Jiang Ling and Dongyang Yun's forces were united again under Autarch Qian. Everyone looked at him with passion, as if they had found a lord to serve for the rest of their lives. Even if the two princes refused to give up their claim to power, nobody would be willing to serve them any longer. This was the might commanded by Autarch Qian!
Every Theocrat cried tears of joy, especially Dongyang Yun's followers, who had endured much. They had even been ready to surrender. However, with their true master revived, they were filled with the utmost elation. Their bodies and souls 'burned' with joy as they eagerly watched the warriors of the Decimo Dao Palace in anticipation of the schadenfreude that was to come. How the tables had turned!
Now, the Decimo Dao Palace was instantly made the underdog. The Theocrats were now united, and far stronger than the dao palace in terms of troops and elites. What was worse was that they didn't even have the Evil Suppression Formation to protect them. There was nowhere to escape to; this would be fatal!
Tianming noted that even Bai Mo took a step back, his face completely pale and struck with disbelief, a reaction mirrored by the rest of the dao palace’s warriors. Everyone remembered Autarch Qian's cruel atrocities. Even Weisheng Yunxi was completely floored and crushed by the sudden turn of events.
"Little girl Weisheng, how many years has it been? You're still as naive and innocent as you used to be. I was able to outsmart you with this simple trick. Are you convinced of your loss?" Autarch Qian asked with a smile. He was a hundred years her senior and addressed her like an adult would a child. She would always be a child in his eyes. "You're as kind as you were back then. This will get many people killed. You're just too fresh. Having to fight you makes me feel like a bully, you know."
It had been a long time since he cared about using the royal plural. "Oh well, you've lived long enough. Let's consider that a merciful gesture of mine. Today's an auspicious day. I will take your head and sacrifice it in the name of our clan's dead warriors. Those children have really contributed much to our cause. So now, it's time for the Decimo Dao Palace to utterly perish."
The mirror he had retrieved was now flying around him and forming a vortex as he approached her. The terrifying oppressive force coming from the true autarch zeroed in on her body, checkmating her. After all the tricks she’d employed, all she found was that she had been dancing in his palm all along! What else could she do in such a desperate situation?
She gripped the pillar tightly in her hand as a vile aura emanated from her. Her whale was right by her side, and the autarch beast appeared beside Autach Qian. It was a hydra with nine heads and eighty-nine stars, the beast with the highest star rank in the entire Theocracy!
"Heed my orders, warriors of the Decimo Dao Palace! Let's slaughter our way out of encirclement! We still haven't lost!" Weisheng Yunxi exclaimed, not daring to apologize to them or say anything disheartening. If their morale plummeted in the following battle, they would suffer even heavier losses.
"Astral Legions, we’re still a million strong and our palace lord has the Evil Suppression Pillar! We can continue this fight! If the Theocrats want to consume us, we'll make sure they all get a sore mouth doing so! Kill anyone that blocks our way!" Ye Yi yelled as the marshal of the troops, reigniting their fighting spirits.
"That's right! They only have three hundred thousand!"
"They'll need at least a million to wipe us out!"
"They've lost five hundred thousand of their number to internal strife already. If they lose another million, the Theocrats will be no more!"
The Astral Legions regained much hope.
"Brothers, don't let Autarch Qian scare you. He's already a dead man walking! We have fought and attempted to help Jiang Ling ascend to the throne, yet he dared betray us and is trying to eliminate us! We all know what dastardly methods the Theocrats would stoop down to use. They’ll never let anyone who surrenders live. Those who don't wish to die, fight with us!"
All they wanted to do now was survive this battle. That was their driving impetus to fight. Under Ye Yi's leadership, the million troops of the dao palace charged with renewed fervor. They knew even without looking back that Autarch Qian and Weisheng Yunxi would be engaged in a fierce battle to the death with their respective divine artifacts. All she could do was buy them time.
When the two empyrean saints clashed, the reverberations could be felt throughout the battlefield.
"Hall King!" Tianming called out to Bai Mo. "What's going on now? Can the formation not be deployed again? Can't we activate it here on the battlefield?"
"It can be used here, but only with a diameter of a thousand meters. There's no way it can protect all of us, and Autarch Qian won't allow it to happen either. Only when the palace lord returns it to the dao palace can the formation's area stretch much wider!"
"Why is that?"
