Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi had finally subjugated Patriarch Deva, and he couldn’t have been more delighted. During the fight, he had gained plenty of enlightenment of various fighting techniques; for instance, how to use the God Legion Seal to power the Everlit Godlamp. It took a huge amount of psychic power and godly might to power the lamp, so without the God Legion Seal it would have been very difficult to use.

‘Who would’ve thought that the Everlit Godlamp would be so effective in combination with the God Legion Seal?’

It was quite a surprise that he had managed to crush Patriarch Deva in only a few breaths of time. His original plan had involved using the four experts from the House of the Invincible. But in the end, he realized that might attract unwanted attention, so he’d decided to go it alone.

Now that he’d subjugated Patriarch Deva, he could move on to the patriarch of the Dragonfolk.

“Patriarch Deva, tell me. Where is the patriarch of the Dragonfolk? You’ve been familiar with him for years, surely you have an idea. And don’t lie to me. If I have to, I can use a tiny bit of psychic power to scour your memories.”

Yang Qi could access not only Patriarch Deva’s memories, but his experience, his cultivation techniques, his understanding of the martial path, and even things that had happened to him when he was a child.

That said, he would rather save the psychic power by just getting a direct answer.

“His name is Buddha First-King, and he normally hides out in a hidden world located in the spatial tempests of the god world. It's called the Myriad Dragons Lair and is a place that was once inhabited by the ancient Dragonfolk. After the Sovereign Lord shattered the god world, the Dragonfolk scattered to the winds. Nowadays, the Myriad Dragons Lair is a very dangerous location that only the Dragonfolk can enter. Normal gods, even Paramount Gods, will end up dragonized if they go there. You see, the boundless patriarchs of the Dragonfolk cursed that place to ensure that no one would be able to enter it.

“I’ve always wanted to kill Buddha First-King, but I never succeeded. Mostly because he’s always hiding there, making it impossible to strike at him. If it weren’t for the Myriad Dragons Lair, I would’ve killed him a long time ago.”

‘So, that’s how it is,’ Yang Qi thought. It was similar to how he had such an advantage in the Bastille of the One God, and had ten times the fighting prowess to deal with enemies.

‘So Buddha First-King is always hiding in the Myriad Dragons Lair. And even with both of us working together, we can’t beat him there. That said, I do have certain techniques that are the bane of the Dragonfolk. And King Heaven-Devourer was a primal-chaos elder-snake who had some of the Dragonfolk in him. Snakes and dragons are essentially the same type of creature.

‘With King Heaven-Devourer’s energy arts, I might be able to get safely into the Myriad Dragons Lair. I think I ought to go over there and have a look.’

Yang Qi waved his hand, and a dimensional portal appeared, out of which flew three thousand imperial snakecharms, direct from Yang Immortal-Slayer.

Before Dragonfolk existed in the god world, they lived in primal-chaos. And King Heaven-Devourer was really half dragon, half snake.

With his three thousand talismans, Yang Qi was confident that he could go to the Myriad Dragons Lairs without suffering any negative consequences. And he would be very careful. If anything went awry, he would simply flee.

The higher his cultivation base climbed, the more he realized how dangerous the god world was. Unless he reached the level of the Sovereign Lord, there would always be enemies to be wary of.

Looking a bit weak in the knees, Patriarch Deva said, “You have all three thousand of King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans? Just who are you? How do you have so many treasures?”

Even one of King Heaven-Devourer’s legacy talismans was an extremely precious thing that was the subject of many legends.

Of course, no one in the god world had ever seen one. According to the stories, after the God Legion Tribulation, King Heaven-Devourer perished and his talismans all fell into the impure lands. The mortals there, who called themselves things like Demolishers, Godmyths, Grand Emperors, and Terrifying experts, all squabbled over them.

They were said to contain profound secrets that were only unlockable after becoming one of the legion of gods. Even Yang Qi was only capable of unlocking about twenty or thirty percent of their might, although that was enough to devour just about anything in the god world.

The question was whether they would be able to convert the energy of the Myriad Dragons Lair into Heaven-Devouring True Energy, or whether the lair would turn the talismans into precious treasures for the Dragonfolk’s use.

“What's so strange about it?” Yang Qi replied coolly. “Although I don’t have every single one of the items belonging to the seventy-two monarchs, I have most of them. And yes, I do have the complete collection of King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans. With the God Legion Seal, the Everlit Godlamp, and all the other magical treasures I have, dealing with this measly Buddha First-King shouldn’t be difficult at all. By the way, remember how you said I was impersonating the Second Devil General? The truth is that I have him captive in the Everlit Godlamp. What do you think about that?”

Patriarch Deva was obviously not happy about being subjugated by Yang Qi, although he knew he had no choice in the matter. But gradually, that attitude was changing.

“What?! You have the Second Devil General as a prisoner? How could you have subjugated him?!”

“Quit bragging, boy!” the Second Devil General said, erupting from the lamp in an expression of devil will. “If it wasn’t for the lamp the Lord of Radiance and Light used to suppress me, plus that purrling’s seal, the power of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, and the God Legion Seal, I could’ve killed you ten thousand times over. This boy is nothing without the God Legion Seal. I can’t believe a bastard like him would dare to defy a paragonic entity from the dao of devils.”

Although he didn’t have the power and psyche to launch any attacks, his devil energy was still unrivaled. And Patriarch Deva instantly recognized what type of being he was.

“Enough with the melodrama, Second Devil General!” Yang Qi said. “I'm going to assimilate the Everlit Godlamp sooner or later. And when that happens, I won’t accept your surrender even if you beg me to. That piece of the Mahātmā Jade will be mine.”

“Keep dreaming, boy! Subjugating ants like this Patriarch Deva is the opposite of impressive. And the destiny you’ll get because of it is pitiful. So don’t rejoice. Let me tell you, if you can sneak into the House of the Invincible, that’s where you’ll find some incredible destiny. It's thousands of times what the Deva Dynasty has. Maybe even ten thousand times. But I doubt you’ll have time for that. Didn't King Immortal-Slayer say those people are trying to break into the Great Necropolis? You might only have a few years of time to reach the ultimate pinnacle. For all you know, it might only be months. And there will be countless dangers along the way. Just remember, you always have the option of linking your life force with mine. You might not treat me fairly, but I'm still willing to offer you a hand in friendship. What do you say? Think it through well!”

After that, the Second Devil General sank back into silence.

Yang Qi simply snorted coldly and didn’t deign to respond to him. “Let’s go, Patriarch Deva. Your cultivation base should be back to normal. We don’t have any time to lose. Off to the Myriad Dragons Lair!”

The Deathless God-Lord Pill had healed Patriarch Deva and put him back in top form. Sadly for him, he didn’t have the destiny of the Deva Dynasty anymore. That destiny was now pouring into Yang Qi, who was using it to make more sage monarch magistrates.

Unfortunately, his progress was still pitifully slow.

“The Myriad Dragons Lair is over there!” Patriarch Deva said. He had already fallen in line and wasn’t interested in causing trouble. Yang Qi could now use the Myriad Worlds Greater Teleportation and his Tribulation Wings to pierce through spatial tempests with immense speeds that surpassed anything Patriarch Deva could even imagine.