Autarch Qian’s mad laughter drove them into confusion.
"Friend from the Archaion Divine Realm? What do you mean!?” Tianming felt an ominous premonition.
Obviously, Autarch Qian didn’t seem crazy. In fact, his current state suggested he was sure of revenge.
He truly possessed a trump card! He was already the strongest person in the Theocracy and owned the Cyclic Mirror. How could he have an ace up the sleeve that could decide everything? The answer would be revealed momentarily.
Instantly, a middle-aged man dressed in a black brocade walked out of a very ordinary building. With his bunched-up hair, a beard, long, narrow eyes, and a sinister temperament, he appeared to be an evil man at a glance. What made them frown was the man’s bloody and devastating aura. He had his hands behind his back and a smile on his lips. From the moment he appeared, the battlefield was completely under his control.
"This man is an empyrean saint!” Bai Mo exclaimed, his expression altering drastically.
"That’s impossible. People from the Archaion Divine Realm have never been here..." Ye Yi's expression was equally ugly.
In the battle in the Divine Capital, the Decimo Dao Palace slaughtered all of Autarch Qian’s descendants. Having witnessed Autarch Qian's decline, they never imagined that he had found a powerhouse from the Archaion to reverse the situation.
"Don't be so surprised. And don't worry, all of you will die. The one with the talents must die!” Xuanyuan Xu said with a smile.
As soon as the words left his lips, his eyes flashed, and a dim yellow spear appeared in his outstretched hand. The spear was densely covered in saintly heavenly patterns, its tip resembling the teeth of a giant beast. Everyone soon realized this was a weapon with ninety-nine saintly heavenly patterns, which was equivalent to Three-Thousand Starfield.
"Xuanyuan Xu, help me kill Li Wudi first, and then you can play with them as you please.” Autarch Qian put away his smile, his eyes gleaming brightly.
"That’s a given. We’re friends, after all.” Xuanyuan Xu smiled faintly. With a jolt of his feet, he turned into an elusive phantom, instantly attacking Li Wudi.
Just how arrogant was this man? He hadn’t bothered to release his lifebound beast!
With such strength, the spirits of the Decimo Dao Palace powerhouses sank to the bottom.
"He’s at least a third-level empyrean saint,” Bai Mo said hoarsely.
They had to admit the fact was despairing.
"Autarch Qian must have come across this man when he was looking for the herbs. Autarch Qian certainly isn’t his opponent. If he was defeated, he would definitely give away the Grand-Orient Sword and Prime Tower to bring him here!”
In truth, the reason was no longer important. The important thing was that Xuanyuan Xu crashed into the Theocracy like the sun and was about to bring a devastating blow to the Decimo Dao Palace who had just won a small victory.
Li Wudi knew better than anyone else how difficult the current situation was. His eyes deepened as they collided with Tianming's.
"Take everyone and leave! The farther you escape, the better. I'll hold them off!” Li Wudi's voice resounded like a bell, tinged with a fearlessness in the face of death.
As he once said, he would be responsible for everything.
"Tianming, I want you to take them away! My fate isn’t as good as yours. Stop being all wishy-washy. It’ll only make me look down on you. Now go!”
While Li Wudi was still speaking, Xuanyuan Xu had already flashed towards him with his spear while Autarch Qian attacked from the side. A life and death crisis descended upon him.
"Go!"
Li Wudi roared, breathing fire from his eyes. The Firstbane Saber collided with Xuanyuan Xu’s Antediluvian Spear. His Bloodfiend Body crackled as he resisted the suppression of the Cyclic Mirror with his flesh. He was then sent flying and slammed into a tall building that collapsed on impact.
The moment the building fell, a blood-red figure dashed out and shot towards Xuanyuan Xu. The speed at which he got up was admirable. But what was the use of such admiration?
"Tianming, I’m handing my daughter over to you. I’m begging you!” Wiping the blood from the corner of his lips, Li Wudi intercepted Xuanyuan Xu and Autarch Qian like a wild beast.
He never thought he would be in such a desperate situation. But that was life; you surprise your opponent, and they return the favor at some point. Proper behavior was based on reciprocity. The variables of life were so cruel.
"No way!”
The response he received was these two decisive words.
"Why do you get to play the hero while I’m forced to drag out an ignoble existence?” said the young man behind him.
"Do you want to die together?” Li Wudi growled.
"Why not? Godfather, dying with you isn’t a bad thing at all.”
His words shocked Li Wudi.
"How can I ever deserve that?” The ferocious man had tears in his eyes.
"Godfather, my ancestors must have accumulated merit for me to have met you,” said Tianming with a fiery gaze.
Time seemed to freeze here. With a fire-like will, the father and son built each other up.
