Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming continued operating the solar core nonstop. Eventually, close to four months had passed. Sovereign Greenvoid had said that Skywolf would be descending five months after his arrival. No doubt they were already on the horizon, but Tianming and the rest were unable to see it thanks to the Flameyellow Guard Formation sealing the sun. Perhaps one would be able to see Skywolf beyond the flaming clouds, or even the many troops they were preparing for the invasion.

"Looks like the sun emperor’s planning to completely ignore us and face off against Skywolf alone." If cooperation was an option, the sun emperor would have reached out to them long ago. "I wonder if he's really that confident, or just plain stupid...."

At this point, the Myriad Solar Sects had practically been left to their own devices, though it wasn't like they had a say in whether they could fight, as the controller of the Flameyellow Guard Formation wasn't them. There was still a chance they would be exterminated by the sun emperor if they left the Sky Palace Formation. As such, the forces the Saintdragon Emperor and the rest had gathered were on standby.

Tianming continued assimilating the solar core at full speed. "This is only half of the solar core, so it controls half of the astralguard and fusion formations. However, half means different things to each formation. Half of the fusion formation basically regulates the part of it that extends toward the southern hemisphere of the sun, allowing me to control the distribution of nova source. But half control over the astralguard formation means a different thing. The formation itself isn't segmented into two parts. Instead, it has two layers. The upper layer is controlled by the sun emperor, while I control the lower, and the two layers can operate independently. When both are active at the same time, they can fortify each other."

In other words, Tianming could deploy the astralguard formation across the entire sun even though he only had half of its controls, but it was limited to the lower layer. It was nothing to scoff at, but only half as powerful as the full thing at best. But that was already good enough for Tianming, since the astralguard formation would be deployed under the Flameyellow Guard Formation.

"At the very least, it'll be able to do something against Skywolf when they come." The sun emperor should also share the same goal of driving Skywolf away. "We should turn our focus from internal conflict to driving the invaders away!"

Even then, Tianming couldn't let his forces leave the Sky Palace Formation, since there was no guarantee that the sun emperor wouldn't come after them. Regardless, hostilities between the celestial orderians and the Myriad Solar Sects were temporarily put to rest.

Tianming had finally completed his first goal before the arrival of Skywolf, having fully assimilated the solar core. The moment that happened, it felt like he had completely fused with the star, becoming a part of the fusion formation that could still burn for millions of years. His stomach felt like it had been filled with tens of millions of years worth of nova source and the sun itself was like a heart, the beat of which shook his mind. He even had the illusion that he had become the star itself, his eyelashes manifesting as the many trees and plants, his body taking the form of mountains and rivers, and his arms becoming the tallest mountain peaks. His heartbeat and the sun's rumbling seemed to be in sync.

"The sun emperor definitely has no way to control his solar core like I do mine." The change he had experienced was separate from those brought about by his cultivation, yet it shook him to the core even more. It felt like his horizons had expanded far beyond the universe he knew. He had gained the perspective of a star as it looked out toward the endless astralscape and was even able to feel the minute changes inside the fusion formation.

"I wonder if shutting off the nova source distribution around the Myriaddragon Mountains and the other places would cause the Flameyellow Guard Formation to cease working...." That was the first thing that had occurred to him. If it worked, the sun emperor's plans would be completely ruined, and there didn't seem to be a reason why he couldn't do just that.

He activated the divine celestial patterns in his body, turning himself into the solar core itself. Then he blended in with the fusion formation and targeted the Myriaddragon Mountains. "I'm not actually trying to deactivate the Flameyellow Guard Formation, but I have to test it to see if it works. Maybe I have some control over that formation too, after all!" If he did, he would have far more leverage against the sun emperor and wouldn't be led around by the nose like before.

Soon, he found the part that controlled the Myriaddragon Mountains. He realized that the flaming pillars looked like gigantic straws that pierced deep down into the sun, even through the fusion formation. In other words, the pillars weren't drawing power from the fusion formation, but rather from what was contained within!

"No wonder the consumption of nova source is that high! It’s an imperial-class astralguard formation, after all." The astralguard and fusion formations the sky plunderers had built for the sun were just heliacal-class ones. Tianming wasn't able to cut off power to the flaming pillars. He finally understood why the sun emperor chose the territories of the Myriad Solar Sects. Those were places that were dense with nova source, meaning those parts of the fusion formation were weaker and would allow more nova source to seep out. That, in turn, made it easier for the flaming pillars to plunge through the fusion formation. Places like the Azurecloud Continent with less dense nova source, for instance, had a thicker part of the fusion formation covering it.

"If it keeps sucking it away like that to support the formation, we'll be consuming a century's worth of nova source every day! In a hundred days, we'll have used up ten thousand years' worth! Dammit!" Only after getting control of the fusion formation did he understand how bad that was. The sun emperor was like a rich scion that spent without regard for his finances. Even Skywolf probably hadn’t spent that much energy moving their stars all this way. On the flip side, it showed how powerful the formation was compared to a normal astralguard formation, which could only draw power from the fusion formation.

"I thought those things were pillars, but they're actually straws.... Dammit." There was nothing he could do about the Flameyellow Guard Formation. While he could activate part of the astralguard formation, there wasn't a need for it right now.

"Skywolf, oh Skywolf, you took over the Sky Palace with the voidheart worm and thought the sun wouldn't have an astralguard formation to drive you back... only to find that not only do we have an astralguard formation, but also an additional imperial-class one on top of our normal formation! Looks like it'll take you quite some time to get over this gift."

In a way, the Myriad Solar Sects stood to profit the most from this, since they were so far removed from the conflict. The only thing that was a bit of a shame was that Tianming still had no idea how to progress in the Ninedragon Tribulation, so he wouldn't be able to control the Flameyellow Fusion Formation just yet.

"At least there isn’t a need to rush it." With the solar core dealt with, nothing could stop Tianming from approaching the frozen Archaionfiend Eyes. "I wonder if I should leave one for Wu You.... Forget it. That fellow always gets in my way, so I shouldn't care either!" Perhaps it was still plotting against him in Xiaoxiao's lifebound space.

"Don't mind if I do." The eyes were a legacy left behind by his ancestors, so who else should enjoy the benefits of them?

"The ice around them is a divine hazard.... No wonder they remained frozen for so long." He used the flame divine hazard sword ki strands in him to melt it away, though he was careful not to damage the eyes. Once thawed, they seemed to awaken and let out a thick killing aura as they glared at him.

"Die, sky plunderer! Die!"

"The heavens have prophesied your extermination! You dare defy the heavens, you mad monsters!"

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The voices of the Archaionfiends' remnant wills rang out in his mind nonstop.

"Sky plunderers, we Archaionfiends will exterminate your descendants in full!" came an even louder roar.

Tianming wasn't shaken by that in the slightest and used his left arm to grasp one of the large eyes. Then he crushed it with his claws, after which his Plundering Eye sucked it up into itself as if it was swallowing it whole. "So I can absorb a second eye after all!"

That meant more could be absorbed, but he didn't continue right away. Instead, he tried to see what changed after absorbing the second eye. He noticed an even denser aura of blood coming from it, one so strong that it made even him a little dazed. The aura caused him to appear even more imposing and it took quite some effort for him to suppress it.

"Looks like there's quite a bit of change. Eight more to go!" One after the other, he thawed the eyes and absorbed them. More and more evil thoughts flooded into his mind. By the time he absorbed the last one, his eyes were completely bloodshot. Looking at the final eye, he cracked a cold smile.