Beastmaster of the Ages

When Tianming emerged from the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, he could feel something different about the Myriaddragon Mountains. It wasn’t just the increased number of people—in everyone’s eyes, he could see the desire for and confidence in victory and a burning hot fighting spirit, and all of that had stemmed from the deified Tianming. Word of the celestial orderians running out of steam was spreading, and Tianming felt like he had back in Violetglory. The more people’s hopes that he carried, the more pressure he was under.

The benefits to that was that he could grow so much stronger—to the point of being able to deal with the sun emperor—but there were also disadvantages. Should he fail, the Myriad Solar Sects as a whole would collapse. He had become their single point of failure. The tyranny of the sun emperor and the mystery behind Li Wudi’s current status, as well as the incoming disaster that was the Skywolf Star, had all combined, putting him under huge pressure. He took a deep breath and returned their hopeful gazes. He decided to keep his worries to himself and smiled as he addressed the people.

”Fushen Valley was just the beginning. As long as we stick together, we will definitely emerge victorious!”

”Yeah!”

His words had reassured everyone. Tianming had earned his place as their leader with his staggering achievement, and even the likes of the Northdipper Swordsage would listen to his orders. Fushen Gongyi had also come to the Myriaddragon Mountains and would be commanding his troops according to Tianming’s orders.

After addressing them, Tianming returned to Great Saintdragon Peak, where the Saintdragon Emperor and Long Wanying awaited him. Nobody else was there, and the two of them seemed quite relieved as well.

Long Wanying hurriedly stepped forward with concern. ”Are you alright? Did you get hurt?”

”No.”

”Then why do you look so down? Is it because we lost a lot of people at Fushen Valley?” she asked. It was thanks to the sacrifices of the fallen that the victory had been possible, yet even the survivors wouldn’t be celebrating. It would be disrespectful to their sacrifice.

Looking at the two seniors, Tianming decided to share the burden of the foreboding news with them. ”When I was leaving, the sun emperor told me some things that created a lot of doubts.”

”No worries, let’s talk about it. I know how much pressure you’re under. It’ll be fine.” She had him sit down and made him some tea. The leaves were sourced from among the best divine herbs with amazing properties that promoted wakefulness. They were Long Wanying’s favorite.

”The first matter concerns my godfather, Li Wudi.” Tianming’s origins from the chaos skyjail of the Flameyellow Continent were no longer a secret to Long Wanying and the rest. She had also been made aware of the so-called ‘experiment’ and knew how important Li Wudi was to Tianming.

”Aunt Ying, do you think he’s still alive?” Tianming asked.

Long Wanying and the Saintdragon Emperor exchanged glances before she said, ”Based on your description, it sounds like the Li Wudi from back then is still present in some capacity. But we aren’t really sure about how these split identities work. That aside, I’m more curious about what he said about there being too many things that happened during his forty-odd years of slumber. Were those his exact words?”

”Yeah.”

”As far as I’m aware, there was a time spanning ten years starting fifty or so years ago when the sun emperor didn’t appear in public at all. What could he have been up to?” The normal assumption would be that he had left Orderia, but now it seemed that he had been busy doing something else.

”Either way, you’re likely correct that he’s lying about helping you by letting the Solar Wheel get stolen. It contradicts how he’s been attacking the Myriad Solar Sects,” the Saintdragon Emperor said.

”That isn’t certain, either. Perhaps the current Li Wudi has changed since the last time they met. Back then, it seemed like he wanted all of you to be safe,” Long Wanying said.

”Perhaps. Does that mean the godfather I knew won’t ever come back again?” Tianming asked.

”Let’s not jump to conclusions. Perhaps there’s still hope. If only we could talk to this red-haired sun emperor to get more information.”

Though Tianming had wanted to talk more, the red-haired sun emperor had been brought away at the end. ”Alright, I’ll keep hoping and push aside my grief for now.” He took a deep breath and addressed the two seniors once more. ”I still have a doubt and a nightmare to share.”

Hearing ’nightmare’, their expressions changed. They tried forcing a smile—if Tianming thought it was a nightmare, they knew it would be bad.

”Then, let’s clear your doubts first,” Long Wanying said.

”Alright. It concerns the Sky Palace....” He told them what the sun emperor had told him. ”How do they control the lifeline of the Myriad Solar Sects?”

”Through the fusion formation,” Long Wanying said after a pause. ”The sun’s fusion and astralguard formations are both controlled by a formation core, known as the solar core. It’s split into two halves, one in the hands of the celestial orderians and the other in the Voidsky Realm. The latter falls under the Sky Palace’s control. They can adjust the distribution of nova source using the formation. If sects go against the Sky Palace, they can stop the nova source from flowing out. That way, they have control over our lifelines.”

”I see....” That wasn’t too far off from Tianming’s imagination. However, he had wanted to think that it couldn’t be that ridiculous. If the Sky Palace controlled the nova source, they could choke them out at any time. It was no wonder the factions listened to what they had to say. ”Couldn’t the sun emperor just bust his way into the Sky Palace, rough up the old folks there, and take their half of the solar core? Wouldn’t he be able to control the Myriad Solar Sects that way?”

”Well, he probably can in his dreams. Though, if it were that easy, the Sky Palace wouldn’t have been controlling half of the solar core for so long. The sun emperor and celestial orderians aren’t able to do much about it because the Sky Palace is protected by the strongest formation in Orderia, second only to the astralguard formation. It’s known as the Sky Palace Formation, a grade-nine divine formation. While it’s small, covering less than a hundredth of the area covered by the Aeonic Infinidragon Formation, it’s incredibly potent. Smaller defensive formations are the hardest to break through.

”The Sky Palace Formation, in particular, is like an extension of the sun’s fusion formation. Even the complete Divine Sun Palace wouldn’t be able to break through. In other words, as long as Sky Palace chooses to turtle up and hide away, nobody would be able to do anything to them. For instance, they’re able to completely ignore what’s happening to us during this crisis.” Long Wanying helplessly shook her head.