Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi was in a life-or-death struggle that would be resolved in the blink of an eye.

His divine will was clashing directly with that of the Lord of the Sword Dao. It was a very dangerous risk. However, the Lord of the Sword Dao was both injured and flustered, while Yang Qi’s cultivation base had just improved. As far as he was concerned, this was an opportunity.

After all, even if the purrling had defeated and sealed the Lord of the Sword Dao, it would still have been difficult to subjugate him.

But the situation had changed.

If their souls clashed, and the Lord of the Sword Dao lost, it would be a truly ultimate defeat that he could never come back from. And Yang Qi could definitely enslave him.

The sword hovered in the middle of the bronze palace, twitching as it switched back and forth between glowing with the golden color of the blood of the King of Godmammoths, and the stone color of the Great Necropolis.

Yang Qi was going to succeed or die trying.

Everything would be determined by this one clash.

“Well played, boy,” the Lord of the Sword Dao said in a booming voice. “I never imagined that you’d turn out to be as vicious as me. But I suppose that’s to be expected from someone as ruthlessly ambitious as you. I underestimated you. That said, you think a bit too highly of yourself if you think you can single-handedly take on my will.”

“Cut the crap, Lord of the Sword Dao. We're going to compete with each other on the level of our souls. Show me what you've got! Halls of Heaven, give me your power!”

RUMBLE!

All of a sudden, the Halls of Heaven trembled as the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth called on numerous streams of energy, causing them to form an enormous spell formation.

As for the purrling, it was watching with keen interest.

Hooooooowlllll.

Power from the Halls of Heaven poured into the sword. Furious, the Lord of the Sword Dao shouted, “I can’t believe you’re drawing on the might of the Halls of Heaven! Are you crazy?! Not even the resurrected Sovereign Lord could subjugate me! You're going to die, and the God Legion Seal will be mine!”

“Is that so? The moment you unleashed your possession move on me, you fell for my trap. Maybe the resurrected Sovereign Lord couldn’t do anything to you. But what if the Sovereign Lord and the True Devil were both resurrected at the same time? True Devil Sovereign Lord! God and Devil Combined!”

Whizz!

In the depths of the Halls of Heaven, an enormous figure appeared, larger than any giant of the past, his face shining with radiance and light.

It was none other than the Sovereign Lord.

Then another figure appeared, one whose face was a mass of darkness and gloom. It was the True Devil.

Crack!

The two bodies merged, becoming a single figure with two faces that stepped into the sword. However, they were as opposed as fire and water, so they suddenly exploded.

The Lord of the Sword Dao let out an anguished shriek as he sustained an attack from the combined wills of the Sovereign Lord and the True Devil.

“I'm in charge here,” Yang Qi said. “This is my empire, my heaven and earth. This is my universe! You’ve lost, Lord of the Sword Dao. Now get out of here!”

WHOOSH!

Redirecting the force of the explosion, he sent the sword shooting out of the bronze palace. It wasn’t a very impressive distance, but it immediately put the Lord of the Sword Dao into grave danger.

He was safe inside the bronze palace, but outside of it, he was subject to the full, explosive power of the Halls of Heaven. Given the level of his cultivation base, it should have been impossible to force him outside of that bronze building. But Yang Qi had played his cards perfectly.

RUMBLE!

As soon as the sword was out in the open, lightning massed and shot toward it! The Halls of Heaven were trying to eliminate the outside threat!

All this time, he had been hiding in the bronze palace, but now that he had been found out, he was viewed as a tumor that had to be removed.

The purrling looked on, nodding.

It knew that victory and defeat had been determined. It was only a matter of time now.

Screams echoed out from the sword that was the true form of the Lord of the Sword Dao as he fought to free himself from the power of the Halls of Heaven and get back to the bronze palace.

Sadly for him, that was no easy task. Under ordinary circumstances, he might have succeeded. But right now, Yang Qi was inside him, and he had to protect his soul. If he didn’t, Yang Qi would definitely possess or subjugate him.

“Lord of the Sword Dao, you’ve already fallen into the depths of frenzy. You've lost control of your heart and soul, and are heading toward inevitable destruction. Why don’t you just let me subjugate you?” As he spoke, Yang Qi continued exerting full pressure with the God Legion Seal and the Mahātmā Jade, until the Lord of the Sword Dao finally stopped trembling and simply remained in place, unmoving.

RUMBLE!

An enormous hand appeared, which was none other than the Hand of the One God. It grabbed the sword and assaulted it with immense, deadly pressure.

The Lord of the Sword Dao could sense that this was a power he couldn't fight, but he remained calm and collected. “Ah, tribulation. I am the Lord of the Sword Dao, who has experienced narrow escapes from death on numerous occasions. I was subjugated by the God Legion Seal, but escaped from it, and now it’s happening again. Is that just my fate? If so, damn my fate. I refuse to be subjugated! I'd rather die to have my freedom!”

“You won't find freedom in death!”

The Lord of the Sword Dao had reached the end of the line, and Yang Qi could tell that he was even willing to end the fight in mutual destruction. But sadly, not even that would work for him.

It was his last stand. Some people would expect a scene like this to end with Yang Qi freeing the Lord of the Sword Dao, who would then offer to willingly serve him out of gratitude.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t how this scene would play out.

At cultivation levels such as this, only fools and the weak would free an enemy and expect gratitude in return. At this level, everyone had their own dao, and the only way to pursue it was to crush the daos of others. In other words, freeing an enemy was essentially the same as declaring defeat.

Yang Qi wouldn’t do something so monumentally idiotic. Furthermore, there was no way the Lord of the Sword Dao would offer service to Yang Qi because of being freed.

The only path before him was one of darkness.

“Annul Death; Eternally Bury!” Yang Qi said, resorting to the tenth move from the Sage Monarch Grand Magic. Instantly, he became the Great Necropolis and rumbled down to bury the Lord of the Sword Dao.

Still unwilling to give in, the Lord of the Sword Dao started chanting, “In the grand heaven; verily, only exists the sword. The soul never concedes; verily, the spirit shall return. The heart is boundless; verily, what can it be?God and spirits; verily, return they home....

“You’re truly incredible, Yang Qi. I can’t believe you tricked me into this position, outwitting me at every turn. However, I still have one move left in my dao of the sword. You’ve never seen anything like this, nor has your all-powerful ally.” Voice turning cold, the Lord of the Sword Dao continued, “This final move is called Home. This place doesn't belong to either of us. It’s not your home, nor mine. Let’s go home.”

For his last move, the Lord of the Sword Dao was using something that could end the fight in mutual destruction. Even if it didn’t end up killing Yang Qi, he wanted to die. To him, that was like going home.

Once the move was unleashed, there would be no more sword energy. There would be no more ultimate martial path. There would only be the will to go home.

That lonesome wanderer finally wanted to return to his home.

It was his ultimate dao of the sword.

His ultimate move.

Home.

Yang Qi suddenly felt as though he wanted to join the Lord of the Sword Dao in returning to his home. It was an eternal rest. Death. The vanishing of the world. Nothing. Dust.

“Whose home? Where? Souls have no home. Heaven and earth are filled with homes. A steady heart is home.” Yang Qi’s soul slipped into a state almost like slumber, and it almost seemed like he was going to pass out. But then his eyes glittered. “I am your home....”

RUMBLE!

An explosion rippled through the sword, then vanished. All of a sudden, Yang Qi’s will seemed to slip into eternal slumber, making him feel like he had disappeared, and wasn’t aware of anything. Was he dead, or just unconscious? No one knew.

He had never suffered an attack such as this. The Lord of the Sword Dao had a truly powerful cultivation base.