Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Buddha First-King was using his most powerful trump card, the animadestiny dragonpearls he had bitterly cultivated over many years, which contained a consummate technique called the Seven Stances of Creation.

The stances were Energy, Mind, Will, Thoughts, Life, Fate, Momentum. Combined, they created a beautiful tableau that was the quintessence of dragons. In other words, dragons represented those things.

Truth be told, dragons weren’t pure godlings, but a type of quintessence.

In the impure lands, there were dragon lodes and dragon energy. And the Son of Heaven was said to be a true dragon. All such terms illustrated how dragons represented the energy, mind, will, thoughts, fate, and momentum of both humans, and also heaven and earth.

When a person reached a certain level of power and influence, others would say they were a ‘convergence of dragon energy’.

That was the quintessence of the dragon. In other words, dragons were civilization. And when the Seven Stances of Creation were unleashed, they weren’t about raw power, but the momentum needed to create worlds. They surpassed the ordinary martial disciplines of dragons, reaching a higher level that transcended ordinary godly-class energy arts.

As soon as Buddha First-King spat out his dragonpearl and unleashed the Seven Stances of Creation, Yang Qi’s Dragon-Capturing Seven Claws were destroyed. Then Buddha First-King pressed the attack.

Yang Qi immediately sensed how difficult it would be to deal with these stances. However, he wasn't worried. He knew that their power came from the Dragonpearl Creation Skill. And dragonpearls weren’t godhood, nor were they internal pellets. They were like seeds that would grow after practicing cultivation for millions upon millions of years.

RUMBLE!

Yang Qi resorted to the Myriad Worlds Greater Teleportation to dodge the attack, and the result was that the blow hit the wall and caused it to cave in. Patriarch Deva was shocked, and was forced to use his Five Strikes of the Deva to dodge out of the way.

Unfortunately, he was deep in the Myriad Dragons Lair! He wasn’t a match for Buddha First-King, even with the quintessence of King Heaven-Devourer’s energy arts that Yang Qi had given him. Thankfully, Yang Qi had already dissipated ninety-nine percent of the force.

‘Damnation!’ Patriarch Deva thought, furious. ‘I’d be evenly matched with Buddha First-King if we were on the outside. I’d even have ways to land some good blows. But in the Myriad Dragons Lair, I can’t even use a tenth of my power!’

‘These Seven Stances of Creation are very formidable,’ Yang Qi thought as he continuously used the Myriad Worlds Greater Teleportation to dodge to safety.

Then Buddha First-King reached the last of the seven stances, and Yang Qi finally made a move.

“Everlit Godlamp!”

SNICK!

A bean-sized spark shot out into the seventh move, then exploded into radiance and light.

A miserable scream rang out as Buddha First-King was thrown backward, blood spraying from his mouth.

“Purrfect God Art!” Yang Qi said, flicking his finger and sending out a bubble that wrapped up the energy of his opponent’s attack, shrinking it down into a dragonpearl.

‘This thing is incredible!’ he thought, grabbing it. Without hesitation, he gobbled it down, sending it flying into the God Legion Paradise, and from there to the Everlit Godlamp. After all, that dragonpearl was strong enough to melt anything in existence; even the Second Devil General wouldn’t dare to take it lightly.

CRASH!

As the dragonpearl melted, it transformed into countless dragons of radiance and light, which shot into his sage monarch magistrates.

The final transformation was beginning! The dragonpearl contained the quintessence of the ancient dao of heaven and the Dragonfolk, and with it, the sage monarch magistrates were changing in a very dramatic way. At long last, the sage monarch magistrates had reached a critical moment in which they were about to reach Unbounded will convergence.

‘Excellent,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘They’re finally on the verge of a breakthrough. That said, there’s no rush. I need to take things slowly.’ Ignoring the sage monarch magistrates, he pressed the attack. Buddha First-King had lost his momentum, and now Yang Qi was using the Myriad Worlds Greater Teleportation offensively.

Then he saw an opening and blurred into motion, attacking with the Sage Monarch Grand Magic.

Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.

