Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘That’s got to be it,’ he thought. ‘There’s a devil-dragon imprisoned here. It’s said that the ultimate ancestor of the devil-dragons was the Third Devil General. That’s why the Second Devil General is so raring to go right now, and why he’s been pressuring me to come here for so long. Well, I need to take advantage of this situation. If the King of Godmammoths imprisoned a devil-dragon here, and the Second Devil General manages to free him, I'm going to be in big trouble.’

Yang Qi was already making plans.

“Are you sure I'm going to benefit from this, Second Devil General?”

“Absolutely. The King of Godmammoths used a blood-seal, and if you can take it, your cultivation will definitely experience a breakthrough. The most important thing to consider is that, although the King of Godmammoths has long since perished, you have the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth! If you get that seal, you could summon his soul and then assimilate it. It would be an amazing trump card for you. After all, the only person who could possibly summon the mighty soul of the King of Godmammoths is someone with the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth!”

The Second Devil General was obviously doing everything possible to entice Yang Qi.

Trying to sound cautious, Yang Qi said, “I doubt that taking the blood seal of the King of Godmammoths is going to be an easy task. I'm sure it’ll fight back.”

“It might fight back against other people, but not you. You’re going to make out like a bandit here. You have the God Legion Seal, and the reality of the situation is that the creator of the God Legion Seal wasn’t the Sovereign Lord, but the King of Godmammoths. That’s why the technique that goes along with it is called the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. What do you say? I wouldn’t dare to lie to you. Come on, let’s get going!”

“Fine,” Yang Qi said, following him into the Myriad Dragons Lair.

The Second Devil General only seemed to be getting more and more excited. “Forget about the kingdoms in this place. Let’s focus on the most important task at hand. You can worry about everything else after we deal with the sealing mark.”

“No, hold on,” Yang Qi replied. “I want some of these Dragonfolk kingdoms in my Cruiser of Civilization. And you’re going to help me do it. Otherwise, why would I help you out with something as dangerous as undoing that seal?”

“What?!” the Second Devil General said, his expression turning frosty. However, the killing intent quickly faded away, as he knew that if he pushed too hard, Yang Qi could just leave, and he would end up empty-handed.

“What, not willing to cooperate, Second Devil General? In that case, forget it. I’ll just come back later when I'm a peak Paramount God.” He turned to leave.

Seemingly more anxious than ever, the Second Devil General said, “We're negotiating an important deal here, boy. There’s no need to let your emotions affect your decisions. Fine, I’ll help you take a few of the dragon kingdoms to improve your destiny. Make your breakthrough to the peak Paramount God level, then we can handle my affairs.”

Yang Qi smiled. “Alright, that makes sense. Besides, if I have a better cultivation base, it’ll only help with your situation. Besides, remember our agreement? We said that once I was a peak Paramount God, I’d remove your connection to the God Legion Seal. Your soul would be free. Doesn’t that prospect excite you? In the end, helping me is helping yourself.”

“Fine, let’s get to work,” the Second Devil General said, sounding a bit impatient.

“There’s one other thing, Second Devil General. As you know, my empire in the Cruiser of Civilization is growing larger and larger. But before long, the cruiser won’t be able to sustain it. I'm just not strong enough. So I need your help. The destiny valuation of my empire has already reached nine, and I need more power for the countless god kingdoms inside the cruiser. The flesh and blood of the Myriad Dragons Lair is the perfect resource for that. But the cruiser is controlled by the psyche, and your psychic power is far superior to mine. So I want you to help me use the Engine of the One God and the imperial-heaven pre-beginning systems to expand my empire and reforge the cruiser into something bigger and better. A treasure that truly belongs to me.”

Yang Qi was turning the Second Devil General into hired labor. The general hadn’t really provided much true help to him, and had even plotted against him. So Yang Qi was definitely going to use this trip to his advantage.

Although the Cruiser of Civilization was complete, its core elements and basic aura weren’t those of Yang Qi. Instead, it belonged to the Lord of Civilization, who was its creator.

But the Second Devil General was powerful enough to help him change that. In the past, the Second Devil General never would have agreed to help him in this way. But now that he was on the verge of rescuing the Third Devil General, he was willing to do just about anything.

“What?” the Second Devil General barked angrily. “You want me to help remake the Cruiser of Civilization? That’s not some random task. That’s going to be very difficult! You think I’m just hired labor or something?!”

“It’s not like that at all,” Yang Qi said. “First, the Cruiser of Civilization simply won’t hold very many dragon kingdoms as it is right now. Second, the cruiser isn’t particularly easy to use right now. But with your help, it’ll become a lot easier. Third, and most important, if you help me, I’ll be able to absorb more of the essence of the Myriad Dragons Lair. And as I get more familiar with its vital energy, it’ll make it easier to deal with that sealing mark, and get you the Dragon Compendium. Isn’t that our ultimate goal here? I'm not asking you to be hired labor. I'm asking you to help me plan ahead!”

“Well, that does make sense.” The Second Devil General nodded.

Yang Qi hadn’t mentioned anything about the Third Devil General, and thus the Second Devil General was doing everything he thought necessary to keep the ruse going.

“Fine. Bring out the Cruiser of Civilization. But if you really want to make use of the essence of the Myriad Dragons Lair, you need to give me King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans. All three thousand of them.”

“No problem at all!

Yang Qi promptly handed the talismans to the Second Devil General, who immediately sent his devilish sense inside. A moment later, a heaven-devouring aura erupted out and an enormous primal-chaos elder-snake appeared. However, the Second Devil General quickly exercised control and the aura vanished.

After all, they didn’t want to attract the attention of any of the old-timers. The Myriad Dragons Lair was no smaller than the House of the Invincible. The big difference was that it existed in a state of chaos, with no ultimate leader. The general state of bloody conflict was why the place didn’t have any overall destiny.

The snake shrank down, and the Second Devil General sent it flying out into the flesh and blood. It instantly began devouring it, and in the blink of an eye, over a thousand continent-sized areas were gone.

All of them were continents filled with minor dragon roosts, but they didn't count as kingdoms.

“Yang Qi, go into the heart of the cruiser and take control of the Engine of the One God. You have to help out as well, otherwise all this work will be in vain.”

“Well, of course,” Yang Qi said, and flew into the cruiser to do just that.

As soon as Yang Qi took control of the enormous engine, he could sense the immense blood-soaked aura flooding inside. Then, under the control of the Second Devil General, it became something like a host of blood-red dragons flying into all of the various planes of existence inside.

“Everlit Godlamp; Disseminate Radiance and Light; the Legacy of Brightness; the Essence of Civilization....”As Yang Qi sank into a trance, the Everlit Godlamp rose up above him, casting out radiance and light that transformed the blood dragons into dragons of shining brightness.

The lamp was now fusing with the cruiser!

The cruiser had originally been a machine, but Yang Qi was turning it into something of flesh and blood.

Flesh and blood were like opposites, but now one was changing into the other. They were becoming a part of Yang Qi, or more precisely, part of the God Legion Paradise.