Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Listening to this conversation between Dugu Yunkong and Yang Jian was clearing up a lot of the haze in Yang Qi’s mind.

Sprite Susu had to be Yang Susu. And he needed to find her, lest she fall on very bad times. He had to stop the wedding between her and Dugu Yunkong, and he also needed to help unify the Spritefolk under her leadership. It seemed more than obvious that the Spritefolk old-timers would rather marry her off than accept her as their leader.

Another thing he now understood was that there was a Fateless One in the House of the Chiliocosm. And he was probably connected to this person somehow.

Of course, Yang Qi needed to look into the matter further. If there really was another Fateless One just like him, that person had to die. It was a showdown of predestination, and it was a given that they couldn’t be friends. However, Yang Qi had long since had the feeling that there was something about himself that wasn’t complete. And now he realized that the key to becoming complete would be killing the other Fateless One. Only then would he be a truly one-of-a-kind entity.

Thankfully, he had the advantage, as no one knew he was a Fateless One, whereas this other person was sitting out in the open.

Unfortunately, he had no way to divine information about the other Fateless One. Whoever it was, they obviously had an exceedingly high position. Even this Yang Jian had plainly stated he wasn’t a match. So it was pointless for Yang Qi to speculate about how he himself would match up.

Thankfully, Yang Qi was confident that he would come across the opportunities he needed. Rewards come only with risk, and right now he had two pieces of the Mahātmā Jade right in front of him, along with the blood in the King of Godmammoth’s sealing mark.

“Let’s get to work,” Yang Jian said. “How exactly do we undo the sealing mark? Drain this golden river?”

“Yeah,” Dugu Yunkong replied. “The golden liquid here is actually made from the blood of the King of Godmammoths. Getting rid of it is the only way to reveal the true material the sealing mark is made of. If we stimulate the power of the Dragon Compendium, the King of Godmammoths will fight back. And when his will is unleashed to fight the book, we can seize that moment to assimilate the book. Then we’ll have the approval of the Myriad Dragons Lair, and will command the magical laws of this place. After that, conquering the numerous Dragonfolk kingdoms will be a simple task.”

“How are we going to split things up?” Yang Jian asked.

“Simple. Fifty-fifty. You get the blood of the King of Godmammoths, and I get the Myriad Dragons Lair. Once you gain control over the nascent divinity true self of the King of Godmammoths, you can use that to detect the presence of the God Legion Seal. It's been lost for countless years now, but it hasn’t ceased to exist.”

“The God Legion Seal?” said Yang Jian, his expression immediately becoming one of greed. “Brother Yunkong, how exactly are we supposed to go about draining this golden blood? There’s no magical treasure that could possibly contain it. Not even our combined pieces of the Mahātmā Jade could do so. All the jade is good for is to use the aura of the True Devil and the countless Devilfolk sages and mahātmās to fend off the psychic tempests defending this place.”

“Did you really think I would come here without a plan, Brother Yang?” Dugu Yunkong said with a cold smile. “The King of Godmammoths was powerful, but he has a major weakness. Have you ever heard of the maxim snakes devour mammoths? The King of Godmammoths had one main archenemy, and that was King Heaven-Devourer! King Heaven-Devourer was actually a primal-chaos elder-snake, and because he was never as strong as the King of Godmammoths, he was constantly devouring mammoths! And although they clashed many times, the King of Godmammoths was never able to kill King Heaven-Devourer. Defeat him in battle, yes. But kill him? No. And that was because King Heaven-Devourer had gained enlightenment of the boundless truths contained in the saying snakes devour mammoths. Then, he cultivated his soul to a profound level in the dao of devils, in which the human heart is insufficient; the soul is never sufficient; the void contains all things, including everything everywhere. Of course, he didn’t attain absolute enlightenment, which was why he was never able to devour the King of Godmammoths.”

“King Heaven-Devourer? Don’t tell me you have King Heaven-Devourer’s legacy talismans? The imperial snakecharms!?”

“Of course not!” Dugu Yunkong said. He sighed. “If I had those talismans, then I wouldn't be here now. I would’ve come here a long time ago and devoured the King of Godmammoths’ blood. And I certainly wouldn’t need the help of the House of the Chiliocosm in the form of the Mahātmā Jade.”

“I get it. So what are you planning to use? Do you have something related to King Heaven-Devourer? Mind opening my eyes a bit?”

“The answer is simple. I happened to get King Heaven-Devourer’s head!”

All of a sudden, a vortex of primal-chaos appeared behind Dugu Yunkong, the type that abounded with primal-chaos paleo-energy that could create all manner of living things.

