Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Voice trembling with concern, one of the future warriors said, “General, we can't keep this up. Our army of morphlings is getting completely wiped out! This guy’s army from hell completely outnumbers ours!”

“Although we can always make more morphlings to replace the ones that die, the power expenditure is incredible. Also, even though this fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization has spatial sealing technology, which allows us to create passageways to other dimensions, who would have thought that this guy would be able to do almost the same thing? He can create passages to hell and summon fiend-devils!? What kind of energy art is that?”

General Samman snorted coldly. He wasn’t pleased at all to see his morphlings being slaughtered. He’d often used the strategy of overwhelming opponents with seas of morphlings, and had seen even the most powerful of experts flee in the face of it. But now someone was using the same tactic to keep him in check! To top it off, it was obvious that the hellish armies would completely destroy his sea of morphlings before long.

Then his fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization would be filled with armies from hell, which would be a very bad situation.

He couldn't allow things to go on like this.

“Cease morphling production and head to the Battle God Deck.”

WHIZZZ!

The virtual space Yang Qi had been fighting in suddenly transformed into an enormous fighting platform. Along with the change in setting, the power in the area surged even more mightily.

The armies of hell still surrounded Yang Qi as he looked around.

WHOOSH!

Just as General Samman had feared, Yang Qi planned to continue summoning fiend-devils and sending them out to wreak havoc in the Cruiser of Civilization.

However, before anything else could happen, a spear appeared, stabbing down into the ground and releasing a boundless aura of hell and infernal soil. Black light instantly began spreading out and locking down any of the fiend-devils it touched. Those fiend-devils would scream and howl, then their bodies would ripple and distort as they were cast back to whichever hell they’d come from.

The light from the spear quickly reached Yang Qi’s Hell Portals, which exploded violently as a result.

Yang Qi grunted in pain and staggered backward, eyes flickering as he looked at the spear stabbed into the ground. It actually resembled his Infernal Deity Spear, and had a similar aura. Unexpectedly, it was an energy art manifestation of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth and contained a boundless power that was the perfect counter to hell-born fiend-devils!

All of a sudden, General Samman appeared, clad in soft armor that was the purest of white and shone with boundless radiance and light. Striding forward, he grabbed the spear.

“You summon fiend-devils? Well, August Patriarch Proud Heaven gave me a bit of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, a lordly-class energy art of the most profound nature. What better way to keep you in check? You see, I've had a seed of truth inside me all along! That seed contains some of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, as well as this armor, which is called the Radiant Armor of the Bright God Saint. As for the spear, it’s the Spear of Judgement. I'm aware that you’re wearing the God Legion Battle Robe, and that you can summon the Infernal Deity Spear. And you have Angel Wings, right? Well, I have wings too, except they’re called the God Sage Wings.”

A pair of wings unfurled behind General Samman, making him seem like the ancient legendary king of the angels. His power levels immediately began to climb rapidly.

Godliness flowed through him as though some profound and mysterious god-spirit were supporting him, causing his energy arts to rise to an even higher level. Radiating boundless might, he said, “What do you think? Hand over your God Legion Seal and enter our custody. If you don’t, we can fight it out. In the end, I’ll defeat you and take the God Legion Seal by force. This place is the Battle God Deck, a special arena of fighting in which my fighting power will be boosted spectacularly, but yours will be severely reduced. It will be an easy thing for me to achieve victory here. So what’s the point of being stubborn? Surrender. I won’t go hard on you. You’re Magister Proud Heaven’s son, after all. If you be a good boy and hand yourself over, everything will be fine. But if you prove to be disobedient, I’ll use my seed of truth to absolutely crush you. Killing you is also acceptable in Magister Proud Heaven’s plan. However we do this, you won’t be escaping.”

“Excellent!” Yang Qi said, not looking the least bit surprised. In fact, he even nodded his head in approval. “It seems Proud Heaven has treated you well. You have a seed of truth with powers from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, powers that surpass even me. You actually seem to border on the Deathless Throne. Well, that just means my Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth will significantly advance once I take it. You're essentially delivering treasures right into my hand!”

