Soul Land V: Rebirth of Tang San

Tang San was communicating with the Tianyang Spirit King through divine consciousness, so the Ferocious Dragon couldn't hear it.

After hearing his words, the Tianyang Spirit King couldn't help saying, "I must look at you in a new light. Whether it's your keen observational skills, insight, or your ability to execute, you have surpassed my original assessment of you. To have subdued this Ferocious Dragon, I truly have to seriously consider whether you indeed have the capability to win this battle for the throne."

Tang San cracked a smile and said, "All of this was accomplished with your help. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to suppress it; I could only slowly strive to do so through the collar's suppression, and wouldn't have managed in time for the later competitions. This is all thanks to what you've given me, how else can I say it, I am your man."

The Tianyang Spirit King looked at him deeply, then suddenly said, "Reason tells me that you are not simple. Even I feel like I am dealing with a tiger for its skin. But from my own judgment, you don't pose a threat, at least I haven't sensed any malice from you. Jin Miaolin, remember, no matter how you fare in the future, whether you can become Emperor or not, you are a part of the Rihchen Empire. Even if you're neutral in the future, it's the same; and, remember your words today and the promise you made to me. What I can give you, I can also take away from you."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Tang San respectfully saluted him.

Once I become Emperor, then everything will change.

"Alright, I've done what I can to help you, you can go back by yourself later." The Tianyang Spirit King gave Tang San a deep look before turning into a gold-red light and disappearing without a trace in the next moment.

Watching him disappear into the distant sky, Tang San softly patted the Ferocious Dragon's horn, "This plane is truly blessed, to even have the destructive power, and so pure at that. Even though it's incomparable to the Divine Realm, this destructive power, if cultivated properly, can also become one of the foundations for establishing a Divine Realm on this plane in the future."

"Brother Dragon, do you have a name?" Tang San said to the Ferocious Dragon.

The massive head of the Ferocious Dragon shook as it let out a hoarse dragon roar.

Tang San could feel its thoughts. Since its birth, it had been nurtured by the Dragon Clan. Initially, it was considered a child of the heavens, awakening an unprecedented attribute, and was likely to become another Crystal Great Demon Emperor. However, as it grew stronger, the notion of destruction began to invade its divine consciousness, driving it into occasional madness, until it became utterly insane. Then it was gradually treated as an experimental subject, subjected to various abuses, and finally, the collar was placed upon it.

How could its heart not harbor resentment? Even as a member of the Dragon Clan, it felt deep loathing for the Dragon Clan. Thus, when recalling its own experiences, Tang San had to use life force to suppress the notion of destruction once again, to prevent reoccurrence of emotional problems.

"Brother Dragon, how about I name you? You can't completely control your destructive power yet, but in the future, when you can, you will become even stronger. Your attribute of destruction will also be unprecedented in this plane. How about I call you Thanos? What do you think?"

"Roar—" The Ferocious Dragon let out a low growl.

Ferocious Dragon Overlord, Thanos, bursts onto the scene!

The second round of the battle for the throne among men had ended. The remaining strong competitors, down to the final eighteen, meant that the next round would determine nine of them.

The Ancestral Court issued a temporary resolution that the next round would be the last elimination round for men. The final nine contestants would qualify to participate in the rematch's round-robin to ensure fairness. Otherwise, what to do with the extra contestant?

This also determined the importance of the third-elimination round. Passing this round meant having a chance for error in subsequent matches and the possibility to use tactics. The round-robin match is about points, while the elimination match is about winning or losing in one battle.

Therefore, all predictions agreed that the third-elimination round would be even more intense than the first two rounds, and it was even possible that in the end, fewer than nine contestants would advance to the rematch.

In the fourth day of the women's competition, the last remaining competitors numbered eight, and together with Pretty Girl, who had advanced directly to the rematch, there were also nine contestants, which seemed fair. The spots for the rematch among women contestants were thus determined.

When the fifth day of competition arrived, the entire Ancestral Court seemed to become fiery. This round would determine the nine strongest men amongst the current Great Demon Kings. There could be at most nine spots, but possibly even fewer.

Among the remaining eighteen competitors, the Dragon Clan had the most, with four. Among them, the hot favorite was naturally the Light Dragon King, Xu Anyu.

Qiu Zixuan with the Heavenly Earth Sword also smoothly entered the third round. His second-round opponent tried every method and even used an artifact, but could not withstand his decisive strike and ultimately lost.

Besides them, three other seeded players were eliminated but all by other seeded players. This shows that the selection of seeded players was quite fair. However, those three eliminated were just unlucky.

The carriage of the Blue Golden Tree Clan smoothly traveled on the streets of the Ancestral Court, with Jin Miaosen sitting next to Tang San, whispering, "Brother, you have to work hard. If you can win again today, then you can enter the rematch."

"Mhm," Tang San nodded.

Jin Miaosen hesitated, then continued, "But if you really can't win, don't force it, safety is the most important. Besides, the good thing about our Blue Golden Tree Clan is that we can regenerate even if we lose limbs."