Li Wudi took a deep breath and turned to those behind him. "Bai Mo, Ye Yi, you know what to do, don’t you? I’ll leave Qingyu to you. I can't stop Tianming. Let’s not waste any more time. They’ve been watching our little show.”
"It's okay, keep going. I like watching a good parting. You go, you go, everyone goes. Oh, it’s so moving I’m about to cry.” Xuanyuan Xu grinned while fiddling with the spear in his hand.
When Li Wudi saw Bai Mo and Ye Yi taking action, he finally felt relieved. In truth, if they remained here, they would surely die. Someone had to clean up the mess in the Theocracy. Ye Yi and Bai Mo had plenty of burdens to bear and couldn’t stand beside Li Wudi through life and death like Tianming.
Tianming hoped they would quickly leave as well. It was best if they could take Ye Lingfeng away. But when he turned around, he found Ye Lingfeng rooted to the spot like a pillar. No matter how Ye Yi tried to drag him away, he stared at Tianming wordlessly, red-eyed and motionless.
"Hall Master, let go of him,” said Tianming.
Ye Yi was helpless.
"That’s right. This one can't leave. He has the Evil Suppression Pillar,” Xuanyuan Xu said with a smile.
"Are you done? I can't hold it anymore. My tears are falling. Any more emotions and I won’t be able to boil my fish soup,” Autarch Qian cheerfully said.
They stood together before Tianming, like two insurmountable peaks of death. There was no way out of this catastrophe. Forget about Autarch Qian; Xuanyuan Xu’s cultivation was almost a stage higher than Tianming. How were they supposed to fight?
Autarch Qian wasn’t going to let Bai Mo and Ye Yi go. Seeing that they were preparing to evacuate, he exchanged a meaningful glance with Xuanyuan Xu and charged toward them. The response they received was Li Wudi and Tianming’s courage to face death.
"Tianming, the Li Saint Clan live hard lives. Looks like we’ve reached a dead end. Let’s give it our all and see if we can take one of them with us,” said Li Wudi.
"Yes!”
Tianming took a deep breath. He glanced at the man who promised to shoulder everything. His heart burned with passion.
"Strength and might will always be the truth of the world! I thought that I would always be able to protect my loved ones, but the reality is the cruelest slap in the face!"
He understood Li Wudi was equally upset. After 14 years of overcoming a disaster, he swore an oath to become invincible, so he would never lose his loved ones again. Two people with the same oaths were fighting for each other, like moths to a flame before these two mountains of death. If they managed to hold on for a while, perhaps their loved ones would have the chance to escape. This was possible because of Tianming's fearlessness.
The two of them shared the same determination, both from the Li Saint Clan, both with lifesbane. Because of this, they appeared alike, like two bloody beasts without the slightest fear in their eyes.
"Amazing! You can also be a genius in the Archaion with a will, courage, and cultivation like yours in your twenties,” said Xuanyuan Xu.
He noticed the Grand-Orient Sword in Tianming's hands, his eyes red. He strode towards Tianming.
"Xuanyuan Xu, help me first!” said Autarch Qian.
"Sure.” Xuanyuan Xu was a little impatient, but he knew that Li Wudi was difficult to deal with. As he stretched out his hand, a huge lifebound beast shot out of his lifebound space.
The giant beast rolled in the sky. Tianming looked up to see a total of ninety stars in its eyes, which surpassed the entire Theocracy. That was a ninth-order empyrean beast! It was only one step away from the legendary hundred-star saint beast and had one more star than the autarch beast. This was the power of the Flameyellow continent, the core of the Nine Divine Realms, where the supreme gods were once born.
"Unfortunately, I'm afraid I won't have the opportunity to meet the famous geniuses and top powerhouses of the center of the Nine Divine Realms.” Tianming was unmoved.
The more unwilling he was, the more he burned with anger. This was a third-level empyrean saint’s ninth-order empyrean beast—a true dragon. It was covered with faint yellow scales and enveloped with gray clouds. With red eyes, it resembled a wildbeast. As soon as it appeared, it stared fixedly at Tianming.
Its name was the Infernal Viledragon.
"Take him down.” Xuanyuan Xu said indifferently.
He wasn't excited at all. He could deal with these two supposed opponents on his own. The Infernal Viledragon roared, rising into the sky and charging at Tianming.
Li Wudi couldn’t help Tianming because he had to face both Autarch Qian and Xuanyuan Xu. As for his lifebound beast, it was currently entangled in a battle with the autarch beast. The dragon’s hot breath burned before it reached Tianming. Its body was even bigger than Lan Huang’s.
A yellow flame spewed from its mouth, spraying across so there was nowhere to hide. A black formation suddenly appeared in front of Tianming, blocking him from the Infernal Viledragon’s abilities.
It was the Evil Suppression Formation!