Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘Hell-Crushing Godmammoth; return of the king of hell….’

As the eleventh particle within Yang Qi woke up, his mind and heart were filled with the fundamental meaning of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, saturating his true energy to an even further degree.

The liquid-like true energy within him was now crystallizing, and snowflake-like magical symbols were swirling within his sea of energy. Each of those symbols, which were expressions of true energy, contained different properties, and yet, they all seemed to be stretching out toward the heavens.

Even his soul seemed to be encompassed by his true energy.

The energy poured from his meridians, flowing toward his sea of energy, making it feel as though all parts of his body were linked together.

‘This is what it feels like to be a Master of Energy!’ he thought, filled with excitement at the prospect of an imminent breakthrough.

Upon reaching the ninth phase, it was true that all parts of the body became linked together. The true energy that was produced by the meridians not only became stronger, it formed river-like streams that flowed into the sea of energy.

In this level, one became vastly stronger than an ordinary person, and could last for much longer in a fight.

Because of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, Yang Qi was already a hundred times stronger than an ordinary person, and was very familiar with the Master of Energy level.

After all, he had helped to unleash the medicinal effects of the airmastery plant in his father.

Therefore, the transformations which were occurring now were by no means strange.

As soon as he felt the various parts of his body linking up, he guided the newly-created magical symbols into the shape of the Hellfire Crucible.

It was only an embryonic version, not fully formed. He would need to cultivate further to unleash its true power, but if he did, it would be easy to fight Chu Tiange.

After all, the legendary Hellfire Crucible had originally been used to melt and refine disgraced gods.

Even its embryonic form served to purify any type of true energy within him.

For example, the true energy of the Invincible King’s Fist, the Golden Bell Rampart, the Four Seasons Swordplay, or even the scrap of sea god energy. All of them became purer upon passing through the Hellfire Crucible, and would not conflict with each other.

As a result, he could use virtually any type of energy art that he wanted.

At the moment, snow choked the sky and covered the lands, making all existence a mass of whiteness.

Hua Yinhu looked out at Yang Qi sitting there in his defensive barrier and said, “I wonder what exactly Brother Yang Qi’s cultivating, he’s been out there in the snow for a long time. If I tried to sit out there all night, I'm afraid my true energy would run out.”

“He’s so strong that he can already defeat Masters of Energy,” Li He said. “He’s got so much true energy I don’t think it would ever run out. However, he picked a fight with Song Haishan, an outer campus student. That’s only going to cause more and more problems down the line.”

“What are you scared of?” said Liang Dong, another of the students. “As long as he's strong enough, those stuck-up bullies won’t dare to provoke him.”

The team of freshmen consisted of five students in total: Yang Qi, Li He, He Jili, Hua Yinhu and Liang Dong.

Liang Dong was the most mysterious. He had been in the institute for the longest, and yet, nobody knew anything about him. However, it was obvious that he wasn’t a nobody.

As he picked up another piece of firewood and tossed it into the fire, he heard a strange noise coming from outside. At the same time, he smelled something that made him think of lava from hell, causing him to sneeze.

“What’s going on? Is there a volcano in the area?” Shocked, he rose to his feet. “Look! Brother Yang Qi is experiencing a transformation! Do you sense that power?!”

Everyone else stood up and looked over nervously at Yang Qi.

The barrier which surrounded Yang Qi was getting bigger. And it was no longer transparent; instead, it was as red as fire or even lava, and just as hot, causing all of the snow in the area to evaporate and rise up like steam.

Even the ground began to grow soft, and then melt and bubble.

All coldness in the area was driven away, to be replaced by incredible heat.

In fact, all the snow that had built up within the ancient city around them was turning into steam.

“Hot! So hot!” Li He and the others were all having trouble enduring.

RUMMMBLE!

Moments later, it got so hot that the shack they were in burst into flames.

“Quick, get out of here!”

Drawing on their energy arts, the four students flew up to stand on the city wall.

In that position, the heat was less intense, and they also had a better view of Yang Qi’s position, although the bright red barrier that surrounded him made it impossible to actually see him.

It was as if he were in the middle of a sea of lava and flame that was transforming the entire city around him into a massive conflagration.

