Chapter 1799 - One Hour

It took quite some time to accelerate the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb to its top speed, so ramming attacks could only be used once. Yet it alone had caused more than three hundred thousand deaths and a million injuries!

"Stop it!"

Blood and meat chunks splattered all over the place. Many brave wargodeans charged in with their lifebound beasts, intent on stopping the ship, yet the ship's mere turning motion allowed it to tear apart the enemies ahead of its sharp front. While Tianming was reveling in the carnage, the passengers felt sick from the sudden turn, so he brought it to a halt.

"Wow, I didn't think my piloting skills were that good!" He had parked the ship in the middle of the two armies and cut off the armies from each other.

Angry troops were about to charge at it, but the Deluge Emperor ordered, "Don't move! Let the ones inside come out first!" The more troops left the ship, the harder it would be for them to escape when the Divine Sun Palace arrived. What the sun emperor wanted them to do was to hold as many enemies back as possible.

"Yes!"

As they had expected, the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb's nine entrances opened. They also felt a shocking pressure from the troops packed within. No doubt, Tianming would use them to fight the bluebloods and wargodeans, since he supposedly didn't know better. That made the Deluge Emperor and Warlord short of breath. They looked each other in the eye, resolved to pay the heavy price. Tianming knew from their gazes alone what they had just realized: how much longer would it take the Divine Sun Palace to arrive now that the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was here? The golden transmission stones they had were just sub bodies, so they couldn't initiate communication with the sun emperor and could only wait.

"Defend as best as we can! Hold the enemy back. They won’t leave before they wipe us out! The longer we hold, the more we'll be rewarded!" The Deluge Emperor felt a little weird saying that.

"Do you feel the same?" the Warlord asked, his voice chilling.

"Somewhat. We don't know how much longer it'll take. Let's hope it isn’t too long."

"Yeah, otherwise we'd have been nothing but cannon fodder," the Warlord said, his brows furrowing. They were already deprived of choice, all they could do was hope for the best.

"Defend!" They changed their mindset and huddled together, expecting the sixty million enemy troops to swarm them. All the traitors felt their heart rates increasing. Yet something even weirder took place. After the doors of the ship opened, nobody came out. Instead, the thirty million troops outside erected defenses. They had tier-two solarians stand at the outermost circle with their lifebound beasts, forming a defensive perimeter. The remaining troops quickly retreated into the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Though there were those that also left the ship, the number of people entering it was far higher. Only the strongest solarians exited the ship for defense, among whom were Tianming and the Saintdragon Emperor.

"Why’re they retreating? There's only two hours left before Li Tianyi's reinforcements arrive. The enemy has twice our number and they’re unaware of the incoming Divine Sun Palace," the Deluge Emperor said, puzzled.

"Did they learn about it somehow?" the Warlord asked.

"Impossible. The speed of the Divine Sun Palace is faster than any transmission stone. The sun emperor wouldn't miss out on this chance to crush them in one go."

"If they really retreat, then the sun emperor would’ve revealed his trump card without any benefit...." If they failed to hold the enemy troops back, they would be blamed for ruining the plans.

"No, we have to stop them!" the Warlord said.

"Yeah!" They immediately informed their troops to prepare for an all-out attack.

"Allow me to enlighten you!" Tianming suddenly appeared near the two traitorous leaders with his hands behind his back, casually speaking without an ounce of fear. His divine intent seemed to be of a higher caliber than theirs, too, like he was someone of their age.

"What’re you trying to say?" the Warlord asked.

"The Divine Sun Palace will take another hour to arrive, which is time enough for me to take out ten or twenty million of your troops. However, that’ll also cost me my opportunity to retreat, so I'm not interested in that. Think about it, you two—it's one whole hour. Even if the celestial orderians win, how many of you will survive?" Tianming asked.

The Deluge Emperor and Warlord fell silent. They didn't think Tianming would really know about the Divine Sun Palace.

"An hour? So the Divine Sun Palace comes at your beck and call now?" the Deluge Emperor said, smirking.

"You're trying to stall for time by speaking nonsense. How childish," the Warlord said.

"You can work it out yourself whether an hour is accurate. You'll be dead either way. Thankfully, I don't wish to fight you today, or it'd be over for you," Tianming said with a chuckle. "Last warning: if you stall us, you’d better be ready to be wiped out." He turned away and left.

"You think we'll let you leave?!" The Deluge Emperor turned into a blue shade.

All of a sudden, Tianming turned back and struck with his decapath era godswords. Though his Omnisentient Threads mostly stemmed from the Myriaddragon Mountains, he could use them here, too. His totems were supercharged ten times over and shot out to impede the Deluge Emperor's path, sending him flying back. The sheer intensity of the strike was shocking to behold for both sides. The wargodeans and bluebloods immediately began wondering whether the rumors they had heard about were true. Tianming, a cultivator in his twenties, had actually sent a sect master like the Deluge Emperor flying back!

"Kill him!" the Warlord and Deluge Emperor cried, though it was clear to see that the morale of the troops had dropped. The troops on Tianming's side continued defending. The strong gathered near the outer perimeter, allowing the weaker troops to board the ship. The Ninedragon Army's discipline was on full display yet again. It didn't take too much time for thirty million to board thanks to the large entrances, allowing the retreat to swiftly take place.

Some combat took place near the outer perimeter, but it wasn't on a large scale. The traitorous side didn't seem too resolute in fighting. They were turncoats, after all, so they wouldn't fight with their lives on the line. All they did was put on a show. Then the news of attacks on their homes finally reached them, further demotivating them. Even after the Deluge Emperor and Warlord told them about the impending arrival of the Divine Sun Palace, it didn't change anything.

Thanks to the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, the troops on Tianming's side had a firm foundation for their defense to build upon. Coupled with Tianming's rampage, the Ninedragon Army was really putting up a good showing. The difference in the two sides’ morale put their abilities in wholly different leagues. Only those who were at risk of dying in the first place would fight with their lives.

Eventually, the sixty million troops and the five sects of the Land of Three Skies were fully aboard the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. They would be retreating behind the Aeonic Infinidragon Formation right away. The Divine Sun Palace was only half an hour away, so if they didn't leave soon enough to not be pursued on the way back, things would turn out horribly for them.

"Retreat!" With a loud burst, the divine astralship soared into the sky, leaving behind clouds of dust. The wargodeans and bluebloods haggardly stood there as they watched them leave. The normal troops didn't even know what happened and were completely oblivious to how heart-wracking all of this was to Tianming.

The Divine Sun Palace’s activation was a fierce move on the part of the sun emperor that was basically a declaration of his comeback. But thanks to Yin Chen and the others who helped in the planning, they were adequately prepared, which greatly reduced their losses and helped them avoid total elimination. The only loss was the territories of those second-rate sects, but that was far better than the total elimination of the Myriad Solar Sects.

"We were almost taken out by the sun emperor in one fell swoop!" Many people felt rather perturbed when they learned the truth during the voyage.

"While we managed to avoid disaster this time, the return of the Divine Sun Palace is a problem that’ll continue to haunt us. If we don't deal with it, we're done for all the same."

The celebratory mood after escaping total elimination didn't last long at all.

......

"Just in time, one hour." The Deluge Emperor and Warlord had been counting the time. They looked ahead and saw the Divine Sun Palace approaching them like a miniature star, setting the ground and sky around it on fire. They didn't feel any agitation at all, only endless dread. If Tianming hadn't left, all thirty million of them might have fought to the death, leaving only the celestial orderian troops that came later to claim victory while trampling over their corpses.