Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The key to Yang Qi’s plan was capturing Patriarch Deva. Right now, Yang Qi’s cultivation base was at the point that he couldn’t necessarily defeat the man with complete ease. However, achieving victory wouldn't be difficult, either. After all, Patriarch Deva was roughly on the same level as the four Dugu Clan experts Yang Qi had recently vanquished. The difference was that he had beaten those four in the favorable terrain of the Bastille of the One God.

On the outside, he would never have been able to succeed like he did.

Of course, he was still assimilating the Everlit Godlamp. And the twenty-five thousand sage monarch magistrates that he had were far beyond anything from before. His psychic scale and godhood rating were at ninety-nine million, nine hundred and ninety thousand, but his actual fighting power was so far past that level it couldn't be mentioned in the same breath.

Patriarch Deva would have a hard time escaping this time.

The downside was that Patriarch Deva was hard to track down. Unlike an emperor, who always had to remain near the court, a patriarch like him could travel about as freely as he wanted.

And it didn't matter that Yang Qi had the imperial uncle. Not even he knew the whereabouts of Patriarch Deva. Thankfully, Yang Qi had a consummate technique to call upon: the Son of Heaven’s Horoscopy.

The Deva Dynasty had roiling destiny that could affect meteorological or astronomical phenomena, and Patriarch Deva would use that to cultivate his various techniques. After all, he cultivated incredibly advanced techniques.

It was similar to how the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth required incredible destiny.

That was why there were no unaffiliated wandering heroes in existence who were truly top experts. The invincible patriarchs always required the backing and power of a dynasty or sect, otherwise they wouldn’t have access to the destiny they needed.

After Yang Qi had helped boost the destiny of the Deva Dynasty, Patriarch Deva had gone into seclusion and was using it for cultivation. However, because of that, Yang Qi could analyze the fluctuations of the destiny to identify where Patriarch Deva was.

It was a tried and true method.

“Son of Heaven’s Horoscopy: Sovereign Lord’s Version!” An eye appeared on Yang Qi’s forehead, which was none other than the Lord's Eye. As it swiveled back and forth, it peered at the substructure of the world around it and quickly identified the fiery streams of destiny, which formed something like an immense ocean. Destiny was like the lungs of a nation, allowing it to breathe freely.

The stronger the destiny was, the less likely it was for the energy of sin and enmity to infect it. But if the destiny was weak, it could lead to the decline and end of the dynasty.

That was how things worked in the impure lands as well. If the destiny of a nation was infected with sin and enmity, ambitious and ruthless villains would arise, people who would slaughter the righteous government officials and bring disaster to the lands.

It was actually easier for dynasties in the god world to deal with such matters. A consummate patriarch could keep the destiny under control. Even if devilish rebels arose, a powerful patriarch could crush them.

Yang Qi had read many ancient records with specific examples of flourishing dynasties in which bizarre meteorological or astronomical phenomena occurred. Fireballs falling from the sky, asteroids, tempests.... Such things could lead to the destruction of the entire dynasties.

But in the Deva Dynasty, there was no way such natural disasters could occur. The destiny was just too strong. In fact, it was so strong, and so riddled with complexities, that it was almost impossible to assess. It was similar to how difficult it was to track currents in a massive ocean.

‘Hmph. My Lord's Eye can see anything and everything. You might have some arts of illusion in play, Patriarch Deva, but do you really think they’ll pull the wool over my eyes?’ Dazzling light shot out from his Lord's Eye, and the world seemed to shrink in his view. A short time later, he was looking at all of the destiny of the Deva Dynasty, except it was the size of a fist in front of him. Then he saw a god kingdom hovering in the void, far off in the distance, with a tiny red thread linking it to the destiny in front of him.

It was almost like a kite hovering far in the distance, slowly but surely drawing on the destiny of the Deva Dynasty.

‘Very crafty, Patriarch Deva. If it wasn’t for my Lord's Eye, I probably never would’ve found this god kingdom of yours. But now I can just walk up to your front door. This is going to be one incredible fight.’ Blurring into motion, he headed toward the god kingdom.

It was a calm and silent place, hanging within the spatial tempest, slowly moving about without a fixed location. Obviously, Patriarch Deva was being very careful and doing everything possible to make sure no one could find him.

No one but Yang Qi, that was. Smiling, he transformed into a streak of light that closed in on Patriarch Deva’s god kingdom.

Despite the daoist technique he was using, the god kingdom detected him.

