At least twenty thousand of the Primordial Sands members were still unable to fight. If they hadn't been cosmic gods, they wouldn't even have survived.
"These thirty thousand omnisentient threads are impressive...." Tianming didn't think that the battle would have had such a huge impact on the youths that they would bee his followers. He only needed to take one last step to bee a cosmic god!
He finally made up his mind. If I bee a cosmic god, I should be able to tap into the power from these geniuses even more. But.... Just then, Jiang Feifei, Lin Chaoge, and Ji Lin came to him.
"Lin Feng, we’ve gathered all the corpses of the ancestors with cosmic tribulation seas from the Starfall Pantheon totemancers." Jiang Feifei handed him a spatial ring, a look of worship in her eyes.
"Thanks a lot." Tianming received the ring, content that his simulacra would be able to grow once more.
"No need—we’re the ones who should be thanking you. Without you, the Eightpart Pantheons would be the ones trampling over our bodies with joy," she said.
Tianming wordlessly smiled.
"I heard that someone even stronger from the imperial lineages will be ing. What do we do next?"
"How many ninelives fruits have you collected?"
"About a hundred million, some of which were taken from the Eightpart Pantheons. They managed to ship a portion back to the Upper Star Ruin," Lin Chaoge said.
"Alright. I need you to ship the ninelives fruits and escort our injured rades back to the Primordial Sands. All of them."
"Huh?" Jiang Feifei, Lin Chaoge and Ji Lin had never imagined that that would be their next move. They had been prepared to keep fighting with Tianming.
"Brother Lin, we don't need rest. With the ninelives fruits, it won't be long before we can fight again," Lin Chaoge pressed.
"It isn’t about resting. Hear me out." Tianming bit his lip and pointed at the sky. "From the moment the Heavenly Dao Arena was deployed, everything you’ve done has been observed by the entire Eightpart Pantheons. There are already no secrets. There's nothing we can do on a large scale under those conditions."
"Didn't we just defeat their forces? We can occupy the lower ruins," Ji Lin said.
Tianming shook his head. "All we’ve defeated are geniuses from the Ten Desolate Starforges, not the Eightpart Pantheons as a whole."
"Alright...." Ji Lin looked down.
"Even more will be ing for revenge. There’s three things that can happen. First, they send only imperial-class geniuses who are seventh-level cosmic gods or stronger. They'd easily be able to kill us. We still can't really stop the likes of them.
“Second, they might send up to two hundred thousand people or more from the other royal lineages across the starforges, but the Primordial Sands won't be sending any more people. Staying behind is asking for death.
“The third scenario’s the worst of all. The royal lineages will assemble an army of young geniuses here. With the support of the Heavenly Dao Arena, we can't keep the lower ruins occupied for long.
"That's why I want you to retreat right away. The age limit of the lower ruins prevents an army of advanced elites from passing through, so there's no point in holding the fort. It won't even serve as a chokepoint for the real threats, so we'd be better off returning to the Primordial Sands to preserve your young talents. We'd also be able to join the true fight to protect your home."
Tianming did want them to stay behind, thanks to the omnisentient threads they provided him, but that would be too selfish of him. He wouldn't be able to protect all of them from the hordes of the Eightpart Pantheons. The Ten Desolate Starforges alone were enough to hold back the Primordial Sands.
Jiang Feifei and the rest seemed rather down. She said, "The enemy’s strong and numerous. The opening of the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins has been a huge nightmare for us. However, we were still able to e here to earn some merit and honor our ancestors!"
"Lin Feng, will you be ing to the Primordial Sands with us, then? We'll make sure the seniors know what you did for us!" Lin Chaoge said.
"I'll stay here for now," Tianming said.
"Why?" Lin Chaoge sounded disappointed.
"I want to wait until you finish laying a good foundation there before I go over. You know, being fashionably late and all that."
"You're lying," Jiang Feifei said.
Tianming chuckled, "Well, you got me. Actually, I have a friend who's still here, so I can't leave yet. Not to mention I can keep an eye on the enemy if I stay here. If I can defeat them, I will. If I can't, I'll flee."
He really wanted to go to the Primordial Sands, but Lingfeng's matter heavily weighed on him, especially after he had learned about Di Yi. Not to mention, he could see Feiling just by looking up and could tell that her tribulation was nearing its final stages based on how the golden crystal star kept increasing in size and illuminating his forward path.
"Alright, stop loitering around. You should retreat right now before the Eightpart Pantheons are able to send more people here. I’ll draw some of the fire from the imperial lineages for now," he sternly said.
"Fine." Jiang Feifei and the rest finally agreed.
"Lin Feng!" They intensely looked at him.
He returned their gazes and said, "I'll let you in on a secret: my real name is Li Tianming. Lin Feng’s only an alias, but don't go spreading it around yet."
"Li Tianming?" Lin Chaoge awkwardly laughed. "And there I thought we were distant relatives."
Tianming laughed and whispered to Jiang Feifei, "In fact, I’m a believer in your ancient progenitor. Make sure to let me know if there’s any updates regarding her."
"A believer?" Jiang Feifei seemed rather surprised and wondered how Tianming even knew about the ancient progenitor. Still clueless, she nodded.
"See you again, everyone!" Tianming said.
"You're always wele in the Primordial Sands!" Jiang Feifei said before organizing a mass retreat.
"I’ll miss them after fighting by their side for so long," Tianming lamented.
"I bet you're in a hurry to find your precious Ling'er," Zi Zhen said.
"Oh, someone's jealous."
"Only a fool would be jealous of the main wife."
Tianming looked at her with some surprise. "Huh.... I never expected you to be so forward-thinking about it."
"Don't look so smug. Did you forget how Qin Wangchuan humiliated you?"
"Ugh...." Tianming looked down and remembered that his cosmic god body still lacked a certain part. He couldn't stand it any longer!
"Just you wait!" He would advance to cosmic godhood right away!
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