Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Inside Yang Qi’s Heart of the Sea thumb-ring was the Four Corners of the Earth talisman, which had been given to him by Jun Tianchou, a conclave student from the Sea God Institute. The two of them had become sworn siblings, and had agreed to use the talisman as a way to keep in touch. Even if they were hundreds of kilometers apart, that talisman could be used to transmit a message.

Originally, Jun Tianchou had told Yang Qi to use the talisman to ask for help if necessary.

But now, it seemed that Jun Tianchou was the one in trouble, and he was reversing the function of the talisman to reach out to his sworn brother.

With the wave of a hand, Yang Qi summoned the Four Corners of the Earth talisman out into the open.

As soon as he did, Jun Tianchou’s voice was transmitted to him: “Brother Yang Qi, come to the East Sea, to Fiend-Devil Island. Myself and a few others are trapped in a spell formation set up by the fiend-devils….”

As soon as the message was transmitted, the Four Corners of the Earth talisman exploded, transforming into nothing but water vapor.

‘East Sea? Fiend-Devil Island?’ Yang Qi had never heard of the place, so he quickly pulled out a map of the Rich-Lush Continent that he had acquired back in the Demi-Immortal Institute, which included the oceans.

The East Sea was a huge place, with countless dangerous locations, island nations, and minor continents. There were all sorts of powerful organizations there, and numerous islands where powerful experts had founded sects on top of the spirit lodes in the sea springs that existed on them.

There were also space-time rifts that led to minor planes similar to the Heavencorpse Dimension.

According to the stories, in ancient times, the fiend-devils in hell used a powerful energy art to tear a hole through the void, opening up a unique area in space where fiend-devils could be birthed. That place eventually came to be called Fiend-Devil Island.

Later, the island came to be used for cultivation purposes by the Sea God Institute, similar to the way the Heavencorpse Dimension was used by the Demi-Immortal Institute. Occasionally, students from other organizations would also be invited to go there to hunt fiend-devils.

Apparently, Jun Tianchou had run into a dangerous situation there, and Yang Qi didn't have time to sit around thinking about the matter. His only choice was to get to Fiend-Devil Island as quickly as possible. When it came to helping a sworn brother, Yang Qi wouldn’t hesitate to go through hell or high water.

Thankfully, he had a map, and thus, had a general idea of how to get there.

“Father, Eldest Brother, Second Brother: a sworn brother of mine is in great danger. I have to go save him. I’ll leave Yanhaven in your hands, just contact me if you need any help. Here’s a collection of antidotal medicinal pills that I acquired when I killed Blightking Skulkdevil and the other elders from the House of Shadowblight. If any people from there come to cause problems, these pills should be a big help.”

With that, he shot like lightning up into the sea of clouds, where he vanished without a trace.

Beyond the view of any outsiders, he unfurled his Fiend-Devil Wings. Instead of being pitch black like they had in the past, they now glowed with holy light, making him look almost like an angel. As the nefarious energy was expunged from them, they were slowly transforming into Angel Wings.

Furthermore, the speeds they were capable of only continued to increase.

When he had returned home from the Demi-Immortal Institute, he had been in Tertiary Lifeseizing. Back then, he could move so quickly that he was little more than a white streak of light in the sky. And if he hit a mountain peak along the way, he could slice it clean through.

In the Blackcorpse Mountains, he had consumed numerous devil-ghosts, propelling him to Quaternary Lifeseizing. And with the help of the life force springwater, he had seized life a fifth time.

Now, he was a Quinary Lifeseizer. Alive within him were ninety-nine particles, giving him the strength of ninety-nine ancient megamammoths.

Ancient megamammoths were not like mammoths that existed in modern times. Their trunks could uproot mountains, and they could easily crush tigers, panthers, and all sorts of devillings. In ancient times, they were the epitome of power. They could even drain streams and then shoot the water into the air to become rainstorms.

The idea of the power of nearly a hundred such creatures lurking within Yang Qi’s flesh and blood was simply terrifying.

WHOOOOOSH!

He sped through the sea of clouds, holding nothing back, glittering with light as golden as the sun itself. It was as if he could draw upon the power of gods that existed in nature, making him one with all creation, to the point where he didn't even emit energy fluctuations.

It didn’t take any effort for him to fly nowadays, it came completely naturally. In fact, he had to keep his true energy under strict control so that he didn’t damage his surroundings.