A tremor passed through it, and a massive flow of will appeared. Then Patriarch Deva’s voice rang out, ancient, calm, and benign.

“Mister Second? Is that you? You tracked the destiny out to this god kingdom? Just what I would expect of an expert like you.”

‘What?’ Yang Qi thought, surprised. ‘The old bastard knew I was coming?’

Entering the god kingdom, he saw that it was very simple, containing little more than a prayer mat upon which Patriarch Deva sat, smiling as Yang Qi approached.

Standing a short distance from the prayer mat, he said, “You knew I was coming, Patriarch Deva?”

“Of course. When I make plans, they don’t go awry. I take it you benefited a lot in the Bastille of the One God. Is that right, Mister Second? When the imperial uncle returned, he reported in right away, saying that you disappeared into the Bastille of the One God. Did you end up finding your true self?”

“My true self is imprisoned deep underground, suppressed by the Lord of Radiance and Light and his army. For now, I'm stuck. But the time will come when I make my return!” Snorting coldly, Yang Qi continued, “I have to say I’m very disappointed in you, Patriarch Deva. You harbor evil intentions against me, don’t you!? You sent the imperial uncle and those other brats with the intention of ambushing me. Did you really not fear my rage?”

Patriarch Deva immediately burst out into loud laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Yang Qi asked suspiciously.

“What's funny? This act of yours! It was a good performance, Mister Second, but do you really think you had convinced me you were the Second Devil General? You see, I knew all along that you were an imposter, not some clone of the Second Devil General. Tell me. Who are you really?”

‘So, that’s how it is.’

Yang Qi had assumed that Patriarch Deva had some secret trump card that he was preparing to use. Instead, he was just revealing that he knew about Yang Qi’s secret identity.

Patriarch Deva was clearly very perceptive. If this had happened before Yang Qi went to the Bastille of the One God, he would have been in a lot of danger. But as of this moment, he might as well be the Second Devil General. After all, he had the general imprisoned in a lamp on his person.

“Well, boy, what now? Feeling a bit embarrassed?” Patriarch Deva slowly rose to his feet, then waved his hand and transformed the surrounding space-time. It rippled, and a wind sprang up as a host of interlocking nets appeared. “I knew you would come for me eventually, boy. So I was waiting here, ready to fight at a moment's notice. You've thrown yourself into my trap! So, what do you say? Are you going to tell me who you really are? Perhaps you're someone who stumbled across the Second Devil General’s treasure trove. When you saw me nervous that day, you decided to say that you were the Second Devil General. How about this: give me all of that treasure, and join my side. If you do, you might live through this. What do you say?”

“Do you know why I came here today, Patriarch Deva?” Yang Qi said in a cold voice, loosening his shoulders. “To enslave you and take the destiny of the Deva Dynasty. You see, you’re right, I'm not a clone of the Second Devil General.”

RUMBLE!

He suddenly attacked, using a consummate move from the Sage Monarch Grand Magic. It was Hero’s Last Stand, a palm strike of ever-changing variations, as well as massive psychic force.

“Oh? What palm technique is that?” Patriarch Deva didn’t seem worried at all that Yang Qi was attacking him. Although he was surprised by the specific palm strike, he clearly looked down on it.

“Five Strikes of the Deva!”

He quickly unleashed a succession of five palm strikes, all of them filled with the majesty of heaven, supernatural workmanship, boundless grandeur, the crushing force of mountains, the sharpness of the sharpest blade, and the delicacy of silk.

“Crushing of the Mountain!

“Madness of the Sea!

“Slash of Heaven!

“Strands of Earth!

“Cleaver of Creation!”

These five palm strikes were his dao, similar to the ten moves that made up the Sage Monarch Grand Magic. Every one of them illustrated a fundamental truth about him, and as they came crushing down, the entire area filled with surging energy that would be impossible to escape from. And they would specifically target the enemy. They were moves that Patriarch Deva had used to kill countless formidable enemies through the years.

Bam. Bam. Bam!

Yang Qi’s palms collided with Patriarch Deva’s attacks, and the latter quickly stabbed into the former.

In that moment, Yang Qi realized the exact nature of Patriarch Deva’s psychic scale and godhood rating. They were at approximately two hundred million. And that meant that, with his own power augmented by the twenty-five thousand sage monarch magistrates, he could deal with this.

In the blink of an eye, the sage monarch magistrates surged into action, and psychic power blasted out.