Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi couldn’t help but be a bit excited.

With the connection to the impure lands restored, he would finally be able to bring up his friends and family. The Sage Monarch Empire would have fresh blood, Ascendants who could flout the natural laws of the god world. They wouldn’t be like the ordinary inhabitants of the god world, who had trouble with every step of cultivation they took.

Yang Qi could use the destiny of his empire to help his Ascendant brethren rise to the level of God-Lords. However, he had other experts whose psychic scales were over nine billion, but couldn’t proceed any further. Yang Qi had a feeling that the natural laws of the god world were holding them back, making it difficult for them to achieve breakthroughs.

There wasn’t anything he could do about it. The essence of the god world just wouldn’t permit immensely powerful entities to rise up.

But if he could get a huge influx of Ascendants, boosting his population to greater heights, there was no question that he would have the most powerful empire, one capable of crushing the alliance of three dynasties.

Normally speaking, only a half-Annulled expert could reopen the Ancient Road to the Gods, which meant that Yang Qi shouldn’t have been able to. But as an emperor, he could use destiny to bolster himself. Furthermore, the Halls of Heaven could help him surpass the god world, and allow him to see its natural laws from a different vantage point.

“So, god world, you closed the Ancient Road to the Gods, hoping to prevent more Ascendants from showing up. Unfortunately, you're a world. The more Ascendants that come, the more new civilizations there will be. My empire will use your essence to give rise to a new civilization. In all of the many heavens that exist, the civilization of the gods is the most advanced. For now. I'm going to surpass it. And then you’ll also be able to ascend to a higher level. What do you think?”

Yang Qi was hoping that his words would stir the essence of the god world, and cause it to loosen some of its constraints.

Sadly, his efforts were futile.

The god world wouldn’t simply agree to loosen its bonds and reopen the Ancient Road to the Gods.

“Fine. Be opened!” Yang Qi wrenched his hands through the air, severing the essence of the god world in the area, and allowing the power of the Halls of Heaven to rush forth like a river.

Whoosh!

The essence of the god world began to converge, causing glittering light to form into what appeared to be a young woman with long hair, wearing an elegant and simple garment. Unexpectedly, this woman appeared to be Yang Qi’s mother, Greensura!

“Mother?” Yang Qi said, his gaze suddenly turning indescribably sharp. ‘No wonder I couldn't sense her aura in the Central Dynasty, or on Proud Heaven. Proud Heaven devoured Proud Central because the essence of the god world was causing trouble. It supports Proud Heaven, and has even taken my mother in an attempt to strike at me. Does it really think I'll fall for something like that? My empire, my civilization, is going to be something indescribably mighty. I'm going to transcend anything and everything. And that means I'm going to rescue my mother too. Even if she’s been completely wiped out of existence, I’ll bring her back. Once my cultivation base surpasses everything in the god world, all of its natural laws will be nothing but an illusion to me.’

Although this woman resembled his mother, she wasn’t the real Greensura. She was a product of the essence of the god world, sent to stop him from reopening the Ancient Road to the Gods. He had been marked by the essence, and it was using Proud Heaven in its attempt to kill him.

Of course, Proud Heaven was an extremely ambitious person. If he could use the essence of the god world to help him kill Yang Qi, then he would definitely turn on it. He would devour that essence, absorb the god world into his Universes, and then transcend.

“Heaven and Earth Unmatched; Sun and Moon Sink to Oblivion; Destruction of the Universe; Space and Time Collapse....” Yang Qi unhesitatingly launched a deadly attack on the essence of the god world.

In response, the god world had Greensura’s visage wave a hand, causing a shield of light to rise up and block the attack.

Yang Qi’s gaze grew sharper, causing sword light to converge, which then exploded into millions upon millions of streams of sword energy that slammed into the shield, peppering it with damage.

“Be destroyed!”

The combined image of a god and devil appeared behind Yang Qi, the fusion of the True Devil and the Sovereign Lord. The half-devil half-god thrust its hands out, creating a green claw that could obscure the sun and obfuscate the heavens. Devil energy surged toward the essence of the god world, as if to transform it into an endless hell of devils.

