Chapter 2002
The perfect star that was love at first sight for the mysterians was just beneath them, yet an invincible nemesis stood in their way! The Flameyellow Coffin, boosted by the Flameyellow Guard Formation, burned a golden red like a gigantic flaming pillar. The two pall bearers’ hair magnificently burned, their visages radiating the divine. They seemed like stout devotees of the sacred flame.
The sun emperor in front, especially, looked like an incarnation of the sun itself. He was its representative and ruler! His laughter echoed through the astralscape, mocking Tianming for being tied down by the ‘lower lifeforms’ of the Myriad Solar Sects despite having such a bright future. He was doomed to die because of them. "You can't even tell the difference between which lives are worth more.... You make a mockery of the concept of hierarchy! Such sentimentality has no value to anyone but yourself! Someone like you can't possibly be a ruler. You’re too kind, too naive. You don't have the ruling instinct."
The way the sun emperor saw it, people were ranked and valued differently. His own life was far more valuable than the lives of the twenty billion people of the Myriad Solar Sects. If it were him, he would immediately choose to abandon them and return a millennium later to avenge them. Tianming's decision to stay, however, couldn't make him more elated. He found it fortunate that the brat didn't think like him. If he did leave with the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, I wouldn't be able to have any peace.
That provided a chance for the sun emperor. All of his efforts had been building up toward this moment. He stopped laughing, but continued breathing heavily. The coffin flared with angry flames containing his murderous intent. "Tianming, my son, I’m a man of principle, you see. While you’re indeed insolent, I respect your bravery. As long as you're willing to give your life today for the rebirth of the Flameyellow Imperial Star, I hereby swear that the beastmasters of your sects will have equal standing with my celestial orderians in the new world I create. Everyone will have the right to cultivate and proliferate and totems and lifebound beasts shall coexist. The two sides may even intermarry so that we may find our way back to becoming flameyellow divinities!"
He wasn't just telling Tianming that, but had also broadcasted his words using the Flameyellow Guard Formation for all to witness. It was plain moral kidnapping that would serve to tie Tianming down for good.
"If you still insist on escaping, you’ll be going against the core principle of your cultivation path. So even if you do manage to elude me, you may never reach the heights you need to be a threat to me. In fact, you'll have to pick a new cultivation path and start over. Perhaps your new path won’t involve the compassion you have so that you won't be threatened like this ever again... hahaha...." There was a beaming smile on his bronze face. As far as he was concerned, Tianming was still a huge problem, so he had to crush his morale first before actually starting the fight in order to considerably soften him up.
Slowly, the sun emperor approached. The countless denizens of the sun looked up, having heard the announcement about the rebirth of their world. They were unable to see the two prospective rulers above, but they could definitely feel their stifling presence.
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"We aren't able to escape, but fighting also seems like a dead end. Xian Xian and Yin Chen haven't finished evolving. Should we buy time for them? We may not have totems right now, but we can still hold him back with all of us! Buying time isn't a humiliating thing, right?" Ying Huo said, wings on its hips.
"It's not, not that we should care." Tianming wasn't an inflexible person. Faced with the sun emperor who bore the impetus of the sun, it was more than likely that Tianming and only three lifebound beasts would be giving their lives away. But there was no way he would allow Ying Huo and the rest to die before he did. He was their beastmaster, and they were his responsibility.
"That's right. Just buy some time and let me sleep a little more to recharge. I’m the strongest when it comes to runn—I mean fighting," Meow Meow said, then rolled over on its back and splayed its four legs in the air. It really did fall asleep!
Tianming checked on Xian Xian and Yin Chen. They were giving it their all, but the process of evolution required time. Once more, the Flameyellow Coffin and its carriers came charging. It was time to decide whether to run or to fight.
With a loud boom, the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb suddenly surged with power, avoiding a collision with the coffin.
"Are you really going to run?!" the sun emperor roared, stirring the flames of the Flameyellow Guard Formation. They shot toward the ship like a storm right away.
Tianming ignored the sun emperor and focused on piloting the ship, accelerating as much as he could. However, he wasn't trying to escape! The coffin could only travel fast near the Flameyellow Guard Formation. Once Tianming entered the astralscape above, neither the coffin nor the Divine Sun Palace would be able to keep up.
To the sun emperor's relief, Tianming didn't leave the sun. Instead, he was flying loops around the star, a clear signal that he was going to stay. However, that didn't mean that he would be fighting the sun emperor head-on, either.
"Vying for time, is it? You may buy a few days, but you won’t be able to run for your whole life." The sun emperor turned into a tornado and charged toward Tianming.
Given the astralship's mass, it wasn't able to engage its full speed while under the flaming cloud layer to prevent collisions, but right above the Flameyellow Guard Formation was the wide expanse of space. The coffin wouldn't be able to keep up there, much to Tianming's benefit. There was still a way to buy time.
The gigantic astralship rapidly orbited the sun, with the sun emperor and his coffin awkwardly giving chase. It was almost a joke to witness.
"Li Tianming, I'm not in the mood for your wasteful antics. Should you not wish to fight, keep wasting your time up here while the nightmare unfolds down there!" He was losing his wits, but Tianming merely ignored him; speed was the only advantage he had. At the same time, he took out the Grand-Orient Sword. Looking at the boundless stars outside, he started practicing his swordsmanship.
The universe was vast and majestic, yet, all the deadly threats he had faced in recent times, all of his pent-up feelings and struggles, and his will to resist... he channeled all of it into his sword.
"What do you think you can achieve at this point in time? Once that crazy fellow behind you can't catch up, he'll go around and abduct people to blackmail you. Perhaps he might even destroy the Flameyellow Continent if he's desperate. What is the point in practicing right now?" Ying Huo said, not being able to hold back. It thought that Tianming would lose his temper at its words, yet he simply feigned ignorance. His gaze was intensely focused on the sea of flames and the stars outside, as well as his sword.
The Flameyellow Continent.... Countless stray thoughts floated about in Tianming’s mind, blending in with the feelings of his fifty billion believers. Nothing but the universe, the sun, and the Grand-Orient Sword existed in his world. The sun emperor's threats, the destruction of the two Skywolf worlds, and the disaster faced by the innocents were all dead ends. When Ying Huo brought up the Flameyellow Continent, a human-shaped landmass surfaced in his mind's eye. That was the home he had grown up in. Like the imperial star, it was also called Flameyellow.
The sun emperor knows that I'm from the continent, so he definitely knows the people there are just as important to me as the Myriad Solar Sects. However, he's only ever threatened me using those on the sun, never those on the continent down below! I used to think that he would never threaten me with the people in the mortal world, but time has shown that he's someone who would stoop to any low to achieve his goals. So why isn't he attacking the Flameyellow Continent like Ying Huo said?
Chaos and confusion would only lead to death in a situation like theirs, so he did his best to keep his calm and tried to figure a way out of these dire straits. If he died, those that he cherished would perish as well. He would never be able to see Feiling again, not to mention his parents.