Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

As it turned out, Proud Central had always been one step behind Yang Qi.

During Yang Qi’s trip to the Halls of Heaven in which he collected numerous medicinal pills, he had picked up the Universe-Origin Many-Heavens Myriad-Manifestations Transformation-Destruction God-Sphere, which was a single-use item. However, it was incredibly mighty, and could be used to thoroughly confuse an enemy.

Thus, Yang Qi took advantage of it to win a sweeping victory.

He finally had the last piece of the Mahātmā Jade in his hands. As soon as he did, he unfurled his Tribulation Wings and shot up into the sky, where he disappeared.

Moments later, he was at the safest place he could be, high above the god world. He was in the Halls of Heaven, holding the Mahātmā Jade in front of him.

He knew it was an extremely dangerous time. He still had the High Priestess to worry about, although it was likely she hadn’t fully recovered yet. He still couldn’t directly fight Proud Central, and there was also the mysterious and ruthless Hailan in the picture. In addition to all of that, the King of Godmammoths wasn’t dead. It was as if all of the almighty beings from the past were finally starting to resurface.

It was even likely that there were also mysterious and powerful entities lurking in the primal-chaos outside the god world.

Although the god world was constantly expanding, it would eventually reach a point where it ran out of momentum. Then, the infinite universe would experience a final Big Bang and everything would be destroyed. And the only way to survive was to be Annulled.

That would be the final tribulation, and Yang Qi planned to be ready for it.

But right now, he needed to prepare for the combined assault of the three dynasties. Thankfully, he had the last piece of the Mahātmā Jade.

RUMBLE!

As he stood in the Halls of Heaven, he looked down to where the ball of lightning was exploding.

As it turned out, it was out in the world of primal-chaos. A mighty force ripped through space-time with the power to shred chiliocosms of worlds. Primal-chaos itself was wiped out of existence.

‘Impressive. Proud Central is really impressive. He reacted quickly enough, sending that prison out of the god world and into primal-chaos. At least I destroyed one of his top magical treasures. He obviously spent a lot of effort making that Central Prison of his. That was definitely a big blow to him.’

He chuckled. It wouldn’t be easy to take down Proud Central. Even if the Sovereign Lord were to be born again, he wouldn’t find the task easy.

Proud Central was incredibly strong. But more than that, he was full of craft and cunning. Furthermore, he had deep resources. If it weren’t for King Immortal-Slayer and the Lord of Righteous Justice causing complications, Yang Qi probably would have met his end.

Of course, after assimilating the final piece of the Mahātmā Jade, everything would be different. He crushed the piece of jade, causing streams of flickering luster that twisted and turned with the energy of mahātmās and sages to shoot out. It was like countless wise ones chanting sutras. The sutras weren’t from the dao of devils; rather, they were designed to bring order to the chaos that was the dao of devils.

Those sages and mahātmās sought to preserve devilishness, and use it to create order, which was a very difficult thing. Devilishness was inherently chaotic, while order was righteous. If a devil became orderly, it would be like someone from the dao of righteousness becoming evil.

It was an inherent contradiction that couldn't be rectified. But the sages and mahātmās from the dao of devils had sought to solve that problem. Unfortunately, they had never succeeded. However, all of the power and research that had gone into their efforts ended up in the Mahātmā Jade, and now Yang Qi had it.

As soon as the power of the jade was in the open, he drew on the power of the Halls of Heaven and unleashed the crushing pressure of the Hand of the One God.

When he grabbed the jade, a scream echoed out, filled with agony and fury. The screams created a massive explosion that rocked the area.

‘Hmph! So Proud Central had one final trap in play. He used the rancorous energy that had built up in his empire for the past several billion years to create a bomb. Then, he put it into the Mahātmā Jade so that whoever tried to assimilate it would be destroyed.’ Yang Qi laughed. ‘The rancorous energy is powerful, so much so that it would destroy even me if I tried assimilating it. Thankfully, I’m not so stupid as to fall into such a trap.’

