Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

None of Yang Qi’s companions had any idea that the mere journey itself was actually pushing his cultivation base to incomprehensible levels. He had ten thousand pieces of godhood transforming into breathing nascent souls, right there in his sea of energy.

Who could ever have imagined that something like this would happen? Of course, in the past, his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth had created a sage child. Later, he fused that with his Unspoiled Body, causing it to dissolve into numerous streams of preheaven power, altering his substructure and making his true energy incomparably perfect.

Now, as his true energy flowed, his cultivation reached an enigmatically powerful level.

In fact, he was now one hundred percent certain that he could succeed at breaking through to the mid Terrifying level.

When he did that, he would also become a Grand Emperor and his psychic scale would likely climb into the hundreds.

Of course, Yang Qi chose not to achieve that breakthrough now. He would wait until the ideal moment to do so.

Truth be told, it would definitely be his greatest trump card to use against Proud Heaven.

RUUUUMBLE!

Thunder crashed, and the stone-like vital energy erupted into wild fluctuations. In response, Doom quickly unleashed one of his best techniques, sending out a palm that caused a projected image from the god world to appear.

“Eternal God World Suppression!”

This projection of the god world was a consummate ability from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, which he had cultivated to a very high level. Supposedly, it could be used to produce what was actually a smaller but complete version of the god world.

Not even elite experts like King Immortal-Slayer knew the full extent of the complete god world, so it was little wonder that Doom’s version was somewhat unclear.

Despite that, when the image appeared, it seemed to connect to the actual god world, producing an outflow of power that shattered the surrounding lightning.

Drawing on more of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, Doom reached out to the shattered lightning, causing it to swirl into his palm in the shape of a sphere.

It was a sphere of primal-chaos stone lightning so formidable that, if used in combat against a mid Terrifying expert, it would easily turn them into stone.

Seeing this, the Shepherd and Proud World were both shaken and envious. However, they could do nothing more than stare as it happened.

“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Yang Qi nodded in admiration. “That primal-chaos stone lightning is strong enough to hurt even us. I never imagined that you would be able to assimilate it, Brother Doom. In the interests of not falling behind you, how about we work together to clear out all the lightning here?”

He waved his sleeve, and sucked some more nearby lightning into his sleeve, even faster than Doom had done.

“Very impressive,” said Doom, inwardly shocked at how enigmatic Yang Qi’s cultivation base was. He also wondered how he was making such progress. After all, Doom had been forced to use his God Legion Seal and a projection of the god world to subjugate the lightning, whereas Yang Qi had simply waved his sleeve.

Doom couldn’t even comprehend how that was possible.

‘Maybe it's because he’s an Inheritor,’ he thought. Although Yang Qi didn’t seem to be using the God Legion Seal, Doom knew that unless he truly abandoned it, the two of them were destined to be enemies. Although Doom still didn’t intend to oppose Yang Qi, he knew that after they killed Proud Heaven, they would have to walk different paths. And there was also the question of who would get Proud Heaven’s God Legion Seal. Doom was definitely not inclined to give it up.

**

Meanwhile, back in the Sage Monarch League, Jadefall, Sectlord Will Manifestation, and other loyalists sat beneath the Preeminent God Pillar, working on their cultivation and managing the affairs of the alliance. All of them had very high cultivation bases.

Normally speaking, sects would have disciples go out on missions to gain experience and resources, and further their cultivation. They didn’t just give out resources, but required disciples to earn them via merit. That was the only way to ensure the continued operation of an organization, although it often led to disciples making mistakes and ruining their cultivation.

Truth be told, acquiring all the resources necessary to cultivate a particular daoist technique to completion often took up about ninety percent of the time involved.

Cultivating a godly-class energy art to completion might only take a few years, if one had all the resources. Yang Qi had faced that same challenge during his time in the mortal world. Sometimes, finding the right resources could take thousands or even tens of thousands of years. And some people might never get what they needed.

Yang Qi had just acquired a huge influx of resources from the executors’ storehouses, and they were definitely enough to keep the Sage Monarch League going, as well as help his subordinates further their cultivation.

