Beastmaster of the Ages

These sudden gains were quite a delight for Tianming. He was more and more certain of the path he needed to take from now on. "My pandemonium constellation will eventually evolve into a pandemonium sun, becoming even more powerful and bringing me closer to the Primordial God-Emperor. As for my cyclic constellation, it'll become a cyclic sun… I wonder who that would resemble? The owner of the Prime Tower? Or the owner of the Cyclic Mirror?"

Tianming recalled the figure he saw within the Prime Tower way back at the Grand-Orient Realm. "Let's not overthink it."

He would take things step by step. He turned his excitement down a notch and focused on replenishing his astralforce until his power matched a sixth-level constellier's. "If I use all my totems, I should be close to being unrivaled among constelliers. Even without them, I should be able to defeat eleventh-level constelliers! I just need a little bit more until I'll be able to take on solarian seniors!" Tianming had been waiting to fight them for far too long.

"At the very least, I want to be completely unmatched by any youthgrand disciples. Fortunately, I have the caeli imperius to guide me." That was his current goal. Otherwise, there was no way for him to face off against such a huge faction like the celestial orderians.

……

Tianming went to the Little Saintdragon Peak once his abilities were stabilized. He knew that Li Shenjian's informants were keeping track of him; Li Shenjian was planning to maim or kill him, which would take quite a bit of preparation, so Tianming was relatively safe if he acted without a set pattern.

His status was quite high, so it would require a huge opportunity or justification for him to be crippled. Not to mention, Yang Ce and the Seven Dragon Imperials were also at the Little Saintdragon Peak. Lately, they had been really troubled over the additional pressure of the celestial orderians. Billions of normal folk within the territory of the sect were taking the brunt of what was effectively an occupying force, suffering to no end, and there was really nothing the sect could do to stop it. What was even worse was the fact that the suffering would continue as long as they were at a stalemate.

With enough time, perhaps centuries, the disciples of the sect who had been deprived of caeli or cultivation resources by the Veildragon Palace would weaken, be oppressed, and eventually assimilated. Either way, the sun emperor's victory was set in stone, the only difference being how soon it would happen. If there was a war, it would only accelerate the process. The Seven Dragon Imperials were even more troubled by the celestial orderians, who were spread out and unabated. Killing thousands of them wouldn't solve the issue, and they might as well start the battle for real if they were out to kill hundreds of thousands of them.

"They're shameless!"

"Tianming, you said Li Shenjian had a way to deal with you. Any updates on that?" Long Wanying asked since they had no resolution for their issues.

People turned their attention to Tianming when they noticed him, glad that he felt stronger than before. This was the second time he had grown since coming to the Myriaddragon Mountains, even without the help of caeli or divine pills! They weren't aware of his miraculous heavenly locus formation.

"Aunt Ying, I have a clear idea of what he's planning now," Tianming said.

"I guess nothing escapes your eyes. Let's hear it," Long Wanying said with relief.

"It's a simple ploy, really. Xiaoxiao still holds the Dragonblood Desecration, the ancestral weapon of the Veildragon Palace. Li Shenjian is planning to brand her as a thief of their ancestral treasure when she heads out alone. He wants to reclaim the weapon, allegedly to use as a dowry for his little sister's upcoming marriage, and imprison Xiaoxiao in the Infernal Dragon Purgatory. That's basically the death battle arena of the sect, right? He plans to lure me there and fight me to the death, essentially doing to me what I did to Long Wangyu." Tianming shrugged with a hint of a mocking smile.

It was a ruthless plan, but a pragmatic one. Not to mention, the Dragonblood Desecration was a legitimate enough justification. That the people from the Veildragon Palace were eyeing that weapon wasn't a new idea to them. The only reason they hadn't come to take it away outright was that they were worried the Seven Dragon Imperials would stop them. Instead, capturing Xiaoxiao and slapping a conviction on her would give them the initiative to act, not that the plan had any merit as long as Yin Chen was around.

"The ninth son of the sun emperor sure does live up to his vile reputation," Long Wanying said. Things would be troublesome if Xiaoxiao really fell for it, which she might if Tianming wasn't around. They had already attempted to kill Lingfeng before, so they wouldn't hesitate to harm her as well. Not to mention, she wasn't a Sky Palace disciple. Both she and Lingfeng were no different from normal disciples of the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect in terms of status now, and people considered them Tianming's weakness.

"It's fine, we just need to ignore him. No matter how many ploys he comes up with, they're all pointless if we see them coming from miles away. So much for being the sun emperor's son," Tianming said.

The sun emperor had quite a few sons, Li Haochen being a decent one among them. Li Shenjian, on the other hand, wouldn't hesitate to stoop low for his goals. Tianming figured that he was probably desperate to prove himself in some capacity, probably after he saw how much his father had spoiled this new sister of his.

"Alright. Make sure to tell Xiaoxiao to keep her guard up and not give them any openings. But… if enough time passes, Li Shenjian might just resort to getting the seniors to come to Whitesource Peak and demand she be handed over. I think it's better for the three of you to move to Little Saintdragon Peak. I think he plans to settle things and claim all the credit for himself for now, though," Long Wanying said.

"I see. Then we'll move here soon. Aunt Ying, Li Shenjian is a twelfth-level constellier, right?"

"Yeah. He's around fifty years old and in the crucial stage of breaking through to become a solarian. For his age, his level is pretty impressive. Li Haochen would probably be as powerful as he is now when he reaches that age."

Tianming nodded, thinking, if I could use my totems, I could defeat him. But that wasn't an option.

"Tianming, do you know why he chose the Infernal Dragon Purgatory?" she asked.

Tianming shook his head.

"There's many flame divine hazards inside, which gives his totems a huge elemental advantage. That shows how much effort he's put into his plan to deal with you, as well as how wary he is of your power."

"I see."

"Actually, that is a place that you should visit, if it weren't for Veildragon Palace's occupation."

"Why is that?"

"At the core of the Infernal Dragon Purgatory, there's some infernal dragon sword ki, a grade-seven divine hazard sword ki. It's really suited to your Ninedragon Tribulation technique. I believe it'll bring the move to a whole new level. More importantly, that place is the first level of the Sworddragon Ocean Purgatory. There's seventeen more levels beyond that, meaning there's eighteen strands of grade-seven divine hazard sword ki to be claimed there. It's a collection that was assembled over millions of years by our sect, but it's a shame the Veildragon Palace occupies it now. Otherwise, we could've given all of it to you! What's worse is that Li Wushuang has her sights on them. I believe she'll be taking them, sooner or later."

All of them were endlessly troubled that their treasures would eventually end up in Li Wushuang's hands. Only four of them had their dragonsprings now, and the Azuredragon Emperor's dragonspring was the formation core of the defensive formation around the Sworddragon Ocean Purgatory, which the Veildragon Palace has taken from them.

"Li Wushuang?" Tianming asked Yin Chen and verified that it was indeed the case. She was planning to claim them in the next few days, so Tianming would lose his chance after that. "Aunt Ying, I want to risk it. I'll go along with his plans."