Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Shi Yuan obviously didn’t have the upper hand in any way. And he had no hope of trying to convince Zi Qiong to join him. Why would she risk following him when she could join Yang Qi and get an additional godpower seed as a result?

However, Shi Yuan was a vicious character, and therefore he decided to gamble by threatening the entire Will Manifestation Heaven Sect.

He obviously didn’t have any sense of belonging to this sect; ever since he became an Inheritor, he had lost touch with reality and come to view the sect as merely a tool for his own advancement. Having begun to tread the dao of devils, there was no way he was going to show mercy now. He would attack the sect itself and take as many people as possible with him on his way down.

“You’ve really gone over the edge, Shi Yuan,” said Zi Qiong, taking a step forward and waving her hand, causing a stone-colored greyspace to spring up around them. “Don’t forget that I'm also a Terrifying expert now, just like you. I have two godpower seeds and you have one, which means that I'm superior to you. Maybe I couldn’t kill you on my own, but with the junior sectlord on my side, there’s no way you’ll come out of this alive. Why are you refusing to come to your senses? You’ll really cast the sect aside and die for your prestige, rather than turn over a new leaf? The junior sectlord just said that as long as you perform some services for the sect, he’ll spare you!”

“Bah!” Shi Yuan spat. “You think I would agree to live life as a thrall? Besides, Zi Qiong, your plots against Xi Hua have already revealed how treacherous and evil you are. I have no doubt that even if I did agree to be sealed for a thousand years, you’d arrange for plenty of ways to have me killed afterward.”

“Don’t be so obstinate, Shi Yuan,” said Yang Qi. “If you sincerely repent and change your ways, I’ll keep you safe from harm.”

“Like hell you will!” Shi Yuan said, laughing. “Die! All of you can just die! Either let me go and drop the grudge between us, or I’ll go all out and make sure the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect suffers a grievous blow!”

“You really think you can hurt the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect?” Yang Qi chuckled. “I don’t think things will play out as you imagine them. Do you think the sectlord and the chief elders are just going to sit idly by? They’ve been watching this scene play out, and have borne witness to my strength. Sectlord, I know that you've already mastered that grand magic you’ve been cultivating. With the corpses of all those executors, you've improved your energy arts, haven’t you?”

A peal of laughter rang out, then rumbling sounds could be heard from above as a host of chief elders descended from the clouds, led by the sectlord and Peaklords Celestial and Memory.

Those three in particular had greatly benefited by watching out for Yang Qi. Furthermore, they had all taken the psychic slaves from the executors’ prison and turned them into out-of-body incarnations. In addition, Yang Qi had given them enlightenment based on the imperial-heaven pre-beginning systems and the Civilization Creating Grand Magic. He had also given them some of the Seventy-Two Monarchs Energy Art, helping them improve their energy arts even more.

As of now, these three experts were more powerful than ever; especially the sectlord, who was absolutely unfathomable. From what Yang Qi could tell, he was now beyond the level of Archmonk Dharma Treasury.

Counting the junior superintendent and his seven followers, plus the original corpse that had been brought to the sect, there were a total of nine cultivation assets the sectlord had been given.

Nine corpses. Nine cauldrons.

It was impossible to say what level he had pushed the sect's signature Nine Cauldrons Grand Magic to.

But Yang Qi could sense that the man’s psychic scale had definitely risen, and was now at least at forty. Furthermore, he now had nine devilish halos behind his head, each of which contained the image of an immense cauldron. Apparently, he had combined the arts of some boundless devil church with the Nine Cauldrons Grand Magic.

“Sectlord,” Zi Qiong said, “I can’t believe you've mastered the Devil-Emperor God-King Heaven-Toppling Radiance! That devil light is a taboo art from a devil church that requires the blood and souls of numerous Executors of the Ancient Road. Once you master it, you’ll have access to all the same divine abilities and vital energies as the executors. It’s a supreme art from the dao of devils, and was specifically created by the devil churches to be the bane of the executors.”

