Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

As soon as the burly man with the alcohol doubled up in pain, his four companions rushed over and made a defensive barrier around him.

“What’s wrong?!”

“I don’t know what’s going on!” the burly man said in a quavering voice. “My five phases true energy just went into chaos and won't flow smoothly. It’s almost like I'm experiencing cultivation deviation. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

He was trembling so hard he could hardly move, and if it weren’t for his companions helping him, he would likely have been ripped to shreds by the spatial tempests.

“Cultivation deviation? How could any of us experience cultivation deviation? We all cultivate the same five phases godly-class energy arts. Once you reach a high level, you can essentially live forever with them.”

“Maybe he’s been rushing his cultivation, and that destabilized his vital energy,” one of his companions said. “Come on, let’s pour some power into him.”

They immediately began feeding true energy into him, yet it did nothing. It almost felt like they were just pouring their true energy down the drain.

RUMBLE!

All of a sudden, the five-colored light that surrounded them was thrown into chaos, and their true energy began to wane.

“Impossible!” the young woman said. “We each cultivate two godly-class energy arts, and between the five of us we can call upon all of the five phases. Why are we losing control? This doesn’t make sense! When the five phases combine, they’re invincible under heaven! Any wretch-devil or unorthodox cultivator will flee in terror. Have we been cursed or something? But even that doesn’t make sense! Curses shouldn't affect the consummate combination of the five phases!”

Usually, the Brahman Institute would assign five children of Brahma to missions to make sure that they could combine the five phases, and thus defend against any enemy.

Even in a situation where a team failed in some aspect of their mission, they wouldn’t necessarily lose their lives.

But now, before the team of five had even reached the target of their mission, the Titan Emperor Heaven, their true energy was draining away in what was apparently some sort of cultivation deviation. It was a case of embarking on a campaign only to die before achieving success.

“Just what exactly is going on here?”

“Hurry up, take out whatever magical treasures you have! We have to find a quiet place to settle down and get our true energy under control!” The five children of Brahma had no choice other than to land on the nearest immortal world, find a place to hide, and try to figure out how to deal with their problem.

Yang Qi was very pleased with how the situation turned out. ‘Hmph! You five are lucky I'm not killing you. Instead, I’ll drain your five phases true energy to give to my immortal-slaying clone!’

Right now, his own five phases energy arts were already at the perfect level and didn't require any further cultivation. However, his immortal-slaying clone did need to do more work. Cursing this five to drain their true energy would be immensely helpful.

Converting his immortal clone into an immortal-slaying clone had increased its power by many times. Considering that the clone had Heaven-Devouring śarīras, plus over ten godly-class energy arts, he would be considered a top figure even in many immortal worlds.

Yang Qi and his clone were hard at work. The latter was exploring the mysteries of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, and the former was preparing to get more of King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans to further his cultivation base.

“Milord, what about the other three?” Hu Latu said. “Are you going to curse their true energy, too? Don't forget they threatened my clan.”

“For now, no. I can handle them at any time. Let’s head to the Regal Event Heaven first. I already set up a spell formation to lead them astray. They won't be doing anything to your clan. I’ll turn the tables on them later. If I have to, I’ll use them as cannon fodder in the Regal Event Heaven, just like they were planning to do to us!”

“Awesome, Milord. You’ve thought everything through!” Hu Latu was obviously not hesitating at all to brownnose.

“Let’s go. We have three years to take a crack at those talismans. The more we get, the better! In fact, hopefully we can get all one thousand in only a few months. If I go into cultivation for the rest of the three years, I’ll come out stronger than ever. Then I can take down the entire Brahman Society and destroy any Godmyth patriarch that tries to stand in my way! It's too bad I haven’t been able to get any information about Proud Heaven yet.”

With that, Yang Qi waved his sleeve and the two of them disappeared.

Out beyond the greyspace of the Brahman Immortal World, Yang Qi unfurled his Angel Wings and shot into the Brahman River. Yet again, he was impressed by how powerful it was. If he could acquire it, it would be the perfect tool to use in his attempt to take control of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

Opening his Lord's Eye, he looked back at the Brahman Institute, which he knew was an enormous talisman. This time, he could make out the details much more clearly, and could see that there was a miraculous column of light that pulsed with a powerful aura in the very center of that talisman. Apparently, some immense treasure was located there!

