Beastmaster of the Ages

Prince Fengyue himself was as strong as the Pentamoon Slayers had been, combined. While Tianming wouldn't worry about him in a one-on-one fight, he had the support of a hundred elites, and even more normal ascendants that were attacking Xian Xian and Ying Huo. He could barely deal with Prince Fengyue, let alone a thousand enemies.

The prince set his sights on Meow Meow and sent his weapon wheels spinning toward it like a lawnmower. Before he arrived, his surging sword ki formed an airtight sword formation that covered all directions.

Lightning gathered in Meow Meow's blood-colored eyes as it launched two Cosmic Lances, one yin and one yang, toward the wheels, only to have them disintegrated by the formation attack. Instead, Prince Fengyue's battle art finally struck Meow Meow. With his sword Windgod, he executed a third-realm divine art, Three Myriads' Wind, and ushered a storm of sword strikes along with his wheels. Thirty thousand strands of sword ki formed a tornado that carried impressive force. What was worse were the hundred plus elites who were encircling Tianming and the rest, some among whom were ninth- or tenth-level ascendants. Tianming was fighting enemies far more powerful than those Bodhi had to face at Huiyue City!

"Meow Meow, dodge!" he said telepathically. Meow Meow immediately understood and reverted to its small cat form, then zipped away to avoid the attack. However, Prince Fengyue immediately changed the direction of the attack toward Lan Huang. A beast as large as it couldn't possibly evade as agilely as Meow Meow; its Kilofold Rings were heavily damaged and wounds began racking up on its body.

Tianming came charging and used Hadean Reincarnation and Empyrean Reincarnation at the same time. Though the moves weren't that complex, the sword intent contained within them was actually exceptional. The two vortices that resulted from the attack, coupled with Tianming's totems, managed to save Lan Huang for the moment.

However, when he paid attention to Prince Fengyue instead of the rest, countless attacks would land on them. Xian Xian was already being thoroughly held back and couldn't come to their aid. Tianming and the rest, despite the boost from the cauldron, were covered in wounds. Without the Greenspark Tower, there was no way they would have survived to this point.

Even so, they continued culling their enemies one after another. Within fifteen minutes, the casualties of the divine moonrace numbered three hundred. Among the seven hundred that remained, quite a few of them were the more powerful ones. They still had the advantage and had forced Tianming into a corner. So far, Lan Huang and Xian Xian were taking an absolute beating from their attacks. With Xian Xian not having fully recovered from the fight with the Pentamoon Slayers, it suffered even more damage, its vines, leaves, and even its trunk tearing apart. Even its spiritform looked a little dimmer, thanks to the damage on the main body, and it was shedding hateful tears in a corner of Tianming's lifebound space.

Tianming was holding on and counting on a change. He remembered every single wound they received so as to pay them back to those that inflicted it. Every single one of them in the cauldron had harmed him and his beasts. The fact that they were still alive wasn't due to mercy on their enemies' part, but rather their toughness. Their foes were growing harsher and harsher, and even delighting in it.

"Where's all that spunk from before?"

"Weren't you going to teach us a lesson?"

"You're only a lowborn. You think you can do anything you want with talent alone and no backing?"

"Kneel when you're told to kneel! You should yield and be killed when it's demanded of you!"

Their gleeful mockery never stopped for a moment. Standing before Tianming was a small army. Should he retreat, he would be cast into an endless abyss. Not to mention, he still had another ninety thousand enemies to deal with. The chains of fate seemed to be tightening more and more around their necks as hopelessness began setting in. At the very least, it seemed like Ying Huo and the rest wouldn't survive this ordeal.

"They shall die to atone for your foolish sins," Prince Fengyue said as he continued to fight.

Atonement, that was all this was about, wasn't it? His lifebound beasts wouldn't be the only ones to pay the price. The divine moonrace wanted to punish a hundred million innocent people before they would be happy.

"I wonder if they can hear this...."

