Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi had attacked Bastard Seacliff so viciously that the man had been forced to unseal the energy he normally kept hidden, resorting to his Godfist of Sin and Enmity. Yet not even that had been enough to harm Yang Qi, and Bastard Seacliff only ended up having his energy resealed.

And now, he was being beaten into a bloody pulp.

He almost looked like a sandbag being used for a workout by Yang Qi. Yang Qi’s abilities were impossible to beat, to the point where he actually crushed Bastard Seacliff’s essence, provoking an agonized shriek of pain.

No one in the audience could possibly have guessed that someone as strong as a mid Terrifying expert would be beaten so badly.

BAM!

Yang Qi’s fist hit Bastard Seacliff’s head, causing it to explode. However, the man’s god bastard energy surged and his head immediately pulled back into shape, albeit with cracks covering his skin.

Next, Yang Qi pulled back his foot and viciously kicked him right between the legs.

Bastard Seacliff shivered violently, and more cracking sounds could be heard as his essence was further crushed. This time, he wasn’t able to recover.

He lay there on the ground like a bloated toad, his true energy so damaged he couldn’t gather it. Gasping for breath, he said, “I won’t let you get away with this, Yang Qi. I'm a god bastard! I'm the son of two gods! I may have been banished, but I still have their blood. The gods won’t let their children be killed by mortals; if you hurt me, they’ll come and kill you!”

In response, Yang Qi began viciously trampling him, unleashing such humiliation that Bastard Seacliff seemed like he might pass out at any moment. He had lost so much face that, even if he survived this, he would never again be able to hold his head high in public.

Of course, the more pressing question was whether or not he would make it off the fighting platform alive.

With each stomp of his foot, Yang Qi would explode Bastard Seacliff’s head, only to have it restored a moment later. Bastard Seacliff was obviously using a profound energy art to heal himself, but it wouldn’t last forever. He really would end up being beaten to death.

It was terrifying to see someone as frightening as a god bastard being literally trampled to death.

At a certain point, Bastard Seacliff shouted, “Let me go, Yang Qi! If you do, the House of God Bastards will pay you... a thousand pieces of godhood!”

Many jaws dropped in response to his words. A thousand pieces of godhood was an incredible number, to the point where virtually any sect would leap at the chance to get it. Perhaps the only ones who wouldn’t would be the Genesis Sanctum and the Woodfern Couple Palace.

However, Yang Qi didn’t seem moved. “You think I'm low on godhood? I'm going to kill you, and I’m very curious to see if anyone tries to save you. I’m sure you know the old saying, if you release the tiger back into the mountain, it will bring disaster in the future. Do you really think I'm so stupid that I would let you go so you could try taking revenge later?”

As he spoke, he began shining with dazzling light, and he lifted up his foot in what everyone could tell would be deadly for Bastard Seacliff.

However, at that very moment, a voice rang out like the rumbling of thunder.

“Stay your hand! Enough of this! Are you looking to die?!”

RUMBLE!

An enormous hand appeared, filling the sky as it descended toward both Yang Qi and Bastard Seacliff, as if to grab them up.

“A mid Terrifying expert!”

Everyone present felt as though they were being suffocated all the way down to the level of their souls. If this was truly a mid Terrifying expert, how could Yang Qi possibly defend himself?

Even more terrifying, there was a huge eyeball in the middle of the hand’s palm, staring out as if to prevent anyone from taking action.

“That’s the Eye of Sin and Enmity!” Mu Renwang said.

“Whoever the Eye of Sin and Enmity looks at will be inextricably bound by all the sin and enmity in the world!” said Su Xin.

However, neither of them did anything to interfere. In fact, Huangfu Genesis said, “Houselord God Bastard! Save your son if you want, but don’t cause problems for our sect assembly!”

“Fine, I won’t cause problems for your assembly. But I'm taking this boy with me. I'm going to kill him and use his death to cleanse my taint of sin!” Countless streams of energy erupted, as though the wielder of this hand intended to rip the fighting platform up by the roots.