‘So, that’s how it is. That miraculous light is coming from the Scripture Pavilion! The third floor there definitely contains some profound secrets. Perhaps it’s even the fulcrum of the entire place. If I can get in there, maybe I could take control of the institute as a whole. But not now. First, I need to get those imperial snakecharms.’

With that, they blurred into motion and headed off into the distance. Now that they had the identity medallions of children of Brahma, getting in and out of the Brahman Immortal World was a simple matter. The warding magics completely ignored them, and there were no formalities. They could just come and go as they pleased.

They continued on for some time, passing countless immortal worlds. Some beautiful, some desolate, some ancient. One thing was for sure—the universe was a chaotic place, filled with life.

Swish!

Eventually, Yang Qi unfurled a star chart, a map of the universe of immortal worlds that was contained within his identity medallion. There were hundreds of millions of worlds, with the Brahman Immortal World at their very center. The map had been created by Godmyth patriarchs in the Brahman Immortal World, and although it was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the vast conglomeration of immortal worlds, it was still the result of lifetimes of work by the patriarchs.

The Regal Event Heaven was highlighted on the map. Much like the Brahman Immortal World, it was a fifth ranked immortal world, with control over twenty-four thousand lesser-ranked immortal worlds.

Considering the level of danger involved in the mission, it was good that Yang Qi was capable of tangling with Godmyths. He was also familiar with matters pertaining to the void and illusions. Thus he was able to slip past most ordinary warding magics.

“The map has more than a billion immortal worlds on it,” Hu Latu said, “as well as numerous dangerous locations. However, the highest ranked worlds on the map are in the teens. It seems that even the Godmyth patriarchs of the Brahman Immortal World can’t explore anything higher than that. According to the stories, immortal worlds with ranks higher than ten are very miraculous places. Too bad there’s no way for us to learn about them.”

“Don’t worry. Once I'm in the Godmyth level, I’ll be able to go all the way to thirty-third ranked immortal worlds.” After studying the map for a bit and confirming the location of the Regal Event Heaven, he yet again unfurled his Angel Wings and shot straight toward it.

After ten days and nights of travel, they finally left the territory controlled by the Brahman Immortal World and entered that controlled by the Regal Event Heaven. At that point, they began traveling more stealthily in order to avoid attracting the wrong kind of attention.

The Brahman Immortal World controlled the Thirty-Six Thousand Immortal Worlds Coalition.

As for the Regal Event Heaven, they held sway over a smaller number: twenty-four thousand. Despite the disparity in numbers, it was widely believed that the Regal Event Heaven was a bit stronger than the Brahman Immortal World, the reason being that the former supposedly had more godrelics left behind by the legion of gods.

Immortal worlds sped by until Yang Qi checked the map again to confirm that he was closing in on the Regal Event Heaven itself. As they closed in, they sensed a strong, ruthless aura. Up ahead was an immortal world that seemed covered with a white shell. Closer inspection revealed that the ‘shell’ was actually made of bones that constantly wriggled and twitched as if they were alive. It almost seemed like the Hell of Bleached Bones had made a foray into the world of immortals.

“Let me check something!” Hu Latu said. He was apparently prepared for a situation like this, and quickly pulled out a geomantic compass. After making some adjustments and looking at the results, he said, “Yes, this is the Regal Event Heaven. According to rumor, the Godmyth patriarchs there learned some divine abilities left behind by the Bone God, who was a member of the ancient legion of gods. That allowed the patriarchs to connect to the Hell of Bleached Bones and use the devil energy from there for cultivation purposes. After several hundred million years passed, the entire immortal world came to be surrounded by this kingdom of bones, which will assimilate anyone who enters it!”

“So that’s how it is!” Yang Qi said. “I was wondering why this place seemed so much like the Hell of Bleached Bones. Well, here I thought it was going to take a lot of work dealing with that Godmyth patriarch. But as it turns out, things are going to be very simple.”

“What do you mean, Milord?” Hu Latu said. “You already have a plan?”