Chapter 1842 - The Eighth Sword Strike

Tianming was wearing a really weird expression. He had gone to the Astraldome and had seen much. The fact that Yu Ziqian had made so much progress in his cultivation meant that he was on par with the geniuses of skypiercer-class worlds, yet he was just a normal human with no totems or lifebound beasts. Even the bloodline he had inherited from his parents wasn’t really worth mentioning, yet he was starting to catch up to Ye Chen.

"Well... that's mostly thanks to my portable grandpa. You know how I am. I'm in a pill advancement phase right now. For all I know, I could turn back into a constellier in a matter of days when I hit a receding phase. How can I compare to someone like you? You're fighting against the hegemon of the sun himself and are even considered the top elite of the Myriad Solar Sects! You're a universal miracle!" Yu Ziqian agitatedly said.

"Alright, enough flattery." Tianming rolled his eyes and got him to shut up.

"But I really can't control my passion for what you've done!"

Tianming didn't have much time to catch up. "Alright, I still have affairs to tend to, so a longer talk will have to wait. Feng will be needing quite a lot of pills now that he's here, so do send some to him if you get something good."

"No problem!" Yu Ziqian smacked his chest and shuffled over suspiciously. "Well... I have a gift for you as well.... These are the good stuff. Do you want them?"

"What are they?"

"Pleasure balls, of course! You'll get to enjoy all the fun of plowing without worrying about any seeds being sown!"

"Hey, do you think I'm that kind of person?" Despite saying that, Tianming took a bunch of them and pocketed them in his spatial ring.

"Hehehe...." Yu Ziqian watched as Tianming left, snickering oddly all the while. He continued muttering, seemingly talking to the Ultimate Pill God. "The Voidsky Organization... Voidsky Organization!" His entire body shuddered as his gaze and face paled. A layer of powder seemed to cover his face, ears, eyes, and even his nose. When a gust of wind blew by, the powder scattered and his facial features seemed to vanish as well. The only thing that remained was the bright 'sky' stigma on his forehead.

......

For now, only Tianming, Long Wanying, and the Saintdragon Emperor were aware of Skywolf's approach. Tianming hadn't told the Northdipper Swordsage or the rest about it for now. They were still contemplating what kind of chaos news like that would cause. If the spark of hope they had ignited after so much hardship were to be extinguished, it would give the sun emperor a great opportunity.

"Tianming, what do you think the sun emperor's next move will be after he finishes charging the Divine Sun Palace?" The Northdipper Swordsage and the rest wanted to know the same thing.

"So far, the Divine Sun Palace hasn't moved," Tianming said.

"At all? Isn't he in a rush?" Fushen Gongyi said.

"I thought he’d come straight for our Frostsoul Imperium," said the Frost Empress.

"The three hundred million celestial orderians are still heading south from five different directions. Some of them might regroup, and others might attack straight away. If I were the sun emperor, I’d gather all of my troops together and take out our separate forces one by one. That would make things really hard for us, since that's where we fall short. For them, splitting up their troops across multiple fronts will only result in more losses," Long Wanying said.

"That's right...." Their next crisis would come if the three hundred million troops chose to take out the sects as one united force.

"Even though we, the Empyrean Sword Sect, took in so many cultivators from second-rate sects, we might fall even faster than the Fushen Clan if they attack with all their troops at once along with the Divine Sun Palace," the Northdipper Swordsage said. While their defensive formation was powerful, it wouldn’t be enough to deal with three hundred million troops on the ground. "We’re indeed relegated to a really passive position. All we can do now is reinforce whoever gets attacked. We can only react. Thankfully, the Divine Sun Palace can't transport three hundred million troops, so it’ll take quite some time for them to march from place to place. We have some leeway in that regard."

Either way, the alliance was still at a disadvantage. Every remaining first-rate sect faced even more risk than the Fushen Clan had.

"With the Divine Sun Palace now dormant, the three hundred million troops will need days to move to any first-rate sect. We should make final preparations, whether it be fortifications or reinforcements," the Saintdragon Emperor said.

"That's right. We should also have enough time to move all the elite refugee cultivators to first-rate sects," the Northdipper Swordsage said.

"Tianming, what’ll we do about the normal folk in the territories that the celestial orderians conquer?" Yan Lingxian asked.

"For now, they aren't touching the normal folk, unlike back at the Azurecloud Continent. We're fine on that front at least," Tianming said. Had Li Tianyi not burned down the Azurecloud Divine Tree, the Azurecloud Continent would still have suffered just as many casualties.

"Just because the sun emperor isn't doing anything to them now doesn't mean that he won't enslave all of them after he unifies the sun," the Northdipper Swordsage said.

Tianming, Long Wanying, and the Saintdragon Emperor exchanged glances. They were even more perplexed about the sun emperor's motivations than before. Was there really a need for conflict between the celestial orderians and the Myriad Solar Sects when an enemy from another world was approaching? Was it just for vengeance?

There was nothing the alliance could do but prepare. The core of their efforts still lay with the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Even though it was countered by the Divine Sun Palace, it was the only way the alliance could send reinforcements.

"I will be going to take a rest. Just notify me if something happens," Tianming said, then retreated to the inner hall. He had been pondering the sun emperor's next move with the seniors, but they always came up short. Instead, he turned his focus to mastering the eighth strike of the Ninedragon Tribulation.

"This technique doesn't just make me stronger, it also gives me more control over the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. If it can be used as a warship like the Divine Sun Palace, the Myriad Solar Sects wouldn't have to be so passive."

After mastering the sixth move, the wheel formation had appeared, allowing him to pilot the ship. Then the star map had appeared after he mastered the seventh move, allowing him to navigate between Orderia and Violetglory as well as locate Skywolf and other heliacal-class worlds. What would mastering the eighth strike unlock?

The issue was the difficulty. If the Saintdragon Annihilation was already that complex, the eighth move would no doubt be even more troublesome. In fact, it was harder than normal eighth-realm divine arts. He would need superhuman willpower to calm his heart and work on his swordsmanship despite the mounting pressure. Even after two hours, he still had no idea about the move and it was only growing more confusing. The approach of Skywolf and the threat Flameyellow was under weren’t things that could be easily solved.

"I better try to calm down." He stood at the window and looked into the distance, solemnly thinking of Li Wudi and Qingyu. "Be still, my heart." He took a deep breath and suddenly thought of going to Soulburn Hall to look at the snow. The chill there would surely serve as a good way for him to calm down. There was no way he would be able to make progress on the eighth strike with his mind in that state.

He activated the heavenly locus formation and sat within it. He hadn't gone into the wondersky realm for quite some time. When he arrived, he felt the chill of the snow. All of a sudden, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind, a familiar warm body snuggling close against his back.