Yang Qi had long since assumed that he would run into other opponents with the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. Back when he’d tried to get Leaf Dao-Denier and the Warriors of the Great Dance to fight outside the Tusita Heaven, those six warriors had summoned a powerful will that unleashed some of the energy arts of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. As a result, Young Master Leaf was wounded and Yang Qi had been able to take one of his legacy medallions.

However, in this case, General Samman wasn’t drawing on the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth from afar, but actually had it in his seed of truth.

In some ways, this was disconcerting. Yang Qi had always suspected that, although there was a God Legion Seal in the future world, it wasn’t actually in the control of Proud Heaven. After all, there were ten great magisters in the future and it was obvious that Proud Heaven didn’t rank highest among them. It had to be the highest-ranking magister who had the God Legion Seal, and by extension, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

But now it seemed that Proud Heaven really had given General Samman this seed of truth. So did that mean that Proud Heaven did have the God Legion Seal? Had there been some shakeup in the future world? Some conflict?

Only someone with an incomparable destiny could have a God Legion Seal. For example, not even King Immortal-Slayer had possessed one. Despite how people always tried to get them, they couldn’t be casually seized by means of plots and schemes. And they provided immense protection. Up to this point in his life, Yang Qi hadn’t really suffered any major setbacks. Even when great danger loomed, he always managed to find a way out. From that, it could be seen just how powerful the God Legion Seal was.

If Proud Heaven had somehow managed to take the God Legion Seal from the highest-ranking magister, that indicated that he must be harboring other mysteries.

Did this mean that Proud Heaven really was in a position to be a problem for Yang Qi?

Of course, it was all speculation. And even if Proud Heaven didn’t have the seal, he was still a deadly opponent who had experience in countless conflicts. Maybe he had some other way to craft such a powerful seed of truth.

Despite what General Samman had said, Yang Qi was convinced that Proud Heaven was not his father. Yang Qi knew that he was a Fateless One who’d been born out of a dream of primal-chaos. Proud Heaven could go around calling him his son, but he had nothing to do with the man. And he would kill him one day!

“In a moment,” Yang Qi continued, “I'm going to show you why a common ant like yourself has no idea how to use something as incredible as the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. You taking that seed of truth from Proud Heaven just ensured that you’ll die an early death. You’ve profaned the legion of gods and sullied the name of the Sovereign Lord. Those who do not possess the God Legion Seal, but still try to use the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, will meet only one end: death. That is what comes to any who commit such heinous crimes.”

“How impudent!” General Samman growled, a fiery rage burning in his heart. He reached out with his hand, and a god kingdom sprang up around him as he unleashed a deadly attack.

‘The Hand of the One God?’ Yang Qi thought. It looked very similar to his own Fist of the Halls of Heaven and Hand of the One God. It didn’t quite seem as majestic as his own, however, there were certain aspects that were more refined. Both were unique, in different ways.

“I heard you use something called Hand of the One God,” General Samman said. “Well this is called the Creator’s Godfist! Let’s compare and see which of us is stronger!”

As General Samman's hand approached, everything trembled and bizarre astrological phenomena could be seen. God items appeared and vital energy surged.

“Creator!”

Yang Qi watched as his defensive empyrean energy crumbled. Obviously, the seed of truth that Proud Heaven had given to General Samman was filled with immense power.

RUMBLE!

Yang Qi unleashed his own attack and the two hands hit each other, causing a massive detonation that crushed everything around them. Yang Qi’s energy and blood were thrown into chaos as a stream of true energy entered him and sought to destroy his animadestiny vital energy.

At the last moment, the God Legion Seal activated and neutralized the invading true energy.

General Samman also staggered backward, but it was to Yang Qi’s surprise that the effects of the Hand of the One God had been negated. From what Yang Qi could tell, he might need to resort to trickery to win this fight. Considering that this seed of truth was involved, it was almost as though he were fighting with Proud Heaven himself.

Whoosh!

Even as Yang Qi contemplated his next move, a spear appeared behind him.

The General Samman that had been backing up was actually a power double! The real General Samman had remained in place! As he’d said, here on the Battle God Deck, his powers were amplified while Yang Qi’s were weakened. But Yang Qi wasn’t worried about that.

With the God Legion Seal to protect him, no wickedness could encroach on him.