Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The power behind the summoning was immense, but Yang Qi’s cultivation base was in the half-Annulled level. And he was no ordinary half-Annulled expert, either. He had devoured the brain of the Wretch God, pushing his psychic scale very close to the level of a trillion. He was the top figure in the god world, such that not even the King of Godmammoths could deal with him.

He had gained enlightenment of the most profound mysteries, and was also blessed by the destiny of an empire. There was literally no one who could best him. With a mere thought, he stabilized himself and made it impossible for the fateless energy to be extracted from him.

Not only that, he tracked the summoning to its source.

His divination gave him a view of the spell formation in the depths of the Demonfolk Empire, with Yang Voidprime howling in the middle of it, completely at the mercy of the King of Godmammoths, Demon Master, and High Priestess.

Yang Qi instantly realized what was going on.

‘I can’t let them realize that I'm in the half-Annulled level.’ With another thought, he caused a shadowy duplicate of himself to step out. It was touched by the empire’s destiny, as well as the aura of a Fateless One. However, the projection was being held firmly in place by the destiny of the empire.

Yang Qi wouldn’t gain any benefit by allowing his opponents to know he was in the half-Annulled level. And the longer he held out before revealing it, the more destiny the Sage Monarch Empire would accumulate.

The King of Godmammoths, High Priestess, and Demon Master could sense what was happening.

“So, Yang Qi is fighting back,” said the High Priestess. “And it seems that he’s getting close to gaining enlightenment of the half-Annulled level. But he hasn’t succeeded yet. If he thinks he can rely on the destiny of his empire to keep him safe, he’s delusional. If he didn't have that destiny, he’d be dead already.”

“The Sage Monarch Empire is strong,” said the Demon Master. “Just about everyone is a sage or mahātmā. The citizens aren’t selfish, and they practice cultivation for the sake of their empire. The stronger the empire is, the stronger the people are. There’s a cycle of karma there. The empire is the source of faith, and those who show faith in the empire benefit greatly. This is definitely the most superior type of government there is. From ancient times until now in the god world, no one has ever done anything like this. Although the kings of order we created are just as good as his sage monarch magistrates, we Demonfolk are just too weak to perfectly compare to these humans. But given enough time, our Demonfolk is going to grow stronger and stronger.”

The King of Godmammoths chuckled coldly. “I refuse to believe that Yang Qi’s empire can surpass ours in strength. And if he thinks he can prevent us from taking his fateless energy, he’s crazy.”

The King of Godmammoths was drawing fully on the King of the Great Dao, causing Yang Voidprime’s pain to increase tenfold. He now existed in a hellish agony in which he wished he could simply die.

The King of Godmammoths had resided in hell for countless years, and knew all about pain. And his command of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was obviously superior to Yang Qi’s. Thus, it was easy for him to ensure that Yang Voidprime felt immeasurable pain.

“Relish the pain, Yang Voidprime! Lose yourself and your will. Become my puppet! There’s no reason to struggle.” The King of Godmammoths’ voice pounded at Yang Voidprime with terrifying viciousness.

Despite being a half-Annulled expert, Yang Voidprime was already on the verge of collapse.

But then, a stream of will surreptitiously entered him and began speaking into his sea of consciousness.

“Yang Voidprime, it's me, Yang Qi. I can see that you’re about to die. Do you have any last wishes?” Because they were both Fateless Ones, it was possible for Yang Qi to communicate with Yang Voidprime in a way that the King of Godmammoths, Demon Master, and High Priestess would never be able to detect.

“Yang Qi? You... you aren’t being affected by this at all?” To be contacted by Yang Qi was like a wakeup call to Yang Voidprime, and it caused his will to solidify. “You’re so vicious! Fine. I want you to kill the High Priestess, the King of Godmammoths, and the Demon Master! Although, you’re going to have trouble resisting their power.”

“You’re right, Yang Voidprime. It's not going to be easy. But I’m in a better position than you. I have the backing of the destiny of an empire. They won’t be able to deal with me. That said... you’re in a really tragic situation. The way things are going, you’re going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it.” Yang Qi sent some of his psychic power into Yang Voidprime to ease his pain a bit. “I can save you, Yang Voidprime. You're a half-Annulled expert, which means your cultivation base surpasses mine. But with the destiny backing me, I'm actually much stronger than you. So what do you think? Want my help?”

“Help me? How?”

“It’s simple. I’ll keep pouring power into you, using my powerful destiny to make sure the King of Godmammoths doesn’t have any idea what's happening. Then you use a self-destruction technique to blow yourself up. I’ll take the fateless energy and add it to myself, and while you’ll die there, I’ll resurrect you in my empire. What do you think?”

Yang Voidprime burst out laughing. “Nice plan, Yang Qi. You want me to kill myself to damage the spell formation so you can take my fateless power? You’ll become a true Fateless One, and I’ll be dead. What kind of fool do you take me for?”

“You’re thinking about it wrong, Yang Voidprime. I will resurrect you. Perhaps I'm not a half-Annulled expert, but I know many secrets of the half-Annulled level. A lot of experts from the ancient era died, but have been resurrected. All you have to do is give me your soul essence, and I can make a new body for you. You’ll be born again in my empire.”

“Are you serious about this?” Yang Voidprime said, starting to wonder if he should agree. For one thing, the King of Godmammoths was unleashing the most horrific pain on him, and even just the ability to stop that pain would probably be worth it for him.

“Yes, I'm serious,” Yang Qi said. “I want to help you. Think about it, Yang Voidprime. They’re using you to try to get at me. But I can free you. As a half-Annulled expert, you could be very useful to me in my empire. If we work together, we’ll be unstoppable. We're both Fateless Ones, so it only makes sense for us to join forces. By the way, I’ll tell you another secret: your girl Hailan shacked up with Proud Heaven. She's the empress of the Deathless Heaven Dynasty now. Did you know that? The moment you left, Proud Heaven turned you into a cuckold. It's all part of his plan to destroy the High Priestess and seize ultimate control. So even if you somehow got out of this situation and went back to the Deathless Heaven Dynasty, you'd still be dead.”

“What?!” Yang Voidprime exclaimed in shock. “How dare he! I refuse to believe this!”

“Fool. Just peer into my mind to see what’s happening back in the Deathless Heaven Dynasty! Psychic Link; Fateless Connection!”

All of a sudden, Yang Voidprime was given a view of the situation in the Deathless Heaven Dynasty. He saw Hailan as the empress, and could see Proud Heaven’s power and influence growing.

“Damnation! You animal, Proud Heaven! I won’t let you get away with this. I’ll kill you! I’ll slaughter you!” Yang Voidprime was so enraged he wanted to rip Proud Heaven to shreds right then and there.

“The only option for you is to work with me. So do the self-detonation. You’ll be reborn in my empire, exactly the same as before, except with a new body. And you’ll still be a half-Annulled expert. Together, we can be unparalleled under heaven!”

Deep in his heart, Yang Voidprime was thinking, ‘You’re going to copy my will and mind and put me into a new body. That just means you’ll have access to all my experiences getting to the half-Annulled level. You just want to use me to achieve another breakthrough.

‘Well, don’t blame me for taking advantage of this situation. I’ve gained a lot of enlightenment thanks to what the High Priestess and the others have done. And I already know a lot more about fateless power than you. When I self-detonate, my fateless power will enter you and become one. And in that moment, I’ll be able to possess your physical husk. Then I’ll wipe you out and become the only true Fateless One!”