Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Being bathed in the sagelight felt incomparably wonderful to Yang Qi.

In contrast, the other Paramount Gods were in mortal danger. Considering they had no God Legion Seal, they were in worse danger than if the most evil denizens of hell were attacking them. And if the light got inside them, they would quickly be parasitized and turned into angels.

Paramount Gods were attracted to the Bastille of the One God because, if they could get the right treasures, they could instantly become patriarch-level figures that could lead massive organizations. But a more common outcome was for them to be infected by the sagelight and transformed into angels.

Because of that, everyone had magical treasures that they were using to protect themselves.

Yang Qi pretended to do the same, but of course, he was actually absorbing the sagelight, within which he could sense the majestic aura of the Sovereign Lord. The beams of sagelight were actually alive in a certain sense, although their existence differed from that of corporeal objects.

Of course, when Yang Qi absorbed the light, the God Legion Seal would transform it into something beneficial for his monarch godhood.

His godhood rating was already at fifty million, which meant that he was an early Paramount God. He had no idea how much energy it would take to reach the mid level. However, what he did know was that his cultivation speed here was many times faster than outside, which gave him hope that he would indeed achieve his next breakthrough soon.

When his psychic scale and godhood rating matched, his fighting prowess would reach an unheard-of level of strength.

RUMBLE!

The group threaded their way through the sagelight until they reached solid ground.

Everything was constructed from pure white stones, and it seemed to stretch without end. Although not a speck of impurity could be seen, it bore the scars of what must have been an incredible battle in ancient times. There were immense trees present, although they were all so petrified they were pitch black and emanated a sensation of rotten death.

Above them in the sky were collections of white light that resembled clouds, but were clearly far denser than clouds. The magical laws here were much stronger than in the god world, making it impossible for Paramount Gods to fly or pierce through space.

“Be careful,” said Buddha Lawtongue from the Dragonfolk. “Those clouds are made from pure sagelight, and are far stronger than any of the light we’ve encountered up to this point. We're on the periphery of the Bastille of the One God now. These crumbling buildings were part of the god kingdom that was the exterior border of the Sovereign Lord’s halls of heaven. They weren’t part of the true halls of heaven, but they’re still very dangerous. See all the buildings? They were the barracks of the angel guardians of the halls of heaven.

“Now we can start searching for treasure. We can split up, but if we encounter any enemy forces, we should handle them together. Most enemies here will come in the form of Paramount Gods who came to search for treasure, but died and became angels.

“Remember, we came as a team, so fighting amongst ourselves isn't allowed. Treasure is first come, first served. That's the official rule. We can team up to fight enemies, but can't fight each other. Don’t forget what happened last time we were here. We personally witnessed a group of experts from the dao of devils fighting over a flower of karma, only to be set upon by angels and wiped out.”

“We know all that,” said Grand Prince Yi. “There’s no need to waste time with such talk. Mister Second, you said that your month of cultivation back home would enable you to move about the Bastille of the One God with complete ease. I hope you were telling the truth, and that you can keep us safe.”

“No problem,” Yang Qi said, more than happy to play the role of leader.

RUMBLE!

All of a sudden, a fifty-kilometer-wide ball of sagelight shot in their direction, emanating what sounded like ancient voices calling out to them, tugging at their souls like the embrace of a mother.

“Crap. That’s a conglomeration of ancient angel souls! Why did we have to encounter something like this!?” Everyone looked at the incoming ball of sagelight with grim faces.

“Everyone run!” cried one of the experts from the Dragonfolk.

Someone from the Sumeru Temple said, “Those are undead angels! They’re far stronger than ordinary sagelight, and can easily consume our souls and flesh. And we can't beat them in a fight. No type of fire, sword energy, or divine ability can harm them. If they touch us, we’ll be possessed immediately!”

Everyone was starting to panic, even the sickly young sir from the Dragonfolk, the monk with the crew cut, and the wooden-faced young man.

“Mister Second, now would be a good time to see that amazing ability of yours,” Buddha Exterminator said in a snide voice. “Can you get rid of these ancient angel souls? Last time we were here, we encountered a similar conglomeration that was only about ten kilometers wide. Even so, we barely survived. Hopefully you can at least buy us some time to get out of here.”

“Quit jabbering, Buddha Exterminator!” said the sickly young man. “We need to get out of here before it notices us. That thing isn’t intelligent, it simply acts on instinct. But if it consumes some of us, and gains intelligence as a result, that will only make it vastly more dangerous.”

Everyone was preparing to flee from the angel soul conglomeration.

However, that was when Yang Qi actually charged directly toward it.

“What are you doing, Mister Second?” The people from the Deva Dynasty were so shocked they didn’t have time to react. In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi vanished into the enormous glowing ball of souls.

“What’s he doing? Trying to kill himself? Those angels died during the catastrophe of ancient times. Protected by the vengeful will of the Sovereign Lord, they continued to grow, transforming into what they are today. He might as well be throwing his life away.”

“Don't tell me he has something that can be used against those things.”

Even as they discussed the matter amongst themselves, they fled to a distant location, fearful of what could happen if they stayed behind.

As for Yang Qi, as soon as he burst into the conglomeration of angel souls, he activated the God Legion Seal, providing him with absolute protection.

From his position, he could sense the true genes of angels with all their profundities. The truth was that, although he had the God Legion Seal, he had never seen true angels from the past. Because of that, the sage monarch magistrates he had created were somewhat deficient.

But now, in the Bastille of the One God, he had encountered something completely unprecedented.

“Be subjugated!”

From within the protection cast by the God Legion Seal, he started absorbing the souls around him, causing them to flow into his sea of energy like a river. At the same time, he created an illusion to make it seem like he was involved in the most bitter of battles.

Several hours passed.

Suddenly, a huge explosion ripped out, and everyone looked over to see Yang Qi sealing the angel souls and absorbing them into himself.

“Incredible....”

The sickly young sir, the crew-cut monk, and the wooden-faced young man exchanged astonished glances, and could tell that they were all thinking roughly the same thing: ‘Amazing. He’s definitely some sort of almighty ancient being filled with incredible secrets. That said, it’s obvious he’s trying to make a big impression by absorbing those souls. Now that they’re inside him, it’ll only make him easier to deal with.’

WHOOSH!

Having absorbed the souls, Yang Qi flew over with a faint smile on his face and said, “You juniors don’t have anything to fear from wimpy souls like that. I can crush them as easily as turning over my hand.”

At that point, he suddenly shivered briefly. It only lasted a moment, but anyone looking closely would notice, and would assume it was him struggling to keep control of the souls he had absorbed.

After all, not even Patriarch Deva could have sealed those souls.

“You really do have an amazing ability there, Mister Second,” said Grand Prince Yi. “No wonder Patriarch Deva favors you so much. That said, Mister Second, it must have taken a huge amount of godpower for you to do that. Why not rest for a bit?”

“There’s no need,” Yang Qi said, casually, although to everyone present it seemed like he was forcing it a bit. Truth be told, those ancient angel souls were already fusing with his fifteen hundred sage monarch magistrates, causing them to become vastly stronger.

Before, he could only cause them to split and reproduce, not become fundamentally stronger. But things were different now.

Slowly but surely, their psychic scale rose from eight hundred and eighty thousand to nine hundred and fifty thousand. They were close to the level of an Unbounded expert!

Going forward, whenever they split to reproduce, the new versions would be just as strong.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was doing everything to convince the others present that he was expending a huge amount of effort to keep the souls under control. If you ride a tiger, it's hard to get off, and that's what he wanted them to think he was doing.