Dozens of people immediately stood out to shield Huang Chonghuan. But unexpectedly, he immediately ran for his life after he finished shouting. Only the Grand Divine Legion was left behind to bear the charge from the dao palace and Jiang Ling’s powerhouses.

This battle was a lot harder, and there were more people from the Theocracy coming over. This was their territory, after all, and they had thousands of sky saints stationed here. The group had to face enemies ten times their number, and most of the firepower was concentrated on people like Weisheng Yunxi.

But Tianming didn’t have it any easier. Everyone knew that he was important, and it would be a huge merit if anyone could kill or capture him. So, many people were targeting him.

“Treating me as a pushover?” Tianming sneered. He, Ying Huo, Meow Meow, Lan Huang, Ye Lingfeng, and the Soulfiend had formed a small group. When they joined the battle, they immediately entered the Azure Oceanic Purgatory. Coupled with Feiling’s Temporal Field, they held the initiative.

“Li Tianming, you…!” Before a bald, middle-aged man from the Ancient Theocrats could finish his words, Tianming’s Three-Thousand Starfield plunged into his chest. With his internal organs falling from the resulting wound, he died right on the spot.

“Make atonement for your Nineshades Clan!” Tianming separated the Grand-Orient Sword into two and poured six thousand strands of Invincible Sword Ki into them. Flesh and blood splattered wherever he went. Even sky saints were unable to defend themselves.

“He’s already so powerful?!” Chong Yang threw a casual glance over amid the killing, witnessing how easy it was for Tianming to slaughter sky saints. With the Azure Oceanic Purgatory opening the path, everyone in Tianming’s way was in his grasp.

“Not even I can do that!” Jing Yue narrowed his eyes.

“He’s too heaven-defying! Even if His Highness beheads Dongyang Yun, how will he deal with Li Tianming in the future? With the potential Li Tianming is showing right now, it’s just a matter of time before he becomes stronger than Weisheng Yunxi!” Ling Xing’s face turned pale.

“I have no idea. Don’t forget about Li Wudi, either. We didn’t kill him when we went to the Grand-Orient Realm, and he’s probably already a ninth-level sky saint. He can certainly become an empyrean saint! Most importantly, he isn’t the same as Weisheng Yunxi. He’ll be the greatest threat to the Ancient Theocrats in the future,” said Jing Yue.

“You’re wrong. He’s already a threat now!” Chong Yang’s face was ugly.

“Is the dao palace planning to usurp the throne? Did His Highness make any preparations?” Jing Yue asked.

“Making preparations is one thing, but whether you can enact them is another. His Highness doesn’t have any alternative right now. Autarch Yun will kill him if he gives up on the throne, so forming an alliance isn’t wrong. The wrong lies in Autarch Qian’s death, and the two brothers starting their internal fight before getting rid of the dao palace! Most importantly, the dao palace has the Evil Suppression Formation. It’s impossible to eradicate them. His Highness doesn’t have a choice but to take the risk,” Chong Yang sighed.

“No matter what, the Theocrats have their foundation firmly rooted over tens of thousands of years. The dao palace is just the dao palace; they won’t dare to do anything as long as the Theocrats are unified. Otherwise, they’ll have a bad time ahead!” Jing Yue replied.

“No matter what, we must find an opportunity to take the Cyclic Mirror for His Highness after killing Dongyang Yun.”

“Understood!”

While they were discussing among themselves, the Decimo Dao Palace’s powerhouses had already torn apart the Grand Divine Legion’s defenses. Regardless of whether it was Dongyang Yun or Jiang Ling, they couldn’t compete with the Decimo Dao Palace in terms of powerhouses.

Furthermore, with Li Wudi coming into the picture, the two Dongyang brothers were inferior to the dao palace even if they were to work together. The top-tier powerhouses had greatly affected the battlefield. At the very least, their momentum was unstoppable as they charged into the Imperial City.

When Weisheng Yunxi, Li Wudi, Jiang Ling, Bai Mo, and Ye Yi, and the other four ninth-level sky saints charged, even the eighth-level sky saint, Huang Chonghuan, had run away. So who could stop them? On the contrary, Tianming had no idea how many sky saints he had slain so far.

……

“Li Tianming!” A middle-aged man came out of an alley riding a golden elephant. The golden elephant was covered in dragon scales, and dragon horns grew from its head. Tianming could see the seventy-six stars in its eye, showing that it was a mature empyrean beast. It was known as a Golden Dragon-Elephant.

“Who the hell are you?” Tianming looked at the blue-clothed man.

“Remember my name well. The person who will kill you is I, State Eunuch Wei Xiaotao!”

“Eunuch?” Tianming smiled. With a cold light flickering across his eyes, he continued, “Any last words before I send you on your way?”

“How dare you rebel against the Theocracy! His Majesty will surely execute nine generations of your family!” Wei Xiaotao raged.

“The Nineshades Clan still can’t put down their pride even now, I see. But what’s a eunuch like you feeling proud about?” Tianming sneered.

“What do you mean?” Wei Xiaotao was shocked. The dao palace was working for Jiang Ling, so how could Tianming call out the Nineshades Clan so casually?

