Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

More sparks of sword light shot toward Yang Qi, which he grabbed. This sword light was even more powerful than the bit from before, to the point where it almost seemed to have a spirit of its own. Whoever had created sword light like this was obviously someone no weaker than August Patriarch Fire Dragon.

Obviously, this person was an expert in the dao of the sword, and also an invincible Godmyth.

Yang Qi also sensed an aura of rage, a true flame that resulted from a bitter fight with powerful opponents. Whoever this person was, they were not someone to take lightly. But there was no way he would pass up an opportunity like this.

If there were two top experts fighting each other, and both were significantly wounded, then he could theoretically have a chance to swoop in and assimilate both of them! He needed to accumulate a huge amount of power before he could achieve more breakthroughs, and he definitely needed those breakthroughs before he went back to deal with the patriarchs in the Brahman Immortal World.

So he shot toward the source of the sword energy, flitting through space like a fish swimming through water. Eventually, he found a location where an incomparably vast swath of sword energy had created a world of its own.

Thankfully, his cultivation base had improved after defeating August Patriarch Fire Dragon and getting a total of two thousand imperial snakecharms. Therefore, it was possible for him to simply devour the sword energy.

‘Is this… a godrelic?’ Yang Qi thought. Opening his Lord's Eye, he caught sight of three individuals engaged in combat within a bleak and desolate kingdom. It looked like the ruins of a castle that were as large as a planet, hanging within space-time and surrounded by spatial tempests.

One of the three figures was a young woman who wielded a long sword and fought with casual ease. Her attacks could sever heavenly rivers, and seemed like the combination of myriads of heavenly swords. In fact, her technique surpassed anything that Yang Qi had ever seen.

She was clad in snow-white clothing, making her look as pure and holy as a white lotus. She seemed completely without flaw, like the ultimate picture of beauty, a goddess descended from a divine world.

Fighting this woman were two enormous devils, pitch black and wearing no clothes whatsoever. They had long, razor-sharp fangs and weapons such as saw-tooth blades and bone staves that released towering devil energy. Obviously, they were devil emperors from the depths of hell.

And they were Godmyths too.

They were entities so powerful that Yang Qi couldn't summon them with his Hell Portals. Given his current cultivation base, his limit was eighth stage immortal emperors, or possibly ninth stage sovereign of heavens.

From what he could tell, he would probably need to wait until he was a Godmyth before he could summon monsters like this. Even at the point when he had nine lineaments on his dao heart, he would still be limited to fiend-devils in the same cultivation level as himself. At least, he was fairly certain of that.

The reason was that Godmyths were very close to the Deathless Throne, which changed the summoning requirements.

“Immortal Maid Ice Spirit, don’t you know what it means that we just escaped from Castle Heaven-Devil?” one of the devils said, sending out a ripple of divine will. “And here you are trying to kill us? Getting free was a big drain on our vital energy, but thankfully you showed up. We can just absorb your blood quintessence and yin vitality to get us back to full power!”

A ruthless, violent aura surged out of him like a sea of boiling blood.

‘Castle Heaven-Devil?’ Yang Qi thought, a bit surprised. He had never seen any real-life heaven-devils. Rumor had it that they came from a hell that was actually very similar to an immortal world.

Heaven-devils were like immortals and devils at the same time. And the hell they came from, or perhaps it was an immortal world, was called the Unrestrained Heaven.

Usually, there was a clear and obvious difference between hells and immortal worlds. But the Unrestrained Heaven was different—it had both the characteristics of a hell and the characteristics of an immortal world. Therefore, the beings that came out of it were heaven-devils, which were sometimes also called immortal-devils.

As for the planet-sized castle, it was a godrelic nestled in the void, filled with all sorts of mysteries and energies. And from the fluctuations rolling out of it, Yang Qi was fairly certain it served as a passageway that led to a plane of existence whose devil energy rivaled that of the Hell of Mahānata in terms of ferocity and violence.

‘Don't tell me it's a passageway to the Unrestrained Heaven,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘Not many places can outdo the Hell of Mahānata. Other than the fabled kingdom of the gods, I think the Unrestrained Heaven is probably the only one. Either way, this Castle Heaven-Devil was originally created by the legion of gods, and can suppress countless devil-gods.’

