Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘Is that really how it went?’ Yang Qi thought. He didn’t see any reason why the Second Devil General would lie. The Second Devil General was still alive, and there didn’t seem to be any reason why the Lord of Radiance and Light would have been willing to die, other than freeing himself from the clutches of the God Legion Seal. Any almighty being would have a deep-seated desire to be free, and it was a given that peak Paramount Gods would be no exception.

The God-Lords’ thoughts had been overseen by the Sovereign Lord.

When he was alive, they had defied him. But after he died, they must have come up with various ideas of how to be freed from the God Legion Seal. Perhaps being reborn was the key.

That said, this new information wasn't going to change Yang Qi’s mind about the Everlit Godlamp. ‘Regardless of whether or not he gets free, as long as I get stronger, it won’t matter. There’s no way to predict when the Lord of Radiance and Light will be resurrected. Once I assimilate the lamp, I can get the Mahātmā Jade and reach an even higher level. Then, even if the Lord of Radiance and Light does come back, he won’t be able to do anything to me. The lamp itself is just a husk, and has no will in it. Assimilating it will definitely boost my strength by at least tenfold!’

“Why don’t we join forces, boy?” the Second Devil General said. “It’s a win-win situation! What do you say?”

“What do you mean a win-win situation?” Yang Qi asked as he continued the assimilation process.

“I’ll give you the Mahātmā Jade. But you have to agree to free me after you assimilate it. How about that? The only catch is that, in order to cement my trust, you have to let me put a warding spell on you.”

“You really do take me for a fool, don’t you,” Yang Qi said. “Implant me with a warding spell? Not even a child would fall for a trick that obvious. Have you already started to turn stupid because of this assimilation process?”

“Wait a second. Hear me out. This warding spell is called the Life-Force Body-Conjoining Hex. It’s from the dao of devils, and it’s designed to connect two people via their hearts and blood. It’s not an ordinary warding spell. It’ll actually give you access to some of my powers and abilities. You can even use my energy arts and get enlightenment of my cultivation base. And if you die while we're connected, so will I. At the same time, if I kill you, I’ll die in the process. We’ll essentially become like conjoined twins. Think about it. If you share my life force, cultivation base, and experiences, you’ll benefit immensely. And just imagine what level you can ultimately reach. It really will benefit both of us.”

“Share our life force? A warding spell to connect our hearts and blood?”

Yang Qi had to admit that he was intrigued. In terms of strength and cultivation, he really couldn’t measure up to the Second Devil General. The Second Devil General was at the level of a God-Lord, and had an invincible cultivation base. He might be weak and nearing the end of his road, but at his peak, he had been indescribably mighty. If he recovered his full strength, Yang Qi would be like an ant to him.

Sharing the life force of a powerful entity like that would surely come with immense benefits.

It would be like replacing hunting rifles with cannons, and would surely put him in the position of being able to kill countless experts from the Proud Clan when he finally faced them.

“Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?” the Second Devil General said. “This is no trick or lie. Given your cultivation base, and the fact that you can assimilate the Mahātmā Jade, you should know that the sharing of life force is a high level secret technique from the dao of devils. Think about it. What good would it really do you to assimilate me? Would it really lead you to a breakthrough? Not likely. At your level, cultivation progress comes by taking things one step at a time. Maybe you can assimilate me, but you won’t get the full power of my fleshly body, and in the end, it’ll all just be a big waste. Why do something so useless? Say a person eats an elephant. Would it turn him into an elephant? No.

“Besides, since you have the God Legion Seal, once we share our life force and can tap into each other’s power, we can finally trust each other. You can’t actually use the God Legion Seal to its full potential, but with my power, it’ll be different. Together, we can enslave everyone in existence, and no one would be able to oppose us. The two of us can find all the other pieces of the Mahātmā Jade and endlessly benefit. And neither of us would need to worry about betrayal from the other. Why? Because if you die, I die. And if I die, you die. Our power would be linked, so you couldn’t steal my power, nor could I steal yours. Come. I'm willing to make this big sacrifice to work together with you. Unless you do this, your cultivation base will remain like nothing in my eyes.”

Yang Qi thought about it for a moment, then said, “That's a nice plan. The secret magic of sharing life force really is a high level art from the dao of devils. Because I assimilated the True Devil’s sheepskin scroll, I know all about it. However, I also know that you have to be very careful when using it.”

