Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The Golden Wheel of Nirvanic Extinction and the Chiliocosm Mirror sank into the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

Burning flames began melting them as Yang Qi attempted to extract their deathless godliness. By making that godliness a part of him, Yang Qi would be able to add a bit of deathlessness to himself, as well. It would make him almost eternally indestructible. At the same time, further enlightenment of godliness would help improve his cultivation in general.

Godliness surpassed the dao of heaven and was difficult to describe with words. Those who gained understanding of it were fundamentally qualified to rise to the level of the primeval legion of gods.

Of course, an average person who acquired godliness would find it impossible to understand, and would never be able to make it part of their own body. In fact, doing so could lead to literal self-destruction.

Oftentimes, god items were created by actually imbuing deathless godliness into godly building materials. If you tried to do the same thing with immortal building materials, the item would simply explode.

Working with godliness was a dangerous thing; one misstep and the item being worked with could be destroyed, killing the person manipulating it.

Thankfully, Yang Qi had the God Legion Seal and the Physique of the Sovereign Lord, therefore, absorbing godliness was not a dangerous matter for him.

“Eternal Heavenly Aria!”

Resonant lyrics filled the Heaven and Earth Furnace, causing it to burn with even more power than before. Yet the two god items were not yet melting. Both of them had been forged by Lesser Gods, thus making them lesser godly items. Even still, they were profoundly tough, things that no immortals would even be able to damage, much less destroy.

At the moment, not even Yang Qi’s Heaven and Earth Furnace was able to do anything to them.

SPLAT!

Yang Qi spat out a mouthful of quintessence-blood into the Heaven and Earth Furnace, causing the flames to leap higher and turn a more pure color that represented deathless godliness.

CRACK!

The Chiliocosm Mirror began breaking apart, crumbling bit by bit. The god item simply couldn’t stand up to the might of the Sovereign Lord and was forced to acknowledge allegiance.

The legion of gods had rankings. Lesser God. Common God. Greater God. Consummate God. Perfect God. Paramount God. Sovereign Lord! Yang Qi’s will was a type that could crush anything beneath it and force even the godliness of Lesser Gods to submit.

Yang Qi’s Elder Brothers and Sisters watched, trembling, as the Chiliocosm Mirror shattered, and they couldn’t help wonder what level of deadly force was required to destroy a god item. A normal immortal who tried to do such a thing would be destroyed in the blink of an eye.

RUMBLE!

As the mirror melted, the godly materials that had been used to create it flowed into the Heaven and Earth Furnace and a boundless, deathless godliness appeared. It looked like an actual god-spirit who wished to leap away to the highest heavens.

However, Yang Qi unleashed the Hand of the One God and completely trapped the godliness. Then he inhaled, breathing it into himself.

As soon as the stream of godliness entered him, spatial scales spread out over his skin, as though he were being imbued with the spatial glory of the gods. It was evidence that the godliness was attempting to transform him into a god item.

Unless he got it under control, he would change into another, more powerful Chiliocosm Mirror. Thankfully, Yang Qi had the God Legion Seal and was vastly stronger than any other person. A moment later, the godliness began flowing through him into his sea of energy.

From there, it was distributed into the numerous particles that made him up.

In the blink of an eye, he began inflating like a balloon.

Megamammoths exploded into dracomammoths, causing immortal energy to surge through him. In the shortest of moments, he gained enlightenment of the Prime Demi-Immortal level.

Next, the essences of the Hell of Mahānata and the Hell of Gloom and Darkness shot toward him and a new world appeared above him. Heavenly tribulation began, causing the entirety of the Sage Monarch planetary system to tremble, as though an apocalypse were beginning.

Countless individuals dropped to their knees in worship.

‘I'm a Prime Demi-Immortal, but I need more deathless godliness!’

He waved his hand and the Golden Wheel of Nirvanic Extinction exploded within the Heaven and Earth Furnace. Instantly, a powerful stream of godliness shot into him, causing more dracomammoths to awaken, fully six hundred million.

Another heavenly tribulation descended, but he ignored it.

