Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi had inserted something into the life force seed Proud Heaven had placed in Hailan. As for what it would turn into, only time would tell. But it would definitely be a tool to use against Proud Heaven.

Although Proud Heaven was currently backed by the essence of the god world, there was far more to him than that. He had the Great Necropolis, which he could use at any time to combat the will of the god world. Perhaps he could even use it to devour the god world. Yang Qi was under no illusions. He knew how incredibly ambitious Proud Heaven was. He might as well have been a fiend-devil who would devour anyone he needed in order to accomplish his goals.

Working with him didn’t make any sense, as those who worked with him always ended up as corpses. And no one had ever been able to avoid being devoured by him.

Thus, Yang Qi was using Hailan as a pawn against him.

As far as Proud Heaven leaving her in charge of his empire was concerned, the truth was that she didn’t have any actual control. Any orders she issued had to be approved by Proud Heaven’s will, and if she opposed him, she would die.

The empire as a whole wouldn't follow her personal orders. She was essentially there as an administrator.

When Proud Heaven left to meet the King of Godmammoths and the others, Yang Qi smiled in the knowledge that the time had come to truly oppose Proud Heaven.

Yang Voidprime was captive in the middle of the Sage Monarch Empire, suspended in the air such that he resembled the character 大. Now that Yang Qi had combined with the Invincible Dynasty, the destiny at his command was immense. It didn't matter that Yang Voidprime was in the half-Annulled level now, he still couldn’t fight back.

“Is there anything you’d like to say, Yang Voidprime?” Yang Qi asked. “I bet you never thought you’d end up in such a tragic position. None of your plans worked. In the same moment you reached the half-Annulled level, you were trapped. And even as the two of us reached an agreement, you were plotting against me. But you had no idea how strong my energy arts were. I broke right into the Demonfolk Empire and grabbed you for myself.”

“You kept your true strength hidden well, Yang Qi. You really fooled me.” Yang Voidprime knew that it wouldn’t matter what he said now. As the saying went, the winner is deemed righteous, and the loser is always in the wrong. Right now, there was no way Yang Qi would free him.

“I didn’t fool you. You fooled yourself, thanks to your greed. You never even got to experience what it’s like to truly be a half-Annulled expert. Ai.” Yang Qi shook his head. “It’s really tragic. However, I need your fateless energy to become a full Fateless One.”

“Then let me go!” Yang Voidprime said, his face lighting up. “I’ll be loyal to you. Even if I lose my fateless energy, I’ll still be a powerful asset. Maybe I won’t be a half-Annulled expert anymore, but I can cultivate my way back to that level eventually. My wisdom and experience will come in very handy, and I’ll work for you faithfully.”

“Sorry, not interested,” Yang Qi said, waving his hand dismissively. There was no way he would believe anything Yang Voidprime said. Taking his fateless energy would reduce him to the level of a God-Lord, but his psychic scale would remain the same, roughly three hundred billion. And that would make him superior to all other God-Lords in existence.

In other words, both his physical body and the experiences in his mind were top notch.

In many ways, he was almost exactly the same as Yang Qi.

“Yang Immortal-Slayer,” Yang Qi said suddenly.

“Here,” Yang Immortal-Slayer replied, stepping out of nowhere. His psychic scale made him the strongest of the God-Lords, which made sense considering how many preheaven treasures, vital energies, and national destinies he had devoured over the years.

As soon as Yang Voidprime saw Yang Immortal-Slayer, he knew what was coming, and a mournful expression appeared on his face. “How sinister of you, Yang Qi! You’re going to take my fateless energy, and you’re going to have this Yang Immortal-Slayer take my physical body, to help him reach the half-Annulled level. Considering you and I are perfectly compatible, it’ll work without a hitch. How vicious! Why? Why did I have to end in such tragedy? No one has ever experienced misfortune of this level. I reached the half-Annulled level, the peak of the god world, only to end up like this. I was supposed to be the main character of this generation!”