RUMMMBLE!

Suddenly, the lava barrier exploded, sending a column of flame high into the sky, piercing directly into the dark clouds.

If it weren’t for the fact that there was a snowstorm, the flame would have been visible for hundreds of kilometers in all directions.

“Fuse one’s energy with the clouds,” Hua Yinhu said. “The Master of Energy level….”

“This power is incredible!” Li He exclaimed. “Yang Qi was keeping his true strength concealed earlier. With this level of strength, I bet he could easily stand up to a move from Elder Brother Chu Tiange’s Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique.”

“Just how strong is Brother Yang Qi? And what energy art does he cultivate?”

Even as the students discussed the matter amongst themselves, the column of flame shrank back down, and the heat faded away. Yang Qi was then revealed, his clothing not burned in the least bit, and the ground beneath his feet already starting to cool and solidify.

Considering how cold it was, the ground soon began to ice over, and snow once again began to cover everything. Because of the rapid change in temperature, however, the city began to crack and crumble as surely as a porcelain vessel that had been dropped.

After all, the heat which had just been emanating off of Yang Qi had been like that of the sun.

‘I'm finally a Master of Energy!’ Yang Qi thought, calming his aura. Already, he could sense that the flow of true energy within him was much more stable.

Furthermore, because his true energy had transformed, the life force quintessence of the lightning mammoth inside him had caused the eleventh through fifteenth particles to awaken.

As of now, the lightning mammoth’s life force quintessence had been reduced so much that only a small amount was left.

Based on what Yang Qi could calculate, he was fairly certain that it would only get him to the point of twenty ancient megamammoths. When that happened, his cultivation would not proceed as smoothly as it had up to this point. He would need to find his own way to accumulate life force quintessence.

Thankfully, the Hellfire Crucible would help him to refine all sorts of true energy.

With the power he had now, that of fifteen ancient megamammoths, he could easily destroy all sorts of enormous beasts from primeval times.

Suddenly, a stream of true energy erupted out of Yang Qi, which assumed a humanoid shape. It actually looked exactly like Yang Qi himself, down to the finest detail. Only a powerful energy arts master who looked at it closely would be able to tell that it wasn't him.

‘Go!’ Yang Qi ordered via his thoughts. In response, his Humanoid True Energy burst into motion toward the nearby city wall.

BOOOOOOOM!

A huge explosion resulted, causing a large portion of the wall to crumble into nothing.

That city wall was very sturdy, and was dozens of meters thick. It had stood strong for many years, and was impervious to even gunfire weapons.

And yet, Yang Qi’s Humanoid True Energy crushed it, sending chunks of rocks flying out everywhere.

No ordinary person could possibly unleash power like that.

“He’s… a Master of Energy?”

Li He and the others were all shocked to the core as they dodged out of the way of the rocks which rained down after the explosion.

“The Sage Ancestor Dynasty’s Hundred Grandmasters Spell Formation can break through city walls as easily as a hammer crushing an ice cube,” Hua Yinhu murmured. “This is the same level of power!”

That formation was enormous, and required a hundred Masters of Energy to pool their power together to attack the walls of a besieged city. No matter how powerful a city wall was, it wouldn’t be able to stand up to that level of power.

And yet, Yang Qi’s Humanoid True Energy had unleashed exactly the same level of strength. How could one person be as powerful as a group of a hundred Masters of Energy?

“You might be a Lifeseizer, Chu Tiange, but now that I'm a Master of Energy, I can definitely take you on!” Yang Qi was confident that with his Humanoid True Energy combined with his Infernal Deity Spear, Infernal Deity Aegis, and Fiend-Devil Wings, he could definitely fight Chu Tiange and his Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique.

Maybe he wouldn’t be able to defeat him, but neither would he lose.

‘Today was my first time seeing a Lifeseizer in action. I wonder when I’ll actually be able to fight one.’ Yang Qi snorted coldly. ‘One day, Yun Hailan, I'm going to strip you of every bit of arrogance that exists within you. You will definitely come to realize that you made a monumental mistake.' At this point, his eyes softened. 'But my most important goal is still my dear mother. I will kill anyone who blocks my path to the Hanging Mountain to find her.’