Chapter 2565 - The Sun Arrives
Over the following days, the Star Hunters’ actions didn't deviate from the expectations of Lin Xiaodao and company. However, having experienced the previous ‘significant losses’, Lin Xiaodao had reasons to strengthen his vigilance. Subsequently, the Star Hunters’ attempts to steal and plunder weren’t particularly fruitful and the Myriadstar Zone didn't continue suffering losses.
After such a major haul, the Star Hunters seemed much less anxious. Each time they gained new goods, they needed time to digest, sell, and do logistics. The replenishing of the miniature nova sources in their astralships also took time. Little did they know that Tianming's plan had already succeeded!
When the Star Hunters stole hundreds of unowned nova sources, a large amount of Yin Chens were concealed within! It had then taken advantage of the situation to infiltrate numerous astralships. Before they departed from the range of its perception, it had already stealthily followed several influential figures among the Star Hunters into the core of their flagship, the Traceless.
However, just as Yin Chen spread out and concealed itself inside, the Traceless and the other astralships left its range of perception. The individual Yin Chens that had entered went into a state of dormancy, awaiting the moment the Traceless returned to its range. In the subsequent attacks by the enemy, each time they neared Gladeus, Yin Chen had the opportunity to expand.
Tianming and Lin Xiaodao now had an even better grasp of the movements of the Star Hunters and were just waiting for the right moment to strike and wipe them all out.
……
The affairs of the Myriadstar Zone continued to be managed by Lin Xiaodao while Tianming mainly focused on Inferno Imperatoris.
Inside the mural chamber of the Gladean Ruins.
"If I can master this attack, the fusion shouldn't be far away." While learning the Inferno Imperatoris, Tianming didn't forget to consolidate the Carnage Imperatoris. He simultaneously learned and fused the two; he felt that the key lay in the orders!
"I'll start by looking for commonalities between my infernal and genesis orders. Once I firmly grasp the Inferno Imperatoris, the fusion of the two attacks should naturally follow." Tianming found that he had a strong foundation in both infernal and genesis orders, or fire and lighting, in other words. His imperial and lifesbane wills, on the other hand, were elusive and difficult-to-comprehend paths.
"While my infernal and genesis orders are equally difficult to comprehend, they have concrete images. Fire is fire, lightning is lightning. Explosiveness, wildness, and destructive power are their common characteristics." Using Carnage Imperatoris was a shortcut for pondering Inferno Imperatoris.
Every day, Tianming and Ying Huo danced with the flaming divine dragons. In the beginning, those dragons attacked and sought to kill them. Their caeli endured scorching heat and pain while using infernal order to gain the recognition of the sixteen flaming dragons.
They explored every arcane change in them. The marks on every dragon scale, every movement of their dragon claws, fangs, and tail. The essence of Inferno Imperatoris was hidden within the sixteen divine dragons.
A single inferno character that filled the world contained four individual fire characters. One sword, four fires, sixteen dragons. The roar of the fire dragons was the furious shout of Imperator Inferno.
Tianming immersed himself in it, forgetting the passage of time and often finding that dozens of days had passed in a blink. The fiery dragons went from suppressing him to soaring through the sky alongside him, before finally twining around his arms to guide him in Inferno Imperatoris!
At that moment, Tianming realized that these sixteen fiery stellar dragons had combined into one, becoming an imperator of the flameyellow divinities. He wore a golden dragon robe and a purple gold jade crown, resembling a giant proudly standing in the heavens while surrounded by halos of fire.
His hands and feet seemed like dragon heads. The image made Tianming think of a very important figure in the sun’s history—the Ninedragon Emperor! "It's said that he eventually went to the Primodragon World!"
The resemblance between the Ninedragon Emperor and this imperator was so striking that Tianming couldn't help but wonder if there was a connection between the two, but he didn't know for sure. He only knew that Imperatores Carnage and Inferno were undoubtedly mighty individuals who had once swept across the astralscape of order.
"Do supreme existences all have giant forms?" They actually seemed somewhat like the totems of totemancers. Of course, they weren't spiritual bodies, but actual ancient gods.
Imperator Inferno’s appearance meant that Tianming had taken a very important step in the cultivation of his sword technique and had reached a minor level of mastery in it. It was slightly faster than Carnage Imperatoris. "It can only mean that my foundations for lightning and fire are incredibly solid. Of course, the supreme status of infernal and genesis orders must’ve also played a decisive role.”
The next step was fusion.
But before that, there was an episode. Ying Huo lived up to its identity as a Primordial Chaos Beast, grasping Inferno Imperatoris in half the time it took Tianming! While it had already figured it out and left, Tianming was still there. Naturally, Ying Huo couldn't resist mocking him. "Go ahead, call me Daddy."
Ying Huo flew in circles above his head.
"Don’t get too cocky, little chicken, go away."
Pleased, Ying Huo happily went out to play.
The latter part was for Tianming alone.
The Grand-Orient Sword had an advantage for practicing fusion sword strikes. It could be split in two and be used to multitask. Tianming could use both Carnage and Inferno Imperatoris together, and with both swords in action, the path of fusion opened up.
He didn’t feel that the process was difficult; it just required practice. Thus, he practiced again and again. But it wasn't enough.
The Skydome Battlefield was teeming with opponents. For the time being, Tianming didn't go to the Skyhold Bridge. Although the opponents in the Skydome Battlefield were slightly inferior in quality, they were sufficient for him to practice against, and the quantity made up for it.
Furthermore, the Skydome Battlefield allowed him to close off the spectator view and reduce the level of commotion. Many opponents were turned to ash by his two swords before they even saw him as intertwined lightning and fire wreaked havoc and devastation!
……
In the blink of an eye, another three years passed. Tianming's fusion sword attack had entered its final stage and only he knew how strong it was. "At the very least, my advantage in battle arts has surpassed most cosmic cartographers. If I continue to fuse more attacks like this, there probably won’t be many people in the Infinitum Mundus who can compare to me. It’ll be an important advantage that allows me to challenge higher-level opponents."
The Imperator's Mural had arrived at the perfect time.
At that moment, more than six years had passed since Ji Ji and the Reaper had set out to fetch the sun. And finally, the sun was nearly here.
Transmission stones from Gladeus could now reach the sun, and the Yin Chens on it would soon enter its main bodies’ range. That meant the sun was even closer to the Myriadstar Zone than the Star Hunters were.
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