“Then what’re you waiting for? Once we link our blood and hearts, we can rise to greater heights. What's the point of any bickering or arguing? Look, don't you want to subjugate the League of the Devil-Dao and the League of Wretch-Gods? They're pitifully weak, as far as I'm concerned. They’re like some ruffians in a remote village, engaged in a street fight. Think about how much destiny you could get from them!”

Yang Qi knew that he was telling the truth.

For him to share heart and blood with the Second Devil General would be like a bedraggled beggar encountering an emperor who promised to share his wealth and power.

“This is a big matter,” Yang Qi said. “I need to think it over.” Of course, there was no way he would actually agree to this suggestion. He was just trying to buy some time.

“Think what over?” the Second Devil General roared. “I've already sacrificed a lot here. I'm the Second Devil General! You think I’d stoop to playing games with you? What exactly do you need to think about, boy? I'm willing to share my life force with you! And my cultivation! Don’t tell me you don’t want power!”

“I'm not just anybody,” Yang Qi said. “I might not be as strong as you are, but I have the God Legion Seal, the Mahātmā Jade, and my status as a Fateless One. If we go through with this, you’d actually be benefiting a lot more than me.”

“However I benefit afterward, boy, you’ll get half. You can’t gain any further enlightenment of all of those magical treasures of yours. For example, the Cruiser of Civilization. You can use it to create some random things, but with my help, you could use it to be the most destructive force in existence, and overwhelm any army that rose against you. Furthermore, I can help you use the God Legion Seal to tap into the might of the entire god world. You can establish a new version of the halls of heaven and become the new Sovereign Lord, while I’ll be the new True Devil. We can split the god world between us. And who knows, maybe later on we could think of a way to split apart and become two free entities again.”

“I still need to think about it,” Yang Qi said. “I’ll tell you what my decision is later.”

“Fine. Go think about it, boy. Come tell me your answer whenever you’re ready.” The Second Devil General knew that Yang Qi wasn’t impulsive or foolish, therefore, he decided to finally back down.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi went back to focusing fully on assimilating the lamp.

After the Second Devil General quieted down, Yang Qi exhaled slowly. He had just passed through a major temptation by this devil. Moments ago, he really had been intrigued at the thought of speeding things up. Unfortunately, if he followed through with the plan, his heart wouldn’t be his own anymore. Furthermore, although he had some obstacles to reaching the highest of heights, he was still making progress. And he would rather make progress on his own; the result would be much more solid than relying on someone else.

Besides, it seemed obvious that the Second Devil General had some secret plan to ultimately take the God Legion Seal and the Mahātmā Jade.

The man was an ancient devil who had crossed more bridges than Yang Qi had walked roads, and already knew many secrets of the Mahātmā Jade.

The best strategy was definitely to take things slowly.

Already, Yang Qi had started taking control of the Everlit Godlamp. Nodding, he continued the work within the God Legion Paradise, and simultaneously rose to his feet. “Jadefall, prepare for war. It's time to take the fight to the League of the Devil-Dao and the League of Wretch-Gods. Your power has reached a pinnacle. As for me, I'm going to go subjugate the patriarchs of the Nine Dragons Court, Deva Dynasty, and Sumeru Temple. Their destiny will be mine!”

“Great!” Jadefall said, nodding.

Yang Qi was strong enough that he could easily crush the Nacrelight Sageland and the League of Academies. However, in a fight like this, it wasn’t necessary to kill a chicken with a battleaxe. Furthermore, he wanted his friends and family to benefit from the valuable experiences they would gain in real-life combat.

WHOOSH!

After giving his orders, he vanished. Soon, he reappeared over the ocean of the Deva Dynasty, looking at the islands spread out like stars in the sky, and the surging aura of the dynasty.

He had Grand Prince Yi under his control, as well as the imperial uncle. However, he didn’t control the power of the nation as a whole. He had always held back for fear of attracting the attention of Patriarch Deva. His current plan was to subjugate Patriarch Deva, then worry about the emperor.

Soon, the time would come for the Deva Dynasty to have new leadership.

After that, he would go to the Nine Dragons Court and the Sumeru Temple.

The only downside was that Patriarch Deva was a hard person to track down.