Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The headquarters of the House of Shadowblight was located on a moving island somewhere out in the West Sea. He had extracted that information from Blightczar Skyfiend earlier, but there were still details he lacked. For example, what experts would be stationed on the island?

Blightczar Skyfiend was the ninth vice-houselord, and a Blood-Form Legendary. That alone seemed to indicate that the other vice-houselord would also be Legendaries, and likely, stronger than Skyfiend.

And that was not even to mention the houselord himself.

Considering Yang Qi had no idea the level of the houselord’s cultivation, that was the person he feared the most. Right now, he could single-handedly defeat a Blood-Form Legendary, and perhaps a Spirit-Soul Legendary. However, on his own, he couldn’t kill a Space-Void Legendary. It was only by using the Grand Emperor's Pagoda that he could take on a Space-Void Legendary.

But what if the houselord was a Five-Phases Legendary in the fourth transformation?

Such Legendaries could casually manipulate the five phases, achieve incredible speed, and understood the principles of mutual augmentation and suppression that came with metal, wood, water, fire and earth. They could even create enormous spell formations with complete ease. It was an enigmatic level that led to tenfold and even hundredfold levels of power. A person like that would be no easy opponent to fight, and Yang Qi wasn’t sure if he could do so even with the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

And if there were multiple Legendaries and the houselord, then not only might he fail to exterminate their organization, he might end up getting killed.

The only surefire way of guaranteeing victory would be to become a Legendary himself.

At that level, he would have an initial understanding of magical law, which would give him a much higher level of control over the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. In that case, he could definitely take on a Five-Phases Legendary, and possibly even a Yin-Yang Legendary.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite ready to step into the Legendary level. He was already at the peak of his current level, but achieving the next breakthrough was no simple task. He needed the right good fortune, and if he didn't get it, would have no hope of succeeding.

“Ready to talk, Blightczar Skyfiend? How strong is everyone in the House of Shadowblight? What’s the houselord’s cultivation base like?”

“We have thirty-six vice-houselords, and I rank ninth. Everyone in the top ten is a blightczar and a Legendary. The top three are all Spirit-Soul Legendaries, people who can easily manipulate the power of their quintessence to rip apart mountains. The houselord, Blightczar Manyshadows, is in the fourth transformation. As a Five-Phases Legendary, he’s protected by the power of the five phases, which can be used to create all sorts of spell formations. That makes it virtually impossible to attack him. Furthermore, the island is filled with numerous blightpuppets, enough to blot out the sky and cover the earth.”

‘So, he really is a Five-Phases Legendary,’ Yang Qi thought. It was shocking news. If the House of Shadowblight fully mobilized its forces and attacked Yanhaven, the city would definitely be wiped out. If he had to, he could theoretically suck his clan into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda and escape, except, he would never betray the rest of the people in the city like that.

The houselord of the House of Shadowblight was Blightczar Manyshadows, a Five-Phases Legendary with profound energy arts, surrounded by the five phases, which could protect him better than any suit of armor. Even a sneak attack wouldn't work on him.

In the face of a person like that, Yang Qi would have no choice but to simply flee. And that was not to mention the other Legendaries on the island. Right now, it seemed like eliminating the House of Shadowblight wasn’t just a heaven-defying task, it was actually an impossible one.

And yet, the more impossible it seemed, the less Yang Qi was willing to abandon the idea. The House of Shadowblight had long since become a mortal enemy of his, and if he didn't end things soon, the ultimate consequences would be too horrible to contemplate.

After thinking about the matter a bit more, he settled down cross-legged onto the water below. ‘I should probably find the island and hide on it. After getting the lay of the land, I can identify the House of Shadowblight’s weaknesses. Maybe I can catch the houselord when he's alone. If I build up enough power, and land a surprise attack, I could probably wound him enough that I would have time to wipe out the rest of them.’

RUMBLE!

Drawing upon his true energy, he summoned the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, and at the same time, began to sink down toward the seafloor, where no one would be able to sense him or guess at what he was doing. His goal was to practice cultivation for a time to build up energy, so he sat down on a Rich-Lush Eye and summoned his Hellfire Crucible. Within the crucible were numerous strands of true energy that swirled together into the shape of a screaming old man. It was none other than Patriarch Mongolbeast.

He was a Legendary, so there was no way that Yang Qi would let his true energy reserves go to waste. After killing him, he sucked him into the Hellfire Crucible for later use.

“Get over here, Blightczar Skyfiend!”

Neither would Yang Qi let Blightczar Skyfiend off the hook. Making a grasping gesture, he sent a strong wind through the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, summoning the sealed Blightczar Skyfiend.

