Beastmaster of the Ages

”I’m big and strong now! I’ll be fine and dainty!” Lan Huang said.

”Don’t you mean fine and dandy?” Tianming said.

Lan Huang’s scales were a mix of gold and dark blue. It spun around, pushing the swords out from its scales and pulling them back, almost like a tortoise that kept poking its head out of its shell and withdrawing into it. Despite its impressive appearance, its happy-go-lucky behavior and laughter undermined its domineering aura. It appeared that it could only show its true might in a real fight.

”This is fun! Haha!” Lan Huang ran about like a child as Tianming grimaced.

”This dragon doesn’t seem to have any dignity at all,” Long Wanying said.

”It... it does... sometimes,” Tianming said, awkwardly clearing his throat.

”That’s okay. It’s rather cute.”

Not that a dragon’s dignity mattered much. It wasn’t the first time Lan Huang had been mistaken for a tortoise. All that mattered was that its shell only continued to grow thicker and thicker, making it an immovable tank on top of the prime wonder and Greenspark Tower. Its sheer ability to draw firepower on the battlefield would no doubt be enough to annoy the enemy to no end.

Primordial Chaos Beasts had rather specialized characteristics. Meow Meow, for instance, couldn’t be chased down by anyone, while Lan Huang couldn’t be moved by anyone. Even if the Saintdragon Emperor used the grade-eight Ninedragon Imperius on it, he wouldn’t be able to make it budge.

”After the Omnisentient Threads formed, I’m able to channel the weakest form of astralforce to it through the pandemonium sacrosun. That’ll make it even more terrifying.”

The Saintdragon Emperor hoped that Tianming would present himself as a dragon beastmaster to bolster the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect’s reputation. By now, Lan Huang was no doubt qualified for that mascot role.

......

In the following days, the celestial orderians didn’t make any moves. Tianming was still waiting for two things; the first was for Yin Chen to seek out celestial orderian informants and tail them, and the second was the grand assembly of the newly formed alliance. The Xuanyuan Dragon Sect had invited all sect masters to participate. Those that had lost their sects and homes sought refuge in the Myriaddragon Mountains. While the journey was risky, it wasn’t too bad, as Tianming informed them about potential dangers using Yin Chen’s surveillance abilities. By now, he had a full view of all the troops of the enemy.

As Qingyu’s case was rather special, Tianming had her and Lingfeng hidden away. They focused on cultivating first and foremost. Lingfeng, for instance, was making progress on the sixth level of Tranquil Battlefield. Qingyu, on the other hand, was facing quite a bit of trouble. Her appearance had considerably changed, thanks to the ancient blood in her. However, she was more concerned about the safety of her father. While having her looks change was hard to stomach, it didn’t take up most of her attention.

”Godfather, where are you? Are you doing well?” Tianming looked north from the Great Saintdragon Peak. He was at the southern side of the sun, and if he guessed right, Li Wudi should be at the northern side. He patiently sorted through his complex thoughts as he waited. The billion Omnisentient Threads of Violetglory, along with the dense power of faith he got from Flameyellow and the sun filled his Imperial Will. It was a give-and-take relationship. His experience battling at the Azurecloud Continent had given him even more insights, real insights of his own that were even more effective than witnessing those of other caeli. After symbiotic cultivation with the newly evolved Lan Huang, his physical body had been considerably enhanced, as if he had become a smaller version of the Primordial Terraqua Dragon. His Imperial Will also broke through, allowing him to reach the third level of the Solar stage.

It had been quite a long time since he had broken through; he could clearly feel his cultivation speed slowing down now. Even so, he was still way ahead of even the geniuses of the Mysterium Cluster. By now, Yanwu Dao would be completely outmatched by him.

”While the increase of Omnisentient Threads can help me gain a lot of power in combat, my cultivation level is the most basic foundation. I shouldn’t neglect it.” He found himself growing more and more calm despite the escalating situation. ”I reckon the sun emperor knows I’m a decabane by now, right?”

......

The flaming clouds above rained embers onto the ground. The whole world was set aflame. Fires of red and gold could be seen all over the place, but even then, the flaming clouds didn’t seem to decrease in volume despite raining down so much. At the south pole of the sun, the Voidsky Flame Pillar injected nova source into the flaming clouds nonstop, constantly replenishing them. Nova source was practically infinite, nourishing all life on the sun for countless years before and countless more to come.