"There are formation-widening stones within the Dao Palace that our forebears set up."
Tianming had seen something like that mentioned in the Infernal Soul Heavenly Pattern Canon. It was a heavenly pattern formation that could expand the area of a main formation. To cover such a large area like the dao palace, thousands of such stones had to be deployed. Given that Tianming's own Sword Imperealm Formation only had a diameter of twenty meters, it was no surprise a divine artifact like the Evil Suppression pillar had a smaller individual formation as well. Now, the palace lord couldn't leave. If she did, nobody would be able to hold Autarch Qian back.
"Autarch Qian is a level stronger than the palace lord and has the Cyclic Mirror. The palace lord can't hold on for long!" Bai Mo said anxiously.
Tianming now knew the full extent of the truth. It was such a ruthless and underhanded method. "So Autarch Qian faked his death and made it seem like Dongyang Yun used the Cyclic Mirror to take millions of souls, all in order to lure the palace lord to undo the formation by using the Evil Suppression Pillar as a weapon. He also drew out the Astral Legions. That way, the dao palace would be completely unprotected!
"Hall King, without the formation, where can we run?"
"Let's fight our way back to the dao palace first. There are some more formations that’ll be able to hold on for a little. What we have to worry about now is that nobody will be able to hold Autarch Qian at bay so the palace lord can escape!"
When Bai Mo finished, his eyes fell on the ninth prince, Jiang Ling, who had joined the fray and was slaughtering the warriors of the dao palace. He had intentionally come to seek out Bai Mo and began attacking, leaving him and his tiger no choice but to fight. Before he left, he said, "Tianming, you're quite powerful, so break out of ths melee and return to the dao palace. Leave with your sister Qingyu. Leave the Divine Capital! That’s an order!"
Jiang Ling rained a torrent of attacks on him the moment he finished speaking. Meanwhile, Ye Yi was intercepted by Dongyang Yun before he could even go to Weisheng Yunxi's aid. Both he and Bai Mo were ninth-level sky saints and weren't able to do much to help Weisheng Yunxi, so who could help her leave?
Even her, an empyrean saint with a divine artifact, could barely hold Autarch Qian at bay, let alone anyone else. Tianming turned back and saw a lot of fighting going on near the Imperial Palace's rubble.
The Evil Suppression Pillar and the Cyclic Mirror had wrought quite a lot of death and destruction nearby. Almost everyone in the vicinity had ended up dead. Tianming himself had personally witnessed the autarch completely dominating their palace lord. The reason he had faked his death was to kill Weisheng Yunxi; there was no way he would give her a chance to escape.
"The palace lord can't hold on any longer...."
Many disciples of the dao palace were despairing and felt death looming over their heads. Even though the clash between the two empyrean saints had only just begun, Autarch Qian clearly had the upper hand.
Bai Mo had ordered Tianming to escape, but he didn't do so. Instead, he charged to the very front of the troops to pave a way for them. Anywhere his sword went, it left behind a wake of corpses. His Invincible Sword Ki shot out and tore through many beastmasters and their lifebound beasts. He was entirely covered in blood, and there were even chunks of the enemies' corpses stuck in the seams of his armor.
Where's my godfather? The moment he thought of him, he heard the shocked cries of many dao palace warriors. Turning back, he saw a blood-haired man joining the fight between the autarch and the palace lord. The man was none other than Li Wudi, but he seemed a little different from before.
He was entirely covered in bloody scales. Even his head looked completely different, like an amalgamation of a few wildbeasts. He seemed like a humanoid beast and looked to be three meters in height.
His Ancient Infernalblood Kunpeng's feathers had also turned blood red. The two of them filled the surroundings with a sense of dread, like gods of death. Now, Li Wudi didn't seem much weaker than Weisheng Yunxi.
Godfather's ability must be thanks to his Lifesbane. I recall that the second ancestor, Li Xinghe, had four blood-colored bane-rings and the Bloodfiend Transformation ability. I wonder if this is the same thing? Either way, he's now as powerful as an empyrean saint!
Even he hadn't heard that Li Wudi had this ability before. It must've been a recent discovery. That means we still have hope!
Tianming's eyes were bloodshot. A small pawn like him wouldn't be able to help in the battle of the aces, so he did what a basic pawn would: forge a path of blood for the warriors of the dao palace.