“I'm now a Revered Demi-Immortal! Those two god items each had enough godliness for a single breakthrough. I need more god items! I need more godliness to reach the Universal Demi-Immortal level. Once I'm a Universal Demi-Immortal, I’ll be able to summon Demolisher fiend-devils from hell! With an army of immortal fiend-devils on my side, it won’t matter if the immortal world above invades. Unfortunately, I'm going to need more than two god items for the next breakthrough; I’ll need many. Demi-Immortal fiend-devils are still mortals. Only Demolisher fiend-devils are immortals. The power levels required to make that leap are immense!”

Yang Qi had proceeded smoothly through multiple tribulations. He went to Prime Demi-Immortal and then Revered Demi-Immortal, placing him only a step away from Universal Demi-Immortal.

Deathless godliness was an immense benefit to his cultivation level, and it also provided profound benefits to the God Legion Seal, allowing it to make more Blood of the One God than before.

Having just jumped up by two cultivation levels, Yang Qi found that he wanted more god items. The sad thing was that they were so rare. It was the same even in the immortal worlds, perhaps with the exception of high-level places like the Tusita Heaven or the Mourn-Parting Heaven.

In any case, searching for god items in the mortal world was a lost cause.

‘I bet there are more god items in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart,’ he thought. ‘Next time I go in, I’ll try to find more godliness to absorb. If I got enough, I might even be able to step into the Demolishing level!’

Settling down, he contemplated the matter of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

His energy arts had already dramatically improved. His Infernal Deity Spear, Angel Wings, God Legion Battle Robe, Fist of the Halls of Heaven, Hand of the One God, and Hell Portals were all stronger than before. He could use all three thousand blessings from the Eternal Heavenly Aria, which would ensure that even a first order fiend-devil that he summoned could fight fifth or sixth order enemies, and possibly kill the latter in mutual destruction. And if he blessed a ninth order half-Demolisher fiend-devil with those primeval god skills, it could easily fight immortals with immortal bodies.

Yang Qi’s guess was that if the immortal world invaded, they would likely send Demolishers without immortal bodies. At most, they might send some that had only just formed immortal bodies. After all, the stronger an immortal was, the more difficult it would be for them to descend to the lower worlds.

Of course, in the mortal world, even the weakest immortal was still vastly beyond any other cultivator. Even a small squad of them would dominate any planetary systems it encountered. Thankfully, Yang Qi’s Eternal Heavenly Aria had reached the perfect level and, in combination with his Hell Portals, would be a deadly weapon against such an enemy force.

The way things were going, unless Yang Qi did something monumentally stupid, he should be able to defend against an army from the immortal world above.

“Get out here, Titan Duelbringer!” he said. Without any further ceremony, he pulled out the sealed, trembling immortal emissary, who immediately knelt in front of him. “I recently received a visit from someone named Proud Heaven. Presumably you’ve heard of him? What’s his relationship with the leader of the Titan Emperor Heaven?”

“Mercy! Spare me! Proud Heaven? He’s a very mysterious person who’s definitely not from the Titan Emperor Heaven. In fact, he's only there in clone form, of that much I'm certain. Nobody knows what his true self is like. He’s very close with the leader of the Titan Emperor Heaven. Some time back, he was assigned as a banished immortal to descend to the Titan Emperor Collegium. However, he doesn’t have the power to command the forces of the Titan Emperor Heaven.”

“I see,” Yang Qi replied coldly. “The time has come for a little test. Reach out again to the heaven above. Ask them for even more resources than before. If they agree, it will prove that Proud Heaven didn’t reveal what he knows about things down here. But if they refuse… it means we're about to enter a fight to the death! If it’s a fight they want, I’ll give them one!”

“Yes, yes of course!” Titan Duelbringer knew what Yang Qi wanted, and also knew that he was powerless to resist. Drawing on his quintessence vitality, he began praying, “Oh heaven above, things have not been going well here in the lower world. Various planetary systems are eyeing me like a tiger eyes its prey. Please, bestow more immortal items upon me. Ideally, some god items….”