Li Tianming entered his training room to cultivate as soon as he returned to Astral General Manor.
“Big Brother, I’ll join you.” Jiang Feiling merged back into her body.
“Alright.”
“Big Brother, remember the soul servants you found in Perpetia City? Why isn’t anything happening with them?”
“I don’t know. They don’t listen to me.” Tianming pulled at his shirt to look at his chest, and the nine embarrassing red dots there.
“Train first. I’ll look at it another day.”
Tianming continued training in front of the third gate, using the gold heavenly patterns to nourish his Imperial Will. From its growth, it signaled that his thinking and determination were on the right path.
“If an emperor isn’t worthy of respect, sooner or later his people will bite back. Autarch Qian’s defeat today was no coincidence. It was the fruit of all the evil that generations of Theocrats had committed. Today, Little Feng will make them taste retribution!”
Tianming couldn’t forget all those corpses, nor the ugly faces of the Theocrats.
Most of all, he couldn’t forget the Nebula Emperor Whale’s death, nor all the brothers and sisters of the dao palace that had perished in battle.
“The Nineshades Clan’s dao of plundering isn’t the imperial dao, but a devilish dao!” Tianming’s eyes burned bright with passion.
Tianming suddenly recalled the Prime Tower. He summoned it and entered it. The white heavenly patterns on the first floor weren’t Imperial Will; however, they contained a heavenly will of never submitting in the face of death, and belonged to a similar type of willpower as the Li Saint Clan’s Lifesbane.
“I suspect one of the gods in Perpetia City is related to the Li Saint Clan.”
Tianming brought the Grand-Orient Sword in as well. He could now simultaneously train in the golden heavenly patterns on the third gate as well as the white heavenly patterns in the Prime Tower.
“I’ll merge these two heavenly wills together and form a character that defies the heavens to change my destiny, whilst remaining the most righteous sovereign. I’ll create a path that’s mine and mine alone.” For the first time, Tianming infused everything he had learned in the Li Saint Clan into his Imperial Will.
“The Nineshades Clan believes themselves to be monarchs who seize life from the heavens. Unfortunately, to master the heavenly dao, you must first master the human dao. How could such inhuman bastards possibly live for tens of thousands of years?” Tianming sneered. He could see all of that clearly, but the other side staunchly refused to believe it.
“Sometimes, it’s not that the problem can’t be thought through. It’s just that you have no choice once you step on a certain path!”
Several days later….
“Second level Sky Saint!” Tianming’s Imperial Will had started on a new path, separate from the Grand-Orient Sword, after absorbing the heavenly will of the white heavenly patterns.
Tianming enjoyed huge benefits from his breakthrough. Just his saint ki alone had exploded in quantity. The Grand-Orient Vortex and Imperealm Sword Formation also grew stronger. Now, the formation could reach over thirty meters in size.
“The dao palace’s formation-widening stone was prepared for the Evil Suppression Formation. Otherwise, it could’ve been used on mine to make it stronger,” Tianming mused.
A tiny artifact appeared in Tianming’s hands. It was the Cyclic Map.
Tianming wanted to see where Li Muyang was on the map; he had so many questions to ask.
“Godfather is nearly healed up. He’s no longer in the Astral General Manor, and has probably gone out to handle things.” That made Tianming able to relax and focus on his cultivation.
“Let’s go find Chong Yang.” Tianming left the manor and went to find Bai Mo, who was in charge of Chong Yang’s imprisonment.
“I’ll bring you over,” Bai Mo said after hearing Tianming out.
It didn’t take long for Tianming to reach the prison in the Dark Hall, which was under layers of formations. Chong Yang was trussed up in one of the cages, unable to even move a muscle.
“What are you here for?” Chong Yang narrowed his eyes.
“Teach me how to use the Cyclic Map.”
“Dream on!” Chong Yang sneered.
“I just want to see where my dad is. It’s just a small thing, so why kick up such a fuss?”
“You’re the criminal of the Theocracy! You also betrayed our clan! Helping you would be an affront to the ancestors!” Chong Yang roared with laughter.
“How touching. You can even make helping evil people sound good. That’s a skill of its own,” Li Tianming said.
“Whatever. I just need to wait here for all of you to be executed for treason!”
“You think the Nineshades Clan are the rightful rulers? You really want to serve them?”
“Correct! The Theocrats are destiny itself. They’ve ruled for millenia, and they’ll rule for millenia more!” Chong Yang sneered.
“I’ll ask you one last time: will you teach me how to use the map?”
“Dream on.”
“If so, you have no more use. I think I should just kill you so we can spare the manpower on guarding you,” Tianming said.
“How dare you? Do it if you dare! In the past, I was like a father to your father. I was responsible for much of his growth!”
“Well I didn’t know that.” Tianming’s sword stabbed out twice. Once in the heart, and once in the saint palace!
“Unfilial bastard!” Chong Yang’s eyes bulged, filled with disbelief.
“Yeah yeah, my father owes you. So?” Tianming turned around and left. Chong Yang’s beast was locked away separately, but its life and death didn’t matter.
Bai Mo was waiting for him outside.
“It was always up to you anyway. Out with the old, and in with the new. If the Ancient Qilin Clan survives, it’ll be much better with people like you and your father. Your ancestors used to be impressive before they were brainwashed by the Theocrats.”
Tianming shook his head.
Actually, Tianming really wanted to know why Li Muyang wasn’t coming when he was near the city. However, Chong Yang didn’t want to help him use the map.
“He must have his own issues!” Tianming truly believed that. After all, Li Muyang hadn’t appeared even after Wei Jing had waited for him for twenty years.
……
Tianming had just returned to his manor when he saw Li Wudi waving at him. He looked very lively, and was obviously mostly recovered. “My son, Tianming, over here!”
“What is it?”
“I’ll tell you something. Autarch Qian has made his way to the Grand-Orient Realm. He probably wanted to abduct everyone and threaten us. Vicious, isn’t he?”
“Yet you can still laugh?” Tianming frowned.
“Of course! I made preparations long ago!”
“I worried that Dongyang Ling or Dongyang Yun might do this when I left. So, I got everyone to leave the sect and scatter everywhere. They’re all just faceless mobs to Dongyang Yun. There’s too many of them, as well, so there’s no way he’s catching them,” Li Wudi chuckled.
“Not too shabby. Well done, but why are you telling me this?”
“Well, Autarch Qian isn’t here. I was thinking I could go and take a trip while he’s away and kill a few Theocrats. Would you like to join?”
“Yes!” Tianming’s eyes brightened.
“Then let’s go!”
“If Autarch Qian isn’t here, why don’t we just bring our whole army over?”
“The other side has an army too. Engaging them would mean heavy losses on our side too. We’re not the ones who need to rush this.” Li Wudi rolled his eyes.
“Understood. It’s more convenient for there to be just two people. We can even catch some of them while we’re at it.”
“Yes, they may be more lax now that he’s gone. I also have two people I already have my eye on.” Li Wudi sniggered.
“Who?”
“I’ll keep it a surprise. If we kill those two, it’ll be like the whole Theocracy lost an arm.” Li Wudi smiled.
“Let’s go!”
Tianming brought along Feiling for her Celestial Wings and Temporal Field. They could escape much quicker, if need be.
The three quietly left the dao palace.