This was truly something from the True Devil.

The boundless True Devil had created as many hells as the eternal sands, and they existed outside of the god world. However, the horde of devils couldn’t actually come to the god world, as the Ancient Road to the Gods was defended by the Executors of the Ancient Road. The Executors would kill any demons or devils they saw on sight.

Years ago in hell, there had been entities similar to the gods who had risen up. Unfortunately for them, the countless wars that were waged in hell ensured that such entities faded away into nothing. It was only in the impure lands that such beings could lurk indefinitely. And if Yang Qi used the psychic quintessence of the Mahātmā Jade to bring the armies of hell into the god world, the horde of devils would throw everything into chaos.

The enormous devil claw was the ultimate attack of the True Devil. And given Yang Qi’s strength, it was entirely possible that it was on the same level as the True Devil’s. In fact, because it was fused with destiny, it was something the True Devil never could have done, even in his prime.

The devil claw surged toward the essence of the god world, but the greyspace the essence had erected blocked its path. However, Yang Qi then followed it up with the Hand of the One God. Both were hands that could cover all things in existence.

The dao of devils was one of destruction and carnage.

The dao of gods was one of conquering and order.

The True Devil’s claw was smashing at the shield created by the god world, thirsting to unleash hells and destroy everything. Meanwhile, the Sovereign Lord’s hand was out to conquer everything and turn it into a personal plaything.

Pop!

The essence of the god world was pierced through, and Yang Qi’s power reached the impure lands, causing the Ancient Road to the Gods to start forming anew. With his Lord’s Eye, he could now see the vast conglomeration of immortal worlds below.

Things looked different now. Thanks to the Great Necropolis continuously spewing out so many immortal worlds, the place was filled with numerous three thousandth ranked worlds.

The population was staggering.

Yang Qi could already sense his friends and family.

The people he had left were now boundless patriarchs, constantly working on their cultivation in the hopes of reaching the god world. Shockingly, they had set up a huge empire, and were gathering destiny in the hopes of breaking the barrier to the god world.

With the Ancient Road to the Gods gone, the only way for them to get stronger was to use destiny. And that was their only hope of reaching the god world. Sadly, their efforts were all in vain.

“Such a huge population,” Yang Qi breathed. The impure lands were packed. In the lowest of the planetary systems, people were constantly advancing their cultivation and rising to the immortal worlds. But unfortunately, no one could ever reach the god world.

If things kept going this way, the immortal worlds would eventually collapse. The resources here just weren’t sufficient to support such a huge population. Eventually, they would run out, and everything would implode.

Thankfully, the Great Necropolis had ejected countless high-level immortal worlds, ensuring that a long time would pass before things reached that state.

Unfortunately, the dao of immortals was definitely reaching the point of being overcrowded. Resources were starting to grow scarce, and even the three thousandth ranked worlds were too small.

Yang Qi’s friends and family occupied the best locations, and were domineering forces that no one could fight against. After all, he had given them all boosts of power from the God Legion Seal.

No individual from the dao of immortals could ever surpass them.

Nobody like Yang Qi could rise up again, and since the Ancient Road to the Gods had been cut off, there was no way for fresh blood to descend from the god world.

The immortal worlds were stagnant, and would eventually be overwhelmed with death. And that was what the essence of the god world wanted.

How could the god world ever have guessed that Yang Qi would advance so rapidly, or make an empire that he could use so effectively? He was already right on the verge of the half-Annulled level. With his destiny, and the combined power of the Sovereign Lord and the True Devil, he had broken free from the prison of the god world.

Yang Qi couldn’t go to the immortal worlds as his true self.

He was so powerful that if he went there, his mere presence would destroy everything and kill everyone.

Therefore, he very carefully sent down a sliver of will.

Whooooooosh!

A massive vortex sprang up, sucking in countless immortal worlds. At the same time, Yang Qi’s friends and family received a message from him.