Tang San twitched at the corner of his mouth, "Sister, are you really wishing me well? The competition hasn't even started yet, and you're cursing me to lose limbs."

Jin Miaosen chuckled, "Isn't this to ease your nerves, livening up the atmosphere? Brother, are you confident about this match? It's a pity about the Sword Saint Demon Emperor Statue, if there were a few more items like that, you might have been able to advance even further."

Tang San gave her a glance and said, "How do you know I can't advance today?"

Jin Miaosen's eyes lit up, "Do you still have confidence?"

Tang San replied, "You'll see for yourself when the time comes."

Jin Miaosen said excitedly, "Bro, if you make it to the rematch, I, I will..."

"You will what?" Tang San glanced at him.

Jin Miaosen continued excitedly, "I don't know what I will do exactly, but I'll definitely be super, super happy. Bro, you winning two matches is already history-making. Don't listen to what those people outside are saying, calling you a Purple Crystal Coin Warrior, saying you're shameless and stuff. A win is a win."

Tang San was at a loss for words. "If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't even know someone was cursing me. Can you keep quiet from now on?"

"Uh... my bad, bro. Alright, I'll be quiet."

"Wait a minute! Bro, can you tell me how you plan to win today? Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve? Can I know in advance?"

...

Ancestral Court Council Mountain.

The venue for the battle for Emperor was already fully seated early in the morning. In the waiting area, there were significantly fewer people, and now with some City Lords possessing their own resting rooms, the waiting area seemed somewhat deserted.

Big Cat sat quietly in the waiting area, its expression a bit solemn. Indeed, it also passed the second round, albeit at a great cost – its artifact-level armor was completely wrecked. Even after a day of rest and healing with miraculous herbs and minerals, the injuries from the last match had not fully healed.

It had yet to encounter that opponent it most wished to meet, and it didn't know if it would have the chance in the third round of eliminations. But it understood that with its current strength, the likelihood of advancing through the third round was extremely small. If it didn't meet that guy in this round, it might really be the end...

Before the battle for Emperor started, it had quite a bit of confidence in itself, believing that with the divine tool, its combat experience, and the First level Bloodline Lion Tiger Change, it could keep advancing forward. Even if it couldn't challenge for the throne, getting into the rematch shouldn't be a problem.

But after the battle for Emperor actually began, it realized the caliber of opponents it was facing. In the first two rounds, its luck was actually quite good, having drawn opponents that were not particularly strong. At least it had not faced any seeded contestants. The second opponent was even someone who hadn't fully recovered from injuries. Yet even so, its victory was incredibly hard-fought and came at a heavy cost.

Every contestant participating in the battle for Emperor was a true powerhouse. In today's round, the probability of drawing a seeded contestant greatly increased. Of the remaining eighteen contestants, seven were seed players. And it might well be the weakest one or two among these eighteen contestants. Aside from someone from the Blue Golden Tree Clan, it was probably itself.

Would it truly be unable to fulfill the Golden Lion Clan's mission?

What it most needed now was luck.

Big Cat touched the storage ring on its hand. Yesterday, he had come. He had given it some things. He told it that it would surely get its wish. Hopefully, everything would be as he said. But where on earth was he? How could he not participate in City Lord Mei's martial contest for marriage prospects? Yet, it hadn't found him among the contestants!

And now, the person on its mind was sitting in a resting room, sipping tea, with the nervous elders of the Blue Golden Tree Clan behind him. Without the Sword Saint Sculpture, how would he fight the third match?

Accompanied by the strong auras bursting through the mountainside, the Emperors had arrived.

"Prepare the draw." The voice of the Great Demon Emperor Heavenly Fox once again resonated.

Tang San set his teacup down and stepped out of the resting room. Ning Chenen from the neighboring resting room had also come out.

He grinned at Tang San, saying, "Chief Jin, if I happen to draw you today, that would be quite lucky for me."

Tang San smiled faintly, replying, "There's a good chance of that today. You might indeed draw me."

Ning Chenen laughed heartily, "I'm looking forward to it."

All the contestants had now arrived in the open air. In the sky, a white orb once again descended. And this time, no one made a move to draw first.

Undoubtedly, this draw was crucial. The quality of luck would directly determine whether one could advance to the next stage. No one wanted to draw a seeded player, and the seeded players themselves felt the same way.

Tang San, however, didn't mind. He was the first to reach out, grabbing at the void.

A beam of white light quickly entered his hand.

Not having drawn himself, Ning Chenen instead looked towards Tang San and asked, "Which number did Chief Jin draw?"

"Number one." Tang San displayed the light orb in his hand for him to see, signifying that he would be the first to compete today.

"The first one, huh! That's really not very lucky. To be eliminated first would be..." Ning Chenen looked at him with a feigned expression of pity, but what he saw was a smile on Tang San's face.

"Well, that's not necessarily the case."