Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Godly might towered to the heavens! Godly will spread like the deepest sea!

The golden imp in Yang Qi’s forehead that had remained motionless and unmoving for so long suddenly sent its might out into the world, and it was so overwhelming that all of the Yama Mountains were encompassed.

The golden imp was awake, and was like a heavenly god out to punish blaspheming fiend-devils.

“What is that thing?!” Ghost Emperor Yama repeated, shocked by how his true energy was being completely routed. Even his Heavenly Reincarnation Art had been completely vanquished. From what he could tell, this golden imp was completely terrifying in nature, something that didn’t even belong on the earth. It was more like a mysterious god from heaven.

If Yang Qi was as vastly separated from Ghost Emperor Yama as heaven from earth, then the exact same disparity existed between Ghost Emperor Yama and the golden imp. To the imp, Ghost Emperor Yama was like a bug.

He was a vulgar devil-ghost meeting the sovereign lord of all living beings.

At least, that was what Ghost Emperor Yama felt in this moment.

“How could you have something like that in your forehead? Who are you?! Ten Lives Seal!” Face written with terror, Ghost Emperor Yama performed numerous double-handed incantation gestures, summoning a heavenly seal that poured into Yang Qi’s forehead to try to stop the golden imp.

Unfortunately for him, that sealing mark only caused the golden imp to react with even greater might.

The imp flew out of Yang Qi, and in the blink of an eye, the sealing mark was destroyed.

Then, the imp spoke.

It wasn’t the language of humans; every single word was grand, pure, holy, and mighty. This was the language of some magnificent civilization, that much was clear.

Somehow, Yang Qi understood the words being spoken.

“Blaspheme the one marked by the God Legion Seal? Receive punishment from the legion of gods!”

The golden imp reached out with a hand so powerful that it seemed capable of ripping up the Yama Mountains by their roots. The entire palace began to tremble, and the life force springwater went still as the hand wrapped around the dark gold incarnation of Ghost Emperor Yama, as well as his throne, and shattered them.

The golden imp seemed completely invincible, and capable of crushing anything in its path like twigs. Tens of thousands of years ago, Ghost Emperor Yama had dominated the world, and yet this imp crushed his clone as easily as a clay figurine.

Gurgle. Splash.

The sound of metal chains could once again be heard as the life force springwater began to sink down. Soon, Yang Qi could see down into the depths, where an enormous, chained devil-ghost knelt on the ground. It was fully three thousand meters tall, with pitch black scales, and fiendish energy that would kill even a Lifeseizer who got too close to it.

That was Ghost Emperor Yama’s true body; he was no human, he was a devil-god.

He looked up at the golden imp, his massive eyes gleaming with shock and terror. “Godtongue! That was Godtongue, the most ancient dialect in existence! Your energy art isn’t heavenly-class. It’s godly-class, isn’t it?! Dear lord! Why has a godly-class energy art appeared in a lowly place like the Rich-Lush Continent? Compared to all the other worlds out there, the Rich-Lush Continent is so weak! Wait. You’re no god-spirit! You’re just an expert in the Godmyth level, bound by a godseal, aren’t you? Leave this place immediately!”

Roar!

Ghost Emperor Yama seemed to have pulled himself together. Massive amounts of devil-god energy began to bless him, augmenting him with the sensation that he could shake the heavens and topple the earth.

“Reverse the flow of life force. Draw deeply on the lifespan. Remove this god-spirit! Spatial teleportation!”

His roar caused everything in the area to tremble from the powerful fluctuations.

As for Yang Qi, he still wasn’t capable of moving, and was relying fully on the golden imp in his forehead, who now continued to speak in Godtongue.

The words came more and more quickly, and caused golden light to converge into a single point, which suddenly pierced through the air with deadly speed toward Ghost Emperor Yama’s forehead.

A hoarse scream rang out, and a huge hole opened up in his forehead as his true body suffered a grievous blow. However, at the same time, he managed to send out a sphere of destructive energy, which headed directly toward Yang Qi.

That ball of energy was clearly powerful enough to destroy a Legendary, much less someone as weak as Yang Qi.

However, that was when the golden imp flew back into the recesses of Yang Qi’s forehead. Golden light shot forth, and the sphere was destroyed.

Even as blood poured down the face of Ghost Emperor Yama’s true body, he threw his hands wide, and bent space-time.

“Devilhorde Greater Teleportation!”

Yang Qi felt the space-time around him cracking and shattering, and then felt himself leaving the palace.

He blinked, and then he wasn’t in the Yama Mountains anymore, but rather, back out in the desolate blood swamps.

Off in the distance, the location where the mountains had once existed now seemed completely empty.

“What’s going on here?” he murmured. Putting his hands to his temples, he cast his senses inward toward the golden imp. However, the imp was back in its usual position, and was completely motionless.

It was almost like everything that had just happened was a dream.