It was relatively easy for energy artists to acquire power, but to control that power was another matter. Smashing a boulder was a simple thing, but using that power to thread a needle would be incredibly difficult.

Back when he went from the Master of Energy level into the Lifeseizing level, he had flown out to the South Sea near the Demi-Immortal Institute. But this time, he was going to the East Sea, which was much farther away.

After flying for barely half a day, he could sense the humidity changing, and could smell the sea air. Reining in his energy arts, he came to a stop and looked out at the endless smattering of islands that covered the emerald waters.

He pulled out his map, then flew around a bit to confirm his exact location. At the moment, he was on the very edge of the East Sea, whereas Fiend-Devil Island was much further out in the depths of the water.

Thankfully, the map was very detailed, otherwise, he might have spent valuable time wandering.

It was already evening, and the moon was rising, casting dazzling light onto the countless islands. It was an extremely beautiful scene, but Yang Qi was too worried about his sworn brother to spend any time admiring it. As a lovely sea wind swept over him, he headed in the direction of Fiend-Devil Island.

Night deepened, and the temperature dropped. At the same time, he sensed wretch energy up ahead, something brutal and soaked with blood. It was so strong that it even disturbed the water. It almost seemed like there were an infinitude of demonlings, slaughtering each other, constantly shedding blood in their attempt to struggle for superiority.

‘That’s definitely Fiend-Devil Island, straight ahead.’ The source of that boundless wretch energy was a massive land mass that was only now becoming visible. It wasn’t actually an island, more like a continent. However, its inhabitants weren’t humans, but rather, fiend-devils from another plane. They were the descendants of whatever powerful fiend-devils had created the continent in ancient times, and lived so far from the mainland that it was impossible for most of them to reach it even by flight. Therefore, they existed by raiding and devouring whatever sea creatures they could come across in their area.

As he neared, Yang Qi could see fiend-devils of all sorts. Most of them were only about half as tall as an average person, with ugly, vicious faces. They had clawed wings on their back, which looked like smaller versions of his own Fiend-Devil Wings.

Any demonlings they encountered in the water around them, they would fall upon and slash to pieces. Even these lesser fiend-devils had energy arts that allowed them to spit fire from their mouth, fire that smelled like the sulfur of hell.

Further inland, past the lesser fiend-devils, were enormous greater fiend-devils. They were often twice or three times as large as an average human, with enormous wings and profound energy arts. They were as powerful as Lifeseizers, and vicious to the extreme.

As soon as Yang Qi arrived, he attracted the attention of numerous nearby fiend-devils.

RUMMMBLE!

Almost like locusts, the lesser fiend-devils filled the sky as they charged toward him, sulfuric fire spewing out of their mouths, claws extended to slash him to shreds.

There were so many of the things that they looked like an army of ants. Even most Lifeseizers would turn and flee in the face of such a vicious horde of ravenous fiend-devils, lest they be destroyed in a matter of moments.

But Yang Qi wasn’t impressed. “Screw the hell off!”

He sent out a wave of energy, causing all of the lesser fiend-devils within a thousand paces to explode, after which their demon cores shattered, becoming vital energy that shot into his Hellfire Crucible.

He had no time to waste on lesser fiend-devils, and thus, he became a white streak that shot through the air, destroying any of the things that got close. Even some of the greater fiend-devils attempted to get in his way, but he simply destroyed them and took their demon cores.

After his experience in the Heavencorpse Dimension, he was fairly certain that Jun Tianchou must have gone deep into the island, and whatever alternate dimension existed there. Therefore, these lesser and greater fiend-devils were of little consequence. His main goal was to reach the location with the strongest wretch energy.

As he flew further inland, he saw more and more spatial rifts, from which emerged numerous fiend-devils.

‘Where is he? The Four Corners of the Earth talisman already exploded, so I have no way of contacting him. According to the information on the map, Fiend-Devil Island has numerous spatial rifts that lead to different alternate dimensions. All of them are controlled by different fiend-devils. This is going to be like fishing a needle from the sea! What a waste of time. Well, I guess I can’t worry about that now. I have to find him as quickly as possible!’

After some time passed, he made no headway, and finally, resorted to shouting at the top of his lungs, “Brother Tianchou! It's me, Yang Qi! Where are you?!”

RUMBLE!

His voice echoed out like the shock wave from a massive boulder slamming into the ground. As it spread out, countless lesser and greater fiend-devils looked around in shock, and many of them simply exploded.