Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The mysterious Proud Heaven had appeared without warning, absconding with Yang Qi’s mother.

As of this moment, Yang Qi was absolutely furious. There was now enmity between him and Proud Heaven that could never be resolved. However, even though his fury boiled, he forced himself to calm down and think about what to do next.

This Proud Heaven was profoundly enigmatic. Just like the yellow-garbed young man with the buzz cut, he was a Future One, and seemed to know many secrets about Yang Qi. That made him difficult to defend against.

He also had extremely powerful energy arts, and could apparently easily send a clone to lower worlds. That alone made him much more terrifying than the young man in yellow.

Although both Proud Heaven and the young man in yellow were Future Ones, it was obvious that the latter had only recently traveled to the present from the future. He didn’t have particularly impressive energy arts, whereas Proud Heaven had reached an extremely high level.

Thankfully, there were obvious limits to what Proud Heaven could do with his clone in the lower worlds. If he had been able to stay for much longer, the situation might have ended differently.

With his mother captured, Yang Qi knew that the only course of action was to kill Proud Heaven.

If his true self hadn’t been in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, he could have used the God Legion Seal and Ultimate Faith to power up to thousands of times his base level of power. In that case, he would have struck a hard blow to Proud Heaven’s incarnation, and likely wouldn’t have lost his mother.

Although, it almost seemed as though Proud Heaven had intentionally chosen this specific moment to act. He had acquired a very important pawn that he could later use against Yang Qi in deadly fashion.

Yang Qi was now fairly certain that Proud Heaven was keeping a very close eye on him.

The main thing he needed to decide was whether to focus on conquering other planetary systems, or go to the immortal worlds to search for his mother.

‘I think I need to get to the immortal worlds as quickly as possible, and try to turn up clues about Proud Heaven. I can’t stay in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart for any longer than necessary. I’ll leave my clone in the mortal world to handle the expansion, and go with my true self to find mother.’

That was his general plan, although he needed to work on the particulars. He obviously wouldn’t just abandon his plans in the lower worlds. Unfortunately, he knew that he couldn’t hide the truth from the Titan Emperor Heaven for long. And once they found out what was going on, they would rain down fury and fire.

When that happened, it could very well be doomsday.

That said, the power of faith he was getting from the mystical network of laws was very beneficial to the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. From what he could tell, he was progressing with ten times the speed of before. Perhaps even tens of times.

If he practiced cultivation on his own, he could never achieve such results.

The faster his planetary system expanded, the larger the mystical network of laws would become. And in turn, he would have access to more faith power, which would further his cultivation with even greater speed. The sooner he gained control of the mortal world, the sooner he would have hope of dealing with Proud Heaven.

“If the immortal world above wants to vent their wrath on me, fine. We’ll see what they can do. Worst case scenario, we go to war. With my true self and an army of fiend-devils here, we can fight the immortal world! If it turns out we really can't beat them, I can just take everyone into hiding in the Hell of Mahānata. However, if I defeat them, my progress will accelerate even more!”

He was already planning on how to deal with punishments from the Titan Emperor Heaven.

Right now, he had no plan to flee, or to abandon the mortal world. When soldiers come, send a general to stop them. When flood waters come, use earth to block them.

Just now, he had nearly defeated Proud Heaven’s clone with the power of faith. If the mystical network of laws grew even stronger, then what would he be capable of?

**

Back in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, Yang Qi’s true self knew of everything that had just occurred, and of course, he was not happy. He stood there with teeth clenched, shivering as if from cold, with Eldest Brother, Elder Second Brother, Sword Seventeen, and all the other Elder Brothers and Sisters looking on. They knew that something was happening, but weren’t sure what. Considering the immense good fortune they had just come across, there was clearly something off.

As a Demolisher, Eldest Brother was even more acutely sensitive to Yang Qi’s mood fluctuations. “What's wrong, Junior Brother? You’re acting a bit strange. Did something happen?”

“Yes. Something big just happened outside. A guy named Proud Heaven came and kidnapped my mother. Damnation!” He provided a few more details, then went on to say, “We can’t stick around here exploring the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Although there is plenty of treasure to be had, my plans have changed. Proud Heaven’s evil scheme succeeded, but thankfully he didn’t actually harm me directly. That said, I'm not going to just let this go. Furthermore, it's only a matter of time before the Titan Emperor Heaven realizes what’s going on and attacks the Sage Monarch planetary system. My true self has to be out there to summon an army of fiend-devils if that happens. The forces out there right now aren’t strong enough to defend against an immortal world.”

Eldest Brother was the type of person who didn't fear anything in heaven or earth. However, when he heard the name Proud Heaven, he reflexively shivered. “What? That’s crazy! So, he came back?”

