Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi was in a position of deadly tribulation.

For him to go up against the Lord of the Sword Dao seemed to be just asking for humiliation. Not even a psychic scale of eighty billion would give him that right. Yet, by grasping at a host of varying opportunities, he had succeeded.

Unfortunately, the Lord of the Sword Dao had one final move to use. Home. It was designed to take both fighters into that eternal home of nothing, and as a result, Yang Qi had lost consciousness.

He wasn't sure if he was dead or alive.

It was a terrifying sensation, and truth be told, he felt like he was in a nightmare that he was unable to wake up from, his soul sealed forever in a location of absolute nothingness.

The purrling wasn’t there. The Halls of Heaven weren’t there. Nothing was there. It was very strange. What had just happened?

He felt depression grip him as he realized that he didn’t even have a body. It was as if literally everything had gone away, leaving behind only his thoughts.

Where was he?

‘Don’t tell me I'm in a state of Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana.’ All of a sudden, a daoist scripture flickered into his mind.

The state of Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana was one of ultimate understanding, which involved making everything disappear, and leaving behind only thoughts. It was a state of true invincibility. Once a person entered that state, no attack would be useful against them. If the physical world didn’t exist for them, how could physical attacks do anything to them?

All of a sudden, joy surged within Yang Qi.

However, his joy quickly faded as he realized that he didn’t know how to return from this state. If he couldn't return, it made reality like little more than a dream. This wasn’t the half-Annulled level. After all, in that level, it was supposedly possible to freely enter and exit the state of Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana.

“Die!” Yang Qi drew on his mind and unleashed a powerful attack.

Unfortunately, nothing happened as a result. If thoughts were useless, and he existed in a world of only thoughts, then what could he do?

‘Impossible, there has to be a way out,’ he thought, calming himself. ‘Given the level of my cultivation base, there must be a way back to the real world. Why can’t I even sense the Mahātmā Jade and the God Legion Seal? Only my own personal thoughts remain? Not even the purrling can help me in this situation. However, I still have my mysterious connection to the Great Necropolis.’

Focusing his thoughts, he imagined the Great Necropolis, and how it had crashed down into the impure lands.

RUMBLE!

After an unknown period of time passed, Yang Qi spotted a pinprick of light. The light rushed toward him, accompanied by immense rumbling; then, with no warning at all, he popped back into the real world. There he was, a short distance from the bronze palace.

Looking down, he saw a sword in his hand, and it was marked by the God Legion Seal.

“Don’t tell me the Lord of the Sword Dao died.” Delighted, he flew over to the bronze palace, where he found the purrling waiting for him.

The purling nodded and purred. “Congratulations. You passed a deadly tribulation. You were in a very dangerous situation, but you managed to find your way back from death.”

“What? Wasn’t I just in the state of Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana?” Yang Qi said, looking surprised.

“Yes. And at the same time, no. You were on the edge of it. You’re like an expert who tried to break into the half-Annulled level, but was too weak to succeed. Your psychic scale isn't strong enough to break through. However, you're obviously incredibly lucky in that you didn’t die. Usually, people who try to break into the half-Annulled level, but fail, end up dead.” The purrling spat out a bubble that wrapped around the sword.

Slowly but surely, the sword took human form again.

It was the Lord of the Sword Dao.

BUZZ!

He opened his eyes, and they looked like ten thousand swords piercing the heart.

“I'm not dead? I didn’t go home?” he said, looking confused.

“Get on your knees and pay your respects, Lord of the Sword Dao!” Yang Qi roared.

CRACK!

The Lord of the Sword Dao felt immense pain in his head, and although he fought the urge, he dropped to his knees. “My respects, Milord”

A new golden throne had risen up in the God Legion Seal.

The Lord of the Sword Dao had escaped the fetters of the seal, only to fall right back into them.

“I just can’t escape the seal, can I,” he said bitterly. “Is this just my fate? I refuse to accept this. I refuse!”

Yang Qi felt powerful thought fluctuations bucking against him; monitoring the thoughts of the Lord of the Sword Dao was not easy! It was like trying to manage a hundred million Paramount Gods all at the same time.

However, considering the level of his cultivation base, and the fact that he had just survived a deadly tribulation, he was now more in a position to succeed than ever.

“You’re right, Lord of the Sword Dao. Your fate is to be bound to me. We're going to work together. If you refuse, or try to kill me, we’ll have to do things the hard way. However, while it’s true you’ll serve me forever, don’t think too much into it. In fact, I'm going to give you some of the power of the God Legion Seal. That way, the Halls of Heaven won’t attack you, and you can go take a look at the god world.”

“No! You won’t bind me! I'm the Lord of the Sword Dao! I broke free from the God Legion Seal before, and I’ll do it again. You’d best just kill me. I could snap at any time and destroy your empire!”

“Not likely. I'm going to keep a very close eye on you. I know everything you’re thinking, including your dao of the sword, and your battle experience. And I'm thoroughly familiar with your cultivation base as well. For now, you’ll become a sword again, and I’ll use your power to clear out the treasures of the Halls of Heaven. The first stop will be the pill repository. I want to see what kind of medicinal pills are there.”

He made a grasping gesture, and the Lord of the Sword Dao transformed back into a sword, which Yang Qi grabbed.

“Alright,” the purrling purred, “you got what you wanted. I'm leaving now. Remember, you owe me a favor.” With that, the purrling made as if to leave.

“Exalted Purrling, don’t you want some of the treasures from here?”

“Nope. I wouldn’t be interested even if the Sovereign Lord showed up. When you get to my level, treasures are like trash. Besides, the Halls of Heaven basically belong to you, so if I took treasures, I would just be prematurely calling it even with you, right?”

With that, the purrling vanished.

Yang Qi shook his head to clear it of extraneous thoughts. Now that he’d subjugated the Lord of the Sword Dao, he had learned a lot of secrets pertaining to the Halls of Heaven. For instance, the location of the pill repository.

Whooosh!

He shot off like a bullet into the twisting depths of the halls.

The pill repository contained pills that had been personally concocted by the Sovereign Lord. If Yang Qi could send them to his empire, his loyal people would get far stronger, which would lead to better destiny.

One of the fastest ways to improve destiny was to improve the cultivation bases of the people. And medicinal pills were a great way to do that.

RUMBLE!

Yang Qi sped through countless buildings, ignoring the auras of quite a few magical treasures. For now, he was focused on the pills. After all, the stronger he got, the easier it would be to control the Lord of the Sword Dao.

Wasting time on random treasures along the way would be pointless.

Swish!

He finally arrived at a huge building that was shaped like a medicinal pill. There, he swept out the sword that was the Lord of the Sword Dao, allowing him to take the brunt of the defensive measures.

The door opened, and he found himself looking at layer upon layer of yellow sand. It was like looking at a desert.

‘What’s this?’ he thought. There was something about the sand that seemed odd, so he opened his Lord's Eye, which was when he realized that the grains of sand were actually medicinal pills.

‘Are they Eternal-Sands Willpower Pills?’

He remembered reading about Eternal-Sands Willpower Pills in an ancient record book. Only the Sovereign Lord had ever been able to concoct them. They were used to boost psychic power, remold the nascent divinity, and unlock hidden strength. However, after concocting them, the Sovereign Lord had second thoughts, and because he feared other gods becoming too powerful, he only handed a few out.

Nowadays, the recipe for Eternal-Sands Willpower Pills was considered a thing of the past.

“These things are amazing. With all these pills, the psyches of my people will reach incredible heights. And I bet the destiny will improve by thirty percent without a hitch.” Even Yang Qi was surprised by how much he was benefiting from visiting the pill repository.