Beastmaster of the Ages

The Skyseal Sword Sect was the strongest of the five sects in the Land of Three Skies, ranked sixty-third in the Myriad Solar Sects, somewhat lower than the Azuresoul Palace. Tianming had the final six million cultivators sent there to counteract the Tianyi Army, which also had six million troops on the attack. Tianming’s reinforcements, coupled with the eight hundred thousand elites of the Skyseal Sword Sect, ten million normal cultivators, and a grade-seven defensive formation proved to be quite promising in driving the invaders back.

The battle was quite stacked in their favor, much of it thanks to Yin Chen. The enemy’s total force of thirty million had split up to deal with five different sects, and Yin Chen had a clear picture of all of it. It could constantly monitor them without drawing any attention to its bodies. Thanks to that, Tianming could send just enough reinforcements to outnumber the enemy forces with great timing and precision. While the enemy was a large, organized army, second-rate factions like the Skyseal Sword Sect were no pushovers either. They were rather organized in their own right and stood to lose their homes if they didn’t fight, so they were definitely just as motivated. Not to mention, with Tianming among them, their spirits had risen to new heights. At the same time, the Fushen Clan and Frostsoul Imperium had launched attacks on the traitors while the Saintdragon Emperor held back their reinforcements.

”For our side, we’ll hold the battle at a standstill as long as the enemy doesn’t engage. If they do, we’ll crush them.” That was the conclusion Tianming had reached with the other leaders in the alliance. He stood within the defensive formation and looked at the flaming army of six million facing them, organized in neat formations with their totems manifested. It felt like the battle of the Myriaddragon Mountains all over again. The sea of flaming totems seemed about to swallow the Skyseal Sword Sect whole.

”Looks like the enemy is trying to go through with their attack regardless of the losses,” the sect master of Skyseal Sword Sect, Du Wujian, said, stroking his beard. He was a rather casual person, but also swift and decisive. He also happened to be the strongest person in the Land of Three Skies. It was said that he never needed more than five sword strikes to take out his enemy, hence his name. Thanks to his fame, he had quite a bit of sway in the Land of Three Skies. He had come to the grand assembly to personally meet Tianming and discuss their plans.

During the battle of the Azurecloud Continent, Du Wujian had helped out with a small group of escorts. He had also seen Tianming’s amazing show of power, fully convincing him of the white-haired youth’s abilities. With Tianming beside him, he was confident in how things would turn out.

The enemy troops made their move shortly after that. Six million totemancers swarmed toward the forces of the Skyseal Sword Sect with a resounding war cry, sparking the battle. The other four factions were probably also under attack now.

Thanks to their careful plans, Tianming wasn’t worried about the five factions being unable to stand up to the thirty million invaders. He drew the Grand-Orient Sword and led the six million elites and tens of millions of other fighters to start the fight. At the same time, he had Yin Chen continuously monitor the Divine Sun Palace.

At that moment, something suddenly changed. The six million troops of the Tianyi Army changed the direction they were marching in, passing the Skyseal Swordsect and giving up on the rich territories it encompassed. They headed toward the rear of the sect, instead. Yin Chen also reported something similar at the four other factions.

”So they were faking their attack and intent on going around them?” Normally speaking, as long as the grade-seven defensive formations were present, the celestial orderian troops would be marching straight into an enemy stronghold. The deeper they went, the more dangerous it would be. That was why conquering cities along the way was important to secure a way back. If they couldn’t take the Myriaddragon Mountains, they would never be able to take out the entirety of the Myriad Solar Sects. No doubt, the sun emperor must have ordered the feint during his secret conversation with Li Tianyi, displaying obvious concern toward an invisible listener.

”The only ones waiting for them behind the five factions are the thirty million troops of the Saintdragon Emperor. In other words, the sun emperor knew we’d be sending them there and played along with it?”

The troops of the Saintdragon Emperor had no defensive formation, so if they were sandwiched by sixty million troops front and back, their casualties would be massive. It would be a painful blow to the entire alliance. However, this wasn’t a possibility that Tianming hadn’t considered beforehand, so he’d made preparations in advance. The location that the troops had been dropped off at was as far away from the Skyseal Sword Sect as possible. The thirty million troops of the enemy would need time to regroup before they could proceed, and that would take at least four hours. That was enough time for Tianming to gather the thirty million troops of the five factions to support the Saintdragon Emperor’s reinforcements, and that wouldn’t take more than two hours. It made the sun emperor’s tactic rather pointless.

