Chapter 1470 — The Amiable Old Senior

Di Qing had won another battle, and this one had been won with even greater ease.

It was the host of Lang Tianzun that came to attack, marching in overwhelming array against Tianfang City, and he had led his troops out and beaten them, slaying tens of thousands of gods and demons.

Lang Tianzun's eldest disciple had been turned by Shen Mu and had fled no one knew where, and the disciples of Lang Tianzun's school had been mauled by Shen Mu until the dead and wounded lay thick; and so, compared with the other Tianzuns, the power beneath his command was somewhat thin. But he was, after all, the leader of the demigods; the demigods of all the heavens and all the worlds honored him with the title Divine Emperor, and so within his army the mighty ones drawn from every demigod race were exceedingly many—only it was an army assembled in haste, a rabble.

Before Tianfang City the host of Langxuan Divine Emperor had suffered grievous slaughter; outside the walls the heavenly drums rolled, and the drumbeats swelled the fighting strength of Tianfang City's defenders, so that when they charged the enemy ranks the sound itself harrowed the soul, and gods and demons of shallow cultivation could not withstand it at all—their souls split asunder and they perished where they stood. This battle was won with matchless ease.

Di Qing returned in triumph, laughing aloud, his spirits soaring, and with a great wave of his hand he said, "Record this merit to the Mingdu Heavenly King—count it as his! Men, set out the victory feast; I shall welcome the Heavenly King and wash the dust from his feet, and celebrate this great merit! " Tian Shu could not decline, and so he let it be.

Some dozen days later, the Heavenly River Navy, having swept clean the surrounding star systems, at last arrived before Tianfang City, laying out a million troops and glaring like a tiger. Di Qing gave it not the slightest thought, for in those dozen-odd days star after star had been moved to the vicinity of Tianfang City. The domain of Tianfang City was vast, and crowded all around it were stars great and small; and these stars were living worlds, and upon them dwelt the peoples of the demigod races, living beings numbered in the hundreds of millions!

After these stars were moved over, the Heavenly Dao of Tianfang City grew so dense that the Heavenly Dao hovering above the city was no longer a mere transformation of form but had taken on substance!

In the space of a scant dozen days, the Heavenly Bell, the Heavenly Fire, the Heavenly Thunder, the Heavenly Light, the Heavenly Disk, the Heavenly Well, the Heavenly Drum, the Heavenly Weave, the Heavenly Field, and the rest—the Dao soldiers of the Heavenly Dao—all took on substance, and the majesty of the Heavenly Dao pressed down upon the four quarters, so that even the great army of the Heavenly Court was cowed by the might of the Heavenly Dao!

Nor was that all: more and more stars of Xuandu were moved over, and the other Dao soldiers of the Heavenly Dao were still ceaselessly taking form.

Of the forty-nine Heavenly Daos, only the Heavenly Net had yet to take form. If the Heavenly Net took form, the Dao soldiers of all forty-nine Heavenly Daos would be complete—a power beyond all measure!

And the gods and demons within the city likewise felt the blessing of the Heavenly Dao, which made their magic power more vigorous and their strength greater; whether in divine abilities or in divine weapons, their might rose by a great margin. Shen Mu, Zaifu, and the others too felt the power of the Heavenly Dao strengthen them, and their dao hearts grew ever more lucid; yet the more it was so, the more they worried.

Tianfang City had gathered too many living beings and gods and demons of Xuandu; star after star was already crowded with people, and the more they gathered here, the more perilous it grew! When a Tianzun at last made his move, these lives would doubtless be ground to powder. Beyond the walls, more of the Heavenly Court's armies came surging in, and Tianfang Divine City was now sealed so tightly that not a drop of water could leak through.

The Heavenly Court's armies brought the Four Emperors' divine artifacts and attacked several more times, yet even the Four Emperors' divine artifacts were driven back before Tianfang City. The First Celestial Master Shang Pingyin, the Second Celestial Master Meng Yungui, and the rest each mustered great armies and strove to take Tianfang City, but they too lost soldiers and officers, unable to match the might of the Heavenly Dao's Dao soldiers.

Then the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven, the White Emperor of the Western Heaven, and other divinities led troops to attack, but they too ate defeat; the White Emperor and the Azure Emperor were even gravely wounded.

The Five Emperor Thrones and the Five Emperor Inner Thrones of the Heavenly Court likewise sallied out one and all, and the Heavenly Court's Ten Guards arrived as well, forming ranks and joining battle, yet they could never break into Tianfang City—they could not even draw near the city gates! In these days Di Qing won dozens of battles in a row, beside himself with joy.

Only, with Tianfang City now besieged, no more of Xuandu's heavens could be moved over, and the last Dao soldier, the Heavenly Net, could never take form; it left him somewhat regretful. "The Dao soldiers of the Heavenly Dao have made their name known to all the world in this war," he said to Shen Mu and the others.

"If all forty-nine Dao soldiers came forth together, slaying a Tianzun would be no trouble at all! " And beyond the walls, in the enemy camp, suddenly a blue bird came flying on beating wings and alighted in the Heavenly Court's lines.

"We respectfully welcome Hong Tianzun!

" The great generals of the Heavenly Court's various armies went forward one after another to receive him and bowed in succession, pleading guilty: "We are incompetent.

We have been stalled here at Tianfang City and can never break the city or wipe out the rebels!

We beg the Tianzun to punish us! " Hong Tianzun laughed heartily.

"A trifling matter, no need to beg punishment.

Let me first look at the scene before us. " He came to the front of the ranks and studied Tianfang City, then looked at the forty-eight Dao soldiers of the Heavenly Dao hovering above the city, and cocked his ear to listen to the dao-sounds and dao-echoes of the Heavenly Dao.

"Truly fine treasures," he laughed.

"The Ancestral God King forged treasures of the Heavenly Dao, joining the treasures of the forty-nine Heavenly Daos into a single supreme treasure of the Heavenly Dao, ever-changing. What a pity the Great Emperor shattered it.

Though he forged another set, treasures of the Heavenly Dao forged by one's own hand cannot compare with these Dao soldiers that the Heavenly Dao itself has transformed. Fine treasures—even the Lord of Heaven could not forge them; only at a juncture of life and death like this can such peerless treasures take form.

How enviable.

" The generals dared not say more.

Hong Tianzun asked, "Have the other Tianzuns arrived? " The generals shook their heads one and all.

"They have not.

" "I was held up by the Moon Tianzun, who has rebelled against the Heavenly Alliance, and so was delayed a while. I had thought I would arrive late; I never expected that I should be the first to come here. " Hong Tianzun's face glowed, ruddy and radiant, and he laughed: "Withdraw part of your troops first. Open a gap and let the people of Xuandu into Tianfang City. When his Dao soldiers of the Heavenly Dao have ripened, I will break him. " He was the famously good-natured one among the Ten Tianzuns; he neither berated the generals nor killed a few defeated officers to consecrate the banner, which let everyone breathe easy.

Still, that Hong Tianzun should bid them open a gap and let the Xuandu rebels gather, and let that Heavenly Net Dao soldier take form, was somewhat hard to understand.