“No! Don’t kill me! If you kill me, you’ll die a horrible death!” It seemed Blightczar Skyfiend finally realized that he was reaching the end of the line. “I’ll be your slave, Yang Qi! Think of what you could accomplish with a Legendary as a slave!”

Yang Qi snorted coldly. “I don’t want or need an evil slave, especially one adept with poisons. It would only be a matter of time before you went behind my back to poison everyone I knew. Your death will fuel my Lord's Eye, and improve the power of my Grand Emperor's Pagoda, and also my quick strike. If I can injure Blightczar Manyshadows badly enough, it will make him a lot easier to kill.”

With the wave of his hand, he transformed Blightczar Skyfiend into a haze of blood, which sent another wave of powerful true energy surging into the Hellfire Crucible.

As of this moment, he now had true energy from two Legendaries to work with, which contained magical laws.

After refining them a bit, he opened his Lord's Eye, and used it to absorb the true energy.

As a result, the Lord's Eye suddenly turned bloodshot, as though it were about to erupt with fury. The anger of the Lord could bring an end to the world, and carry out the most destructive judgement.

Next, he sent out more true energy to scour the far corners of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. Soon, he located the conglomeration of the asura’s flesh and blood.

Despite the six month session of cultivation, there was still plenty of it left. In fact, it was impossible to say when exactly it would run out. Considering that the original plan had been for the Crown Prince to use that asura to reach the Great Sage level, it was possible to tell how much power there was in it.

Right now, Yang Qi couldn't absorb anything more from it, as his current cultivation base level couldn’t accept it. If he tried to, it would merely leak away.

However, he was not using that power to put into his sea of energy, but rather, his Lord's Eye. By converging as much energy as possible into the eye, he hoped to be able to use it to unleash a quick strike onto the houselord of the House of Shadowblight, backed by the additional power of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. Hopefully, the result would be a serious injury.

After several days and nights of absorbing the power, the Lord's Eye was completely bloodshot, filled with killing intent and ready to unleash incredible force whenever he wished.

‘Fusion of the Grand Emperor!’ Even as Yang Qi rose to his feet, the Grand Emperor's Pagoda shrank down to the size of a dust mote, which then entered the Lord's Eye.

The Lord’s Eye closed tight; the next time he opened it, it would unleash heaven-destroying, earth-extinguishing power.

Yang Qi rose from the water and then began to fly through the air for a moment before vanishing into a parallel dimension. It was a high-level concealment technique that only a Space-Void Legendary would possibly be able to see through.

Of course, it was fueled, not by Yang Qi’s power, but by the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

Before long, dense mists began to rise up around him, making it impossible to see anything clearly. He had been prepared for this, and began to follow a prescribed route through the mist. After two hours passed, a large island rose up in front of him. In fact, it was so large that it was almost like a continent.

Despite its huge size, it looked like a ship of sorts, covered with all sorts of temple-like structures that were set aside for cultivation.

On the western side was a harbor that numerous metallic battleships sailed in and out of, merchant vessels shuttling goods to and from the Western Continent. Many of the ships from the Western Continent bore slaves that the people from the House of Shadowblight would inject venom into, transforming them into walking corpses, tireless puppets that did all the manual labor on the island. As for the sides of the island, they were bolstered with metals mined from the ocean floor, making the entire thing nearly impregnable. High above in the air was a shimmering shield of poison that would make it impossible for most outsiders to invade the place. Of course, that barrier was no obstacle to Yang Qi.

This was none other than the House of Shadowblight’s headquarters.

Looking down, Yang Qi could see that the bottom of the island had machines designed to propel the place in any direction. It really was an enormous ship.

‘The soil of this island is actually metal that can survive the ravages of ten thousand years. It’s basically a gigantic battleship.’ Yang Qi couldn’t help but marvel.

After studying the place for a few hours, he suddenly noticed something. ‘Eh? What’s that?’

High above in the air, a powerful stream of sword energy was descending.

Looking closely, Yang Qi was surprised to see several members of the Crown Prince Society. One of them was a man who thrummed with the energy of the Grand Thunderclap Swordplay. He was none other than Lei Tao, and also present was Xie Feng.

The leader of the group was a holy neophyte, a Legendary student in the Demi-Immortal Institute, a member of the Crown Prince Society who ranked second only to the Crown Prince. Yang Qi had never seen him before, but from the way he carried himself, it was obvious that he was a supremely powerful individual.

‘What is a holy neophyte from the Crown Prince Society doing here at the House of Shadowblight? Don’t tell me it’s because of me wiping out the Myriad Consortium in Mongoltar?’