Swish!

Suddenly, an array of sword light shot out, creating numerous white lotuses which descended onto the Godmyth devils. Then, the young woman in white sent out ripples of divine will.

“You two monsters are doomed to die,” she said. “I won't allow you to damage the foundation of the Sage Sword Heaven. It’s my job to guard Castle Heaven-Devil and make sure things like you can’t escape!”

‘So, that's how it is!’ Yang Qi thought. The Sage Sword Heaven knew that this passageway was dangerous and kept it under constant guard. Yet despite how powerful this young woman was, she was having trouble dealing with the two Godmyth heaven-devils.

Even more noteworthy, Yang Qi could sense that there were sealing marks being loosened within the depths of the castle. Devil energy was pouring out of them, as though even more powerful devils were trying to break free inside. If they did, it would lead to an even bigger disaster.

Suddenly, one of the devils cackled and said, “Our brothers are about to break free from those seals. The power of Castle Heaven-Devil is waning, and its creators, the legion of gods, have all perished. Their godpower is fading away, and soon, we devils will emerge and exterminate the world of humans. Then, only devils will exist! Once those sealing marks are gone, you’ll die whether you’re willing or not.”

With that, the two heaven-devil patriarchs unleashed a devilish curse, causing the wailing of ghosts and weeping of gods to echo out.

The young woman in white stumbled backward, looking very much like she was about to lose the fight.

At this point, Yang Qi decided to take action. “All who follow the dao of immortals are duty-bound to rid the world of devils and demons. Don't worry, miss, I’ll slaughter these devils for you!”

A blinding stream of fire dragon true energy shot out, concealed within which was a primal-chaos elder-snake. In the blink of an eye, the devil energy that had just been released was gobbled up.

RUMBLE!

Then Yang Qi appeared right in front of one of the devils, whom he struck viciously with both hands, causing him to cough up a huge mouthful of blood. Not too long ago, Yang Qi would never have dared to ambush a Godmyth like this. But after all of his recent gains, including his clone’s mastery of the Eight Tribes Godfist, he had improved significantly.

His sudden attack, and the severe wounds it had inflicted on the devil, immediately brightened the young woman’s spirits.

Relying heavily on the speed provided by his Angel Wings, Yang Qi unleashed another attack before the devil could even react. This time, he backed his strike with the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, sending the power of the Sagely Sacrifice right into his opponent.

“Aaaiiiieee!”

A look of profound shock appeared on the devil’s face at this sudden turn of events.

“Devil-God Seal!” Yang Qi poured more of the Sagely Sacrifice into the devil, along with a stream of sealing marks. At the same time, he chanted the Eternal Heavenly Aria, causing halos of damnification to fill his enemy as he simultaneously used King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans to devour his vital energy.

All of this happened within only a few breaths of time! The devil exploded, and the fragments turned into a tiny imp that screamed with agony as Yang Qi viciously sealed it.

Yang Qi burst out laughing at the fact that he now had a Godmyth devil under control.

Spinning, he faced the other heaven-devil.

This heaven-devil had been completely incapable of reacting as Yang Qi defeated his companion. Now, he was obviously at a big disadvantage.

The young woman didn’t hesitate and began peppering him with deadly sword strikes. At the same time, Yang Qi burst into motion. Clamping his hand down onto the heaven-devil’s head, he locked the thing down so that it couldn’t move. Then he sent out a stream of primal-chaos energy that tightly wrapped it up.

The young woman sheathed her sword and looked at Yang Qi for a moment. “Many thanks, Daoist Brother. Without your help, those heaven-devils would have escaped, and the consequences would have been too horrible to contemplate. That said, you only sealed them. You need to be very careful; if they somehow worm their way into your spirit, you could easily experience cultivation deviation.”

“I’ll be fine,” Yang Qi said, chuckling. “And there’s no need for thanks. I happen to cultivate a technique that uses heaven-devils as fuel. Assimilating them will be a big boost to my cultivation base. Miss, I actually need to thank you. Without you here, I would never have been able to take out these heaven-devils so easily.”