Beastmaster of the Ages

The death of the dreamless celestial emperor at the Myriaddragon Mountains was a big deal. News of that magnitude would quickly spread. There were countless people in the dreamless celestial nation, with their capital of Somnium having some twenty million dreamless celestials. As the dreamless celestial emperor was also part of the alliance, it would be troublesome if the matter wasn’t properly dealt with.

Tianming, the Saintdragon Emperor, and the rest discussed how they should solve the issue. To normal civilians, they simply said that the dreamless celestial emperor had tried to kill Tianming. As for the top elites, like the Northdipper Swordsage and the rest, they told them about every secret they had heard from the dreamless celestial emperor, including the voidheart worm and Skywolf. Only a very exclusive number of people were told about them. The voidheart worm explained the erratic behavior of the Sky Palace in recent years. Perhaps the worm was confident enough that nothing could kill it as long as it stayed within the formation. All it had to do was wait for Skywolf’s arrival.

With the defeat of the dreamless celestial emperor, Tianming still had two main problems he had to deal with. The first was the sun emperor and the celestial orderians, while the other was the voidheart worm inside the Sky Palace.

”Even though killing the voidheart worm now wouldn’t stop Skywolf’s arrival, we’d at least be able to activate the astralguard formation. Without it, we’re sitting ducks. There’s no telling what kind of devastation the enemy will bring. Not even the celestial orderians stooped to slaughtering all the common folk, and only focused their attacks on formations. But if Skywolf arrived, their specter variants will strive to exterminate all life on our star!” The Northdipper Swordsage seemed quite shaken by the revelation of Skywolf’s imminent arrival. Though his words were relayed by Yin Chen, it was clear how agitated he was.

”The sun emperor isn’t taking any action for now. This might be our chance to kill the voidheart worm and take back half of the solar core. Since Tianming can defeat the dreamless celestial emperor, he’s probably stronger than the remaining members of the Sky Palace. I wonder how powerful the voidheart worm would be,” the Ninesun Martial Lord mused.

”We know practically nothing about the worm. It infested the Sky Palace and only Tianming is able to enter it, so there’s nothing we can do to help. I think that’s a little too risky. If something happens to Tianming, we lose our only hope. More importantly, the sun emperor is no doubt waiting for a chance to strike. If he takes action while Tianming is away, not one of our sects would be able to hold off against the three hundred million troops and the Divine Sun Palace,” the Saintdragon Emperor said.

”That’s right. Skywolf will still take some time before it reaches us, so the celestial orderians definitely take priority. It’s clear now that the three hundred million troops are trying to regroup before attacking one sect at a time. Without Tianming and his divine astralship to move troops around, we’ll have no hope of winning,” Yan Lingxian said. She sighed, knowing well that her faction was the weakest of the alliance.

”Since the sun emperor knows about the Sky Palace and the voidheart worm, can we negotiate with him? We’ll deal with the Sky Palace first to secure the astralguard formation and defeat Skywolf before settling things among ourselves,” the Northdipper Swordsage said.

”That isn’t likely. Even if he agrees, we’ll still have to be wary of any attempts by him to attack us. To be honest, I’ve met him a few times, and I don’t think he’s someone who will play by the book. He’s a madman that can do anything, and he doesn’t care about working together,” Tianming said. As long as the celestial orderians were led by him, there was no chance of working together.

”The sun emperor is a huge question mark. Putting our hopes in him would be suicidal,” Long Wanying said. She couldn’t bring herself to trust the sun emperor either.

”That’s true. It seems that the only way is to defeat the sun emperor. Perhaps we’ll be able to obtain his solar core. Then we can get the other one after defeating the voidheart worm and let Tianming reunite the whole world!” the Northdipper Swordsage said.

”Are you joking or making light of the situation?” the Saintdragon Emperor said, his brows furrowing.

”It makes no difference. It doesn’t seem like there’s any hope either way, and the sun emperor seems serious. Back then, he wanted his troops to split into five legions and fight separately. Were that still the case, we’d at least have a fighting chance. But now they’re gathering into one unit. Even with Tianming there, there’s no way we’ll be able to hold up against them.”

”If it’s so hopeless, why don’t you just deactivate your formation and let him in? Let’s see what happens then,” Long Wanying scoffed.

”It’s not that I want to submit to him. I just didn’t think that we’d have another situation with Skywolf and the Sky Palace. I’m shocked beyond words and I don’t think anyone will be able to save the sun, let alone the Myriad Solar Sects. As long as the sun emperor continues being so reckless, our star will face annihilation and become a hellish world!” While the Northdipper Swordsage’s words were harsh, there was a hint of truth in them.

Tianming silently listened to the whole thing. All of a sudden, he said, ”The sun emperor is making his move!”

The tension in the room immediately shot up. At the very least, the sun emperor had stopped for a few days after attacking Fushen Valley, giving them time to deal with the dreamless celestial emperor.

”What’s he doing?” the Saintdragon Emperor said.

”The three hundred million troops received an order to attack the Myriaddragon Mountains. The Divine Sun Palace is also ready. It’ll only take one day before they reach us.”

”So this is how the final battle starts.” The Saintdragon Emperor sat down with bloodshot eyes. There wasn’t any time for Tianming to head to the Sky Palace at all. Three hundred million troops and the Divine Sun Palace would be going up against the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and a hundred and thirty million troops on the alliance’s side. The two largest armies on the sun were each counting on their divine astralships as moral support.

”If I’m not mistaken, I have a good guess why he chose to directly attack the Myriaddragon Mountains,” Long Wanying said, barely able to contain her hatred.

”What’s that?” Tianming asked.

”Normally, he should fight the next weakest faction, then the next, until all of the first-rate factions are uprooted before finally coming to the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect. However, he realized that his troops didn’t have any edge against our haphazard army during the battle at Fushen Valley. So he decided to take extra care and gather all his units in one place. If they attack us separately, the same thing that happened at Fushen Valley would just repeat and they’d suffer huge casualties. Thus, attacking us with all their troops at a single point is a carefully calculated move.”

The battle at Fushen Valley had taught the sun emperor the lesson that he wouldn’t be able to defeat the factions with minimal casualties. He had underestimated the desperate fighting spirit of the Fushens, who were protecting their home. Such a sentiment would be the same with the other factions, so the original plan wouldn’t bring about any good results. As for why attacking the Myriaddragon Mountains with all the troops was the more careful move....

”Currently, the Myriad Solar Sects’ moral support pillar is Tianming and his divine astralship, and our largest force is assembled here. As long as we don’t fall, the alliance still has hope. If the sun emperor chooses to attack the Frostsoul Imperium first, then goes on to attack the Divinemight Dynasty, he’ll succeed, but the Myriaddragon Mountains would still be around and Tianming would send reinforcements to those battles. Not to mention, the Frostsoul Imperium and Divinemight Dynasty would resist with all they had, and that would just winnow the celestial orderian army. By the time they come to deal with us here, it would be even harder for them with fewer numbers.f. co𝚖

”However, if he takes the Myriaddragon Mountains while his army is at its strongest, he might stand a better chance. Not to mention, there’s billions of lives under threat here, so Tianming won’t be able to leave. If he’s powerful enough, he can completely crush us here and even kill Tianming, ridding the alliance of any and all hope. Then it’d only be a matter of time before the remaining factions fall into his hands.”