Chapter 2022
"That sun emperor is truly shameless! His control of the Flameyellow Coffin exceeded that of all his seniors and he even obtained some technique that made my soul fuse with his inside the coffin into a coffin soul, allowing him to control both bodies. He also used my identity as a flameyellow divinity to gain even finer control over the coffin, which allowed him to activate the Flameyellow Guard Formation, leading to all of... this," Wudi said.
Tianming finally understood how it all went down. It was no wonder the sun emperor had insisted on dominating Wudi before facing Tianming. Without Wudi, there would be no way for him to control the Flameyellow Coffin!
"Thanks to the coffin soul fusion, his cultivation and insights were passed down to me, allowing me to reach parity with him in power. Another miracle happened as a result of that: the appearance of my ninth bane-ring. It probably happened because of the reaction of my flameyellow divinity bloodline with the Flameyellow Coffin."
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"I see!" All in all, it didn't sound that complicated. Apart from the fact that the coffin could be used to enter the chaos skyjail, Tianming had more or less guessed the rest. "Godfather, after the battle at Fushen Valley, you chased me down and said that the gold-haired Wudi's your clone, and that he was insane. You claimed to be the real sun emperor. What's the deal with that?" He had been quite confused about it back then and hadn't figured out what it was about even now.
"Honestly, it was already a miracle that I could even survive inside the coffin. After I stole the solar wheel, I basically had no agency of my own. The sun emperor was the one that said those words, and his goals were clear. He knew what kind of threat you posed toward him and wanted you to get yourself killed at the Sky Palace, and you did just as he wanted. Little did he expect that you would actually manage to kill the voidheart worm, something even he wasn't able to do anything about."
The sun emperor had been acting all along, and Tianming had almost believed him. It was clear now that the sun emperor and Wudi were completely separate personalities. "In other words, you can control the coffin and the Flameyellow Guard Formation now?"
"More or less! I still have to fiddle with it, but it won't be a real issue," Wudi confidently said.
"Does that mean that the sun emperor really saw the light right before he died and made sure to leave your flameyellow divinity body intact?" Tianming asked.
"Him?" Wudi shrugged. "It's hard to tell what goes through the mind of a megalomaniac like him. Perhaps he just did it for his own ego. Knowing that he no longer had any hope, leaving a flameyellow divinity behind might be his way of fulfilling his ancestors' ambitions."
"He was a great man in his own way, I suppose," Tianming said with a hint of respect. The sun emperor had self-mockingly said that he was making amends, and it appeared he’d done something to that effect.
"By the way!" Wudi agitatedly slapped Tianming on the thigh. "Now that you have control over the Flameyellow Fusion Formation, I should transfer the control of the Flameyellow Coffin to you. You can be the true ruler of the sun with both of the formations."
"Don't! Keep it. I’m bound to roam the cosmic aether in the future. You should hold on to the coffin to defend the sun," Tianming said.
"What?!" Wudi shot Tianming a look of disbelief. Angered, he said, "You crook! What’re you planning to do this time?! Are you going to take over the whole place and toss the mess to me and expect me to clean it up like you did at the Decimo Dao Nation?! Don't even think about it. I only just managed to scrounge my life back and I want to indulge and party! I'm not the kind of person you want to leave in charge of such a huge nova source world!"
"Bullshit. What does the Decimo Dao Nation have to do with me? Palace Master Weisheng was the one that asked you to take over, not me. Not to mention, you just tossed that job to Old Ye! How dare you accuse me of pushing things onto you when I was the one who helped you out here?! What kind of father are you?" Tianming spat.
"Impudence! You dare blame me?!" Wudi said, almost speechless.
"I don't care. The coffin is yours. If someone comes to invade and you don't stand up against them, beware the wrath and curses of all sentient beings," Tianming gleefully said. Their conversation grew more and more unhinged as they felt the alcohol set in.
"Stupid brat, messing up your dad's life again.... I even wanted to roam free and easy...."
"Don't overthink it. You're basically a glorified security guard. I was never counting on you to go on conquests or maintain order and manage the nation," Tianming said.
"That's more like it," Wudi said, nodding. He didn't want to take any role that would require him to stand in the limelight.
"Not to mention, if you have the coffin with you, you'll be near the peak of strength like you were in the Grand-Orient Realm. If we take Qingyu and Feng into account, I suppose you'll be the fourth-ranked genius!"
"Are you throwing shade at me?"
"Know your limits. If my wife were here, you'd be number five."
"Now that you mention it, where is my precious daughter-in-law?"
"She's in a nova source world not far from here. She didn't come with us. I plan to build up my dynasty in the near future and move the subjects from the Flameyellow Continent here. Once everything’s in place, I'll go back to look for her."
"What’ll you do after that?"
"No idea. Maybe I'll just stay home if I have nothing better to do. This is my new main camp, after all, my turf. Given my level of power, I shouldn't have to take any risks as long as my cultivation isn't reaching any bottlenecks. Most importantly, I have to wait for Feng to regain consciousness before I can hatch my next lifebound beast."
"To think that I was the one who named your third... and now you already have five, and are expecting the sixth. You're surprisingly fertile, you know?"
"Shut up!"
The two of them joked around like old friends. The sun had grown far too large. Fortunately, the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was fast enough to reach the celestial orderian territory rather swiftly.
"There’s around a hundred thousand celestial orderian elites and they're all gathered together. I'll go to discuss some final details with them. They know that you used to be the sun emperor and would be more willing to acknowledge you, so you should at least show up to legitimize me. I don't need to tell you what to do, right?" Tianming asked.
"Just shut up and leave it to me. All you need is to drive this dragon around and strike some cool poses while you're at it," Wudi said.
"Great. I like it when you make things easier."
"Hey!"
Wudi descended from the skies. The elites below were sweating nervously, led by the sun empress. As the gigantic divine astralship flew past, seas of fire manifested below it, making the celestial orderians pale. The red-haired man landed right in front of them.
"All hail the Sun Emperor!" The sun empress slightly bowed her body and lowered her head, not daring to look up with her reddened eyes at all.
"Hail!" All the elites knelt one after another.
"No need for that. The sun has entered a new era. It’s a good thing for all of us," Wudi said.
"Understood."
Tianming watched from high above. The formation of his dynasty on the sun would be trouble-free from now on; all he needed to do was to hash out the details. "Sis Caiwei is really talented. It's about time I moved them all up here. Using the Flameyellow Coffin, I'll even be able to visit the chaos skyjail!"
The thought of Flameyellow reminded him of the grade-nine Grand-Orient Sword, the thing that had saved him in the critical moment. All of a sudden, his brows furrowed as he realized something in a panic. "The mysterians were the ones that sent the grade-nine sword here! Someone among them must have passed by. I wonder if the deliverer witnessed the war... and if they did, what would their reaction be?"