Chapter 4427 - Quasi Imperator
After sending off the wondersky fairy, Tianming returned to the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb to join up with Zi Zhen. "The wonderians' plans in the Lower Star Ruins have been completely ruined by the Perpetual Wonderqueen. They might make a move soon, so I need you to keep an eye out."
Zi Zhen gave him a side-eye. "Are you going back to the Realm of Chaos soon?"
Tianming nodded. "I feel the coming of a storm. I need to grow stronger in preparation for that, so going back to get more dazzling radiances is my only choice."
"Rest assured and go. With me around, that woman won't be able to cause any trouble," Zi Zhen said, referring to the wondersky fairy. She might act obediently at the moment, but it never hurt to be prepared.
"You make it sound like I'm not coming back," Tianming said, giving her a light pinch.
"Who knows? Maybe you'll be so happy with those imperator wives of yours that you won't want to come back."
"You know that it won't happen. Not to mention, I might have to wage a final battle against them this time around."
"Final battle? What kind of final battle?"
"Not the kind I have with you at any rate!" Tianming almost burst out laughing.
He told her a few more things before leaving. His instructions were for the entire Sun to be sealed off so that they would be able to react as quickly as possible no matter which side made a move first.
Right as he was about to leave, a bolt of lightning emerged from his left hand. Meow Meow looked pitifully at him with a groggy expression. "Are we leaving already? You said that you would let me ride that top-tier mount!"
"Cat Bro, it's been thirty years! You still remember that?" Ying Huo was stunned.
"Huh? Thirty years?" Meow Meow was shocked at the passage of time. It had broken through in its sleep! Tianming was so speechless that he didn't know how to deal with them.
Soon, he went to the pathway to the Realm of Chaos and saw Mu Qingqing. She had been waiting quietly there for thirty years. When she saw him once more, her eyes lit up with color.
"How has the Realm of Chaos been lately?" Tianming asked.
"Nothing much has changed since you left." She looked intently at him and said, "You broke through again."
"That's right. You look just like a child to me now. Come to think of it, I'm not that far off from your main body in size now, right? I haven't seen it before."
"You're almost catching up," she said with a bitter smile. "I spent a hundred millennia to reach the heights that I have. Yet, it took you almost no time at all since your return to catch up."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Tianming felt that she didn't really seem intent on exploring the matter, so she didn't press the question. "After breaking through, my combat power in the Realm of Chaos should be just shy of that of the imperatores. I should be able to fight Lin Xiaoting now. However, it's still not enough. I'm just one step away from reaching the level of imperatores. I need another batch of dazzling radiance. That's the hardest part."
Mu Qingqing looked at his massive form and gently said, "Tianming, don't rush it. Everyone will figure out a way for you."
"I can't afford to not rush it. I'm even more certain now that the nine Aeternal Beings are controlling the events that unfold in the Realms of Chaos and Order. I caused quite a lot of trouble on both sides, but they didn't seem to show any sort of reaction. So, they must be waiting for an opportunity, and once that comes, we'll lose the initiative to them."
Mu Qingqing agreed with his assessment. She was well aware of all that, but she simply couldn't bear to see him pushing and tiring himself out so much.
"I've decided on something to make sure we keep the initiative," he said with a resolute expression. "Let's go. I need to talk to my dad about something important."
"What important thing?"
"Just come with me." He kept it to himself at the moment and decided to take her along. Though Nullity was led by Li Muyang, most of Nullity's people were from the Mu Clan. Mu Qingqing was the spiritual leader of the world in a sense.
Tianming converted ordered power to chaotic power and returned to Nullity with Mu Qingqing. When they reached Plunderlord Palace, Nullity's people became ecstatic once more. Li Muyang, Wei Jing and Li Tianzi were waiting in the palace. The family was all there.
"Tianming, you've grown again," Li Tianzi said, smiling as he gave his shoulder a firm pat.
"You were able to defeat an eighth-level primocosmic god when you were fifty thousand meters tall. I'm sure ninth-level ones wouldn't be a problem now, right?" Wei Jing said, giving him a loving look.
"Of course. I can defeat Lin Xiaoting with a single punch, easily," Tianming said.
"There you go running your foul mouth again," Wei Jing said with a chuckle.
"Good. It seems like your trip to Vermillion Bird wasn't a waste," Li Tianzi said.
The atmosphere of the reunion was quite relaxed. Tianming learned from Li Muyang that the two busibodies in the Realm of Chaos hadn't made any moves lately. Even so, there was a tense buildup of tension in the undercurrents.
"By the way, how does our troop number compare to those of violetblitzians and the firemaple's?" Tianming asked, recalling his earlier decision.
Li Muyang pondered a moment. "Nullity has a standing army of eight billion, but most of them are stationed at key locations. Not many can be mobilized. As for the violetblitzians, they have more than fifteen billion. The firemaples have around eight as well."
"That many, huh..." Tianming was rather surprised. "Seems like wiping out ten billion troops at the Ruinless Zone didn't really count for much."
"That's not the same," Li Tianzi said. "The troops that are able to enter the Ruinless Zone are younger than a hundred thousand years old, so they're made up of young geniuses of Yueling and the violetblitzians. However, the standing armies of those starcages mostly comprise heavencosmic gods above that age, which make them far larger in number."
In other words, Yueling and Violetblitz still had their regular fighters at their disposal. The Ruinless Zone's battles hadn't affected the bigger picture much.
With a serious look, Tianming said, "I still don't know what kind of plan the Aeternal Beings are planning..."
"If there's something you want to say, you should give it to us straight," Li Muyang said.
"I've had enough of being in this kind of position. I don't wait to passively wait until disaster happens. I'm not used to it!"
"So?" Li Tianzi asked.
"Currently, keeping the peace seems like all the rage in the entire Realm of Chaos these days. But the most that can buy us is time to grow. But why should we always be the peacekeepers? Why should we always be in the position for others to make trouble for us? Can't we be the ones to wage war and invade? Conquer the Realm of Chaos?
"I'd rather take the initiative to attack instead of waiting like sitting ducks for something to happen. We can't be like sheep who don't know when the slaughterer is coming for us. Instead, we need to be wolves in sheepskin! We'll bite them before they even see us coming!"