Beastmaster of the Ages

Long Wanying lightly tapped Tianming’s shoulder. ”Let’s do this. Head to the Sky Palace to get the solar core and activate the astralguard formation to stop Skywolf’s invasion. We should still have time to do that. We can at least try to see if you can go through the Sky Palace Formation, but you don’t have to go all in first. The three hundred million celestial orderian troops are still marching south and the sun emperor has returned to refuel the nova source in his Divine Sun Palace. After a few days, he’ll no doubt take action against some other sect, so we’ll have to focus our attention here. Since we’ll need you even more at that time, you can’t leave. This might just be the sun emperor’s plan to draw you away from us, so we have no choice but to put Skywolf’s approach on the back burner for now, at least until we can learn his true intentions.”

”Guess that’s the only choice we can make for now,” Tianming said. The sun emperor had yet to stop his attack on the Myriad Solar Sects. The rest of the celestial orderian troops were still marching south, and nothing short of full resistance would suffice.

”How’s the evacuation of the Fushen Clan and the second- and third-rate sects going?” the Saintdragon Emperor asked.

”It’s proceeding fine. They’re scattered, but they’re moving faster than the army that’s marching south. By the time they arrive, we should be able to settle down the refugees in the other first-rate sects. The Group of Celestial Maiden Halls has also made preparations to evacuate. The tens of millions of troops that remain in the Divine Sun Palace have occupied Fushen Valley, led by the Deluge Emperor. They aren’t taking any other action for now, and I doubt they’ll make a move before the Divine Sun Palace can start moving troops again,” Tianming said. That had bought the alliance desperately needed time and was one of the key goals of the battle at Fushen Valley.

”Pay more attention. Perhaps the sun emperor will use the Divine Sun Palace to transport some of the three hundred million troops somewhere else,” the Saintdragon Emperor said.

”Will do.” They had to be prepared for all possibilities and wary of the sun emperor’s moves.

”Even though he makes it sound like he has good intentions, that won’t change the fact that the tyrant is still sending troops south to exterminate us. Even if Skywolf or the Sky Palace are our enemies, it doesn’t change the fact that the celestial orderians are still our enemies,” Long Wanying said. She would never forgive the sun emperor no matter what.

After their discussion, Tianming was no longer confused. However, he still had some worries, like his dynasty on the Flameyellow Continent, though there was nothing he could do about it. There were far too many people there and there was no way he could move them all to the sun during such a time. The Myriaddragon Mountains wouldn’t have the space for them either.

It was impossible to tell the intentions of the sun emperor. He could be more of a sadist than Sovereign Xi was, given how he was already culling lives by the millions without breaking a sweat. If he could do that to the so-called higher lifeforms of Orderia, he definitely wouldn’t care about the mortals of the Welkin plane, and that was Tianming’s crippling weakness.

”We should keep word of Skywolf’s approach from spreading. It might cause a mass panic,” Tianming said.

”Yeah.”

”I’ll go to my sister in the meantime,” he said as he stood up.

”Go ahead. The girl has been suffering quite a bit lately, so take care of her.”

”Alright.”

......

Great Saintdragon Peak pierced through the clouds like a flying dragon. Atop it were many ancient and refined buildings. It was the quietest part of the Myriaddragon Mountains, even after they had taken in around a hundred million refugees. The other peaks were all filled with people no matter how tall or vast they were. While it would be fine in the short term, many would no doubt crumble if they had to stay in such cramped arrangements for a year or two.

Tianming knocked on the door of a building at Great Saintdragon Peak. ”Qingyu, Feng, it’s me.”

”Ah, Big Brother, don’t come in!” came a shriek from within.

Tianming blushed, imagining what the two young ones could be up to inside. This was going to be awkward.

However, he was overthinking it. Lingfeng opened the door soon after with a gloomy look. ”Qingyu’s not doing very well and doesn’t want to see you.”

”Is it because of the old gods’ blood?”

”Yeah....” Lingfeng looked down with a bitter smile. ”It’s getting more and more serious. She seems to be suffering.”

”Then I should check it out all the more.”

”I also think you should console her. I have no way with words at all and never know the right thing to say. All I can do is worry, sigh....” He grit his teeth at how helpless he was. If only he could console her better.

”Don’t worry.” Tianming entered the room with him.

Qingyu was huddled in the corner of a dark basement. ”Big Brother...”

Tianming felt a wince of pain when he saw her. Li Wushuang had been so ugly that children would be frightened to see her. It looked like Qingyu’s transformation had progressed halfway there. While her body still seemed fine, the transformation of her looks was no doubt nightmarish for a girl like her. Any other person would have already gone insane.

”Big Brother, stop looking....” She looked down and gripped her fists, her red and sharp nails digging into her palms and drawing blood. Even her voice was hoarser than before.

Tianming had wanted to tell her that he’d seen Li Wudi, but couldn’t bring himself to. How could he tell her that her father was probably gone for good? He knew that Qingyu was a strong kid that had gone through many trials, but he doubted that even he would be able to take a mental shock like that if he were suffering from her ailment, so he chose to keep quiet about it.

”Big Brother, did you get news of my dad?” Qingyu anxiously asked.

”Not yet. He might still be in the Divine Sun Palace.”

”Alright. Tell me if there’s news as soon as possible.”

”Will do.” He approached her and gave her a close look, suppressing the rage he felt for the sun emperor. ”It does look worse than before. How are you holding up? Is it affecting other aspects of your life?”

”No.... Apart from turning uglier, everything else is getting better. I have far more energy than before and a good appetite. Big Brother, stop worrying about me. As long as you and Feng don’t abandon me, I’ll be fine as long as I don’t have to go out and meet others.” Even as she said that, her tears flowed nonstop. She was far from as nonchalant as she wanted to appear.