However, Yang Qi knew that it was no dream. Ghost Emperor Yama saw him steal the life force springwater from Heaven, Earth, and Man, the Three Heroes, and had then teleported him into the Yama Mountains in the hopes of getting his energy art. Thankfully, the golden imp who resided in his forehead ended up attacking the ghost emperor.

And in the moment before Ghost Emperor Yama was completely defeated, he teleported Yang Qi out, resolving the situation.

‘Senior? Senior…?’

Yet again, his attempts to communicate were fruitless. The golden imp didn’t even move, much less speak in Godtongue, or any other language for that matter.

After a while, Yang Qi simply gave up. ‘Maybe my cultivation base just isn’t high enough. Well, I won’t worry about it for now. I just escaped from almost certain calamity. From now on, I can’t go into dangerous situations like that so casually. After all, I have more people to worry about than just myself. What would Father do if I died, or my sworn brothers?’

Yang Qi wasn’t necessarily afraid of calamity, but he did have a lot of people to take care of.

After some more thought, he decided that he shouldn’t stay in the Heavencorpse Dimension for any longer than necessary.

It took some searching, but he found the Deathly Devil-Eye passageway back to the Blackcorpse Mountains. Before long, he was back in the outside world.

Thanks to the slaughter he had carried out on his way to the dimension, there were no zombies to be seen, and no thousand-year-old corpse kings. He had killed just about everything.

The wretch energy was also much less intense than before. Yang Qi couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction at the deed he had accomplished.

With that, he burst into motion, heading back toward Yanhaven at top speed.

He couldn’t wait to get back.

Already, several days had passed, and he had no idea whether or not the representative from the House of Spring and Autumn had arrived. After all, he had been unable to connect with his Humanoid True Energy while in the Heavencorpse Dimension.

Thankfully, the connection reestablished soon after he emerged, and he found that the situation in Yanhaven was calm and peaceful. No one from the House of Spring and Autumn had come yet.

Before long, he landed in Yanhaven.

**

Meanwhile, deep in the Heavencorpse Dimension, the Yama Mountains that had vanished moments ago slowly reappeared.

Deep inside those mountains, in the palace, the life force springwater was building back up again, although, thanks to the blood of Ghost Emperor Yama, it was now pitch black.

‘Dammit. Why did I have to run into someone like that? I can’t believe he actually had a God Legion Seal in his forehead. A fabled sealing mark belonging to the legion of gods. What is something like that doing on an ordinary person from the Rich-Lush Continent? Tens of thousands of years ago, I, Ghost Emperor Yama, was completely invincible! If that expert from the Quake-Dawn Continent hadn’t come and locked me up with Quake-Dawn godsteel, who could ever have been my match? And yet, godseals are never seen even on the Quake-Dawn Continent!’

Ghost Emperor Yama had been very seriously injured.

He was a virtually invincible devil-god, and yet even he couldn’t hold back from howling in pain. He almost couldn’t believe what had just happened, and completely regretted teleporting Yang Qi into his palace.

‘A godly-class energy art! I can’t believe something like that has shown up in this continent! This place was only a tiny part of the Yore-Wilds Continent before the entire thing broke apart. And now, a godly-class energy art has appeared. Don’t tell me the mysterious, unparalleled, paragonic gods in their alternate dimension actually want to restore the Yore-Wilds Continent?’

Soon, Ghost Emperor Yama managed to stop the bleeding and close up his wound. Continuing to try to comfort himself, he thought, ‘Or, perhaps there are problems amongst the gods in heaven! Either way, considering that a godly-class energy art has appeared here, the Rich-Lush Continent is in for a major storm of events. And what about that Crown Prince fellow who came before? There’s an incredible aura inside of him as well. I wonder where he's from. I have to get rid of this Quake-Dawn godsteel!’

**

Back in Yanhaven, in a particularly spacious den, Yang Qi had reunited with Yang Zhan, Yang Yunchong, and Yang Hualong.

The energy formation of the dao of monarchs was fully activated, providing cultivation results that were ten to a hundred times as effective as elsewhere.

Yang Yunchong and Yang Hualong had not yet reached the Lifeseizing level, but they were very close. Both of them had called upon the Four Seasons Swordplay to summon four spheres of sword light, which corresponded to spring, summer, autumn and winter.

By now, they could use their sword energy to kill an enemy ten thousand paces away, making them even stronger than Masters of Energy like Yang Xingshi or Dowager Yan.

“Qi’er, how was your trip into the Blackcorpse Mountains?” Yang Zhan asked. “No one from the House of Spring and Autumn has shown up, but I have the feeling it won’t be long. In fact, I was just about to send you a message asking you to come back.”

“Forget about my adventures, Father. Look at what I acquired. With this, eldest brother and second brother should both be able to reach the Lifeseizing level.” With that, Yang Qi took out the enormous bottle gourd filled with life force springwater. It was so incredibly heavy that the ground cracked and shattered beneath it, and the walls and columns around them creaked ominously.

After all, one drop of life force springwater was dozens of times heavier than a drop of ordinary water.