Beastmaster of the Ages

There was a lot of smoke in the middle of the ruins. The gold and crimson meteor still looked as impressive as ever as it hovered in the sky. The two people beside the coffin could vaguely be made out looking at a pool of blood in which a specter lay. The beast had been nailed to the ground. His abdomen had been completely pulverized with all four of its limbs crushed. Only the head was left intact, and even then it was starting to crack. Blood began pouring out of it, blinding the eyes that still struggled to look around.

”I... have already... reported the location of the sun... to the mysterians.... Await your death...” Grand Emperor Starvore said with the last of his energy reserves before he breathed his last.

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”Mysterians? I see.” The sun emperor’s coffin seemed even more appropriate for the situation, now that there was a corpse right in front of him. His back had fused with the coffin, giving his skin a bronze quality; he looked incredibly ancient. Li Wudi, standing behind him, had his arms and chest fused together with the coffin. The picture didn’t look funny in the slightest, instead giving off an ancient and solemn impression.

Tianming felt awed at the sight, finally understanding why the sun emperor had still needed Li Wudi. This form that they took on had crushed the ruler of Skywolf just like that. The two sun emperors had become bronze men, while their totems and lifebound beasts had turned into bas reliefs on the Flameyellow Coffin.

”Listen up, skywolves!” the sun emperor yelled, his voice ringing through the entire Flameyellow Guard Formation. As the owner of the formation, he could easily use it to spread his voice. ”All of the sovereigns of your world have been exterminated. The corpses of your grand emperor and his two empresses are in my hands, and the Starvore has been taken by our side as well, including its two cores. Skywolf has completely lost this war! Now you have nothing but complete annihilation to look forward to!”

The skywolves wouldn’t believe him with those words alone, so he used the formation to broadcast the image of the pitiful forms of their rulers, as well as the sight of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb dragging the Starvore away.

All nine of their sovereigns had perished, which was nothing short of a fatal blow. Who knew what chaos that news had wreaked among their ranks? Not only that, the remaining troops were already crumbling from the pressure of the Primordial Demon. There were still around two billion of them going on massacres in the sun, and some two billion more corpses had already rained down. That left around six billion that hadn’t broken through the Flameyellow Guard Formation yet. How they would act would go on to determine how the rest of the war would play out.

”Retreat! The sovereigns are already dead. We have to run and wait for the mysterians!”

”We can’t run even if we want to. We might as well muster our courage and keep fighting. Even if we don’t have any sovereigns left, we can still slaughter as many as we can to avenge them!”

”That’s right! All they have is a few peak elite fighters! The rest of them can’t match up to us at all!”

”What’re you talking about? We already lost the Starvore!”

The invaders’ ranks fell into confusion, which was the outcome the sun emperor was counting on. ”With those two kids helping out, all that’s left is the cleanup. Skywolf is certain to lose... hahahaha!” It was a grand victory, and nothing felt better than that. He was surprised by how well everything had gone with Lingfeng and Tianming’s participation. While there were still many specters that had made their way past the astralguard formations, the sun emperor didn’t care about the deaths of normal folk at all. The loss of billions of people was within acceptable margins.

”Human lives aren’t worth much at all. As long as this world is big enough, it’ll only be a few decades before the lost lives are replaced.” As such, the sun emperor could take his time to wipe out the remaining specters. That very outcome was also the reason Voidword Shrine was formed; the remnants of the previous war with Skywolf had left enough specters on the sun to form their own faction. To prevent something like that from occurring again, the sun emperor’s main goal was to deal with the specters for good.

”Apart from the specter troops that’re still fighting, there’s only two targets remaining—one within the formation and one outside....” The sun emperor looked at the corpse of Grand Emperor Starvore. While his subjects were no doubt exhilarated at his victory, he wasn’t celebrating just yet.

”There’s still two final steps to achieve my grand design, and only after finishing them can I start bringing back the imperial star and be named the ruler of the true sun, the Flameyellow Imperial Star, following in the footsteps of my forebears. One day, I’ll restore our long-lost glory and achieve my dreams!” He mumbled on like a madman while the bronzified Li Wudi merely expressionlessly looked at him. The sun emperor was being dramatic for no other audience than himself.