“Stop whining, Yang Voidprime. You shook the god world for years, and enjoyed life to the fullest. It’s not so bad an end to die like this. Alright. It's time for you to meet your end.”

RUMBLE!

Yang Qi reached out and clamped his hand down on the top of Yang Voidprime’s head. Instantly, numerous streams of energy flowed from Yang Voidprime into Yang Qi, like a river of fate. Nothing changed within Yang Qi as it happened. His face was expressionless as he watched the innumerable people from a chiliocosm of worlds, their fates clear for him to see. He was like a bird gliding gently over the river of fate.

What is fate?

I am fate.

A Fateless One is fate.

Such were Yang Qi’s thoughts.

As the fateless energy suffused him, his status as a Fateless One grew whole. And as he was blessed, the Annulled level reached out, beckoning toward him. Never had he experienced anything like this, in which he had such deep enlightenment of the terror of fate, and the majesty of the Annulled level.

Only by being Annulled could one truly be free from the fetters of fate, and become invincible.

When the fateless energy left Yang Voidprime, he sagged limply as he fell to the God-Lord level. That said, he still pulsed with such immense power that he could easily kill the Patriarch of the Universe and the others that had been sentenced to death by the Sovereign Lord. In fact, ordinary half-Annulled experts might not even be able to take him on.

“You’re turn, Yang Immortal-Slayer. Use the dao of King Heaven-Devourer to devour him.” He waved his hand, causing invincible power to flow into Yang Immortal-Slayer.

Yang Qi’s cultivation was rising as he combined the fateless energies. Suddenly....

Crack!

His psychic scale broke through the gap to reach a trillion.

In all likelihood, he was now the strongest god to ever have existed throughout all of history. Not even the Sovereign Lord had reached this level. And just as how immortals changed fundamentally upon becoming gods, he was experiencing dramatic transformations.

Meanwhile, Yang Immortal-Slayer transformed into a primal-chaos elder-snake and lunged toward Yang Voidprime, who could do nothing but struggle in vain as he was devoured.

Flop!

Afterward, Yang Immortal-Slayer returned to human form, then threw his head back and howled, “Embrace Vitality to Unify; Complete and Utter Confinement; Sever the Four Gates; Seal the Six Senses!”

Yang Qi waved his hand, causing the God Legion Seal and the Mahātmā Jade to appear on his palm. Then, they flew out as two dazzling beams of light that shot into Yang Voidprime to help him fully assimilate Yang Voidprime.

“Blessing of Destiny!” Yang Qi said. “I hereby ordain Yang Immortal-Slayer as grand prince, and task him with protecting the empire!”

Slam!

A massive stream of destiny descended, coursing into Yang Immortal-Slayer, who again transformed as he thoroughly assimilated Yang Voidprime. Instantly, Yang Voidprime’s experiences, knowledge, and enlightenment became part of Yang Immortal-Slayer.

Normally speaking, a process like this would come with dangerous side-effects. But Yang Immortal-Slayer didn’t need to worry about that. He was a clone of Yang Qi, and both Yang Qi and Yang Voidprime were Fateless Ones. Their energies were similar, and for all intents and purposes, they were the same expression of vital energy.

“Time for a complete transformation with fateless power. As a Fateless One, I hereby summon the King of Fate!” Instantly, a figure appeared behind him, clad in white, surrounded by a swirling river of fate that could pierce through the universe.

This was his out-of-body incarnation.

The King of Godmammoths had the King of the Great Dao, but Yang Qi had the King of Fate. Within him swirled countless streams of fate, that of all living beings, which he controlled, making him invincible and ultimately powerful.

It was a second version of Yang Qi, or perhaps the ultimate version of him. After all, his godhood had vanished upon reaching the half-Annulled level.

“Time to step into the half-Annulled level, Yang Immortal-Slayer.” Yang Qi sent the King of Fate piercing into Yang Immortal-Slayer, who shot to his feet in response.