Chapter 1752 - The Tower's Mystery
As Tianming was still in Violetglory, he could get Yin Chen to ask Feiling whether she was okay with that arrangement. She quickly replied with an affirmative, perhaps a sign of the conflict in her heart. The ruler of Perpetia was a lonely figure, but Feiling herself wasn't used to solitude. The fact that she agreed showed that her memories in the past twenty years still held the initiative.
"Leave it to me," Xiaoxiao said.
"Thanks, Xiaoxiao," Tianming earnestly said.
"You're welcome." As the only person by Tianming's side who had an Omnisentient Thread, Tianming felt quite weird about Xiaoxiao. While she was someone people often ignored, she was always there for him when he needed her. "You gave me caeli, resources, battle arts, and weapons, after all. I have to pay you back somehow."
Tianming had indeed won a lot of stuff for all of them since coming to Violetglory. "Payback sounds a little too much. We're helping each other. You're someone from home, after all, so helping one another is only natural."
"Yeah."
As they spoke, Tianming summoned all the Yin Chens back. They would be dormant once he returned to Orderia, after all, so there was no point in leaving them behind. He ended up with a total of twenty-five million Yin Chens, its current peak number. Tianming had tested it before and it wouldn't be able to split more, though it could still consume more divine ores. That would allow each of its individual bodies to increase in volume. Around ten million of those twenty-five million silver eggs could split into more than thirty cockroaches or three hundred ants, but more volume meant more combat capability. In his dreams, the bodies of Yin Chen made up a sea of stars, each silver egg as large as Lan Huang, so there was still quite a lot of room for them to grow.
"Once we return to Orderia, there won't be much divine ore for it. It won't be able to keep on growing." He gave it some more thought. "The Xuanyuan Dragon Sect's resources are probably firmly in my hands now that the Veildragon Palace is gone. Their stuff should also be mine. Perhaps the Empyrean Sword Sect will also help out. The only thing I don't know now is the state of the Myriad Solar Sects and Sky Palace...."
He had thrown the wheel of the Divine Sun Palace away. Even now, he didn't know where that dead star he buried it in was. By now, their preparations were complete and the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb wasn’t far from Violetglory. Tianming didn't go to the sovereign for another round of farewell, and the Starchasers had been summoned back. The four of them used the chaos of the disbanding Violetcloud Army to sneak into the clouds and leave Violetglory. Once they were past the layer of violet clouds, they looked back at the beautiful star. Tianming felt rather wistful about his experiences there.
"It's thanks to Violetglory and the Violetcloud Imperium—and its people—that I was able to soar so quickly and grow capable enough to return to Orderia. I’ll never forget this boon and will definitely return."
In the dark void of space was the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, glowing a faint yellow like a huge beast of the astral void. As it didn't have a true miniature nova source, it was easier to hide. The four of them boarded it. Tianming wasn't in a rush to activate the Saintdragon Palace. Instead, he took the wheel and piloted it toward Primary. Normal warships would require three months to cover that distance, but the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was fast enough to reach it sooner. In terms of size, it was even larger than the Kilostar Capital.
Primary glowed brightly, above which a girl stood with an old man quietly behind her. They were none other than Feiling and the primalwinger overlord, respectively.
"I'll be going now," Xiaoxiao said before leaving the ship and flying toward Primary. Tianming looked at Feiling, still in her blue dress. She seemed much quieter and more tranquil than before, being in a much better emotional state, especially after hearing that Xiaoxiao would be there to accompany her. She waved goodbye to the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb.
"Goodbye, Ling'er." Tianming took a deep breath, seeing the two girls side by side and feeling more relaxed. Then the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb began its voyage toward Orderia with the help of the star map, quickly disappearing as its deafening engines surged.
......ƒ𝚛𝙚𝚎𝑤𝘦𝚋𝙣o𝚟el.c𝐨𝚖
The Saintdragon Palace finally glowed bright. Now, seven of the nine dragon palaces were activated. Even so, Tianming still knew that there were many more secrets to unlock, including the ship's origins. There was nothing else as grand as the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb in the history of the Myriad Solar Sects. Otherwise, the many sects and Sky Palace wouldn't exist as it did today. Instead, a united faction that rivaled the celestial orderians would be present. Perhaps the origins of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb were the same as the Ninedragon Tribulation.
"There’s two more strikes. If I can master them, perhaps I'll be able to unlock two more functions. One of them must be an offensive system similar to the Kilostar Capital's. Though, it won't matter if I don't have a proper miniature nova source." He was still at a loss as to where to get one. Currently, the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was cruising through the astralscape. According to the star map, it would take another two and a half months for it to reach Orderia.
"Violetglory doesn't have many lunar outposts, but the sun does. If I want to prevent the sun emperor from noticing my return, I’ll have to stop earlier. I can't pilot it straight to Orderia."
That was a matter for later, however. To Tianming, two months wasn't a short time. But at least he didn't have to keep piloting it as the ship cruised toward its destination. He, Qingyu and Lingfeng cultivated the entire voyage for some last-minute gains.
The ship was quite large, so Tianming and Qingyu's lifebound beasts could freely roam about. The Azurecloud Divine Tree's saplings had grown a little more and took up quite a bit of space, however, much to Lan Huang's disappointment. It couldn't run as freely as it did before. Meow Meow, on the other hand, enjoyed its nap time as much as it could, not waking for a single moment. Ying Huo, on the other hand, kept trying to woo Shuo Yue. The Soulfiend simply remained by its master's side like usual.
After Tianming set a stable course, he took out the Prime Tower and went to the head of the ship. It was the largest of the nine dragon heads. Through its eyes, he could see the beautiful astralscape.
"How grand... the stars are uncountable! The mysterians must be overconfident to believe themselves the center of the universe."
The answer to that was clear. There were more than billions of stars the eye could see. After a moment of awe, Tianming turned his sights to the Prime Tower. "Long time no see, my tower. Let's see how you’ve changed!"
"Oh no, it's over. Without women, you're desperate enough to try funny things with a tower..." Ying Huo said, rolling its eyes.
"Would you kindly fuck off?"
Tianming stopped bothering with Ying Huo and tightly hugged the tower, closely scrutinizing its patterns and refamiliarizing himself with them. Like the Grand-Orient Sword, the Prime Tower didn't have an artifact soul. Tianming wasn't even sure if it recognized him as its owner. The yellowspring fish in the Godsin had submitted to him like the Lifesteal Silverdragon, but not these two. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before entering the tower with his caelum.