For now, the Sage Monarch League didn’t operate on a system of merit, but rather a system of loyalty.

Those who were truly loyal to Yang Qi and the alliance, after undergoing a series of tests, would get access to the resources they needed.

As would be expected, the most loyal disciples were flourishing like bamboo after a spring rain.

In fact, new Terrifying experts could be seen on almost a daily basis.

There were also old-timers that were getting very close to the mid Terrifying level.

SWISH!

As Jadefall and Sectlord Will Manifestation sat there, a vortex opened and conglomerations of sealed stone lightning appeared, which they grabbed. From the muffled rumblings within them, it seemed as if this lightning was powerful enough to shatter even the mountains of gods.

“League-Lord, what treasure is this?” the sectlord asked. As a mid Terrifying expert, he could sense that this lightning was powerful enough to destroy just about anything and everything.

“This is stone lightning from the depths of the Great Necropolis,” Yang Qi said via voice projection. “I've locked it up with the Devil-God Seal, allowing it to be used as a trump card. Use it, and you can cause major problems for an ordinary mid Terrifying expert. In fact, you can mow them down. Make them part of the Preeminent God Pillar and the Nine God Mountains, and set them into the grand spell formation. If the Executors of the Ancient Road come and cause problems, don’t hesitate to inflict major casualties on them.”

Jadefall and Sectlord Will Manifestation were delighted, and immediately began following the orders Yang Qi had just given.

“I'm just about to reach the mid Terrifying level!” Such words were heard from the mouths of many people, including Eldest Brother, Second Elder Brother, Sword Seventeen, and the others from the Invincible Society. Yang Qi hadn’t forgotten about them, and thanks to his help, they were all in the early Terrifying level, with psychic scales over ninety.

They were people from the mortal world who Yang Qi had spent a lot of time grooming, and now they were truly becoming forces to be reckoned with.

Time passed as Yang Qi and Doom worked to clear out the god lightning. Eventually, they reached a place where the lightning stopped falling and the stone-like vital energy ceased flowing. There, they saw a cave.

Thump, thump, thump.

Yang Qi raced forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, jumping right into the cave. Inside, he found that it was a few hundreds of kilometers from end to end, and was filled with a very strange aura. As well as coffins. Numerous stone coffins, all of them emanating horrific auras that would cause one's hackles to rise. In fact, Yang Qi felt himself covered with goosebumps.

The Shepherd, Proud World, and Doom all looked around, faces pale from terror. These were people who had been to the most horrific hells and seen just about everything. But right now, the terrifying atmosphere was affecting even them.

As for the Shepherd, he was one of the top suzerains of hell, and the league-lord of the fiend-devils. There was virtually no hellish scene that he hadn’t witnessed, yet these stone coffins caused his hair to stand on end. After all, he knew that, considering they were in the depths of the Great Necropolis, there was no way these coffins were ordinary items.

Looking around, Yang Qi said in a somewhat awkward tone, “You would expect there to be some coffins somewhere in the Great Necropolis. It’s nothing unusual….”

Yet even he felt fearful, and had the sense that he had somehow stepped into an alternate dimension.

“W-why… why does your voice sound different?” the Shepherd said, looking closer at Yang Qi. It was true. To him, Yang Qi sounded more like a woman, perhaps a ghost that was tens of thousands of years old, who hated heaven, earth, men, life, and even other ghosts and gods.

“Don’t speak out loud,” Yang Qi said via divine will. “There’s something very odd about this place. Stick close together.”

They were all wondering what exactly was interred in these coffins, and why they emanated such a terrifying aura. All of them suddenly felt something like a chill breath caressing their necks, almost as if someone were standing next to them getting ready to speak.

“Who—”

They all instinctively placed their hands on their necks, but didn’t feel anything there.

“Look at the Shepherd!” Doom blurted. The Shepherd’s eyes were now bright green, and he was smiling in the most bizarre fashion possible.

1. The “sage child” was originally mentioned in , and formed in . It was mentioned in a few other chapters, with the last mention being in .