Beastmaster of the Ages

The five million people who’d acted like moths to a fire had lit the fury of all the second-rate sects. Getting them all to retreat should have been impossible. However, after hearing about the Windheed Pavilion, their heartbroken colleagues could make the only rational choice.

All the second-rate sects’ sect masters agreed with Tianming. On the continents without first-rate sects, second-rate sects were the pillars.

When the five sects from the Land of Three Skies retreated, it meant the Land of Three Skies had fallen. Now that all of the second-rate sects were retreating, it meant that two-thirds of the myriad sects’ territories had fallen! The remaining third belonged to the first-rate sects.

Such a decisive decision was painful, but a lizard that didn’t sacrifice its tail would die.

“The Windheed Pavilion used their determination to tell all of their brethren that leaving is the only way.”

Giving up on their fantasies was very hard, especially for anyone who had to give up on their home. However, Tianming bluntly let them know there was no other way. Hence, the greatest migration in Orderia’s history had begun, from the central regions of the sun southward.

All the while, the grand army of celestial orderians came from the north.

Those escaping were covered in soot and suffered the elements as they looked toward the south, their last hope. Fortunately, they had left quickly and resolutely enough, so the three hundred million strong army hadn’t caught up. The Divine Sun Palace alone wasn\'t able to stop them from scattering despite its lightning-fast speed.

The sun emperor announced to the world the fall of all the second-, third-, and fourth-rate sects to their glorious might, leaving only a few first-rate sects pitifully struggling. The day the celestial orderians unified the sun and became the true people of the sun was just around the corner.

……

On Great Saintdragon Peak, Tianming was constantly communicating with the first- and second-rate sect masters through Yin Chen.

Long Wanying said, "Tianming, there’s eighty million elite cultivators when you combine the power of all the second-rate sects. That\'s about three times the number in the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect. There\'s also three billion gods following them. We can’t accept any more people, the Myriaddragon Mountains is already filled to the brim." After absorbing all the third and fourth-rate sects, there really was nowhere for the second-rate sects to live. If it was too packed, the Myriaddragon Mountains territory would be too chaotic.

However, Tianming had a plan. “Send them all to the other first-rate sects. I’ll do the divvying up based on distance. We’ll prioritize the closest first.”

"Yes, that’ll improve the defenses of the first-rate sects. Although we gave up on the second-rate sects, we can’t give up on a single one of the first-rate sects."

The Northdipper Swordsage was pleased with these arrangements, as it meant Tianming hadn’t treated the rest as outsiders.

"Our Shenwu Dynasty will also try our best to accept our brethren heading south, so they can have a home and a base from which to take their revenge,” the Ninesun Martial Lord said in a low voice.

"There’s a problem on my end, though. My territory is smaller, as we\'re sandwiched between the Voidword Shrine and Dreamless Celestial Nation. If they cross those two areas, something may happen," Yan Lingxian from the Group of Celestial Maiden Halls said. Geographically, their location was a tad awkward.

"Then we\'ll use the others for now. You’re further away anyway," Tianming said. He had no intention of trusting the dreamless celestial emperor, so Tianming had never involved him in any of the discussions.

"There’s problems on my side too. My Frostsoul Imperium is deep in the sea. It\'s easy to defend and hard to attack, and not even the Divine Sun Palace is suitable for entering the Frostsoul Sea, let alone ordinary people. We have the most confidence in defending ourselves since the Divine Sun Palace is weakened, but it isn’t very realistic to bring people into the deep sea,” the Frostsoul Imperium’s Frost Empress said.

It was true. The Frostsoul Sea generally had ice- and water-type nova source, so there was a certain suppression of fire-type totems, making it easier to defend.

“Then we’ll mainly go with the Empyrean Sword Sect, Shenwu Dynasty, and Fushen Clan. I’ll immediately plot paths for all the sects based on their distances. Everyone, try your best to take away your critical things so that the orderians can’t benefit,” Tianming said.

“Yes!”

Yin Chen’s highly effective communication had bought some confidence from the second-rate sects’ sect masters. They finally knew how Tianming had killed the eight million scouts

However, Tianming had found out that every sect had quite a few who made the same choice as Fengling Suyu, which was to stay behind and die. On the low end, there would be tens of thousands. On the higher end would be millions. Most were old people. They knew their days were numbered anyway, so they didn’t want to die in foreign lands.

“We’ll leave some hope to the youngsters.…”

Hence, those who left began their journey to find hope for survival. Defeat in battle meant eternal slavery! That meant the beastmasters, outside of the wargodeans, had no path of retreat, and no choice but to die in battle.

Tianming had no time to be emotional, pained, or panicked. He fully focused his mind on plotting the escape routes for the second-rate sects and got the opinions of all the second-rate sects’ sect masters.

“Wait!” Tianming suddenly stopped with a frown.

“What?” Long Wanying asked.

“They can’t go to the Fushen Clan anymore.”

“Why not?”

Tianming stood up. “The Divine Sun Palace is moving. Its next target is the Fushen Clan!”

Now that he had sent all the second-rate sects packing, the sun emperor had experienced victory through sheer intimidation rather than spending effort and blood. Thus, he chose to target the Fushen Clan next!

“I’ll be going,” Tianming said.

“Where?”

“To support the Fushen Clan. The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb is closer to them. I’m confident I can bring people to their formation before the Divine Sun Palace arrives. We have a chance of resisting a half-power Divine Sun Palace.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you. If we can buy enough time at the Fushen Clan, we can help all the second-rate sects smoothly complete their migration.”