“Even if the ruler of the heavens came today, he wouldn’t be able to save Bastard Seacliff!” Yang Qi said. “Houselord God Bastard? It's good you came. Now you can also see what a real energy art is like!” RUMBLE! Yang Qi shoved his hand up toward the sky, and suddenly, his energy climbed to a higher level as, after such a long time, he rose higher on the Deathless Heavenly Stairway! He was stepping onto the fifth stair, the Stair of Fearlessness!

Considering how much he had prepared for this moment, no one could really have any idea of the true level of his cultivation base. All they could tell was that there was an explosion of energy arts, with vital energy swirling in mythological proportions.

A Fearless aura pulsed off of him, creating a resonance with universal magical laws. Not the magical laws of a universe, but the magical laws of the millions upon millions of universes that existed like the eternal sands. It was almost as if the king of the myriad gods were out inspecting all of the peoples and planes of existence he had created.

The king of the myriad gods was none other than the paramount Sovereign Lord, the originator of all living beings and the source of the countless civilizations that existed. All of the universes that existed were because of his thoughts and will.

His aura existed in all corners of reality.

Upon reaching the Stair of Fearlessness, Yang Qi reached an unheard-of and unfathomable level, whereupon the Wheel of Fate appeared above his head, turning endlessly.

At the same time, immense flows of destiny began rushing toward him, entering the wheel in shocking fashion.

Everyone could sense the aura of Fearlessness and were shaken to their core, their hearts filling with reverence and awe.

Even as Yang Qi stepped onto the Stair of Fearlessness, he threw out his hands to meet the descending attack. Flames burst out everywhere as he launched a palm of equal size to Houselord God Bastard's.

In a moment, it would become very obvious who needed to be afraid of whom.

Crack!

The two enormous palms slammed into each other, and Yang Qi bent under the weight, but managed to direct the force of the houselord’s blow onto Bastard Seacliff.

During the process, Yang Qi came to the realization that this houselord wasn’t the father of Bastard Seacliff, but rather his Master. After all, the god bastards were looked down on by the legion of gods, and had been exiled from the god world. And the god bastards themselves were unable to have children.

In the blink of an eye, Bastard Seacliff was crushed into a bloody pulp, which Yang Qi quickly assimilated. For all intents and purposes, he had just been hit by both Yang Qi and the houselord, so even if he had been vastly stronger than he was, he would still have ended up dead.

That was the end of Bastard Seacliff.

Yang Qi had completely negated the power of the immense hand that Houselord God Bastard had sent against him.

As the hand crumbled, Houselord God Bastard appeared on the fighting platform, black hair whipping about his head as he glared at Yang Qi in fury.

“Houselord God Bastard finally showed up....”

“He’s a mid Terrifying expert, yet he couldn’t even save his own junior houselord?”

“What level is this Yang Qi’s cultivation base at? Even while facing a mid Terrifying expert, he still managed to kill that junior houselord? Bastard Seacliff was the son of two gods! Isn’t Yang Qi worried about the gods coming to cause problems for him?”

“I doubt it. The god bastards have been abandoned by the legion of gods. Besides, considering the dramatic events in the god world, we don’t even know if the legion of gods still exists. Neither do we know if it’s possible to reach godly ascension. Ever since the Great Necropolis blocked the Ancient Road to the Gods, we don’t have any hope of reaching the god world.”

“This Yang Qi is incredible. He stood up to a mid Terrifying expert and killed that junior houselord at the same time. He may as well be a mid Terrifying expert himself.”

“He’s even more terrifying than the actual mid Terrifying level. Did you notice that he just improved his cultivation base? He’s now on the Stair of Fearlessness. That means that he has four more steps before he’s even a Grand Emperor. The Stairs of Awareness, Heaven-Fate, Forgetfulness, and True Void. Just imagine how much stronger he's going to get! The fact that he has such a low cultivation base makes him even scarier!”

“That's right, from ancient times until now, nobody has ever seen someone with such a low cultivation base be so strong!”