A smile appeared on Yang Qi’s face.

Keeping a firm grip on the Mahātmā Jade with the Hand of the One God, he looked up at the stars and used their light to burn away the rancorous energy until it was no more.

He waved his hand and the Mahātmā Jade dropped into his palm, sparkling, translucent, and lacking in any impurities.

Then, he called on the pieces of the jade he already owned, and sent them out.

Click!

A tremor passed through the Halls of Heaven, and countless streams of vital energy thrummed as if they sensed something incredibly mighty coming into existence. It was very similar to what had occurred when the God Legion Seal became whole. Suddenly, a stream of greenish light shot out into the Halls of Heaven, piercing through everything and erupting into the primal-chaos beyond the god world.

As the green light pierced through the primal-chaos paleo-energy, it created world after world, all of them perfect.

“Be absorbed!”

Yang Qi changed into the form of King Heaven-Devourer, and as a primal-chaos elder-snake, he lunged at the completed jade and swallowed it up. Immediately, dramatic transformations occurred.

RUMBLE!

There was no tribulation. Instead, his psychic scale started climbing, bashing through the level of a hundred billion. And it kept going! A hundred and ten billion. A hundred and twenty. A hundred and thirty... a hundred and fifty... a hundred and ninety. Two hundred....

And it kept going!

Winds screamed in the depths of the Halls of Heaven, provoked by Yang Qi’s aura.

Yang Qi knew full well that this was a major accomplishment. He had prepared long and hard for this moment. Struggling his way from the impure lands to the god world, he had fought every step of the way. And now he had finally succeeded.

His psychic scale climbed and climbed, eventually coming to a stop at two hundred and ninety billion, just shy of three hundred billion!

That was what resulted from getting the final piece of the Mahātmā Jade.

Not even he could have imagined that the result would be like this. It would be like a beggar suddenly inheriting a fortune, and turning into a young master who could eat whatever he wanted, have any beautiful women he wanted, and never run out of money.

Moments before, he had been at ninety billion, and now he was at nearly three hundred billion. It was a shocking difference. The current version of himself could kill the old version with the mere snap of a finger.

The Mahātmā Jade was now complete, and it flickered with a light that seemed to contain intelligence, thoughtfulness, and data. As it connected to his soul, he suddenly sensed the might of the True Devil.

WHOOSH!

As Yang Qi’s strength erupted, the God Legion Seal reacted, becoming a golden stream of light that pierced into his sea of consciousness and connected with the Mahātmā Jade.

The God Legion Seal had been Yang Qi’s invincible magical treasure ever since he had started out in the impure lands.

He had slowly unlocked its various features and functions, and now that he had a psychic scale of nearly three hundred billion, it was going to make him more formidable than ever. As the God Legion Seal and the Mahātmā Jade fused, they produced memories and thoughts that then became part of Yang Qi, similar to the way that ideas in a book would become part of the reader after the act of reading.

Yang Qi settled down cross-legged and started working on his cultivation in the ordinary fashion. His energy spread out to fill the Halls of Heaven, and he became like the Sovereign Lord himself.

Inside, he was drawing on the power of King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans to devour more of the King of Godmammoths’ blood. Not even he was sure what his blood really was now.

As his thoughts expanded, he stepped past the Unbounded level.

At long last, he was grasping at the half-Annulled level!

Crack!

Deep in the Sage Monarch Empire, the sage monarch magistrates started transforming. They were like butterflies coming out of cocoons as their psychic scales reached the level of a billion. They were now peak Paramount Gods, which was their ultimate limit. Henceforth, they could get stronger, but they couldn’t step into the level of God-Lords.

That was an ironclad rule. They were thralls, and thralls couldn't be God-Lords.

However, they could continue proliferating. In the blink of an eye, their numbers reached two hundred million!