Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Devil energy surged as a top expert from the dao of devils appeared, a Paramount God. Obviously, this person sought to seize the legendary techniques left behind by the Second Devil General. And he was flanked by a handful of followers. Although this general region was dominated by the Deva Dynasty, there were still plenty of scattered organizations. Furthermore, there were plenty of surrounding groups with Paramount Gods that would spend a few years flying to come to this area for business purposes.

The area surrounding the Deva Dynasty could generally be described as a hodgepodge of good and bad people.

‘One, two, three four... five. It looks like there are five experts present. One of them is a Paramount God. Where are they from? At least that Paramount God is only in the early level....’

Yang Qi remained at the bottom of the ocean, observing.

Up above, five ripples appeared in the air, and five experts descended. They were all men, four of whom had Unbounded will convergence, but hadn’t reached the Paramount God level. Even so, they were obviously very formidable. Their leader was the early Paramount God, and he was clad in a suit of armor. The horns on his head made him look like some sort of dragon, and he was surrounded by crackling lighting that represented the dao of devils.

The man spoke in a voice that seemed to thrum with many voices. “You’ve done well, Patriarch Bloodcloak. You actually acquired the legacy of the Second Devil General, as well as an immense fortune. Was it the items you purchased from the Deva Dynasty that got you to this level of power? Unfortunately, you've reached the end of the road here. So I’ll give you one chance to surrender. Give me all of that wealth, and become my slave. The only other option is for you to die.”

“Who are you people?!” Patriarch Bloodcloak’s voice said from within Bloodcloak Island. “I can’t believe you’re willing to stab me in the back like this! We're both from the dao of devils!”

“For enough treasure, people like us will do anything. I know that you’ve reached the Unbounded level, so if I came at you alone, you’d simply flee. But look. I brought friends. I’m Iron-Emperor Wretch-Dragon, and these are my associates Monsieur Darkmoon, Lord Liquidator, Grandmaster Soul-Torturer, and Pontifex Sceletus. All of them are famous tyrants from the dao of devils, and over the past few months, we formed a temporary alliance. We've already set up a Linked-Heart Devil Net to cover all of Bloodcloak Island, making it impossible for you to escape. We spent a lot of time and effort ensuring that we can kill you if we have to.”

Iron-Emperor Wretch-Dragon then let loose a stream of grating, maniacal laughter, the likes of which would cause anyone who heard it to feel like their psyche was being pulled out of them.

“You won’t get away with this!” came the voice of Patriarch Bloodcloak, then a stream of blood-red light appeared, shooting up into the air as he attempted to flee.

Smiling, Iron-Emperor Wretch-Dragon said, “We already set up the Linked-Heart Devil Net! You're crazy if you think you can escape!”

“Iron-Emperor Wretch-Dragon is completely right,” said Monsieur Darkmoon. “You’re a minor figure in the dao of devils, Patriarch Bloodcloak. Even if you did find the legacy material of the Second Devil General, you should definitely just give it to us. You were a mere ant when the likes of us became famous. If we want you dead, you’ll end up dead!” Monsieur Darkmoon was a gaunt fellow whose white robe was embroidered with a pitch-black moon. He held a black spear in his hand, and pulsed with killing intent.

Around this time, a huge net appeared.

It was made from white strands whose intersecting points wrapped around what appeared to be a host of pitch-black, wriggling hearts.

A pale white net filled with black hearts. It made a very disturbing image.

The red streak of light that was Patriarch Bloodcloak slammed into the net, but was completely rebuffed. In fact, he completely exploded, turning into a host of red streaks that shot back into the middle of Bloodcloak Island. At the same time, he let loose a miserable shriek. “Are you really trying to kill me?”

“Cut the crap! Hand over those treasures, or you’re done for!”

The five experts were clearly preparing to attack the island.

“The four of you join forces and slaughter all of Patriarch Bloodcloak’s disciples and offspring,” Iron-Emperor Wretch-Dragon said. “Then we’ll attack the center of the island and crush him.”

“Alright!”

“Thousand-Monarch Thousand-Mountain Suppression!”

“Myriad-Devils Myriad-Wretches Slaughter!”

“Nine-Yins Nine-Evils Dao!”

The five experts joined forces and unleashed a host of extremely powerful energy arts. The blood-red defenses of the island were shattered, and in the blink of an eye, the attack was closing in on the central region.

However, that was when ‘Patriarch Bloodcloak’ suddenly smiled. “It's time to say goodbye forever, you five. Your souls, flesh, and blood are going to be the perfect sacrifice to open the sealing mark on the Mahātmā Jade!”