Within that primal-chaos was the skeletal head of a snake, its mouth open wide as if to devour everything in heaven and earth. Green flames burned in its eyes, and it pulsed with a devouring energy so intense that some of the surrounding windstorms were instantly sucked inside. It was almost as if another god world existed inside that mouth.

“The head of King Heaven-Devourer!?” the Second Devil General said, shivering.

Among the seventy-two monarchs, King Heaven-Devourer ranked second, right under King Immortal-Slayer. Although he wasn’t as powerful as King Immortal-Slayer, the two had a relationship similar to the Sovereign Lord and the King of Godmammoths.

King Immortal-Slayer corresponded to the Sovereign Lord, as he relied on wisdom and intelligence to manipulate the dao of heaven, make complicated plans, subjugate enemies, bring his heart in line with truth, and strive toward the Annulled.

As for King Heaven-Devourer, he was like the King of Godmammoths in that he was domineeringly strong.

Those two did the fighting, while King Immortal-Slayer and the Sovereign Lord laid complicated plans leading up to battle.

It was impossible to say how many times King Heaven-Devourer had fought the King of Godmammoths. And every time, King Heaven-Devourer lost. But he always regrouped and came back stronger in the next fight. And the King of Godmammoths could never quite kill him.

Eventually, King Heaven-Devourer died mysteriously. Many people assumed that he was killed by the Sovereign Lord, although some think it was the Great Necropolis who did him in.

The latter was entirely likely, as Yang Qi had found some of the remains of King Heaven-Devourer in the Great Necropolis, and had long since assimilated them with King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans. And now that he saw this skeletal head, the talismans within him were quivering as if they wanted to shoot out of him.

Although he had full control of all three thousand talismans, his cultivation base was obviously nowhere close to the level of King Heaven-Devourer in the past. And if the actual body of King Heaven-Devourer were found, the talismans could inhabit it, turning into a perfect recreation of him.

King Heaven-Devourer had been used by King Immortal-Slayer to fight the King of Godmammoths, precisely because of the truth of snakes devour mammoths.

“The head of King Heaven-Devourer!?” Yang Jian exclaimed, looking a bit leery. “Brother Yunkong, did you already fuse with that thing?!”

“That's right, I did. This is my ultimate secret weapon. And once I find any other incarnations and remains of King Heaven-Devourer, and my collection becomes complete, I’ll become stronger than you can possibly imagine. Eventually, I’ll transcend to be higher than all other gods. The nine patriarchs of the House of the Invincible spent years working with this head with their Invincible Profound Technique. What do you think? Listen, Brother Yang. I know that Yang Voidprime is your greatest enemy. So I'm going to help you kill him, and then I’ll devour him! What do you say?”

Yang Jian looked a bit pale in the face. “Dugu Yunkong, I never imagined that you were this strong. You've really managed to keep your true strength hidden! In that case, I suppose the real reason you asked me here today is that you want to kill me and steal my piece of the Mahātmā Jade. Then you’ll devour me to get some of the power of the House of the Invincible.”

“You’re overthinking things, Brother Yang,” Dugu Yunkong said with a smile. “It wouldn't benefit me at all to kill you, and in fact, it would probably cause a war between the House of the Invincible and the House of the Chiliocosm. If that happened, the Central Dynasty would swoop in and wipe us all out. What good would it do to fight amongst ourselves?”

“But why do you want to devour Yang Voidprime?” Yang Jian said, still looking terrified.

“Simple. With him in the way, how can you take the throne? I want you as the king of the Chiliocosm Dynasty, then we can work together as allies. The current old-timers in the Chiliocosm Dynasty think of me as their enemy, and refuse to get with the times. The best possible strategy for both of us is to work together.” It was obvious that Dugu Yunkong had both outstanding ability and grand vision.

And Yang Qi could tell that he was profoundly ambitious and ruthless. It was no wonder he was the top figure among the heirs apparent in the Invincible Dynasty.

“Alright,” Dugu Yunkong said, “the time has come for you to help me with every bit of strength you’ve got. I’ll make sure this is all worth it for you. Don’t worry. In a moment, you’ll be clashing with the will of the King of Godmammoths, and I’ll help you by infusing you with the will of King Heaven-Devourer. Succeed, and you can take the blood of the King of Godmammoths. Then we both get what we want. It's a win-win situation.”

“Fine, Brother Yunkong. I trust you.” Yang Jian nodded sincerely. He had chosen to throw caution to the wind.

However, Yang Qi could see that, deep in his eyes, there was a glint of craftiness, as though he were planning something tricky of his own. This Yang Jian was no simpleton, and it was highly likely that he was plotting against Dugu Yunkong, and was pretending to be weak to force his opponent to reveal his secret weapons.