Soul Land 5: The Rebirth of Tang San

Chapter 827: The Mysterious Red Sea

Chapter 827: The Mysterious Red Sea

After seven consecutive days of flying, Tang San estimated that he had covered at least sixty thousand nautical miles, probably closer to seventy thousand[1]. Due to his immense recovery ability boosted by faith energy, he didn't need to worry about fatigue, so he had only made brief stops on a few small islands along the way.

As he continued to bless the Endless Blue Sea, the amount of faith energy he received grew steadily, greatly aiding his progress, especially in restoring his divine consciousness. The wider he spread his blessings, the more feedback he received. After covering tens of thousands of nautical miles, the faith energy he received daily was now at least three times what it had been before. At this rate, in less than two years, his divine consciousness would reach the threshold of Emperor-level strength, and that was not even accounting for further boosts as his blessings spread wider. The benefits of his divine seat were becoming increasingly apparent.

However, this also made Tang San feel an increasing sense of urgency. The less time he spent on this plane, the less time he would have to accomplish anything for humanity.

As he continued to fly, Tang San suddenly noticed something unusual.

His divine consciousness was already incredibly strong, far beyond the initial stage of the eleventh order. This allowed him to perceive a vast area, and especially over the Endless Blue Sea, his own domain, the range and accuracy of his divine sense were almost absurd. This allowed him to instantly detect subtle changes across a vast area—though right now, the change in temperature he was observing was anything but subtle.

A massive area of the sea seemed to have suddenly warmed up, giving Tang San a strange feeling.

The area of increased temperature was directly on his flight path, meaning that as he continued in the set direction, he would eventually see what was going on. But this was clearly abnormal. The Endless Blue Sea was so immense that its temperature regulation was almost impossible to disturb. The rapid increase in temperature was clearly not due to weather or any other such factors.

Tang San hadn't brought any sea beasts to guide him on this journey, but he hadn't ruled out the possibility of encountering the Tainted Yellow Sea or the ghostly Netherblue Sea that the sea beasts had previously mentioned. These were both places he wanted to explore.

The formation of the Tainted Yellow Sea was entirely due to misfortune. According to the sea beasts, its area wasn't very large yet but it was continuing to grow and they could do nothing to stop it. Tang San wasn't particularly worried about this; with the Sea Plague issue being resolved and the sea beasts developing better, the sea itself would naturally start to purify the Tainted Yellow Sea to some extent. However, if he encountered it, Tang San wouldn't hesitate to help speed up the purification process.

Could it be that he was about to find it?

Tang San continued to flap his wings, flying forward.

Gradually, the surrounding temperature began to rise more rapidly, reaching downright abnormal levels. The sea below was calm, yet tinged with a faint red that seemed to match the change in water temperature. This red hue appeared to originate from beneath the sea, as if something glowing red was flowing under the sea floor.

Then, an even stranger sight unfolded before Tang San.

The distant sea grew increasingly reddish, and on the horizon, it turned into vast expanses of golden-red. The light reflecting from the surface of the sea appeared distorted.

What's this? The fire element in the air has grown significantly denser. This is clearly not the Tainted Yellow Sea or the Netherblue Sea. What kind of place is this, and what's going on here?

The fire energy was so rich and intense that even the Rainbow Skyfire Liquid within Tang San's body stirred with a sense of excitement.

Tang San continued flying forward, and the fire energy grew increasingly active. Gradually, the water beneath him turned entirely crimson, with bubbles roiling on the surface. Although it still seemed like water, it was extremely hot, which meant the golden-red waters ahead were even more so. No wonder the air above was distorted!

It was as if Tang San had entered another world. The intense fire energy stimulated the Immortal Flame Phoenix bloodline within him, making it extremely active. It eagerly absorbed the energy, strengthening itself and feeding back power to Tang San. This was the advantage of having multiple bloodline imprints: he had something suitable for every environment he was placed in.

Tang San slowed his flight, fully unleashing his divine consciousness as he quietly observed the changes in the red sea below.

He soon made some startling discoveries. The water temperature below was well above boiling, yet it was not boiling; moreover, despite these high temperatures, there were plenty of living creatures around. They were ordinary marine organisms—fish, shrimp, and other sea creatures—but their bodies were mostly shades of red, and they exuded a dense aura aligned with the fire element.

This phenomenon struck Tang San as extremely peculiar; with such a heavy presence of the fire element and the resulting harsh conditions, it was remarkable that life could exist here.

He even sensed the presence of plants deep on the seabed, also in shades of red but clearly thriving. This meant that despite the scorching seawater, life energy was still abundant—a very intriguing phenomenon.

Tang San hovered above the surface without entering it. He reached out toward the sea, and immediately, a fiery red fish leapt out of the water and landed in his palm.

The small fish had sharp teeth and, once caught by Tang San, seemed utterly unimpressed by his status as the Sea God, immediately snapping at his hand. Tang San didn't forcibly suppress it; instead, he gently shook his hand, emitting a soft energy that paralyzed the fish, while his divine consciousness focused on it.

A moment into his divine consciousness scan, Tang San's expression changed subtly; he was surprised to discover a tiny energy core, about the size of a grain of rice, inside the small fish.

Of course, the amount of energy within this core was very limited, but it was this energy core that allowed the fish to slowly absorb fire energy. The energy core converted this energy into life energy, so in other words, the fish survived by relying on the fire energy around it. But then, things became interesting: the energy core also returned some of this life energy to the sea.

If the entire sea was like this, then it had a fascinating balance. But what exactly was the energy core inside the fish? Tang San squinted slightly—An Elemental Heart?[2]

On the Daemon Continent, very few creatures truly possessed Elemental Hearts. Mei Gongzi had something like that, being the Avatar of Space, but it had taken her years of cultivation and tremendous effort to reach this level. Meanwhile, the Elemental Heart of this small fish was naturally much weaker than Mei Gongzi's, but it had perfect compatibility with fire and it seemed to be innate.

Given the fish's negligible intelligence, this Elemental Heart undoubtedly made it easier for it to survive and grow stronger. Yet this was not the most interesting part; after all, living beings evolved new body parts all the time to adapt to the environment. No, the interesting thing about this particular Elemental Heart was that it also gave energy back to the environment!

Tang San felt the signs of an epiphany—the first one in a long time—and his heart filled with joy. He was determined to thoroughly explore this peculiar sea area before him.

1. The author has been using a mixture of Chinese miles (li), kilometers, and nautical miles, and the distances have been... inconsistent, so to say. We have been standardizing everything to metric for land distances and nautical miles for sea distances, as well as establishing some proportions. TL;DR it’s clear that Falan is quite a bit larger than Earth, probably around the size of Uranus? Something like that (hehe). ?

2. This is a completely new term in this novel, in case the next paragraph makes you question your memory. It seems to be related to the common xianxia term "elemental physique," which does in fact exist in this novel as well, but it has yet to be defined other than "someone with a particularly strong affinity for an element." This is particularly problematic because 1) the term is literally "elemental body" but 2) Tang San has made it clear multiple times that elemental control is a matter of spiritual power, not physique, and 3) their body is unquestionably not made of that element the way characters in other novels are literally the manifestation of an element that gained sentience/spirituality. As for the term here, it appears to be pretty straightforward—a kind of energy core that can perfectly process energy pertaining to a specific element and grants the owner immunity to the ill effects of that elemental energy. This is somewhat relevant to future chapters, so we will keep it as is. ?