Before, Tianming could see the aura of sin of others with the Eyes of Judgment he got from the Primordial God-Emperor's inheritance. When he was developing his Imperial Will, he seemed to serve as the core that connected to countless others across the Flameyellow Continent through invisible threads. And now, during this desperate fight, he seemed to be able to hear voices from all across the continent. With the big commotion that was going on within the orderian cauldron, everyone knew that Tianming was fighting a deadly battle. They all prayed desperately, their souls resonating.

"Don't lose! You can't lose!"

"How could those bullies be gods? They don't deserve our worship!"

"Li Tianming, our Human Emperor!"

All of them knew the truth of the matter and had supported Tianming from the very beginning. He was their rising legend, a man who had never turned his back on them, and everyone in his dynasty stood firmly by his side. Their rage was clearly heard by Tianming. He knew that this was the might of the legacy he had inherited from the Primordial God-Emperor. He hadn't just inherited the Imperial Will, but also the connection he had with his sentient subjects. That was why he had bothered establishing a dynasty in the first place—he dearly hoped that he could improve life on the continent.

Now, everyone living down there was angry at the unfairness, and their feelings were resonating with their emperor. The cruelty of the divine moonrace had deeply enraged them. Not only could they hear Tianming's voice, they could also hear the voices of others. The true power of the Imperial Will was how it was able to connect to the billions of sentient life!

"This is the mark of a true god!"

In all the albi in Tianming's body, threads formed and connected to the Imperial Will fragments. They all shared his rage. Every albus he had connected to a single lifeform. All in all, he was connected to billions of them. Now his Imperial Will was finally linked, and he could use these Omnisentient Threads to obtain Omnisentient Will for a boost in his cultivation and comprehension abilities. In fact, his will could guide them and unlock their latent comprehension abilities as well, thus leading them on a path to become strong. With the power of his Imperial Will and talent, if he resonated with someone, he could increase their latent talent by a factor of ten. The sheer degree of resonance he could achieve was shocking, even to him!

"So this is the most righteous path of the Primordial God-Emperor!"

It had been unthinkable before. Now, his Grand-Orient Sword-shaped Imperial Will fragment was linked to a living person in every albus. There were more than fifty trillion albi in his body, and limitless room to expand. Like a nuclear reactor, others could draw power from him and provide him with energy as well. Imperial Will was truly among the most terrifying natural phenomena in this universe.

Through the Omnisentient Threads that only Tianming could perceive, he received a limitless flow of Omnisentient Will, but unlike the mist it had been before, it now seemed to have actual substance. This might be the actual moment the legacy of the Primordial God-Emperor awakened. He could hear their voices and their heartbeats, and he felt their presence. He wasn't standing alone.

"I walk with trillions of others on the same path, united!" He would never be alone anymore. Not only did he have his lifebound beasts, lover, friends, and family, he also had an entire dynasty behind his back.

"How beautiful it is to walk the path of cultivation accompanied by trillions of others...." He felt a tear welling up in his eye. Through pain and hardship, they would be supporting him the whole way. Their lives weren't just numbers! Each and every one of them were living, breathing people. He even felt the threads from Xuanyuan Dao, Li Caiwei, Xuanyuan Muxue, Jiang Qingluan, and even Ye Shaoqing and many more in the Decimo Dao Nation. All of his friends and family were connected to him and helping him rise to a new peak. Everyone on the continent underwent a fundamental change.

This was only the beginning.

"Being alone is the greatest torture in life. I'm so lucky to have so many people supporting me!"

The divine moonrace saw these people as no more than insects that should die for so-called atonement. Yet the laws of the heavens made Tianming understand that they were to be cherished. Apart from having impressive legacies and access to fundamental cosmic forces like the stellunar source, the divine moonrace didn't have much else that the Flameyellow humans lacked. Huiye Shi, for instance, wouldn't necessarily become an ascendant had she been born and raised on the Flameyellow Continent, even with her pentabane talent.

"The divine moonrace only looks like gods because of the advantages they have. Let's show them what they lack instead!"