Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Hailan’s cultivation base was very mysterious. The whip in her hand seemed like a spirit snake, and at the same time was a convergence of faith so powerful that Yang Qi didn't dare allow it to hit him. If he got infected by that faith power, he would be able to extrude it, but it would put him in a bad position that Proud Heaven would surely take advantage of to launch a fatal blow.

And there were definitely other almighty entities who were waiting to step in, and would be more than happy to have a share in splitting up Yang Qi’s corpse.

Swish!

Yang Qi didn't hesitate to dodge to the side, then struck out with his sword. Of course, that sword contained the will, energy, light, and divinity of the Lord of the Sword Dao.

A sword nimbus flared to life, slashing right toward Hailan’s neck.

It was a strike with such speed and magnificence that it actually surpassed anything the Lord of the Sword Dao had been capable of.

Shocked, Hailan shrank down into a point of blue light that sped away in the opposite direction.

However, she was slow enough that he managed to slash off a strand of hair, which he reached out and grabbed, then scanned to assess her life force and substructure.

‘This woman is very strange,’ he thought, surprised. Within her genes, he found something like a spiraling river of stars, and other bizarre things unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was almost as if she were connected in communication to the dao of heaven.

The genes seemed similar to those of the King of Godmammoths. ‘Don’t tell me they’re the genes of the High Priestess!’

If they were, he knew he had to be particularly careful.

“Die!” Heaven-Reaching Dugu, Heaven-Immolating Dugu, and Heaven-Sacrificing Dugu combined their power and unleashed a strike from the Invincible God-Fist.

The Dugu Clan hated Yang Qi with a passion. After all, he had stolen roughly a third of their top experts when Generalissimo Dugu Sheji defected. And that had left the clan leaderless and badly weakened.

“Complete crap!” Yang Qi said, chopping his hand out to destroy the fist strike. Then he slashed out with his sword again, sending sword energy rumbling toward the three Dugu patriarchs, who were forced to leap away in terror.

“Central Tempest!”

The grand generalissimo, prime minister, and imperial preceptor from the Central Dynasty had also joined forces, sending godpower out that formed a spectacular tempest and slammed into the sword energy of the Unbounded Sword River.

RUMBLE!

The three experts staggered backward, while Yang Qi simply remained in place, unfazed.

“If this is all the eight of you can do, I'd say the time has come to wipe you out, one by one!” He spun into motion, first sending a fist toward Yang Voidprime that sent him flying. Then he slashed his sword at Hailan, removing another strand of hair. Another sword move devastated the three Dugu patriarchs, and caused blood to flow from the three leaders from the Central Dynasty.

It was with ease that he shoved all eight opponents into very bad positions.

“So incredible!”

Everyone in the Sage Monarch Empire watched with awe. Then, the sage monarch magistrates took advantage of the scene and began chanting, “Sage Monarch Empire, Triumphant in Every Battle! Victorious in Every Fight! Unifiers of the God World!”

As their voices joined together, their wild shouts caused the destiny of the empire to surge. As a result, the Everlasting Aegis slowly started expanding into something even more colossally large.

“This is bad!” Proud Heaven said. “He used only three moves to gain the upper hand against eight people, and that's got his side even more stirred up. If he defeats those eight, or kills one of them, it's going to cause a dangerous decline in destiny!”

Transformations to morale and destiny could have a major effect on a battle. It was the case in the impure lands, so it would obviously apply just as well in the god world, or even more so, considering how destiny functioned.

‘Impossible!’ Proud Heaven thought. ‘How could Yang Qi have gotten this strong? I had no idea the treasure troves in the Halls of Heaven were this incredible.’

“Surprised, Proud Heaven?” Yang Qi said. “You’re probably wondering how I got this strong. It's simple. I pulled a fast one on Proud Central. I got the last piece of the Mahātmā Jade, giving me the full, combined version. King Immortal-Slayer is going to break free soon, and the Lord of Righteous Justice is waking up. Once you lose your ability to negate the rancorous energy of your dynasty, you're finished!