All of a sudden, Iron-Emperor Wretch-Dragon experienced a very bad feeling. “What did you just say? You’re full of nonsense!”

RUMBLE!

A scintillating beam of white light shot out of the ocean, filled with the immense power of lighting and tribulation. Before anyone could react, it had reached Bloodcloak Island, which it wiped out of existence in the blink of an eye.

Yang Qi had powered up the Grand Tribulation Cannon for more than a week, so it was obviously more than enough to deal with the five experts.

Iron-Emperor Wretch-Dragon’s armor collapsed, revealing his true features. His face was that of an attractive young man, and while his torso was that of a human, everything below that looked like a dragon. As for the other four Unbounded experts, there was no need to mention them, as they were ripped to shreds by the light.

Before any of them could even wonder what was happening, they were overwhelmed by the destructive power.

A moment later, the white light disappeared.

It was almost as though it hadn’t existed to begin with. Bloodcloak Island was nowhere to be seen. All of a sudden, black holes sprang up everywhere, throwing all of space into chaos, and causing water to spray violently in all directions.

Vital energy was sucked into the black holes, bending light itself as the area was turned into a stretch of pure chaos.

Nothing was left behind.

Thrummmm!

All of a sudden, an old man appeared. Frowning slightly, he waved his hand to calm down the chaos. As everything returned to normal, he thought, ‘What type of power was that? And what kind of attack was it? It destroyed those five experts in the shortest of moments! Was Patriarch Bloodcloak really the cause? There’s no way! He’s not that strong. He couldn’t kill five experts like that. Not even I could, at least not without wasting a huge amount of vital energy. Don’t tell me that was the power of the Second Devil General! If so, perhaps I should track down Patriarch Bloodcloak and see what he's truly capable of.’

That old man was none other than the legendary Patriarch Deva, founder of the Deva Dynasty, late Paramount God, and invincible figure in the god world.

Yet even he felt his heart thumping with fear based on what he had just seen.

But even after performing some divinations, he couldn't come up with any clues. After all, Yang Qi was a Fateless One, so how could anyone possibly divine information about him?

‘Strange. Patriarch Bloodcloak’s aura isn’t anywhere to be found. It's as if he’s dead. Maybe it was some other top expert who stole Patriarch Bloodcloak’s legacy materials. Whatever expert it was from the dao of devils, he’s very formidable. Except I know all of those experts, and there are only a few who could possibly pull this off. For example, Devilord Worldcrusher, the Wretch Master of the Witch People, or the Lord of Waves. But none of them have any sort of cannon that could unleash a shot like that.’ Patriarch Deva continued performing divinations, all to no effect. Eventually, he smiled. ‘So, it really was some expert from the dao of devils. Unfortunately, I'm only here in clone form, so I can’t draw on my full potential. That's why the divinations aren’t working. Once I get back, I’ll track down the location of that piece of the Mahātmā Jade. With my sealing mark on it, no one can actually steal it.’

With that, Patriarch Deva vanished into thin air.

‘So strong!’

Out in the void, a mote of dust drifted along. At a certain point, it rapidly expanded to form the God Legion Paradise, with Yang Qi in the middle of it, panting. ‘That Patriarch Deva is incredible. Even just a clone of his was able to instantly still that entire area. If I hadn’t fled quickly enough, he would have caught me. It seems I'm still not ready to face him directly. Luckily, I planned everything out perfectly. The Grand Tribulation Cannon wiped out those five experts in the blink of an eye, and I was able to get away before Patriarch Deva showed up. Now his divinations are telling him that Patriarch Bloodcloak is dead. And there’s no way he’ll be able to track me down. I should be able to assimilate the Mahātmā Jade now.’

Waving his hand, he pulled out five souls, which were all that remained of the five experts he had just killed. The soul of Iron-Emperor Wretch-Dragon was wailing in anger and desperation as he pleaded with Yang Qi to free him.

“Why would I let you go? Your souls are going to be the perfect fuel for my Sagely Sacrifice. Time to unravel this sealing mark! A Paramount God and four gods with Unbounded will convergence. I was thinking of enslaving you to add to the destiny of the Sage Monarch Society, and help in the fight against the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. But no, I think the Sage Monarch Society is the best choice. Not even Patriarch Deva would be able to sacrifice something this incredible.”

The Deva Dynasty was immense, but there weren’t a lot of people with Unbounded will convergence. And every single one was very important. There was no way Patriarch Deva would sacrifice someone like that. If nothing else, the backlash from other experts would be too severe.

The only reason Yang Qi could do it was that he was a Fateless One, and didn’t need to worry about anyone figuring out what he had done.

Sacrificing these five experts was definitely going to be enough to get to that piece of jade.