Beastmaster of the Ages

Everyone seemed like they’d had their souls sucked away by the sun emperor. The bodies that were left behind were nothing but empty husks, and that couldn't be blamed on anyone at all. The sun emperor and the celestial orderians had simply won. The opposite would have happened if the Flameyellow Coffin didn't exist, but there was no point in pondering over hypotheticals at this point. The celestial orderians were the true rulers now, and only their victories and lives would matter from then on.

The Saintdragon Emperor and the rest were unable to change a single thing. Nobody could hold up and support a mountain that suddenly collapsed. In fact, those that tried would only risk being crushed. Such was the cold, hard truth, settled and unchangeable.

Despair surfaced on all of their faces. They were nothing but ants in the way of the wheel called history. Some tried climbing onto the wheel itself, but all would eventually be crushed in its tracks, and those left behind would never be able to catch up to it.

The territories that belonged to the Myriad Solar Sects had completely fallen. Tears, blood, dirtied faces, pained cries, and howls of agony were useless in the face of reality. No miracle would come to save them. Tianming's repeated defiance of the status quo had caused them to forget the true disparity in their might. Even though Tianming and Lingfeng had come so close, a small gap had made all the difference.

......

Tianming started seeing some lights amidst the smoky fog. He seemed to be being dragged along through a world of shadows for a time before that. He heavily coughed, his body still dripping blood. Thankfully, his consciousness had recovered somewhat, thanks to the healing from the Greenspark Tower. His limbs seemed to have recovered some strength, but he was still far off from a full recovery. While the damage from the Flameyellow Coffin hadn't been fatal, it had caused heavy damage on his body down to all of his albi.

"Big Brother!" Someone tightly held his hand in the darkness. He could tell that it was Qingyu's voice. In other words, he had been taken somewhere near Great Saintdragon Peak. They were still in the Myriaddragon Mountains!

"Don't worry, I'm fine." He felt a chill and looked at the disfigured girl, feeling another flush of rage. "I'm alive!" He suddenly looked north where the main assault was occurring. "Meow Meow, take me there!" he howled, only to cough out more blood.

"It's useless," Lingfeng said, getting in his way. "The only thing we can do now is escape. Only then will we have a chance to return victorious. Going back now is suicide."

The reason was sound, but Tianming couldn't accept it. "They know I'm alive! As long as I show up, they'll feel hope again! We can still win with the formation—"

Right as he said that, another blast of Divine Wrath came crashing down with full force. The Aeonic Infinidragon Formation had been breached by the time Tianming looked up. It had protected the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect for countless years, but now it was crumbling into many multicolored dragon scales that fell like snow. In a chain reaction, many mountains in the range proceeded to fall. It was like the entire world was being destroyed. From Great Saintdragon Peak, Tianming witnessed the end of the Myriad Solar Sects.

His eyes shook—there was no more time. He couldn't even go back to the battlefield now. All that remained was the celestial orderian victory march. The formation had been destroyed, marking the final fall of the top-ranking sect among the Myriad Solar Sects. The atrocities at Fushen Valley paled in comparison to those here, as the celestial orderians wouldn’t stop their slaughter even after the formation fell. Many more of their ground troops had survived, allowing them to perpetuate even more suffering. Every single celestial orderian consumed the area around them like demons of flame.

"Tianming, let's go," Lingfeng said with a hoarse voice. He wanted to kill the sun emperor, but he knew there was no chance of that happening now. Only if they survived and grew stronger would they have a chance. They had the benefit of knowing the sun emperor's trump card now, after all. Staying and perishing with the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect was pointless and would only waste their chance at vengeance. "Vengeance can never come too late."

Lingfeng turned and looked at the bloodied Tianming, knowing how terrible he must feel. Given his imperial path, the worst thing he could endure was watching his people fall. It would be almost fatal. Even if he had done all he could, a loss was a loss, something that would brand him for the rest of his life.

"Let's leave with the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb," Lingfeng said. He didn't want to die there; he wasn't willing to die there. He dreamed of killing the sun emperor, and knew that the most rational move was to immediately flee.

"Feng, I know that there is no other way. You have to take her away. If I don't survive, avenge me," Tianming said. There were many more things that he wished to say, but he had no more time.

"No, don't do this, Big Brother! Don't!" Qingyu knew what he was going to do and immediately teared up.

"It's pointless," Lingfeng said, shaking his head."

"My cultivation path demands that I not turn my back on my people. Otherwise, I would be a pathetic wreck even if I survive! You have to understand!" Tianming felt much better after saying that. He got on Meow Meow's back and watched them one last time. Surprisingly, Weisheng Moran came with him.

"It's one thing if it's her! But you two had better not follow!" Tianming glared at Lingfeng and Qingyu, not giving them a chance to argue. He was about to leap right back into the embrace of death.

"Big Brother!" Qingyu's heart-rending shriek was enough to tear his heart to shreds, but he endured it. He turned and saw Weisheng Moran tugging at his clothes with a resolute expression.

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"Trust yourself. You’re always right."

"Thank you."

Meow Meow charged back into the flaming battlefield.