Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

It was with the boundless power of faith that Yang Qi finally succeeded. He assimilated Mammoth Dharma-Heaven and his god item, taking that deathless godliness and adding it to the immortal world essence and Heaven-Devouring True Energy.

His genes reached the level of being eight billion one hundred million times stronger than normal, and he also had eight billion one hundred million protomammoth particles.

His blood was one percent that of the Sovereign Lord, and of course, all of his energy arts had improved. The Infernal Deity Spear, Heaven and Earth Furnace, God Legion Battle Robe, Devil-God Seal, Hell Portals, Hand of the One God, Flame of Hope, Wheel of Fate, and Glad Tidings of the Lord were all many times more powerful than before.

His ability to use King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans had also improved, and when he powered the primal-chaos elder-snake with his true energy, it could gobble up massive amounts of energy in the shortest of moments. The speed with which he could take immortal world essence and turn it into Heaven-Devouring śarīras was vastly increased.

With almost no effort at all, he could send his will into the Hell of Mahānata and the Hell of Gloom and Darkness, and with the slightest movement of his fist he could shatter the greyspaces of immortal worlds to make wormholes. And of course, he could reach to the lower world at any time and bring his people up.

He could now call three hundred and sixty Hell Portals, using them to summon fifth step immortal marquis fiend-devils. It was a terrifying thought. And as long as he had enough true energy to work with, he could summon such fiend-devils without end. That was obviously enough to completely overwhelm any given immortal world.

Compared to immortal marquises, the fiend-devils he had been able to summon before were like nothing. In fact, even one of them would be more than enough to destroy an entire holy land of true cultivation in the mortal world.

It made one wonder what he could do with an army of them.

After all, even in immortal worlds, immortal marquises were powerful and important people, usually with very high positions. Before meeting Yang Qi, the general of the Special Reconnaissance Division, Yuan Kuohai, had been a mere fourth step Origin-Demolisher.

Obviously, an army of immortal marquises would make it easy to crush a place like the Titan Emperor Heaven.

As of this moment, Yang Qi felt supremely confident, and absolutely not scared of anything—at least in low-level immortal worlds. As long as he didn't end up facing a Godmyth, he wouldn’t need to run from any fight.

Not even ninth step Dao-Demolishers, those called sovereigns of heaven, would be able to handle him.

RUMBLE!

When the Hand of the One God hit Proud Warpatience’s Cardinal Grand Brahma Punishes the Fire God Energy Art, a deafening boom rang out, and Yang Qi shivered, but didn’t slow down for a moment. Instead, he pressed the attack. “Alright, Proud Warpatience. Watch and see what a real godly-class energy art can do. And as for you, buzz cut boy, I can’t believe you’re scheming against me here in the immortal worlds. It’s a real pity your plans are all going to fail. You're a Future One, but unfortunately you have no way to properly scheme against me. I'm a Fateless One, which makes that impossible. That said, your physique type could be a real help to me. So I'm going to take it. When I combine the properties of Fateless Ones and Future Ones, I’ll be more invincible than ever.”

All of the words he sent into the young man’s mind were psychic attacks against him.

When Proud Warpatience saw Yang Qi meeting his attacks without even flinching, and even launching counter-attacks, he couldn’t have been more shocked. In fact, he now realized that he should probably try to escape.

Unfortunately, Yang Qi had him locked down.

Exhaling a breath of true energy he said, “Proud World Hegemon!”

Instantly, an enormous nascent divinity appeared, a proud hegemon equipped with what appeared to be a mecha, pulsing with power that could surely destroy immortal worlds.

“Be broken!”

Yang Qi pushed his palms together, then shoved them out in front of him. In the blink of an eye, an attack shot forth filled with millions upon millions of variations, which slammed into the enormous hegemon and shattered him into fragments.

Unfortunately, by the time the pieces finished raining down, Proud Warpatience had vanished.

He had used the classic strategy of slipping out of a predicament like a cicada sloughing its skin.

Now Yang Qi only had the young man in yellow left to deal with. Looking over, he sent his hand out, encompassing everything as he drew on his godly-class energy art. Instantly, killing intent filled the area and white flowers began falling everywhere.

‘I have to get out of here. NOW!’ Shivering with fear, the young man sent his auxiliary version of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart rushing toward Yang Qi.

As Yang Qi grabbed it, the young man dodged into a hidden passageway and vanished without a trace.

The auxiliary chart was essentially a shrunken version of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. It featured what appeared to be a myriad of worlds, filled with heavens, earths, stars, and heavenly bodies. There were also gods and monarchs inside, pulsing with deathless godliness.

Without any hesitation, Yang Qi inhaled all of the godliness.

