“Tianming.”
A black Evernight Eagle flew over. Tianming immediately grabbed onto Ye Lingfeng and jumped onto the eagle. Autarch Yun’s men were still chasing behind, but Tianming was calm. Ye Yi’s strength was among the top three in the Divine Capital, so Tianming could sit back and relax with him around.
When Ye Yi listened to the movements, he immediately instructed the Evernight Eagle to turn around and fly out of the Sun-Moon Imperial Formation’s range. Earlier, Tianming had heard the Evernight Eagle’s cry when he killed Dongyang Fen. He even got Lan Huang to use its Primordial Soundwave to provide his position to Ye Yi.
After Lan Huang returned to the lifebound space, the heads placed on its back returned to Tianming’s hands. Wrapping them in the Three-Thousand Starfield, Tianming left the battlefield with them hanging down.
“Dongyang Fen?” Ye Yi was stunned.
“Yeah.”
“How did he die?” Ye Yi asked in a hoarse voice.
“Feng and I killed him,” replied Tianming.
“It seems the Soulfiend has grown a lot stronger after consuming so many souls,” said Ye Yi.
“We only killed a lifebound beast. Dongyang Fen died in Big Brother Tianming’s hands,” Ye Lingfeng replied honestly.
“Oh, got it.” Ye Yi patted Tianming’s shoulder and laughed, “Now that’s funny. We were all waiting for your foster father to finish the year of rapid improvement in his cultivation. But unexpectedly, you caught up to him and managed to kill Dongyang Fen while at the earth saint stage. You’ve given me a huge surprise. The decabane physique is truly heaven-defying.”
“I was lucky. It was a tough fight, and my lifebound beast was nearly killed,” said Tianming. He had a feeling that he might not be Dongyang Fen’s opponent even with three lifebound beasts. That was even taking into account that Feiling was also around. Normally, his strength would be similar to that of Dongyang Liu.
“But you survived, and that’s the truth,” said Ye Yi. He had rushed over immediately when he heard the news of Tianming staying behind, hoping that he would still be alive when he got there
“You’ve reached ninth-level earth saint, right? Do you have any confidence in reaching the sky saint stage? It’s an evolution, and you’ll undergo a transformation if you succeed,” said Ye Yi.
“I’ll give it a try after we return.”
“Good! I’m looking forward to you becoming a sky saint.” Ye Yi smiled.
“I won’t disappoint you.” Tianming paused briefly, then asked, “So, we failed this time?”
“Not exactly. It was part of our plan to force Autarch Yun to use his wildbeasts, so he won’t be able to use them next time. According to the plan, Dongyang Yun will only be able to hold on for another month. After that, he’ll be finished,” said Ye Yi.
It seemed like the elders were pretty confident in their plan. Despite his curiosity, Tianming didn’t ask more about it. Right at that moment, a large number of beastmasters and lifebound beasts appeared. They were separated into two factions, Jiang Ling and the Decimo Dao Palace.
It appeared that they had left the battlefield the moment they got news of the wildbeasts. Ye Yi was the commander of Decimo Dao Palace’s faction. When the Evernight Eagle descended, Bai Zijun walked over.
Upon seeing Tianming unharmed, he felt relieved and whispered in Ye Yi’s ears, “Jiang Ling’s underlings, Wei Ji, Chong Yang, and the others are all pressuring us. They feel that the Decimo Dao Palace hasn’t done our best, which resulted in their immense loss.”
“We’ve not done out best?” Ye Yi sneered and called out to Tianming. When the other party saw Ye Yi coming over, they gradually calmed down.
“What did you guys say?” Ye Yi asked.
“Brother Ye, please don’t misunderstand. They’re just complaining among themselves. After all, they were depressed that we gained nothing from this attack.” Jiang Ling smiled.
The ‘they’ he was talking about were naturally his children, the Ancient Clans, and the sects of the nine realms. For example, the Ancient Greedwolf Clan’s Wei Ji looked unhappy at this moment and even suggested putting pressure on the Decimo Dao Palace. When Ye Yi wasn’t around earlier, they had been looking at Bai Zijun gloomily.
“Gained nothing? Tianming, show the ninth prince your trophies,” said Ye Yi.
“Yes!” Tianming shook the Three-Thousand Starfield, tossing the heads wrapped in it before Jiang Ling. All three of them were staring at him with their eyes wide open. “Here’s my gift to Your Highness. If you include Dongyang Fengchen’s head, you now have two pairs. They were Dongyang Yun’s most talented sons, and you can examine them to confirm it.”
When everyone looked at the heads, all of them fell into silence. The Ancient Qilin Clan’s Jing Yue couldn’t help exclaiming, “Dongyang Liu, Dongyang Feng, and Dongyang Fen!”
It was natural that he couldn’t help feeling nervous. After all, his strength was only equivalent to Dongyang Fen. Since Dongyang Fen was killed, did that mean that Tianming could also kill him?
“Who would’ve thought that the brat we casually captured would be so….” The three exalted ones exchanged a look, their eyes trembling. They were already old, and their cultivation was slowly declining. So, looking at Tianming, who was rising in the sky, they couldn’t help but feel fear and despair.
