Chapter 1800 - Pointless Effort
The golden hair on the gigantic head fluttered in the wind, each strand looking like a flaming dragon as it emanated waves of heat. The head’s eyes were two miniature nova sources, burning so strongly that even the rocks nearby caught fire. The commotion of the Divine Sun Palace could be heard from afar. It seemed to project a field of absolute savagery around it, making every celestial orderian, blueblood, and wargodean near it feel a dry thirst as their hearts beat faster and faster. It felt like countless mountains were bearing down on them from above, and that included the Deluge Emperor and Warlord. Even the two strongest elites from those factions felt like they were being cooked by the Divine Sun Palace. Even though they had been mentally prepared for its arrival, they were still completely overwhelmed.
"Just looking at the Divine Sun Palace instills an instinctual fear even in us, let alone its prey," the Deluge Emperor said, his voice hoarse. The dread in his eyes gradually cleared up and gave way to savage passion. As one of the exiled celestial orderians, his purpose was to bring the bluebloods closer to the celestial orderians until they truly returned to their embrace, much like the soul tribulators and godbladers. The Deluge Emperor finally had a chance to do just that.
"The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb is huge, but it's only a beast of burden compared to the Divine Sun Palace, which is an outright apex predator," the Warlord said, his eyes shining bright. While beasts of burden could charge and ram, they didn't have the claws needed for the hunt. Even so, the two of them were quite nervous, as they had failed to complete their task. No doubt, the sun emperor had witnessed all that had happened.
"The sun emperor wanted to take care of the Myriad Solar Sects in one go...." And they ruined it! However, what really perturbed them was Tianming's one-hour prediction.
The gigantic head descended and slammed into the ground, causing fractures to form. Terrifying heat wafted over everyone present as the ground turned into a sea of golden flames. While the wargodeans were still fine, the bluebloods couldn't really stand the fire despite being totemancers. The thirty million troops felt like their hearts were being burned away. Even though they knew they were being used as cannon fodder, they were still fearfully respectful of the sun emperor. They all looked as the man descended!
The golden head opened its mouth, revealing endless flames within, out of which a man with flaming golden hair stepped. Each step he took caused the ground to quake. After two whole years, they had finally seen Sun Emperor Wudi once more! His aura was quite different from those of Sovereign Starfeather and Sovereign Brightscorch. He seemed far more feral and savage, and his pure domineering aura tended to make people kneel and look down. It was a little similar to the air the Warlord and wargodeans gave off, but it was clear which side was superior. Despite the Warlord's huge physique, he seemed like a mere servant of the sun emperor.
"All hail the sun emperor! May Your Majesty's mighty conquest sweep the lands unabated!" The Warlord and Deluge Emperor knelt alongside their subordinates, greeting the sun emperor in unison.
The next instant, the sun emperor came to the Warlord and Deluge Emperor. His flaming eyes made him look like an ancient divinity. With a resonant, booming voice, he asked, "Where’s my prey, gentlemen?" The question was filled with a hint of discontent. He had held back his tricks until the last moment and rushed all the way there. He hadn't come to see those two at all! Yet they were all that remained, while Tianming and his sixty million troops were nowhere to be seen. That made his previous preparation and patient waiting quite awkward.
"Your Majesty, after you notified us about the plan, we did our best to stop them. Li Tianming soon arrived with the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and obtained numerical superiority over us, yet they didn't engage us in combat. Instead, he took the thirty million troops with him even though we did our best to prevent it. We were unable to stop them from boarding their divine astralship, as they had far too many people," the Warlord said.
"The reason he was so careful is because he’d learned of the Divine Sun Palace beforehand. The troops of the Fushen Clan and Frostsoul Imperium also mounted a retreat, even though the Divine Sun Palace can catch up to even the fastest transmission stones. We believe that Li Tianming might have a way of initiating instant communication, as well. He probably received word of the Divine Sun Palace's departure the moment it happened and reacted," the Deluge Emperor added. He had considered the possibilities for a long time and finally came to the only reasonable explanation.
The main problem was that Tianming had known about the Divine Sun Palace's activation in time for a retreat to be mounted. The sun emperor fell silent at those words. It was a heavy silence that the Deluge Emperor and Warlord found rather hard to bear. They knew that the sun emperor seldom fell silent like this. The last time it happened was the battle of the Myriaddragon Mountains; he hadn’t even fallen silent after the battle of the Azurecloud Continent. The only explanation was that a brat like Tianming had managed to give him real trouble.
"Hehehe, that’s interesting. I wanted to wipe out the Myriad Solar Sects in one go with the Divine Sun Palace, yet it was all for naught. Is this a joke?" He broke out in a cheerful laugh, yet those around him didn't dare to join in. They knew that this situation was displeasing for the sun emperor, to say the least—embarrassing, in fact. He was just trying not to express those feelings.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. With the Divine Sun Palace, the Myriad Solar Sects are already in shambles and are no longer something to fear," the Deluge Emperor said in a congratulatory tone.
The sun emperor didn't respond positively or negatively to that. Instead, he looked beyond the Deluge Emperor and the Warlord toward the south. "It probably isn't instant communication. Based on what happened, I believe the brat has eyes that can see anything and ears that hear everything everywhere, including this conversation we're having now."
"How could that be possible?!" The two were completely stumped and terrified. That wasn't something even gods were capable of.
However, the sun emperor didn't seem intent on digging deeper. If there were no more secrets to be kept, planning for a strategy in battle was a pointless effort. He had come up with elaborate plans like this twice, once with the Veildragon Palace and the other with the Divine Sun Palace, yet they had both been laughably useless. He didn't want to play the game by Tianming’s rules anymore.