“What I’m trying to say is… die!!” Tianming charged forth with his lifebound beasts. Lan Huang clashed against the Golden Dragon-Elephant, while Meow Meow and Ying Huo launched sneak attacks from the side.

“I’ll burst your golden balls!” 

The Golden Dragon-Elephant was only a seventh-order empyrean beast. Now that it was being dragged into the water by Lan Huang and electrocuted by Meow Meow’s lightning, it naturally couldn’t stop Ying Huo’s three thousand strands of Invincible Sword Ki from smashing into its balls.

The Golden Dragon-Elephant issued a loud cry and its face turned purple, catching Wei Xiaotao by surprise. He never expected that his lifebound beast would lose so quickly.

“Haha! My, my! Your lifebound beast is now a eunuch just like you! The two of you can share your experiences as eunuchs in hell! But as you’re more experienced, do provide more advice to your lifebound beast,” Tianming laughed.

“What rudeness!” Wei Xiaotao raged.

“Not only am I rude, but I’m also ruthless!” Tianming dashed forth. With the Celestial Wings and his sky saint physique, Tianming’s speed had reached a whole new level. It only took a blink of an eye for him to reach Wei Xiaotao.

Pouring six thousand strands of Invincible Sword Ki into his sword, he executed the Shenxiao Sword Art’s fourth move. With the two battle arts overlapping, Tianming swung his sword down.

He only took a single move to shatter Wei Xiaotao’s weapon, reducing it to fragments under the Invincible Sword Ki. Before Wei Xiaotao could even let out a scream, the Invincible Sword Ki had destroyed him and dozens of buildings. At the same time, Ying Huo flew into the Golden Dragon-Elephant’s mouth and unleashed its sword ki, killing it instantly.

“Done. Next!” Tianming clapped his hands together and went looking for his next prey, his three lifebound beasts following behind. When he turned around, he saw the three exalted ones, Chong Yang, Jing Yue, and Ling Xing, behind him.

“It has been a long time, exalted ones,” Tianming smiled.

“Yeah.” Chong Yang nodded. They had complex feelings, especially Jing Yue, whose hands were trembling.

“Well, I’ll be continuing my killing.” Tianming made a detour and left.

“Eunuch Wei was killed instantly. He was a sixth-level sky saint.... He’s somewhere around our level, right?” Ling Xing said with much difficulty.

“I’m thinking that the threat would’ve been vanquished if I’d killed him back then,” said Jing Yue.

“Yeah. There’s nothing we can do about it now. If we knew this would happen, we would’ve killed Li Tianming and Li Wudi back in the Grand-Orient Realm,” said Chong Yang.

“Yeah.…”

“Speaking of which, do we even have to be worried for the Theocrats?” Ling Xing asked.

“Without the Ancient Theocrats, there wouldn’t be an Ancient Qilin Clan. The appearance of Li Muyang is the sin of our clan, and we have to be held accountable for it. Worrying for the Ancient Theocrats is the same as worrying for the Ancient Qilin Clan. Don’t you understand that?” Chong Yang said in a solemn tone.

“That’s right!” Jing Yue immediately followed up.

……

“Lord Virtuous!”

“Save Lord Virtuous!”

Screams echoed out across the battlefield. Dongyang Yun’s army watched as a crimson-haired man hacked an old eunuch to death before picking up his head and laughing, “So, this is the famous Lord Virtuous, who possessed high authority in the Theocracy? What an awkward death for him!”

Lord Virtuous’ death had struck a heavy blow to the Imperial City’s morale.

“The dao palace is too powerful!”

“They’ve also got Jiang Ling who can stop them?!”

“The entire Theocracy only has one empyrean saint, Weisheng Yunxi. No one can stop her!”

“Where’s His Majesty? Did he escape?”

“Jiang Ling is being supported by the dao palace. They’re destined to win, so let’s just surrender.” 

Many people wailed. They felt despair when the Decimo Dao Palace and Jiang Ling had broken through the defenses and were about to reach the Imperial City.

Once they stepped foot into the Imperial City, it would be Dongyang Yun’s loss. By far, Dongyang Yun’s followers had already suffered heavy casualties.

“His Majesty has fled! So surrender!”

“His Highness, the Ninth Prince has returned!”

“His Highness is the new Primeval Autarch!”

Word spread like wildfire throughout the battlefield, shaking the morale of Dongyang Yun’s followers. Once they suffered a heavy blow to their morale, they would eventually crumble.

“Who said that I escaped?!” a roar echoed throughout the battlefield. A man wearing a fiery-red imperial robe stood among the Imperial Palace’s ruins. By his side were three Bloodwinged Flamefiend Hydras. The three hydras each had eighty-one stars.

Dongyang Yun was a triple beastmaster, and every single one of his lifebound beasts had eight heads. That meant his talent was infinitely close to the top in the entire Theocracy. In the Theocrats’ history, someone like him was fully qualified to be the Primeval Autarch.

The moment he appeared, his lifebound beasts soared into the sky. Dongyang Yun was the backbone of his followers, and his appearance had brought their morale soaring back up. After all, Dongyang Yun had risen through war, which was why he had the Saint Martial Manor’s support.

“Guardians of the Theocracy, come with me to punish the traitors! The Theocrats are undefeated!” Dongyang Yun roared.

“Undefeated!” Countless people echoed.