Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“In a word, exalted Second Devil General, I really don’t have any pieces of the Mahātmā Jade. And I'm not a Fateless One. Because of that, I can't help you. Please, I hope you don’t take offense.”

At the moment, Yang Qi wasn’t admitting to anything, and the Second Devil General couldn’t really do anything about it.

The Second Devil General knew he was being lied to, but was having a hard time telling the truth from the fiction. He had never encountered someone as slippery as this. “Then how did you tap into the Everlit Godlamp? Tell me!”

“The truth is as you've already guessed. King Immortal-Slayer sent me here. He awoke recently, and is working on some sort of consummate devil technique. Despite dying in the past, he was resurrected, apparently because of some sort of necropolis.”

“Necropolis? Which necropolis? Wait, did King Immortal-Slayer get the Great Necropolis?” A look of fear flitted across the Second Devil General’s face. “The Great Necropolis is back? Every time it appears, tribulation and catastrophe come with it. That means the god world is going to be destroyed! It's not from the god world! The Sovereign Lord somehow acquired it, then eventually decided to use it to entomb the legion of gods and thus transcend the god world. But the legion of gods fought back, which led to the God Legion Tribulation, and the current state of everything. If it weren’t for the fact that the Sovereign Lord created the King of Godmammoths to crush hell, we wouldn’t even be in this situation.”

Yang Qi was secretly shocked. He had been trying to slowly probe the Second Devil General for information, only to have the devil blurt out all of these details in his surprise.

Obviously, there were still plenty of mysteries wrapped up in the Great Necropolis. The mere fact that it could keep King Immortal-Slayer sealed and unable to escape just went to show how powerful it was.

“Do you believe me now, Second Devil General?” Yang Qi said. “King Immortal-Slayer got this mysterious Great Necropolis, with some thanks to me. Then he promised to help me boost my cultivation base if I helped him again. That's why he sent me here to the Bastille of the One God, into the main base of the Army of Radiance and Light, to look for treasures. He also told me the Lord of Radiance and Light had left behind his body in the shape of a lamp to seal a powerful expert from the dao of devils. If I could take the Everlit Godlamp, and simultaneously assimilate that devil, then I would become invincible. So King Immortal-Slayer gave me some divine abilities to help. For instance, some of the godliness of the Lord of Radiance and Light. He said that if the devil expert struggled, or tried to harm me, I could use that godliness to boost the power of the Everlit Godlamp, which would enable me to subjugate the devil.”

Yang Qi was mixing lies and truth. After all, he was having some success intimidating the Second Devil General with talk of King Immortal-Slayer.

“That’s total rubbish! Are you trying to scare me? I'm gonna kill you!”

The Second Devil General was infuriated by Yang Qi's talk of assimilating him. Enraged, he prepared to attack. After all, other people might fear King Immortal-Slayer, but the Second Devil General definitely didn’t.

However, Yang Qi thrust out his palm, and everything shook violently as a huge tombstone appeared.

He didn’t use it as an attack, but rather as a show for the Second Devil General. Obviously, the man was scared of the Great Necropolis, and what better way to convince him of Yang Qi’s connection to it than to show off the God Tombstone Palms.

Suddenly, a tremor passed through the Second Devil General, and he said, “The God Tombstone Palms? The God Tombstone Palms! How can you use that technique? How is that even possible? It's a completely heaven-shaking, earth-shattering technique! That said, the Sovereign Lord experienced cultivation deviation because of cultivating the Great Necropolis God Art. If King Immortal-Slayer is trying to do the same, he’ll end up going down the same path. Just what is he trying to do, throw the entire god world into chaos again? Destroy all living things? The entire purpose of the Great Necropolis is to entomb everything alive! It’s nothing but catastrophe and tribulation. Doesn’t he realize that? The Sovereign Lord eventually realized the error of his way, sealed the Great Necropolis, and killed himself! That was the only way to avoid ultimate tribulation and destruction for the god world. But now you’re telling me the Great Necropolis is back, and it’s in the hands of that madman King Immortal-Slayer?!”

‘So, that’s how it is,’ Yang Qi thought, deeply shaken at what he was hearing from the Second Devil General. He’d had no idea the Great Necropolis had a backstory like this. Apparently, it caused the Sovereign Lord to experience cultivation deviation, which was why the god world had been thrown into complete chaos.

Given that, it seemed likely that when the Sovereign Lord realized what he had done, he sealed the Great Necropolis in the depths of the Bastille of the One God. However, it had later broken free of that seal and fallen into the impure lands. And that was what led to Yang Qi and his people ascending.