“Of course, now would be the perfect time to seize control, Proud Heaven. Proud Central has no idea what’s going on, so if you just go back and attack him when he's not expecting it, you could devour him and get your cultivation base to the same level as mine. We don’t have any true grudge between the two of us. Why don’t we split the god world between us? If we join forces, we could take the Invincible Dynasty and the Chiliocosm Dynasty for our own. What do you say?”

His words caused anxiety to well up in the hearts of numerous individuals.

“Don’t try playing mind games on me, Yang Qi,” Proud Heaven said with a sinister chuckle. “Our three dynasties signed a formal agreement, bound with a blood oath. We have no choice but to work together. Besides, do you really think your jabbering would have any effect on me? Kill him! Then kill him again! Get out here, Star Swordlife!”

Whizz!

Dazzling light flashed in everyone’s eyes as a sword shot out from the depths of the Central Dynasty, accompanied by a surging energy of life force. This was the very same person from the impure lands who had invented a dao of the sword based on life force, then clashed with Yang Qi on numerous occasions. Star Swordlife!

After Proud Heaven took him to the god world, Yang Qi had never seen him again, or even sensed his energy. Therefore, it was something of a surprise to see him here. [1]

His energy was different now. Apparently, he had acquired the legacy of some top expert, or perhaps found a source of immense life force in the god world. Even more interesting, his cultivation base and dao of the sword surpassed those of the old Lord of the Sword Dao. Furthermore, he had obviously gained far more enlightenment into the mysteries of life force.

With Star Swordlife added to the mix, there were now nine enemies facing Yang Qi.

“I can’t believe it's you, Star Swordlife,” Yang Qi said. “You just won’t go away, will you? I let you live, down in the impure lands, yet you dare to show your face here and now. Do you really think you can't die?”

“I don't kill people,” Star Swordlife replied. “And because of that, karma ensures that I can’t die. Haven’t you come to understand that yet, Yang Qi? Whether in the immortal worlds or the god world, it doesn’t matter how many times you try to kill me, you won’t succeed. Those who kill often end up getting killed. It’s an eternal truth. Because you're a killer, you have a killing will, and that ensures that eventually you’ll be killed. As for me, I don’t kill; therefore, I’ll exist for all eternity. If you don’t gain enlightenment on this, you’ll never transcend.”

Star Swordlife was the same old person spouting the same old words.

His facial features were the same, which went to indicate that he hadn’t changed in any way. Apparently, no one could change his mind about anything. However, Yang Qi didn’t care. And even if Star Swordlife were stronger than he was, he still couldn’t match up to Yang Qi.

Yang Qi had reached a point in which destiny mattered more than personal strength. And because of that, Star Swordlife was like little more than one of the crowd ganging up on him.

However, he was curious how Star Swordlife had grown so much stronger so quickly. It wasn’t Proud Heaven’s doing. And most likely, it wasn’t Proud Central’s doing, either. Had Star Swordlife come across some sort of good fortune?

“Look at my empire, Star Swordlife. And look at my destiny. This is the true dao of life. Rulership. You've walked down a wretched path and become a wretch-god. You don’t even know yourself anymore. My empire is upright and just, and you have nothing that can even compare to it. Even if you were stronger, as strong as the Sovereign Lord for instance, you would still perish. After grasping at the true dao, you went down the wretched path. How tragic. I guess I have no other choice than to bury you.”

He didn’t have to fear Star Swordlife any more than the commander of an army needed to fear a random bandit.

Looking very grim, Yang Voidprime said, “Impressive, Yang Qi. Very impressive. So it turns out you got the God Legion Seal and the Mahātmā Jade. You combined the legacies of the Sovereign Lord and the True Devil. That’s how you’ve reached this level. If we don't kill you, then you're going to turn into another Sovereign Lord. And we can't have that.”

Their earlier clash had confirmed to him that he wasn't strong enough to beat Yang Qi on his own.

“You have a lot of treasures, Yang Qi,” Hailan said. “Sadly, you don’t know how to keep a low profile. You established an empire that all heroes under heaven want. And the essence of the god world won’t let you succeed. You are a threat to the very nature of the god world!”

1. The last time we saw Star Swordlife “on screen” was in chapter 1123. It never really said what happened to him after the fight between Yang Qi and Proud Heaven. Now we know.