Chapter 1915
Tianming didn't make Long Wanying wait for very long and emerged from the solar core an hour later.
"Is it done?" she asked. At the sight of how calm and energized he seemed, she felt a little more relaxed. Her eyes were filled with hope, thanks to him.
"Not quite. There's too much energy. Once it's done, I'll be able to control the astralguard and fusion formations with my thoughts as long as they're within range, but there’s too many divine celestial patterns that need to be absorbed. It’ll still take another three months or so." Tianming would no doubt be incredibly occupied during that time. He didn't have a single moment to spare between absorbing the solar core and pondering the ninth strike of the Ninedragon Tribulation.
He only occasionally headed into the wondersky realm to check if Feiling showed up. Xiaoxiao had been there once to tell him that they were doing fine, so he could go about his usual business. Though they were both busy, at least they were making some hopeful progress. He wouldn't have left the solar core if it weren’t for the fact that something had happened outside.
"Alright.... Tianming, Yin Chen should have informed you about the sun emperor's new orders, right? He's sending troops to exterminate us before the invasion arrives from Skywolf. It's insane and reckless." Long Wanying was filled with both hate and a begrudging awe for the sun emperor. Even though he was a tyrant, he never behaved in any predictable manner, constantly a few steps ahead of everyone else.
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"Yeah, I heard about it," Tianming said, nodding.
"What do you think about it?"
"Nothing much. The sun emperor's actions aren’t out of character for him, considering his previous deeds. I wasn't counting on completely being left in peace these few months, either." There was still some time before Skywolf's invasion, and there was no way the sun emperor would let him peacefully grow within the confines of the Sky Palace Formation.
"Then what should we do? The Saintdragon Emperor, Northdipper Swordsage, Ninesun Martial Lord, and the rest are still able to communicate with the cultivators from their factions, but once they scatter even further, we can only count on Yin Chen." She furrowed her brows with worry.
"Don't worry, Aunt Ying, I have a way to turn this around. We can get the sun emperor to take back his order to deploy."
Long Wanying teared up from the sheer relief at hearing that Tianming had a plan. She gave his ear a hard pinch. "Then say it sooner! Don't act mysterious and keep me waiting!"
"Ouch! Haha! Forgive me, please!" Once she let go, Tianming cleared his throat and looked at the formation above them. "The Sky Palace Formation is a grade-nine divine formation, but it's also an extension of the fusion formation that’s controlled by this solar core. It was built for the purpose of protecting this half of the solar core. Actually, its true range isn't this small. It just hasn't truly been activated yet. While I don't have full control of the solar core right now, I should be able to extend the range of the Sky Palace Formation to cover ten times the area the Aeonic Infinidragon Formation once covered."
Tianming had already discovered the issue some days ago. The Sky Palace Formation was almost like an outer part of the fusion formation that the sky plunderers had constructed to protect the solar core, and this half of the solar core seemed more important than the sun emperor's, since that one wasn't protected by a formation of the same caliber.
The Sky Palace formation might be an extension of the fusion formation, but in fact, it merely looked like a small pimple growing out of the bigger whole. But that was just its unactivated state. Tianming had already assimilated the part of the solar core that allowed him to expand the formation such that it would at least touch the flaming clouds above. In its strongest state, it looked like a huge pillar that supported the astralguard formation. That would also greatly expand its area of coverage, and it was a grade-nine divine formation, which was far tougher than the Aeonic Infinidragon Formation could ever be.
"Ten times?!" Long Wanying remained stunned for quite a while after hearing that. "Ten times the area.... That would encompass the entire Voidsky Realm! So all the gods of the Myriad Solar Sects can evacuate here!”
"That's right. The Sky Palace Formation was supposed to cover that much area in the first place." The Voidsky Realm was the main wellspring of nova source at the south pole of the sun. Apart from it, only the north pole had nova source that dense.
Tianming gave it some thought and continued, "The Myriaddragon Mountains was able to hold up to ten billion gods. The other top ten sects, as well as the many cultivators from the second-, third-, and fourth-rate sects add up to around five billion. While the Voidsky Realm isn't huge, if everyone keeps their lifebound beasts inside their lifebound spaces, we’ll be able to fit them here."
"It's ten times the size of Myriaddragon Mountains. It won't even be packed," Long Wanying exclaimed. Back when they’d evacuated to the Myriaddragon Mountains, there had been barely any space to breathe. Many lifebound beasts had felt their sanity crumbling during that time.
"Aunt Ying, I already had Yin Chen notify all of the god-level cultivators of the Myriad Solar Sects and asked them to spread the word. They’ll be coming south to avoid the celestial orderian troops, so I need you and the rest to help settle them down."
"No problem, that's my forte." Her anxiety had vanished completely. "Child, you always bring us hope when we need it the most. The sun emperor will no doubt flip out at hearing what you did."
"I’m grateful to my ancestors and seniors who made it all possible." If it weren’t for the precursors that built the Sky Palace Formation, not even Tianming would be able to escape. Though it was a little late, they still managed to tide it over and survive.
Back during the scattering of the Myriad Solar Sects, Tianming had used Yin Chen to monitor the locations of the cultivators and stay in contact with them. With Yin Chen and the cultivators themselves spreading the word, few, if any of them, would be left in the wild.
The celestial orderians were still preparing for the extermination plan, but by the time they headed south, everyone would have already evacuated into the Voidsky Realm. Tianming had taken action too fast for the sun emperor to react. For normal gods, traveling from the north pole to the south pole of the sun was no easy feat. A force of twenty-five billion would easily take months, so they were bound to be too late.