Magma flowed all across the reddish ground like a flaming net. There was a palace located in the area with the most lava that looked like a golden human head. Both of its eyes were dim and lifeless, as if it had lost its life and turned into a normal building. This used to be the mighty Divine Sun Palace that had struck terror in the Myriad Solar Sects just a few years ago. Nowadays, the location near it was considered a forbidden area. Nobody dared to approach. Since the battle of the Myriaddragon Mountains, the celestial orderians had undergone quite a few conflicts with the Myriad Solar Sects, yet the sun emperor had never personally graced the battlefield. One reason for that was that the celestial orderian troops didn’t really need him to be there as they were ferocious and effective on their own. The other was said to be that the sun emperor was cultivating to obtain enough power to crush the Myriad Solar Sects on his own, though nobody knew how much that rumor had been exaggerated.

One thing that couldn’t be denied, however, was that the sun emperor was indeed within the deactivated Divine Sun Palace. He didn’t even need to set foot out to cause chaos among the Myriad Solar Sects. The fight between him and the Sky Palace had motivated his troops enough to go on even without him. Before the recent battle at the Azurecloud Continent, his might had been inviolable. He was the god among gods for the celestial orderians!

Yet when word of the decabane First Dragon Imperial, slayer of seven million began spreading, the celestial orderians were struck by disbelief. It was as if they had suffered another shocking loss like that of the battle of the Myriaddragon Mountains. Countless people flocked to the Divine Sun Palace to beg the sun emperor to slaughter Tianming and completely crush the hopes of the Myriad Solar Sects. Tianming was too powerful, despite his youth, hence their desperation.

Countless people had gathered outside the Divine Sun Palace. There were many youths who had yet to be recruited into the army, yet they charged into enemy territory to vent their rage. This matter seemed far more serious than their loss at the Myriaddragon Mountains. After all, in the latter, the Myriad Solar Sects’ situation was still hopeless despite their victory, but now a new hope had been born.

Tianming was far more terrifying than the Ninedragon Emperor of legend. He was so young that he defied all explanation. In fact, many even doubted his age, completely oblivious to the fact that he had even trumped all of the young geniuses of the Mysterium Cluster.

The celestial orderians were growing desperate. Large numbers of old folk knelt outside the Divine Sun Palace, begging and praying for the sun emperor to wipe out Tianming. Even though there were people trying to clear out the crowds, even more simply flocked in to replace those that were chased away. It could be seen how seriously they were taking the matter of Tianming. Yet pray as they might, all they got was the laughter of the sun emperor coming from within his palace.

The laughter was filled with glee, as if something miraculous had happened. The celestial orderians were completely stumped about why he was so happy. Was the news of their seven million troops’ annihilation a sign of good tidings? Some even felt that their emperor was losing his wits, ignorant to what was happening within the palace.

The inside of the palace was dark and didn’t have a single light source. In a corner, a person paced around. He had retracted his glow, and even his hair was completely dim. The only things that shone were his golden eyes, making it seem like two floating eyeballs were moving about in the darkness. He paced around quickly and leaned against the object before him. Based on the light coming from his eyes, it seemed to be a mystical coffin.

”Decabane? Amazing. I didn’t think you’d be hiding a trump card like that.” A ghastly man with dark red hair lay inside the coffin like an unmoving puppet. He didn’t respond to the sun emperor at all.

”Did you know? These past few years, I wasn’t afraid of his talent at all. It doesn’t matter to me whether he’s a decabane or two times that. The only fear I had was that he would never return. Even after the loss of my army of seven million, the only thing I was afraid of was that he would disappear into the boundless astralscape with my daughter, eluding me for the rest of my life.”

He held his arms up like he was drunk and snickered. ”You were far too clueless.... How would you know how large the universe truly is? If you’d gone a little further, it’d be like going into an endless abyss past the point of no return. That’s why you’ll never understand why I’m so glad to hear him return. He’s back earlier than I thought—I expected him to take another decade at least.”

The sun emperor couldn’t be happier even if he wanted to.