“You're very experienced and knowledgeable, Zi Qiong,” the sectlord said with a nod. “You definitely deserve your reputation as one of the most elite disciples in the sect. I'm pleased that, in the critical moment, you renounced the darkness and sought the light. And yes, you’re right. If it weren’t for the fact that Yang Qi killed eight Executors of the Ancient Road and gave them to me for my cultivation, I never would’ve mastered this art specifically designed for use against the executors. You see, I’ve combined it with my Nine Cauldrons Grand Magic to create something rare and powerful. In the upcoming assembly of sects, I’ll definitely be able to further the interests of our Will Manifestation Heaven Sect. Going forward, I hope that you can help Yang Qi manage things here in the sect. He's capable of things you can’t even imagine, and is actually far more valuable than an Inheritor. See his cultivation base? He’s not even in the Terrifying level, yet he's this strong. Obviously, he’s keeping his cultivation base lower on purpose. In truth, he’s not even a Grand Emperor! He’s only on the third or fourth stair!”

“What?!” Zi Qiong said, looking in horror at Yang Qi. Obviously, she hadn’t noticed that about him.

The stronger someone was at a weaker level, the more it went to show how powerful they would ultimately be. Truth be told, Grand Emperors weren’t very special at all in the superpower sects. Most disciples had power indexes in the hundreds, and only those who surpassed two thousand could be considered even a little bit important.

One had to reach three thousand to truly be noticed, and it was only upon becoming a Terrifying expert that one could actually have any measure of true power.

The fact that Yang Qi was so domineering at such a low level was completely shocking to Zi Qiong. It made her wonder just what remarkable ability he was using to suppress his level. Generally speaking, after reaching a certain point, one would naturally break through whether they wanted to or not.

Earlier, she had been operating under the assumption that she was roughly on the same level as Yang Qi, but now she realized that she definitely couldn’t deal with him.

Thankfully, as long as they didn’t have conflicting interests, he wouldn’t have any reason to kill her.

“I completely agree, Sectlord,” she said, bowing her head. “Henceforth, I’ll support the junior sectlord in all things, and follow his orders without question.”

With that, the sectlord turned his attention to Shi Yuan. “We took care of you for many years, Shi Yuan. But after becoming an Inheritor, you forgot all about that, and even went on about quitting the sect. Did you really think there was no one in the sect that could be your match? Get on your knees and express your remorse to the junior sectlord and accept whatever judgment he pronounces for you. That’s the only outcome I’ll tolerate.”

Looking around, Shi Yuan laughed heartily. “You're not my sectlord. I’ve already quit this sect. I don’t recognize the authority of any of you here. And don’t you dare to threaten me. I’m leaving, but I’ll be back. And when I return, I’ll be at the head of an army of sects. I’ll obliterate the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect and make sure all of you regret what happened here today!”

RUMBLE!

With that, he turned into a shadowy blur that shot directly toward the sectlord. Obviously, he wanted to take him as a hostage! But he had underestimated the sectlord’s strength.

The sectlord hardly blinked and nine streams of devil light appeared behind him, which became nine immense cauldrons, arrayed in a spell formation that instantly trapped Shi Yuan.

Within the depths of those nine cauldrons, sagefire burned bright and hot.

“Sagefire to Immolate Devils; Eradicate the Mortal Dust; Living and Breathing; Deathless Magical Laws....” Sagefire shot out, creating an immense heavenly net that wrapped him up tight.

Shi Yuan howled, “Great Necropolis godpower! Give me the strength to break through anything!”

His godpower seed appeared, rotating rapidly as the godpower of the Great Necropolis poured forth, transforming the fire into stone and making it impossible to hurt him. Then, Shi Yuan began launching wild attacks at the cauldrons, provoking loud booming sounds, yet not hurting them at all. Shi Yuan wasn’t able to break free from the trap, and couldn’t release his destructive force on the sect.

“You came prepared with powerful techniques, Sectlord,” Yang Qi said. “Zi Qiong, join me. We’ll enter the formation and crush him. He's a threat that absolutely must be eliminated. We need to do everything we can to strengthen the sect in preparation for the coming assembly.”

“Yes, Junior Sectlord.” Although Zi Qiong was going along with Yang Qi’s orders, there was no way he would ever believe that a schemer like her would ever truly cooperate with him.

Whooosh!

The two of them entered the formation of cauldrons and sagefire. Of course, it was no ordinary sagefire; it was a combination of the powers of the executors, as well as fiend-devils, a mixture as explosive as a red-hot stone thrown into a vat of ice water.

Yang Qi had to admit that the sectlord was quite a genius to have succeeded at creating something like this.

RUMBLE!

Yang Qi and Zi Qiong launched their deadly attacks. Zi Qiong was particularly ruthless, holding nothing back in her attempts to kill her fellow Inheritor.