Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming got back on Lan Huang and paved a way for Lan Huang to charge through with the prime wonder. Ying Huo and Meow Meow served as cannons atop the moving tank that was Lan Huang, allowing them to cleave a path through the armies ahead. The Ninedragon Army followed behind them, posing a nightmarish existence for the enemy.

Where their swords pointed, souls were liberated. With the Warlord dead, none within the formation could stop Tianming. He had nearly a hundred million Omnisentient Threads now, allowing him to draw nearly limitless energy to boost himself and his lifebound beasts. The prime wonder was also growing in size, applying huge pressure from the air against enemy totems and lifebound beasts, often slapping them flat. The number of totem swords also continued growing as Tianming grew closer and closer to his ultimate state back at Violetglory, where he had the faith of a billion people and faced off against the primalwinger overlord.

In terms of totems, the sun emperor’s were no doubt a level above Sovereign Starfeather’s, while the sovereign’s were stronger than the primalwinger overlord’s. In that sense, Tianming wouldn’t be a match for the sun emperor if he couldn’t get ten billion Omnisentient Threads. However, the other things put together made him the second strongest powerhouse on the sun, though there was some room for doubt as nobody knew how powerful the members of the Sky Palace or the dreamless celestial emperor really were. At the very least, the Northdipper Swordsage and Warlord were no longer a match for him even with his current number of Omnisentient Threads.

”There’s a point to my struggle after all.” Tianming couldn’t deny the fact that he wasn’t an Orderian native, just a youth who basked in the limelight of the sun. The only reason he had hated the sun emperor to begin with was thanks to Li Wudi. Yet the increasing number of Omnisentient Threads had allowed him to truly resonate and connect with those of the Myriad Solar Sects. By now, he was bearing the hopes and desires of everyone, sharing in their thoughts and wills and seemingly fusing together with them. Right now, he was the quintessential Orderian native, even more pure than those who were born there, simultaneously experiencing countless lifetimes on the sun as they were inscribed into his albi.

Leading the Fushens and the troops he brought on a charge, he began controlling more and more myriadsword providence swords as his lifebound beasts grew in power along with the prime wonder. All they were trying to do now was ensure the enemy on the battlefield lost the power to fight before the formation was taken down. Ideally, they hoped that the formation would hold up as well, though Tianming wasn’t counting on it. All he could do now was defang the enemies before the formation fell, rather than count on their mercy. Given how brainwashed the wargodeans were, there was no way the Myriad Solar Sects could count on being spared. There was no option but to slaughter the invaders to protect their old, sick, and young.

Their wills grew stronger and stronger as the morale of the enemy continued plummeting. It was almost as if the Fushens’ fighting spirit grew with every blast of Divine Wrath. The three hundred million Fushens supporting the formation were being pushed to their very limits, with more and more collapsing after coughing out blood. Some were so drained that they straight up died, sacrificing themselves for the survival of the others.

Tianming knew that they couldn’t afford to waste the sacrifice of the fallen. The Tianyi, Godblade, and Tribulator Armies quickly collapsed during Tianming’s charge. The wargodeans also suffered huge casualties, leaving tons of corpses in Fushen Valley. Only the Deluge Emperor and his bluebloods managed to escape the brunt of the slaughter after they chose to retreat. By now, the Deluge Emperor no longer worried about the backlash from the sun emperor, especially after seeing the death of the Warlord. Having lost the support of the bluebloods, the other forces suffered even more. While it wouldn’t take too much time for the Divine Sun Palace to charge up for the next blast, quite a lot of people would die within that time.

The slaughter didn’t seem to slow in the slightest. War created the kind of hate that was completely devoid of benevolence or reason. Everyone’s mind was filled with nothing but bloodlust, with the only difference being the presence of fear. The losing side felt the fear of being swallowed up by the winners.

Another blast of Divine Wrath came, sending a wave of despair throughout Fushen Valley. Yet the formation held, spreading another wave of relief throughout and thrusting the wave of despair to the side. The enemy was no longer able to properly function and hold the defenders back, being completely oppressed as they were by Tianming and his troops. The toxic rain and swamps in the formation, coupled with Xian Xian’s Evernight Curse and Trisoul Fiendsong, worked wonders, equalling the force of twenty million troops.

After a long stalemate, the floodgates of death opened, causing the casualty numbers staggeringly to rise. The more people the enemy lost, the worse they fared against the defenders. The enemy’s casualties exponentially grew as time went on, and had even spiked after the Warlord’s death. More and more enemies either fled or fell, which coincided with the increasing number of Tianming’s Omnisentient Threads.

”We’re winning!” The Fushens watched the enemy corpses piling up, crying tears of relief. They knew how hard it’d been to achieve all that they had. The youth before them continued the slaughter even after achieving so much. He was the symbol of their hope and faith.

Eventually, the enemy casualties reached thirty million, nearing the loss suffered at the Myriaddragon Mountains. Whether or not the sun emperor would eventually break the Nonacrypt Fushen Formation, it wouldn’t change the losses they had already suffered. The newly formed army of the Divine Sun Palace had gone to waste in a single battle.

As far as Tianming was aware, the sun emperor had intended to send troops down while the formation was active in order to weaken the formation and save Divine Wrath blasts to eliminate the defenders after the formation broke. It was a sound tactic, but he had underestimated what Tianming was capable of, the might of his troops, and the survival instinct of the Fushens.

That slight oversight had cost the sun emperor immensely in this battle, completely inverting the casualty counts of both sides. Tianming had played a pivotal role in that. Naturally, the Fushens holding up the formation through seventy Divine Wrath blasts also deserved much credit, having created a miracle in their own right at the expense of their lives.

However, nobody knew how much longer that miracle would last.