Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi’s cultivation base was climbing higher by the moment, and none of the fierce heavenly tribulations seemed to pose even the slightest problem. The instant he reached the True Real Step, another hundred million megamammoth particles woke up.

The power of the nine mammoth tusks was almost liquid as it poured into Yang Qi, filling him with power that originated from Demolishing level demon-immortal dracomammoths.

Four hundred million megamammoths!

POP!

Yang Qi waved his hand, digging up massive amounts of golden soil. Normally speaking, the Hell of Mahānata was so strong and durable that not even eighth or ninth step Great Sages could have hewn it open. But to Yang Qi, it was as malleable as tofu, and he could excavate it as easily as blowing some dust off of his shoulder.

Buzzzz.

Immense veins of subterranean ore resembling clawed dragons were pulled up, and immortal energy flourished. Of course, to most cultivators it would count as devil energy.

One of the ore veins that he dug up burst into flames, becoming power that fueled the spell formation and furthered the breakdown of the mammoth tusks. As a result, Yang Qi’s rise in cultivation only accelerated.

Suddenly, his Hell Portals erupted with seas of blood that seemed to wash over and cleanse them, until they became gateways made of actual flesh and blood that radiated the aura of the legion of gods. At the same time, their surfaces came to be covered with sealing marks, countless complex designs, images, and textual inscriptions that made them the most holy of portals.

Scores of Demi-Immortal fiend-devils flew out of the portals, as well as giant devils, beasts, snakes, and even Infernalfolk.

Unfortunately, he was currently limited to being able to summon Lesser Demi-Immortals.

Even so, it was a terrifying thought. After all, what level of might could an army of a hundred thousand Lesser Demi-Immortal fiend-devils command? That would cause profound shock even within the Titan Emperor Collegium, where the Demi-Immortal level was the requirement to be named a royal student.

Of course, as Yang Qi rose through the steps of the Great Sage level, he would be able to summon increasingly powerful fiend devils, including those in the second, third, and fourth order… eventually, he would even be able to summon fifth order devil kings.

At that point, Yang Qi would be able to summon an army that even the elders in the Titan Emperor Collegium would be terrified of.

That was not even mentioning the improvements which would come from the Eternal Heavenly Aria. If he blessed a Tyrant Demi-Immortal fiend-devil with halos of light, they would become even more terrifyingly powerful.

And then there was the Hand of the One God….

‘The Light King Step is about enlightenment of the magical laws of time. Although I’ve gained soul enlightenment already, I also need a practical understanding. Among Great Sages, the fifth step is a watershed that is not easily surpassed.’

Settling down cross-legged, he entered a deeply meditative state.

The rapid and dramatic rise in power that Yang Qi was experiencing also had an effect on his immortal clone back in the Sage Monarch Continent.

At the moment, the clone’s level of power actually surpassed that of his true self.

‘Excellent,’ the clone thought. ‘My true self is in the Hell of Mahānata, and has already reached the True Real Step. And the energy he’s projecting to me is incredible.’

As the clone sat there in Sage Monarch City, a wormhole appeared above his head, pouring preheaven true energy into him and allowing him to improve with every moment that passed.

The clone couldn’t cultivate the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, but he had been working on the Jade-Emperor Profound-Welkin Exalted-Celestial God-Dao, thus the vital energy from his true self was pushing him higher and higher.

The true self was the source of the clone’s power, therefore, as the true self improved, so did the clone. Of course, if the true self died, so would the clone.

The Sage Monarch Continent had improved dramatically in recent times. It had absorbed the Quake-Dawn Continent, along with the corpses of countless god-devils and Prime Demi-Immortals, plus over a hundred Revered Demi-Immortals. And that wasn’t mentioning the immortal items and spirit stones. By now, it was millions of times above the level of the old Rich-Lush Continent.

Children born there started out as ninth phase Masters of Energy, and even with the barest minimum of training they could reach the Lifeseizing level.

‘Magical law!’

All of a sudden, another stream of power entered the immortal clone and he gained numerous new aspects of enlightenment. Waving his hand, he sent countless streams of true energy out into the air, which pierced into the Sage Monarch Continent’s greyspace and caused streaks of jade to appear in it.

As the streaks of jade expanded and interlocked, the entire Sage Monarch Continent transformed into what looked like a planet made from jade itself—perfect, complete, and consummate in every way.

