Beastmaster of the Ages

Long Wanying knew why she had been tasked to evacuate with the young generation: she was the youngest of the Dragon Imperials and incredibly sensible. The other six were way past their prime, so it wouldn't be too much squandered potential if they were to fight to their deaths with the rest of the sect.

"Yang Ce, help her out," the Saintdragon Emperor said.

"Understood." Yang Ce had been standing there the entire time without moving in the slightest. Regardless of their decision, he would be beyond the normal trappings of life and death.

"Everyone, let's fight back! It'll be far preferable to having our heads pressed down for eternity, right?" the Saintdragon Emperor said with a hearty laugh.

"That's right! Let's end things with a bang!"

Tianming's defeat of Li Shenjian was a good start. It would be the perfect opportunity for them to rebel and vent all the frustrations they had felt the entire time their sect was occupied. While they might not realize it themselves, their fighting spirit had been galvanized by Tianming's victory.

In a war of this scale, Tianming would be nothing more than cannon fodder. The most he could handle were people under a hundred years old, so there would be little he could do. However, he was fully on the sect's side when it came to stopping the marriage, so he would give it his very best.

I might have something crucial that they need: the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb! The saplings have grown quite large from the nova source they've absorbed and their efficiency is growing. Perhaps I'll be able to make the tomb go airborne soon. So, I need to continue training my sword techniques! Only then could he light up the remaining dragon palaces.

……

At the very top of the peak, burning nova source descended from the flaming clouds, becoming a magma-like flow as it entered Tianming's body. His albi ravenously sucked up all the energy and his eyes glowed bright as the little green fish excitedly swam around inside.

"You're telling me that Weisheng Moran's been spotted near the Myriaddragon Mountains?" Tianming asked Yin Chen.

"That's right."

"I see." Tianming couldn't be bothered with her, busy as he was with training the sixth move of the Ninedragon Tribulation: Fienddragon Blood Transience. The sixth basic move seemed to be a league apart from the rest, and the same would probably be the case for the moves after that. Even without fusing it with the other moves, Blood Transience was probably on the level of a sixth-realm divine art, which required the divine sun of a solarian to channel its full power. Tianming didn't have a divine sun, but he could more or less emulate its effects with his two constellations to an extent, allowing him to train the move to pretty good effect.

The Fienddragon Blood Transience was a rather unique move, being the bloodiest and most savage of all nine, the key lying in the word 'fiend'. It contained the essences of berserk, rampage, insanity, and bloodlust, far more than the Blooddragon Sacrifice. It was, in a sense, an enhanced version of that move.

In fact, using it even consumed a certain amount of blood. Every time he used it, he would have to cut his palm with his sword and stain it with fresh blood to achieve the effect of boosting his fiendish intent to the peak while the transient blood coated his sword. Naturally, with Tianming's mastery of the Grand-Orient Sword, cutting himself was an easy task. As such, his face was almost constantly pale from all the blood he spent in training, but he couldn't take it slow as the wedding date was approaching.

"One more time! Again!"

The Grand-Orient Sword bathed in his blood time and again, eventually turning a blackish red. The blackened blood formed a black dragon that danced around his blade, guided by his sword intent. Then, astralforce and sword ki gave it a fierce push to launch a savage attack.

This was a transient fienddragon. It wasn't a lifebound beast, but rather a manifestation of the Ninedragon Tribulation. When he struck, astralforce, sword ki, and even some totem ki infused into this bloodformed dragon, causing it to strike with boundless power. His surroundings were darkened in an instant before tens of thousands of black dragon sword ki strands wildly rampaged around. Tianming had spent quite some time on the move and had finally figured out a rough idea on executing it—without the fusion part, of course. That was still quite some ways off.

"As long as I master this move by itself, I'll be able to light up another dragon palace." Five of them had been lit so far, and the war drum had slightly changed. He couldn't wait to go light the next palace once he was done mastering this move. As the Voidsky Realm wasn't that far off from the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect, it wouldn't take long for him to go there. He put his sword away and went to tell the Saintdragon Emperor about his plans.

As Long Wanying was busy with the evacuation, the Saintdragon Emperor had his daughter, Long Xiqian, escort Tianming. Once more, he met with Long Longlong's mother, who had been quite discontent with him the last time they met. However, the black-clad woman seemed more tired and worried than unpleasant. She forlornly smiled at him and said, "Tianming, I never had a chance to thank you for this, so let me do it now."

"Thank me for what?"

"I didn't treat you well back then, yet you still stood up for my Longlong."

"It was only a small matter. I'll be counting on you this time, Aunt Qian." With the end of the sect in sight, her troubles with Long Wanying weren't even worth mentioning.

"It's my pleasure to help." She looked at him with her beautiful eyes and said, "I also saw your fight with Li Shenjian. You truly were born to be a hero."

"I only hope I'll be able to live long enough, haha," Tianming said.

"You will." As they spoke, they headed south toward the Voidsky Flame Pillar. Soon, they arrived at the tomb's location and Tianming brought her down with him.

"What's this?" She widened her eyes as they headed down the dark pathway, surprised to find that there was boundless nova source inside this place. The saplings that smelled of a vegetative fragrance also looked like bombs ready to go off.

"They're the saplings of the divine tree. They might be what I need to activate this divine astralship," Tianming said.

"Whoa…." Long Xiqian marveled at it excitedly, much like a child. Then, she turned to Tianming and asked, "Were you chosen by the heavens?"

"What do you mean, Aunt Qian?"

"Not only did you get the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb at the Voidsky Realm, you also got the saplings of the Azurecloud Divine Tree. It almost seems like fate has plans for you."

"Perhaps. If fate is kind to me, I hope everyone will survive this ordeal."

"We definitely will!" She felt a little taken aback. Even though Tianming was just a junior that couldn't contribute much to the upcoming conflict, she somehow felt reassured that he was on their side, as if that would better their odds. While she marveled on, Tianming had the war drum ready as he prepared to light up the Fienddragon Palace.