Everyone else who saw the three heads fell into a long silence. Suddenly, Jiang Ling asked, “You killed Dongyang Fen?”
“I guess so. I killed him together with my brothers,” replied Tianming.
“Not bad. Not bad,” said Jiang Ling. As for Wei Ji, Chong Yang, and the others, they kept their mouths shut.
“Who knows if you’re lying?” Jiang Liuting mocked.
Tianming merely responded with a smile. There was no need for him to explain, since he didn’t need Jiang Ling to reward him.
“Hall Master, I’ll head back first,” said Tianming.
“Okay.” Ye Yi waved his hand.
After Tianming left, Jiang Ling dispersed everyone around him, leaving behind only his core members. Ye Yi spoke out in a grave tone, “Your Highness, it’s good enough that we managed to sever Dongyang Yun’s lineage today. I don’t want to say it clearly, but do keep in mind that the Decimo Dao Palace doesn’t need to support you.”
“How dare you!” Wei Ji glared.
“Shut up,” Jiang Ling rebuked, and Wei Ji could only gnash his teeth and suck it up.
“Brother Ye, I can feel the dao palace’s sincerity in how straightforward you are with your words. For today’s matter, I apologize to the dao palace on behalf of everyone,” said Jiang Ling.
“That's not necessary. We just don’t want to sacrifice our lives or tolerate the gossip of others,” said Ye Yi.
“Never again,” replied Jiang Ling. He was very tolerant. The Decimo Dao Palace was a double-edged sword to him, but he didn’t have a choice. If he didn’t use them, someone else would. If it wasn’t for the enormous losses in the internal conflict between lions, how would he be so courteous to a cheetah?
“We’ll have to wait until next month to destroy Dongyang Yun. But there’s two problems that we have to solve before that. First, the wildbeasts in the Divine Capital must be cleaned up. Second, we have to conquer Dongyang Yun’s territory in the Abyssal Battlefield. The Decimo Dao Palace is willing to solve one of the two for you,” said Ye Yi.
“Since that’s the case, the Decimo Dao Palace can handle the wildbeasts. We’ll turn our focus to the Abyssal Battlefield and seal off the passage. Dongyang Yun’s men will only be able to hole up in the Sun-Moon Imperial Formation. If they don’t dare to step out, taking down the Abyssal Battlefield will be easy,” replied Jiang Ling.
His subordinates had some comments of their own, but none of them dared to speak out. After all, it was easier to clear out the wildbeasts wrecking havoc in the Divine Capital.
“Sure. The Decimo Dao Palace will clean up the wildbeasts for you. As long as Your Highness conquers the Abyssal Battlefield, Autarch Yun won’t be able to use this tactic again. And next month, he can only wait for his death to arrive,” said Ye Yi.
“Then I’ll express my gratitude to the dao palace on behalf of the Ancient Theocrats beforehand,” said Jiang Ling.
“There’s no need to thank us. Now that the world is in chaos, we’re responsible for helping out as part of the Divine Capital,” replied Ye Yi.
“I’ll definitely live up to the hopes of my friends from the Decimo Dao Palace. The Theocracy of the Ancients will only get better in the future,” Jiang Ling said seriously.
“Peace and prosperity is the common aspiration of everyone in the world. Dongyang Yun is oppressive and inhumane, so everyone is naturally together with you to take him down.” Exchanging a glance, the two of them smiled.
……
The Imperial Palace had been reduced to ruins, thanks to Autarch Yun. Amidst the cloud of dust, the officials stood outside with their heads down, too afraid to speak. At most, they only dared to whisper among themselves.
“The enemies must’ve known about the wildbeasts beforehand. That’s to be expected, but I never thought that the three princes would die…” Zhao Shenhong said to Huang Yanhuan, the Grand Divine Marshal.
“Some of His Majesty’s heirs died in the Tomb of the Ancients, and he lost another three in today’s battle. All of His Majesty’s capable heirs are dead. Even if he tries producing more now, who knows when we’ll hear the good news. After all, His Majesty is almost a hundred years old,” Huang Chonghuan sighed.
The situation had started collapsing with Dongyang Fengchen’s death. Now that the Imperial Palace was destroyed, did that mean something? Zhao Shenhong and Huang Chonghuan exchanged a glance. They could see the complicated emotions in each other’s eyes.
“I bet the princes were all killed by Li Tianming. His Majesty didn’t get rid of the threat early, and now.…”
“It’s not that he didn’t want to get rid of the threat, but the dao palace protected him too well,” said Huang Chonghuan.
“Why does it seem like we’re on a losing streak?” Zhao Shenhong whispered through his teeth.
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Huang Chonghuan glared at him. Right at that moment, a man with bloodshot eyes walked out of the Imperial Palace. He looked terrifying, and many people took a step back.
“My condolences, Your Majesty!” Everyone dropped to their knees.
“Listen up!” Autarch Yun swept them with his gaze and said, “Anyone who manages to kill Li Tianming will be conferred the State Prime Minister!”
Everyone was thrilled when they heard that; even Huang Chonghuan was tempted by the position. He immediately said, “Please be assured, Your Majesty. Since the dao palace was bold enough to send that brat out, we’ll destroy him no matter what!”