”What do we do? Is the Saintdragon Emperor in danger?” Du Wujian asked.

”There’s no need to panic for now. The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb is able to travel much faster than those armies. We can deal with this if that’s all there is,” Tianming said.

As long as the thirty million celestial orderian troops didn’t besiege the factions, they would be safe. The rest of the troops in the north were also not marching south, so Tianming could just have the reinforcements retreat and move them to a more advantageous position in advance.

”If that’s the case, when the Tianyi, Tribulator and Godblade Armies regroup at the desolate plains, all they’ll be able to do will be collecting the corpses of the bluebloods and wargodeans.” War was about logistics, after all.

”So far, the moves of the enemy seem smart, but they’re pointless as long as we have the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb.” Tianming wasn’t celebrating just yet. He knew the sun emperor wouldn’t make such a pointless move as this. The tension mounted more and more as he pondered his response. He couldn’t afford to waste time reinforcing the Saintdragon Emperor if that wasn’t the main play.

”What in the world is the sun emperor’s true aim?” Yin Chen was constantly monitoring the Divine Sun Palace, and whether it moved or not would be the key deciding factor. Though, at the end of the day, either case was good. If the Divine Sun Palace remained dormant, that meant the enemy would suffer huge losses. If it didn’t, however, then this trump card of the enemy would have been revealed and Tianming would be able to prevent further losses.

He continued waiting. ”Yin Chen!”

”Still monitoring.”

He asked it constantly at almost every breath so that there would be no delay.

”Yin Chen!”

This time, it didn’t respond. The silver egg in his hand seemed to fall silent before it suddenly shrieked, ”It’s moving! Shining eyes... two eyes! Already flying! Divine Sun... Palace is... already activated!” The same notification was shared with the Saintdragon Emperor, Long Wanying, Fushen Gonyi, and the Frost Empress.

”He had a backup core after all!” Tianming abandoned the notion of an easy victory, though there was no fear. This was something they had anticipated, along with its consequences. The Divine Sun Palace was a war machine that not even a hundred million elite troops could compare with. Its activation meant that the Myriad Solar Sects would once more live under the shadow of terror cast by the celestial orderians. No doubt the golden-haired man at the north pole of the sun was maniacally laughing as his palace whirred to life, venting the pent-up frustrations from the battles of the Myriaddragon Mountains and Azurecloud Continent.

The entire northern hemisphere of the sun shook from the shockwaves. Thankfully, Tianming had considered this scenario and had talked with the five factions in advance about retreating. With Yin Chen, he would have constant updates about the movements of the Divine Sun Palace. Had they resorted to using spies among the celestial orderians, the transmission stones would be even slower to travel than the Divine Sun Palace.

”In other words, the sun emperor pressed the attack because the Divine Sun Palace was usable. Without Yin Chen, we wouldn’t be able to get an advance warning about it and I would’ve sent thirty million troops to help the Saintdragon Emperor. Then the Divine Sun Palace would show up mid fight and there’d be no hope of retreating at all. When the Tianyi, Godblade, and Tribulator Armies caught up, the troops we sent there would be entirely wiped out. Even the Fushen Clan and Frostsoul Imperium would be too late to retreat when the enemy troops went for them!”

If that was really the case, that showed how ruthless the sun emperor was in wanting to eliminate him and the sixty million troops to utterly crush the hope of the alliance. Perhaps the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb would even be destroyed as well. Without Yin Chen and the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, the Myriad Solar Sects would have no way to resist at all. The sun emperor was also ruthless toward the wargodeans and bluebloods.

”If we didn’t know about the Divine Sun Palace’s activation, we would’ve sent thirty million troops to counteract the thirty million celestial orderians that were sent to attack the troops of the Saintdragon Emperor. I would definitely have joined up with him first, and we would’ve wreaked havoc on the wargodeans and bluebloods. By the time the celestial orderians regrouped, they’d have been sure to suffer debilitating losses. We wouldn’t be able to let them escape, either.

“Wargod Valley and Oceanheart City are already under siege. They’re only helping the sun emperor hold our troops back as cannon fodder!”