Beastmaster of the Ages

There wasn’t a problem with the loyalty of the bluebloods and wargodeans at all, nor was it that the sun emperor thought they were beneath him. Instead, it was a simple process of elimination. If someone had to be sacrificed for his victory, why not sacrifice outsiders first? To serve someone, one had to first prepare to be betrayed.

Tianming believed that the Warlord and Deluge Emperor would never expect that the sun emperor had plotted against them before they’d even managed to contribute. The celestial orderians had never needed them that much, apart from their lives and homes. Even the bluebloods, a distant branch of the celestial orderians, were considered nothing more than a sacrifice for the greater goal. The logic was clear to see. The sun emperor had never cared much about losses as long as his goal of wiping out the Myriad Solar Sects would be achieved, even those of the celestial orderians who had perished fighting the third- and fourth-rate sects. Perhaps he had never even cared for his celestial orderian troops either and was fully prepared to lose them all.

”Sacrificing the bluebloods and the wargodeans to conquer the Myriad Solar Sects is a rather savvy move to make, though I bet the sun emperor didn’t consider the fact that we could be notified of the Divine Sun Palace’s activation at any time! We even have time to retreat.”

If it weren’t for the backup core, the five sects would only have started packing up their goods and the evacuation would take even longer. However, everything had already been in place thanks to their preparations. They could leave at a moment’s notice.

Tianming finally felt the terror of the sun emperor. The entire thing only took up a few breaths of time. He opened up all the entrances of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and hovered above the Skyseal Sword Sect. Then he said to Du Wujian, ”I hereby order you to evacuate everyone in your sect and your crucial belongings as fast as possible.”

”Why?” Du Wujian seemed quite shaken. He was Tianming’s ardent follower and respected him quite a bit, but abandoning his home to retreat was still shocking to consider.

”The Divine Sun Palace has a backup core. It’s been reactivated and is on the way here.” There was no way a grade-seven defense formation could hold up against the Divine Sun Palace.

Du Wujian’s expression immediately changed. Being a native Orderian, he knew better than Tianming how terrifying the Divine Sun Palace was. It was a looming nightmare for all the factions. Being able to retreat at all was a luxury few were afforded. ”I’ll get to it immediately!”

He swiftly organized a retreat. Tianming also made similar preparations with the other four sects, and Long Wanying spread the news at the Myriaddragon Mountains.

”Yin Chen, where’s the Divine Sun Palace now?” Yin Chen’s bodies had gathered along the potential paths of the palace in advance. It wouldn’t be too hard to track the movement of such a large structure. Only Yin Chen would be able to keep track of its speed, however.

”It’s a... tenth of... the way... there there.”

Tianming made a rough estimate. ”It’ll be here in two and a half hours, then.” His nervousness abated somewhat. While the Divine Sun Palace was fast, the advance preparations had still afforded them enough time to retreat. Du Wujian had his people take everything crucial into their spatial rings before sending them off to the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. During the competition at the Voidsky Flame Pillar, countless youths had fought within the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. From that, it was clear to see how large the divine astralship truly was. If it weren’t for the saplings that took up considerable space, it could fit around two or three hundred million people. Even now, it could fit the sixty million folk from the five factions as well as the sixty million troops Tianming had brought with him. They were running for their lives, anyway, so nobody would complain about it being slightly cramped.

”Squeeze in a bit more.” They were only boarding the first faction, so there was more space. When the retreat started, Tianming had also issued orders to the Frost Empress and Fushen Gongyi. ”Immediately retreat into your defensive formations!”

The main goal in the event of the Divine Sun Palace’s reactivation was minimizing losses; it would be insane to want more than that. Thankfully, the five sects had packed up in advance, just in case. The Skyseal Sword Sect even managed to bring away their whole hoard of divine herbs as well. The mere fact of how quickly they retreated was a clear sign of fear and respect for the might of the sun emperor. When the boarding was complete, Tianming shut the entrances without hesitation.

”We’re departing!” The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb rose into the sky and shot toward the second sect.