This seemed to confirm Yang Qi’s speculation that the Bastille of the One God contained a passageway to the impure lands.

‘It seems I need to do some further exploration in the Bastille of the One God. If I can find that passageway, I’ll finally be reunited with all my friends and family. No matter how amazing they get down in the impure lands, they’ll never rise to the true heights they’re capable of.’

Of course, he couldn’t afford to be distracted in the presence of the Second Devil General, so he focused his thoughts and said, “That’s exactly right, Second Devil General. I know the God Tombstone Palms. As you probably know, the Great Necropolis is capable of many things. Sometimes it ejects godpower seeds to create Inheritors. That’s exactly what I am, an Inheritor. And that’s how I know the God Tombstone Palms.”

“Great Necropolis Inheritors?” the Second Devil General said, his expression one of fear. “That’s something new.”

“Whether or not it's new, I don’t really know,” Yang Qi said grandly. “But I can tell you one thing, Second Devil General. If you kill me, or try to do anything to hurt me, the Great Necropolis will definitely bite back!”

“The Great Necropolis will bite back?!” the Second Devil General said, his eyes glittering. The truth was that he wouldn’t have shown fear even in the face of the Sovereign Lord. But the Great Necropolis was a different matter. The True Devil had tried to warn the Sovereign Lord about the Great Necropolis, saying that while he had nothing to fear from the things in the god world, the Great Necropolis was from some other mysterious location. Therefore, it was a deadly threat.

So how could the Second Devil General not fear it?

“Listen, Second Devil General. The truth is that King Immortal-Slayer wants that piece of the Mahātmā Jade, and sent me here to work out a deal to get it.”

Reigning in his killing intent, the Second Devil General replied, “He's not from the dao of devils. What can he do with it? Although, I suppose I could consider that type of deal, assuming you help me suppress the power of the lamp, and set me free.”

“Suppress the power of the lamp? You think too highly of me, Second Devil General.”

Yang Qi was finally making an effort to take control of the situation. “Furthermore, if you got free, wouldn’t you just kill me? You would risk getting bitten by the Great Necropolis, but I would be dead.”

“How about I swear an oath! I promise not to do anything to you. Furthermore, if you help me, then in my appreciation, I’ll take you as an apprentice and teach you a consummate devil art.”

“Oaths aren’t worth crap. I wouldn’t even accept an oath from the True Devil!” Yang Qi shook his head. “How about this. Give me that piece of the Mahātmā Jade, and I’ll pass a message from you to King Immortal-Slayer.”

“The Mahātmā Jade is what's keeping me safe. Maybe I can’t assimilate it, but without it, I’ll succumb to the power of the lamp. Wouldn't giving it to you be the same as killing myself? Besides, I understand that you don’t trust me, so I have another idea. How about I shrink myself down and insert myself into the lamp. You can take the lamp with you when you leave the Bastille of the One God and go back to King Immortal-Slayer. Then I can personally work out a deal with him. How about that?”

“What? You’ll shrink yourself down and enter the lamp?” In that case, the Second Devil General would still be sealed and suppressed. Furthermore, Yang Qi might even be able to use his God Legion Seal to take control of the lamp and directly assimilate the Second Devil General.

‘Is he considering it?’ the Second Devil General thought. ‘As long as I can get out of this accursed place and away from this godpower of radiance and light, the lamp will slowly weaken. Eventually, I’ll break free and kill this little bastard. Although, I can’t stop worrying about the God Tombstone Palms. A backlash from the Great Necropolis would be very dangerous. Even the Sovereign Lord couldn't defend against it. So I have to be careful. I also need to figure out if his talk about King Immortal-Slayer is true.’

Meanwhile, Yang Qi had made his decision. ‘You can’t catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger’s lair. I’ll take this devil with me. Worst case scenario, I can ask the purrling for help dealing with him. And the Purrfect God Art should be able to keep me safe if anything really goes wrong. This is going to be a battle of wits with the Second Devil General. I have to win it and get that Mahātmā Jade.’

“Alright, Second Devil General,” he said. “Shrink down and get into the lamp.”

“Slow down. It’s not just a simple matter to do that. These manacles were created by the Lord of Radiance and Light! You need to figure out a way to get them off me first.”

A tremor passed through the Second Devil General, and the devil embryo around them vanished. Next, an enormous talisman appeared behind him, several kilometers across, filled with images of dragons and other magical symbols. And it pulsed with the aura of the Lord of Radiance and Light.