discovered that he couldn’t leave. His mental strength clearly felt wave after wave of divine sense constantly sweeping past him, flying out and gradually disappearing around the Star Dou Great Forest. He knew that, as long as he put one foot outside the Star Dou Great Forest, the next instant he would be discovered by Qian Renxue. He didn’t imagine he was faster than her.
[1] A quote from Mencius, search for “you can’t have both fish and bear’s paw”.
Chapter 296: Tenth Spirit Ring, God Level Spirit Ring
Qian Renxue’s divine sense sweep forced Tang San to stay by the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest. Flat on the ground, Tang San frowned while deep in thought.
With his current strength, maintaining the Blue Silver Domain and Vast Sea Barrier for a long while wasn’t any problem. Ordinarily Tang San could definitely keep wasting Qian Renxue’s time, competing in who was more patient. However, Tang San knew that as this went on, the first to run out of patience was him.
Qian Renxue wasn’t worried about the frontline fighting, but could he be unconcerned? His parents and teacher were there, and in case something happened he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Tang San was already taking a risk by leading the Shrek Seven Devils away from the Heaven Dou army camp. The Spirit Empire army in Jialing Pass had six Title Douluo powers over rank ninety five, as well as fice or six ordinary Title Douluo. Just this srength was difficult to deal with. If Bibi Dong recovered her fighting strength, then the Heaven Dou imperial army might be in danger of destruction. In such circumstances, Tang San had to hurry and become Seagod as soon as possible, then return to the front to stabilize the situation, and win the war.
By contrast, Qian Renxue basically didn’t have to worry. She could keep waiting without concern. He sensed that her divine sense sweeps not only weren’t getting weaker with time, but on the contrary actually grew stronger. By this he could guess that she should also have just reached god level strength, and still hadn’t perfectly grasped the god level techinques. Otherwise even he might not have been able to catch the opportunity for a sneak attack.
In these circumstances, he basically didn’t have the strength to fight her, and even the Seagod Trident had fallen into her hands. To him it wasn’t as simple as just escaping, he also had to regain the Seagod Trident before he could leave for Seagod Island and become Seagod. However, the difficulty in getting something from the hands of a god level power was even more difficult than the seven Seagod trials he had passed. Most painful was that this time he didn’t have a year, but rather the faster the better.
Calm. In times like these he had to be calm. Facing such danger, Tang San lay calmly in the soft blue silver grass, telling himself as much as possible to be calm. He hadn’t been so comprehensively inferior in a very long time. But the more it was like this, the more it roused Tang San’s fighting spirit. He firmly believed that even gods weren’t omnipotent. Even though the enemy was powerful, he definitely had a chance to find a mistake.
Gradually calming down, Tang San rearranged his thoughts. Qian Renxue’s appearance was a huge shock to him, but what shocked him the most wasn’t that Qian Renxue had reached the god level, but rather why she didn’t kill him while he was busy absorbing the spirit rings, or at least captured him. Then he had faced her at the god level, and practically didn’t have any strength to resist. However, she not only didn’t do so, and even expressed that she wanted to help him. Was it just because she had absolute confidence in her god level strength? No, it shouldn’t be that simple. He’d always been on the opposing side to Spirit Hall, and as the daughter of the last Spirit Hall Supreme Pontiff, who died at the hands of his father, she should have killed him with all her strength! Wasn’t Spirit Hall always unscrupulous?
Additionally, Qian Renxue suddenly reaching god level really was inconceivable. Last time he saw her, she was just rank seventy something. In a short six years, she broke through to god level. Her luck and experience could still be said to be above his. Then, there was just one possibility. After she left Heaven Dou City, just like he entered Seagod Island, she had started completing the trials of the god of angels. If so, the inheritance of the god of angels should always have been in Spirit Hall.
It connected to what Grandmaster once said about the Angelic Raiment, that it very possibly was a kind of divine tool, the way his Seagod Trident was.
Tang San had also discovered another problem through his chat with Qian Renxue. That was that she had an extremely strained relationship with Bibi Dong. Was it because Bibi Dong had succeeded as Supreme Pontiff, instead of her as the direct inheritor of the Seraphim spirit? Ordinarily, it might not have been difficult for the high priest Qian Daoliu to support his granddaughter to the position of Supreme Pontiff. But why didn’t he do so? Just this showed that there was definitely some problem between Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong. Now that Qian Renxue had become god of angels, there would definitely be a struggle over the authority of the Spirit Empire.
No matter how it was put, the first problem was still the one that puzzled Tang San the most. He couldn’t imagine why Qian Renxue had no hostility towards him. In fact, her work of hiding in the Heaven Dou imperial family for more than a decade was ruined because of him. What was this woman thinking?
All kinds of riddles briefly made Tang San deeply bewildered. However, this didn’t go on for too long. To him, most important right now was sill how to safely leave, and moreover thinking of a way to get back his Seagod Trident.
As far as using One Goes Without Return to attack Qian Renxue before, Tang San didn’t regret it. If not for that, he wouldn’t have gotten a chance to escape. Even if Tang San already had seventeen spirit rings, the spirit abilities they gave still weren’t enough to help him block Qian Renxue. Unless he could truly become a god and give each of his spirit abilitie
s the presence of divinity, those spirit abilities would be useless.
Under enormous pressure, Tang San’s mind began to quickly turn. He had to leave to join his comrades as soon as possible, and inherit the position as Seagod. Since Qian Renxue had become a god, he thirsted even more to become one. Not only because of his thirst for strength, but even more importantly because he needed the power to protect his family and friends. He needed the strength to check the Spirit Empire.
One day passed very quickly.
Qian Renxue was still constantly releasing rings of her divine sense. She discovered that this kind of constant searching had a lot of benefits to her. Having just become god, this constant divine sense release deepened her understanding of her own spirit power. The feeling of being able to control everything constantly grew stronger.
With a flash of golden light, Qian Renxue opened her eyes, the corners of her mouth revealing a pondering smile, muttering to herself:
“Why, can’t help coming out? I want to see where you run this time.”
Light and shadow flickered as she disappeared into thin air, at the same time also bringing along the Seagod Trident stabbed into the ground.
Kilometers in an instant, wherever her divine sense reached, she reached. Qian Renxue basically wasn’t even flying, to be precise it should be called constant teleportation. It was fast, even a bit faster than releasing her divine sense. In her mind, there was basically no obstacles. And her divine sense had enveloped the Star Dou Great Forest for a day. No matter what level the spirit beast, they all trembled in hibernation, not even daring to breathe. Naturally even fewer would dare disturb her.
She saw her target, but, strangely, Tang San was standing in place waiting for her, as if he had already anticipated everything, and basically without thoughts of running. He was even smiling faintly, elegant and relaxed.