......

Near the southern plains of the Land of Three Skies, the Warlord received a golden tranmission stone that projected the visage of the sun emperor. ”The two of you, it’s been more than two years, but the Divine Sun Palace has reactivated. It is time to counterattack. Your task is to wipe out the troops before you and hold back the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb that’s soon to come. I’ll come to you with the Divine Sun Palace. Another thirty million celestial orderian troops are also on the way. If we can take down these six million enemies, as well as Li Tianming and his divine astralship, the Myriad Solar Sects will fall for good. The two of you will have rendered great service, and I’ll grant you double the rewards I promised.”

The Warlord and Deluge Emperor’s eyes burned bright. It was the Divine Sun Palace! Only now did they know that it was the trump card the sun emperor had been holding back. It was almost like an object of faith to them. They had been rather crestfallen when the Solar Wheel had been stolen, which greatly diminished the advantage the celestial orderians had and had caused them to enter a stalemate. But its return immediately caused the troops’ morale to rise. Even the bluebloods and wargodeans saw victory on the horizon.

”Wargodeans, fight!”

”Bluebloods, give it your all!”

The leaders of the two groups were filled with fighting spirit, but they failed to account for one fact: the Divine Sun Palace was on its way, but the question was when. No doubt it would take some time, but they didn’t know how long. While they didn’t expect it to take too much time, it was easy to forget how much time had passed during battle. Who would be left to celebrate the victory once they were wiped out? The celestial orderians that arrived late? The two traitors were nothing but bait for Tianming and the sixty million troops of the alliance. If they took the time to fight it out there, they would find themselves hard-pressed to leave, especially the thirty million troops facing the Saintdragon Emperor. The sun emperor’s troops would be able to wipe out the survivors. Everything, even the reactions of the traitors, had been within Tianming and the Saintdragon Emperor’s expectations. They were still some ways away.

”No need to fight to the death. Just get into defensive formations and wait for the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb to arrive,” the Saintdragon Emperor said. What he truly feared was the Divine Sun Palace, not the rabble in front of him.

”Yes!”

They got into proper formations, but even so, this battle wasn’t one they could avoid.

”We’ll fight defensively and wait for the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb!” The Saintdragon Emperor didn’t announce the reactivation of the Divine Sun Palace to the other troops, however. All they knew was that the Tianyi, Tribulator, and Godblade Armies were on their way to launch a pincer attack on them and that Tianming was coming with reinforcements to bail them out. He would arrive earlier than the enemy troops, and that would be the time for them to counterattack. While announcing the incoming Divine Sun Palace would cause some to be nervous, he wasn’t worried if the enemy announced it either; not that they would. The only ones who knew about it were the Deluge Emperor and Warlord, and they wouldn’t dare to make that announcement. If they did, there would be no way the Ninedragon Army would stay behind and wait until more enemy reinforcements came, and the ambush would fail. As such, the troops of both sides fought without knowing of the incoming Divine Sun Palace.

”The enemy’s stalling for time!”

”No worries, we will too. Let’s take it easy,” the Deluge Emperor said.

”Understood!”

The mindset of stalling for time on both sides meant that they were careful not to sustain heavy losses. The Saintdragon Emperor was waiting for the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, while the Deluge Emperor and Warlord waited for the Divine Sun Palace. However, the former had to first evacuate the five factions before they could come so as to suffer minimal losses.

”Tianming was right. We would’ve been eliminated now that the sun emperor used the Divine Sun Palace, yet knowing in advance has allowed us to be spared the losses. It’s already a great win for us.” It was thanks to both luck and cooperation.

Unsurprisingly, the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb arrived first. Tianming steered it straight through the enemy troops. ”Out of the way!” The impenetrable ship was like the prime wonder, but tens of thousands of times heavier. It was a harmless transport ship, unlike the Divine Sun Palace, but its mass alone could wreak incredible havoc on masses of people. The ship left a long trail in its wake, having splattered countless bluebloods, wargodeans, and lifebound beasts alike.