Beastmaster of the Ages

So far, they could be sure that the two imperatores that had been there not long ago were the ones who hated Tianming the most and were in the most rush to exterminate the Sun. Apart from them, there were still the ashuras, Starfall and Sundown Pantheons.

”Given my understanding of these five pantheons, the ashuras are in league with the Sin Pantheon, while the Sundown and Starfall Pantheons are allies. Imperator Ming of the Virtue Pantheon also seems to be biased towards the Sin Pantheon and ashuras. So, if there’s internal conflict among them, it would probably come from Starfall and Sundown. These two factions are relatively gentler and prefer to avoid hardship in favor of worldly pleasures. Their leader should also be more rational,” Dongfang Taisheng said. They had a rough understanding of the pantheons, being flameyellow divinities that had been forced to serve them.

”Are you saying that it’s three against two?” Wudi asked.

”Not necessarily,” Mushan Hong said, shaking his head. ”The ashuras might be friendlier to the Sin and Virtue Pantheons, but they’re also one of the Three Divine Races. There’s lots of nova wildbeasts in their homeworld, Ashur Imperius, so they aren’t that concerned about being attacked. Instead, they’re more concerned about being exhausted of their resources and suffer even more relative to the wonderians and devas. So, their leaders won’t be as committed to the fight.”

Tianming summarized it all and said, ”Basically, the Sin and Virtue Pantheons are the most hostile against us. The ashuras have other considerations and are wavering. Sundown and Starfall are worried about their homeworlds being attacked while they send out troops so they’re even less committed to joining the fight. And while the ashuras are alone in wavering, they do have a strong say in what happens because they’re one of the more powerful factions.”

Wudi snickered. ”Since that’s the case, if we want a target to attack, we should go for Sundown and Starfall’s worlds. That would cause their alliance to collapse!”

It was a ruthless move that gave the enemy what they feared the most. Tianming checked with Yin Chen about the information they had and smiled. ”Our theories were correct. Yin Chen said that among the maniverse-class worlds that are sending out troops, those belonging to Starfall and Sundown are the least willing. We should start preparing for the next step. If their army of thirty billion arrives at the battlefield, there’s no way we will be able to hold up against them. That’s why we should take the initiative and attack before that.”

”If they sent out too many troops and didn’t leave many to defend, would the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb alone be enough to pose a threat to them?” Wudi asked.

”It depends on how many people we deploy there.” Tianming considered the issue as well. If they were to undertake such an operation, they had to make sure it would work. Otherwise, things would get even more troubling when it came to the battle at the Sun. Things didn’t seem as optimistic as they imagined. There was no way that the enemy wouldn’t be prepared against a possible surprise attack.

”Oh, I have another trick up my sleeve,” Wudi said as he smirked.

”Out with it,” Tianming said, glaring at him.

”Do you remember the Gladean Ruins? Another divine astralship that the flameyellow divinities left behind in Gladeus? It’s not that powerful, but it does contain a lot of secrets.”

”I do. Did you manage to unlock the final secret room?” Tianming’s eyes brightened. He had completely forgotten about it as it was no longer viable in astralship combat against much more powerful enemies. Though, he hadn’t tried using the Grand-Orient Sword to try to slash the door of the secret room open either.

”It’s open,” Wudi said.

”What’s inside?”

”Go and take a look.” Wudi’s mysterious demeanor got Tianming rather curious.

”Alright. I need the rest of you to be on alert for further instructions,” Tianming said to Dongfang Taisheng and the rest.

”What about them, Emperor?” Dongfang Taisheng asked, looking at the chieftains of the undying aeternals. The insect-head people looked rather savage and unnerving.

”They’re allies,” Tianming said, giving them relief.

After that, Tianming descended from the Flameyellow Guard Formation and entered the Gladean Ruins. It felt much smaller than before given the current size of his body.

”Master, you’re here too?” Tianming looked down and saw Lin Xiaodao bathing in a pool of wine, hugging his little green gourd.

”Ptooey!” Lin Xiaodao spat out mouthfuls of alcohol and put the gourd away. ”Oh, it’s my precious disciple.”

”You’ve become a cosmic god. Not bad,” Tianming said. Thanks to the constant stream of resources he sent to the Sun, his family and friends had become cosmic gods and could live more than ten thousand years.

”I’m still far off from the two of you,” Lin Xiaodao said.

”Tch, who do you think you are? You don’t even begin to compare!” Wudi said. They had a good relationship, so some light teasing wouldn’t really affect it.

”What are you so smug for? Once my disciple gives me powerful legacies, I’ll be able to crush you easily. Do you know why you’re able to be smug for now? Have you heard of ’the early bird falls for the worm trap?’” Lin Xiaodao mocked.

”I’m sensing some pure jealousy here,” Wudi said.

Tianming ignored the two childish middle-aged men and went to the secret room in the depths of the ship. It was no doubt the heart of the entire ship. In fact, the ship was merely a shell to contain that room, which no doubt contained the true legacy of the flameyellow divinities.

He entered the room, causing black and gold light to illuminate it. Each source of light was a sphere about a hundred meters in diameter. They weren’t cosmic-god essences, but rather something formed using the divine astralship formation.

Wudi came over and said, ”These are called divine-path keys. I tested them out a while ago. As long as you place them in fortuna-class ships and above, the ships would be able to open the Flameyellow Divine Path.”