“But isn’t he your father, Yang Qi?” Elder Second Brother said. “Considering he took your mother hostage instead of trying to kill her, it probably means she’s not in danger. Don’t worry!”

“Father?” Yang Qi’s expression turned grim. “The truth is that my mother dreamed of the nirvanic rebirth of the legion of gods and the birth of a new civilization. That was when she became pregnant with me. I don’t think her pregnancy had anything to do with the man. If I were really his son, how could I be a Fateless One? And him kidnapping her was just a move against me, so I definitely can't afford to be lax in dealing with him.”

Sounding worried, Elder Second Brother said, “Junior Eighteenth Brother, you’re the lord of the Sage Monarch planetary system now. You destroyed the Titan Emperor Collegium and took an immortal emissary captive. Those are no small things. In fact, your actions are even more momentous than when the Hell of Euphoria invaded the Yore-Wilds planetary system. Once the immortal world finds out, they’ll definitely send an army down to crush you. And right now, there’s no way we could defend against something like that.”

After a moment of thought, Eldest Brother said, “There’s no need to be so pessimistic! Ever since reaching the Demolishing level, I’ve been able to sense the heavenly heart above. That was when I came to realize the truth. When the Hell of Euphoria invaded, the Titan Emperor Heaven sent important people down to help. Unfortunately, both sides suffered severe casualties. In the final parts of the war, the Hell of Euphoria very nearly broke into the Titan Emperor Heaven, severely damaging its essence in the process. Although the current situation down here might enrage them, they won’t go to war over it. At most, they might send an expert or two down. And whoever they do send won’t be extremely powerful. After all, the most paramount of magical laws ensures that the stronger someone is, the more difficult it is for them to reach a lower plane.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sword Seventeen asked. “You're saying we actually stand a chance at defending against the immortal world? People down here think of the immortal world above as being holy and impossible to deal with. If they wave a finger, anyone down below can be executed. And when they pronounce a death sentence, the condemned won’t survive to the next watch of the night. You really think we can fight an immortal world? Ai, there are just too many variables to know the truth!”

“Come on, there’s no need for all the sighing,” Elder Seventh Brother Meng Shafan said. Chuckling coldly, he continued, “What’s so amazing about the immortal world above? If they come down here, we can just kill ‘em! Kill ‘em all! Maybe the people in the Titan Emperor Collegium were reverent and respectful of the immortal world. Maybe they acted like faithful officials. But those kind of people make me sick. Junior Brother here completely wiped out the Titan Emperor Collegium, and you know what? I couldn’t feel better about it! So if the immortal world comes, let’s slaughter them down to the last man! Let’s see what slaves and flunkies they try to send against us!”

“You’re going to get your wish, Elder Seventh Brother!” Yang Qi said, smiling. The more he got to know Meng Shafan, the more he liked him. “Considering the level of your cultivation base, you’re definitely in a place to fight true immortals. However, I don't think you could single-handedly take on an army. Once we get out of here, I’ll summon an army of fiend-devils to help you unleash a technique used by the primeval infernal deities. It’s called the Infernal Deity Soul-Refining Grand Formation. You can use it to assimilate ten billion fiend-devils and develop the body of a primeval infernal deity! That will make you many, many times more capable of dealing with immortals.”

“I’ve never even heard of a divine ability like that!” Meng Shafan said, visibly taken aback.

“It’s pretty incredible. Normally, it would be hard to collect ten billion fiend-devils. Not even the strongest immortal from the heavens above would be able to do it. But I can summon them right to you, no problem at all. If I didn’t go around doing heaven-defying things, what kind of Fateless One would I be?”

Looking up, his gaze sharpened as if he could see all the way out of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

“Let’s go!” he said. “We have to find that kid in yellow. He has the legacy medallion of King Immortal-Slayer, so he can get out of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart with ease.”

The Wheel of Fate began spinning, and within moments he had a lock on the aura of the legacy medallion.

WHOOSH!

Yang Qi led the way, and they all disappeared.

**

The interior of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was like a labyrinthine maze of space-time. Deep inside, in the ruins of a godrelic, the young man in yellow sat cross-legged in the presence of Chancellor Demi-Immortal and Chief Beastmaster.

The godrelic was actually a ruined tower, originally constructed from some marvelous material. Its surface was covered with pits and slashes left by sabers, swords, axes, and the like. It was also splattered with blood.

However, there was a godliness to the godrelic that persisted even now.

The young man in yellow was using some extremely powerful divine ability that caused a vortex to appear above his heart which was actually extracting the godliness of the godrelic!

What was godliness? It was the product of godly laws, godly quintessence energy, and godly will, an essence that pertained directly to the legion of gods.

Every god item, and every ruined godrelic, would contain a certain amount of godliness.

The fact that this young man could extract godliness was purely heaven-defying.