Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

There was an unrivaled devil general sealed here!

Yang Qi was actually shocked at how strong he was. He was so mighty that, despite being locked up in a world of radiance and light, he had managed to create a devil embryo around himself.

In addition to the glowing manacles that restrained him, there was a shining lantern in front of him, the flame of which kept the surrounding devilishness at bay.

Yang Qi’s jaw dropped.

‘Is that... the true form of the Lord of Radiance and Light? The Everlit Godlamp?’

According to the stories recorded in countless ancient daoist texts, back in the era of primal-chaos, before the god world was created, the Lord of Radiance and Light had started out as a mere lamp. Eventually, he grew into a mighty god, and in the end, was known as the Lord of Radiance and Light. He cast aside his true form when he became an almighty entity, but that lamp, his original body, remained behind. That was why the Army of Radiance and Light always shone with immense brilliance.

In fact, all of the light in the god world originated with that lamp. It was a boundless magical treasure that was second only to King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, the God Legion Seal, and the Mahātmā Jade. In fact, it even surpassed the Cruiser of Civilization and the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

With a lamp, one had light.

The reason heaven and earth was forever lit with light was because of this lamp.

Unexpectedly, that shocking lamp was being used to imprison this devilish man. He was constantly burned by its shining light, and truth be told, his vital energy was virtually nonexistent. However, his devilishness was growing and he had clearly reached a critical point in which he could possibly struggle free.

‘That's a piece of the Mahātmā Jade!’

To Yang Qi’s surprise, the man had a piece of jade embedded into the middle of his chest. It was about the size of a person’s palm, and was both elegant and crude. If it wasn’t the Mahātmā Jade, what could it possibly be?

The power of the Mahātmā Jade that constantly flowed into this devilish man enabled him to resist the power of the lamp and refrain from being melted into nothing.

‘He can’t assimilate the power of the Mahātmā Jade, he’s just using it to protect himself. That’s the only way he’s struggled along through the years. But even though he's on his last legs, I'm still no match for him. So how can I deal with him without being absorbed in the process?’

Even if this devilish man was dead, Yang Qi wouldn't dare to get close to him, much less in this state of being alive. The Mahātmā Jade was there, as was the Everlit Godlamp, but he still didn’t have the guts to simply take them. It would be pure suicide. If he took the Everlit Godlamp, the man would be able to break free, and would likely kill Yang Qi.

Similarly, taking the Mahātmā Jade was also impossible. It was embedded in the man's skin; digging it out would surely provoke a reaction, and Yang Qi would be just as likely to end up dead.

Making a deal with the man wasn’t an option either. Devils would go back on their word without thinking, making any promise from one of them completely meaningless. That was why members of the dao of devils never swore oaths.

After thinking the matter through, he came to the conclusion that he had no other choice but to leave and wait for another opportunity to come along. It would be bad enough if this man broke free from the binding of the Everlit Godlamp.

But what would happen if he actually took control of the lamp? What if he converted it into a devilish object that made him even more powerful? He would be unstoppable. If Yang Qi didn’t do something about this man right here and now, he could end up as a major enemy to deal with later.

The man was an obstacle he couldn’t simply avoid, whether now or in the future.

‘What if I somehow boosted the power of the Everlit Godlamp?’ he thought. ‘And what if I unleash the power of my pieces of the Mahātmā Jade? I could power the lamp with the God Legion Seal and use it to keep this devil’s devilishness under control. Then I could use that moment to summon the Mahātmā Jade to me. That would severely weaken him, and benefit me on both fronts.’

Yang Qi immediately decided to go forward with the plan.

However, he didn’t just leap into action. Instead, he melted into the shadows to observe the situation a bit longer.

First, he watched the man, and saw how he unleashed devil energy to protect himself. Then he observed how Everlit Godlamp took that devil energy and burned it, converting it into radiance and light. However, the lamp had no owner, making it incredibly dangerous.

‘I’ll start by strengthening the lamp….’