“What’s going on here?” Yang Zhan said, his eyes suddenly snapping open. “Why does it feel like the magical laws of space here in the Sage Monarch Continent have suddenly grown stronger? They’re not weak like before!”

He wasn’t the only one. Other top experts, such as Ghost Emperor Yama, Chancellor Sun Moon, Jun Tianchou, Hua Tianxiong, Hua Fengfeng, and others, all had the same reaction. All of Yang Qi’s sworn siblings were now Great Sages and they could sense the magical laws transforming, spreading out like chains of jade to stabilize space and make it more secure.

Normally speaking, one needed to reach the third Legendary transformation, the Space-Void Transformation, to be able to tear rifts into space and pierce through it. It had always been that way in the Rich-Lush Continent.

But now, the jade-type energy art cultivated by Yang Qi’s clone was making space vastly tougher. As of this point, the third transformation would definitely not be the threshold to pierce through space. In fact, not even Yin-Yang or Personal-Domain Legendaries would be able to do so. At the most, they would be able to fly.

The stronger a plane was, the sturdier its space became and the more difficult it would be to pierce through it. Supposedly, in the immortal worlds, it was impossible for even Great Sages to perform teleportations. Only Demi-Immortals could struggle to succeed at them.

“Wonderful!” Yang Zhan said. “With space becoming more stable, the continent’s rise to a higher level has finally come. Qi’er wants this place to become a cultivation planet, a place vastly superior to the old Quake-Dawn Continent.”

“I never thought I would live to see the day that this place became a planet,” Chancellor Sun Moon said excitedly. “Can you believe that petty and insufferably arrogant Crown Prince tried to get me to side with him? How could he have ever compared to Yang Qi? Chancellor Demi-Immortal was really blind to throw all his support to the Crown Prince. It’s too bad Chancellor Demi-Immortal survived. Although, considering all the things that have happened since then, I'm sure he’ll do little more than skulk in the shadows for the rest of his life.”

‘I can’t believe our sworn brother is so mighty….’ That was what many of Yang Qi’s sworn siblings were thinking. All of them were deeply touched, and knew that they would reap rich rewards as they continued to reach higher levels.

Deep within the Hanging Mountain, in a nameless spatial nexus, the Holy Mother opened her eyes. ‘What? I can’t believe Qi’er’s clone reached such a high level in the cultivation of the Jade-Emperor Profound-Welkin Exalted-Celestial God-Dao. He's already gained enlightenment of the preheaven jadesource. Normally speaking, it should take thousands of years to do that.’

The Sage Monarch Continent was like a glittering sphere of jade, although all of its light was projected inward, instead of outward, which indicated that it had reached the level of propagating its own vital energy and not losing any.

In some ways, the rise of a continent to a planet was like the process of human cultivation.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the void, a pair of eyes glittered with hatred.

‘Damnation….’ The owner of those eyes seemed to radiate the aura of a leader, as though he were used to occupying a very lofty position. Now, though, he occupied no such office.

He was Yang Qi’s old adversary, someone far more dangerous than the Crown Prince. He was Chancellor Demi-Immortal, who had long since been lurking in the Titan Emperor Collegium, hoping to get a chance at revenge. Unexpectedly, he was now a Demi-Immortal. However, the mere sight of the Sage Monarch Continent reaching new heights caused jealousy, hatred, and anger to bubble in his heart.

‘The Holy Mother and Yang Qi have both put on impressive displays recently. They wiped out the Northstar Fleet, and even destroyed the Quake-Dawn Continent. They also exterminated the Holy Daughter of the Quake-Dawn Cathedral. I couldn’t help any of them….’ There was a trace of pain on the chancellor’s face; obviously, he really did have feelings for the Holy Daughter. After all, he had risked everything to protect her son, the Crown Prince. But in the end, he had accomplished nothing but watching him die. And now, the Holy Daughter herself was dead and part of this new continent’s essence. The result was a pain that the chancellor could hardly endure.

He had been completely powerless to do anything but watch the people he loved be killed.

‘So, Yang Qi, you escaped from the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Well, I'm still not going to let you off the hook. You and Sword Seventeen made a big show on your return to the Invincible Society, even going so far as to kill a noble student from the Hegemon’s Society. That should be more than enough for me to cause you endless trouble. There are plenty of people who hate the Invincible Society now. Your end days have come.’ Swishing his sleeve, he turned to leave.