This godliness surpassed that of Mammoth Dharma-Heaven’s god item, and as soon as it was inside him, he found himself being pushed toward the second stage of the Demolishing level, that of the immortal warrior.

The fighting was over.

Proud Warpatience had fled, as had the young man in yellow. The only thing left nearby was the army of Demonfolk.

However, Yang Qi wasn’t interested in slaughtering Demonfolk right now. Waving his hand, he caused a white beam of light to slash out, clearing the area around the teleportation portals.

With that, he sent out a projected message. “Princess Jadefall, I’ve pushed back the Demonfolk army. Feel free to come see for yourself.”

Back on the asteroid, where the battle still raged between the Demonfolk and the immortals, Princess Jadefall got the message and was delighted. “Everyone, press the attack!”

A bloodbath instantly ensued, and as the demon soldiers were mowed down, the forces of the Titan Emperor Heaven finally entered the Hanging Heaven.

Eventually, a consummate expert rose up from the Demonfolk: the famed Grand Prince Tor. He and Princess Jadefall fought for three days and three nights with neither coming out on top. Eventually, Princess Jadefall looked around and realized that they had slaughtered so many demon soldiers that they could consider the campaign a victory. At that point, she called for her forces to fall back.

It was a huge win for the Titan Emperor Heaven, with heavy casualties inflicted on their opponents.

However, Yang Qi never appeared, not even toward the tail end of the fighting. That was probably a good thing, considering that it would have been a bad idea to attract attention from even stronger entities deeper in the Hanging Heaven. And the fact that he had slaughtered Mammoth Dharma-Heaven was already enough to earn him the rank of grand prince.

A few days later, news of the victory had spread through the imperial court, which was already buzzing with anticipation.

It had been known for some time that the Titan Emperor Heaven was in a precarious position, and few people had a good impression of the court because of it. Some of the people who occupied the border regions, even some of the old-timers, were preparing for the collapse of their immortal world. But this battle changed everything. All of a sudden, everyone felt as though the essence of their world were pulsing with life and that the dynasty was going to enter a new stage of revitalization.

There finally seemed to be hope for the imperial house.

Princess Jadefall brought back plenty of plunder from the Hanging Heaven, as well as a whole host of captive demon soldiers. The sovereign of heaven, the actual emperor of the immortal world, would finally begin holding sessions of court and recruiting new ministers and officials again.

Bells tolled throughout the imperial city.

Yang Qi followed Princess Jadefall and some of her top officers to receive their rewards for the services they had performed. This was Yang Qi’s first time actually attending court, and he was immediately struck by the countless guards everywhere, some standing proudly in the open, others hiding in the shadows.

This palace was the most enigmatic and mysterious place in all the lands, and was where all of the most important people resided.

That said, Yang Qi was vastly more powerful than he had been in the past, and could trounce even the old-timers if he had to. And if he summoned an army of fiend-devils, he could unleash even more heaven-shaking, earth-toppling force.

There was no need for that, though, as he was to be appointed as a grand prince, which was a very big honor. As of now, his plans to eventually take over the Titan Emperor Heaven didn't seem like they would be very hard to accomplish at all.

As they walked along, Princess Jadefall used divine will to speak directly into Yang Qi's mind.

“Titan Dragonguard, as an imperial clansman, you qualify to be promoted within the dynasty. Thanks to the services you provided by killing Mammoth Dharma-Heaven, I applied to have you appointed as a grand prince. I’d say there’s an eighty to ninety percent chance they’ll approve the request.”

“Many thanks, Princess. I’ll definitely work hard to repay your kindness.”

“Noted. When you see His Imperial Majesty, remember to follow all the court etiquette. Proud Warpatience will likely make an appearance, and he’s still very important. Many of the old-timers still heavily support Proud Heaven because of what he did all those years ago. If they oppose your promotion to grand prince, be careful in how you handle it. Don’t give them anything they could use against you.”

“Yes ma’am. I understand. Proud Heaven really is an ambitious wolf. He basically left behind agents to keep an eye on the imperial house. Well, one day I’ll root those people out for good.” Obviously, Yang Qi would do everything in his power to oppose Proud Heaven’s plans.

As for Proud Warpatience, he didn’t fear him in the least and was already working on a plan to kill him.

Even as he contemplated his plans, a voice rang out. “Ministers and officials, please enter to see His Majesty. Maintain order at all times.”

The time had finally come to meet the emperor, the most important person in the Titan Emperor Heaven.

Yang Qi cleared his thoughts and calmed his true energy. At the same time, he made sure that his blood emanated the energy of Titan, to an even stronger degree than Princess Jadefall.

‘The blood of Titan is so strong in him,’ she thought. ‘It seems even stronger than mine! No wonder he’s so powerful.’