What other steps could there be after killing the rulers of Skywolf? They must be even more challenging, for them to come after defeating foes of that caliber.

The sun emperor looked up and couldn’t help but laugh, ”That’s right, Lingfeng, go on like this. As expected of my son-in-law. As you’re a specter, my daughter won’t be able to birth a flameyellow divinity with you. That’s why I’m against your relationship. However, you did solve some of my problems. Work harder and kill off all six billion of them and I might just be moved enough to allow your relationship.

”Those two brats really are like my own hands, pushing me along to become the ruler of a restored world. How interesting.... Thanks to you, Skywolf is running out of steam! Who can possibly compete with your fate-ordained fortune?!”

The two youths had dealt with Sovereign Sanctquility, the voidheart worm, and breached the defensive formation of Skywolf Frost, allowing the sun emperor to wipe out an entire star in the process. Not to mention, Tianming had even killed a few other sovereigns while the fight against Skywolf Blaze intensified, then gone on to commandeer their flagship. Lingfeng, on the other hand, had wiped out more than two billion specters and was keeping around six billion of them held up above the flaming clouds, giving the sun emperor the chance to wipe out the remaining sovereigns of Skywolf. No matter their intentions, they were definitely huge boons to the sun emperor. They were practically top generals that were the cornerstone of his victory over Skywolf.

”I love you two far too much. Without you, even if I won, I’d lose quite a bit of skin. The casualties of the sun might even rise to the tens of billions.” While he didn’t care about the denizens of the sun, it didn’t change the fact that it would be much easier to restore the sun to its former glory if fewer of its denizens died. He was all too overjoyed to accept their help.

Lingfeng was still fighting the specters, while Tianming was leaving in a hurry with Starvore. The sun emperor gave them one final look as his expression turned stern. He saw Tianming’s ship through his formation. ”Naughty child.... Even though you achieved merit, who said you were allowed to steal my spoils?” His smile turned strict, then savage.

”Lucky stars you may be, but it doesn’t change the fact that you two are still dangerous meteors. We’re fated to be enemies, thanks to that clone of mine. Even so, I can only hope that the two of you only perish after your value is all used up. As long as Li Tianming still lives, I can never rest easy.” His bronze face contorted in a sheer display of malice.

”Fated child of the heavens, decabane genius.... Wasn’t I meant to be the fated child of the heavens? The successor of the flameyellow divinities’ legacy? Since when did that role fall to someone else?!”

The sun emperor was even more aware of the threat posed by Tianming after this war. The final two steps in his grand plan were the eradication of Tianming and Lingfeng! There was no realm for further negotiation, and Tianming wouldn’t expect any differently. He would be far too naive if he thought that fighting against a common enemy would be enough to bring the two warring sides to peace.

He understood the sun emperor far more than that. While it was true that the sun emperor loved this world and the descendants of the flameyellow divinities, he would never allow someone that could exceed him to exist. It would be one thing if it was a talented junior for him to nurture, but Tianming wasn’t that. He was already someone who could fight on the sun emperor’s level.

”A mountain is too small for two tigers, and a star world is too small for two sun emperors.” He turned the killing intent he had for Grand Emperor Starvore south to his next target while the specters that infiltrated the sun were still massacring away. He didn’t summon the Divine Sun Palace, instead zooming through the clouds with the coffin and his clone, still fused together, flying toward Tianming at a rapid pace.

The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was only traveling at three-fifths its normal speed thanks to all the extra mass it was dragging around, so the coffin men were zipping across the skies far faster than the currently overburdened Ninedragon Imperial Tomb could. It was only a matter of time before it caught up.

”He’s on my tail,” Tianming said, able to see it clearly from the ship. Even though Lingfeng was still busy cleaning up the specter invaders, the sun emperor still chose to cut them off at a time like this. ”I don’t even need a declaration from him. The fact that he’s chasing me down means he intends to kill me. If I die, there’ll be nobody left to stop him from uniting the sun under his rule or restoring the Flameyellow Imperial Star’s former glory.”

Everything was clear from the start. While the sun emperor was something like a god for the denizens of the sun, he was also a devil. Even though the people were still suffering from the invasion, the sun emperor was already intent on wiping out one of their own.