Beastmaster of the Ages

Chapter 1871 - Scorching Emperor

As the sun emperor put it, the alliance's troops were just a ragtag bunch with no redeeming qualities apart from their lack of fear of death. The myriad sects’ side was already steadily crumbling; it would only be a matter of time until their complete collapse. The looming threat of death caused despair to begin creeping up on them. They were already the biggest force there was. There would be no reinforcements coming from anybody else.

That was what the Saintdragon Emperor and the rest were worried about. The celestial orderians had far outstripped the Myriad Solar Sects in terms of might. Even the mighty victories they had won the past few times seemed inconsequential, barely leaving a dent in the total celestial orderian forces.

"Mount a fighting retreat!" That was the only thing Tianming could do. Lan Huang suddenly turned back, skewering many celestial orderians with the spikes on its scales. It was completely dyed red from head to toe. Ying Huo and Meow Meow weren't faring much better, either. They both adopted their larger fighting forms and rained down attacks on the enemy, sometimes even fighting in close combat, leaving trails of corpses behind them. Some were even burned to the point that they were reduced to ash before they even fell to the ground.

The battlefield was gory beyond description, seemingly a projection of hell upon the living world. Countless people fell on both sides. Tianming's eyes were bloodshot from what he saw. He could no longer spare any care for the sheer loss of life. As the one who bore the hope of the entire Myriad Solar Sects, the only thing he could do was kill as many enemies as possible to repay them.

He charged at the enemy's flank with his beasts at the point of entry into the formation. Tianming had already dispatched the leader of the troops before them, so turning to the flank was relatively risk free.

"Follow the Imperialdragon Princeps!" The Ninedragon Army troops were incredibly spirited. They led their dragons into the sky and followed Tianming with full fervor. Tianming's lifebound beasts paved a way through enemy ranks like a hot knife through butter, seemingly unstoppable.

Then a hundred thousand enemies formed a wall using their totems and launched their totemic calamities at him! As the troops behind him were still some ways back, he would have to take on all the attacks alone.

"Die!" His totem swords flew out ahead of him as he charged toward the shield of totems without hesitation. The totemic calamities could reduce everything before them to ash, but at that instant, forty-nine different divine wonders appeared before Tianming, spanning a wide area. Apart from them were forty-nine dreamless whales, seemingly swimming in the ocean of stars. Their deep cries flooded the battlefield and drowned out much of the noise. The whales and divine wonders intercepted the totemic calamities, causing a huge commotion of light, sound, and rumbling around the battlefield. It seemed even more potent than the Divine Wrath blasts. The divine wonders, whales, and totemic calamities canceled each other out and were reduced to nothing.

"Is he dead?!" The hundred thousand celestial orderians looked around, wide eyed. Their totems protectively clustered together as a huge flaming shield. The next instant, a gigantic two-headed dragon charged out of the smoke and fire. Subsequently, blasts of flames and lightning came washing over them.

"He didn’t die!"

"Everyone to attention!"

Right after that, a gigantic white tower tens of thousands of meters tall slammed down with great force, shattering the shield and scattering the totems as flesh and blood went spraying all over the place. At the same time, countless totem swords shredded through the ranks of the totemancers, causing it to rain corpses.

Tianming's Omnisentient Threads had reached five billion in number, far more than before. He was receiving so much energy that he believed he wouldn't be able to manage it without the help of his two sacrosuns.

"Die!" he and Lan Huang roared, smashing past the totem remnants and crushing an entire line of enemies. Even though the hundred thousand that died there were just a small drop among the three hundred million, it was a huge wound that the Ninedragon Army behind Tianming could infect.

Joined by the elites from other first-rate sects, the Ninedragon Army flooded into that part of the battlefield, intent on cutting off the celestial orderians within the formation from those outside, greatly increasing the amount of casualties they were inflicting.

On such a battlefield, no strategy or tactic could save oneself apart from sheer desperation. Even so, the alliance wouldn't be able to undertake such a penetrative maneuver without Tianming. That totem shield would have caused unbelievable damage to them; but as long as Tianming fought at the vanguard, they would have hope. The Ninedragon Army troops were his most ardent supporters, his hardened dragon warriors! They gave their all to follow him in his path.

Their sudden charge through the enemy ranks began splitting the enemy troops into two. Tianming had given it his all. This was the limit of his abilities as a single individual on the battlefield. Nobody else there could do nearly as much as he did. If it weren’t for the Ninedragon Army's sudden charge under his lead, the alliance's army would already start crumbling.

Even so, Tianming knew that his powers had come from the people. He was just something similar to the Aeonic Infinidragon Formation. There seemed to be a feedback loop that caused his power to increase with every successive feat he accomplished. There were a billion gods on the battlefield, and it was already a miracle of the Primordial God-Emperor's legacy that he was able to connect with seven hundred million of them. While the alliance's army was weaker, they were still able to hold on, thanks to Tianming giving them hope.

"Keep fighting!"

"Li Tianming's still with us!"

"We haven't lost yet! There's still hope!"

"The formation is still holding, and we're alive! Let's fight until we bleed ourselves dry!"

They held Tianming as their paragon and sought to emulate him. From the sky, he was leading the Ninedragon Army into the inner ranks of the celestial orderians, causing great problems for their logistics and supplies.

"Fight back!"

"Surround them! It's the only chance for us to win!"

The fact that they were still able to fight meant that their minds were still clear. They took decisive action as best they could.

"Can the formation power up even more?"

"Brothers, if we don't resist harder, we'll lose our chance!"

"We have to fight as a united whole!"

Hope from Tianming spread like wildfire across the battlefield. The celestial orderians were really starting to feel the heat. But at that crucial moment, a golden figure emerged from the Divine Sun Palace and rapidly descended like a meteor.

"The sun emperor emerged!" Countless people cried out at the same time. The celestial orderians cheered while the alliance troops anxiously watched. Tianming had shone too brightly on the battlefield, so there was no way for him to hide. As expected, the sun emperor went charging for him.

"Imperialdragon Princeps, run!"

The Ninedragon Army troops around Tianming stiffened from innate fear.

"Li Tianming, leave quickly. The sun emperor has left the palace, so it’s no longer being piloted. That means the formation will be able to divert more power to the invading force rather than defense, so you can afford to hide for now!"

Many seniors urged Tianming to run, but he shook his head. He calmly pointed at the sky, causing everyone to look up. The Divine Sun Palace was gathering another wave of power. Its Divine Wrath was still being charged up, and Tianming had lost his chance to run. The sun emperor had already locked onto him.