He drew on the energy of the God Legion Seal, reaching out to make a connection with the lamp. His godhood stirred, and he found the throne in the God Legion Seal that had once belonged to the Lord of Radiance and Light. His throne was immense, and his energy shook even Yang Qi’s soul. However, he still managed to wrap it up in devil energy and send it into the Everlit Godlamp to burn.

BAM!

The lamp suddenly surged to life, its fire shining with increased brilliance. Boundless radiance and light filled the interior world of the devil embryo, causing the bloody flesh that made it up to steam and hiss as it was transformed into black smoke.

All of a sudden, the man screamed as his skin started bubbling and bursting open.

“What’s happening to me? How is this possible? Why is the lamp so strong? For years I've unleashed unrivaled devil might to crush it, and just when I was about to succeed, the lamp erupts with power? Don’t tell me I'm about to really meet my end?!”

Howling, the man unleashed even greater devil energy in a desperate attempt to crush the radiance and light.

‘The perfect opportunity!’ Yang Qi thought. Focusing his thoughts on the Mahātmā Jade, he quickly created a connection to the piece embedded in the man’s chest.

Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.

The piece of jade started twitching, but unfortunately, it didn’t fly over to Yang Qi.

“What?!” the devil general shouted, looking down at his chest, an expression of shock in his eyes. “The Mahātmā Jade just reacted to something. It almost flew out of me! What's going on? Don't tell me...?” Glaring around, he roared, “Who’s out there?! Who’s infiltrated my devil embryo? Let me out of here!”

There wasn’t any response.

Yang Qi had no intention of revealing himself. Instead, he stuck to the shadows, waiting for the right moment to make another attempt at summoning the piece of jade. Given that his first attempt had failed, he knew this man was definitely exceedingly formidable.

“Not gonna show your face, are you? Well, I'm going to make you! Devil Embryo Transformation; Three Powers and Nine Circulations; True Ego With No Dao; Heart Subjugation!” A blast of explosive power shot out of the devil's forehead, a madly rotating expression of psychic power that surpassed the Central Grand Tempest by many times over. As a result, the devil embryo started pulsing madly, as though it would dissolve everything inside it.

This was a terrifying expression of devil will that was so intense it could create a chiliocosm of worlds, and also destroy it, millions upon millions of times over.

‘Not good!’ Yang Qi thought, but before he could react, the tempestuous power slammed into him and revealed his position.

“So, someone is in here with me! Get over here!”

As the devil smiled cruelly at Yang Qi, black light shot out of his forehead, changing into a pitch-black hand that shot toward Yang Qi with unstoppable force.

In that critical moment, Yang Qi gasped, “God-Lamp!”

In response, the Everlit Godlamp erupted with radiance and light, which crashed into the imprisoned devil, provoking a miserable shriek. At the same time, the pitch-black hand was wiped out of existence.

“Dammit! You’re tapping into the Everlit Godlamp?!” The devil pulled his power back into himself, trying to avoid having it burned out of existence by the lamp. Glaring at Yang Qi, he said, “How did you do that, boy? Bah! Get away from here! World-Exterminating Devil Voice!”

He unleashed a shriek that Yang Qi had no chance to avoid. The sound hit him, and he was flung back like a bullet until he slammed into the opposite wall of the devil embryo. The devil embryo wriggled as if to devour him, but he quickly called on the power of the Mahātmā Jade to calm it down.

‘Incredible. This monster is truly incredible. That sound was enough to send me flying, and if it weren’t for all the sage monarch magistrates I have to help me, I probably would’ve been severely injured.’

About ten of his sage monarch magistrates had been destroyed by the blow from moments before, and a large number of them had been severely injured.

This devil's energy arts were beyond anything Yang Qi could deal with, and he was starting to believe that he needed to get out of here before he ended up trapped.

The devil looked at Yang Qi in shock. “That was the power of the Mahātmā Jade! That’s how you resisted the power of my devil embryo! Who are you? How do you have the power of the Mahātmā Jade? Tell me immediately!”