The attacks came so swiftly that Buddha First-King was hard-pressed to defend against each one, let alone launch a counter-attack. In fact, all ten of them hit him, then Yang Qi was right in front of him, reaching out to grab his head.

However, that was when an immense force suddenly weighed down on the mountain, and three voices spoke out that caused everything to tremble violently.

“Get out here, Buddha First-King! Why hasn’t your Nine Dragons Court agreed to join us? Are you looking to get killed?!

“That’s right, Buddha First-King. Your Nine Dragons Court is like a tiny village, compared to the god world as a whole. The fact that we want to enlist you to our side is a big honor. If you refuse to come to your senses, you can’t blame us for just wiping you out of existence. Incidentally, you’re not permitted to stay in the Myriad Dragons Lair from now on. If we see you, we’ll attack you on sight. Got it? That is to say, unless you join us. Then you can stay here. You see, we’re going to unite all Dragonfolk and restore us to our previous glory. And anyone who refuses to comply isn't welcome!”

“Get the hell out here, Buddha First-King! If you hide like a turtle in its shell, we’ll make sure you die a very horrible death!”

Yang Qi could tell exactly what was going on.

‘Dammit. I wanted to get the Nine Dragons Court under my control without attracting any attention. Screw these fools!’ Unwilling to simply give up, Yang Qi continued using the God Legion Seal to subjugate Buddha First-King.

The process was quick, and when it was over, Buddha First-King immediately understood the situation. “So that’s who you really are....”

“Quiet. Who are those people outside?”

Not daring to respond too slowly, Buddha First-King said, “People from the Dragonswarm Society. Their patriarch is Buddha Shockheaven, one of the most powerful old-timers there is among us Dragonfolk. His cultivation base is far beyond my own, and for all I know, he's already in the peak Paramount God level. As for his subordinates, they’re all roughly on the same level as me. Their society has been working hard to take over the Myriad Dragons Lair, and now they’re here to besiege me. For years, I’ve refused to join them, and now it seems they finally decided to go on the offensive.”

“Go out and do what it takes to fool them. I want to see exactly how strong this Dragonswarm Society is.” He flicked his finger, activating the Dragonfolk genes within himself and Patriarch Deva, instantly causing the two of them to turn into small dragons. Together with Buddha First-King, they flew out and found that the mountain around them was covered with swirling mist.

There were three people present, one man and two women. All of them were late Paramount Gods like Buddha First-King, with psychic scales and godhood ratings above a hundred million. Furthermore, they had magical treasures that caused them to glow with shining light. Clearly, they all possessed powerful thrall armies.

“Meet Buddha Swallow, Buddha Lotus, and Buddha Trueheaven,” Buddha First-King said with a bitter smile. “They're all proud apprentices of Buddha Shockheaven, and each of them are extremely powerful. If I had to face one of them alone, I wouldn’t be worried. Worst case scenario, I could just flee. But together, they’re a problem. Furthermore, Buddha Shockheaven designed a special kind of thrall called a shockheaven wardragon. Each one is as strong as a peak Consummate God, and they proliferate like flies. When their power is combined, it's completely shocking. I’d say that each of these three probably has a billion thralls ready to unleash.”

“Oh? Shockheaven wardragons? Sounds interesting. You do the talking. The best outcome would be for you to trick them into coming to the Nine Dragons Court, where I can make special arrangements to deal with them.”

If Yang Qi could somehow subjugate these three, he would have agents in the Dragonswarm Society just as he did in the House of the Invincible.

Which would get him even more destiny.

That said, it didn't seem to him that the Dragonswarm Society was on the same level as the Dugu Clan’s House of the Invincible. As they headed out into the open, Yang Qi made himself and Patriarch Deva invisible, so they wouldn’t alert their enemies that anything was amiss.

The first to speak was the woman known as Buddha Lotus. “So, Buddha First-King, you finally decided to stick your turtle head out of your turtle shell? I think we should start calling you Buddha First-Turtle!”

Ignoring her taunt, Buddha First-Dragon said, “I’ve thought the matter through, and I'm ready to join the Dragonswarm Society. In fact, I can take you to the Nine Dragons Court right now to go through the formalities.”