Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi had never been to a location with thirtieth ranked immortal worlds.

Such planes of existence were usually surrounded by tempests so severe that they could even cause problems for Godmyths. And there were many hazardous areas, natural convergences of empyrean and baleful energies that could destroy anyone weaker than—and including—fourth division Shattered Gods.

Normally speaking, only fifth division Godmyths or higher traveled between thirtieth level universal planes.

Yang Qi could already feel the difference at this high-level location within the universe. He was moving slower, and at the same time felt as if he existed in a state between corporeal and illusory. That was because of the primal-chaos debris that floated within the tempests. They were like icebergs in an ocean, except they were so destructive that they would put an end to anyone they touched.

WHOOSH!

All of a sudden, Yang Qi released Confucian Daoless and vanished without a trace. He had entered one of the chunks of primal-chaos debris, a place that pulsed with the auras of ancient beasts. That was where he would lie in wait.

“Dammit! Finally! There’s Confucian Daoless’s aura!”

Young Master Leaf had been rushing toward the Heaven Beyond Heaven, where he had set up his spell formation to trap Yang Qi.

During the entire time, he hadn’t even caught sight of Yang Qi’s shadow. And much to his fury, he had lost track of Confucian Daoless as well. It made him so angry he was in the mood to kill his own follower.

However, as soon as he reached the level of the thirtieth ranked universal planes, it was to his delight that he caught Confucian Daoless’s aura. Blurring into motion, he arrived in the location of his ‘apprentice’.

SMACK!

Seeing that Dragon Proudheaven was nowhere in sight, he slapped Confucian Daoless right across the side of the face, causing him to spin around several times in a row, blood spraying out of his mouth as his cheek swelled up.

“Why did you take so long to contact me?!” he shouted. “Feeling suicidal or something? And where did Dragon Proudheaven go off to?”

“I deserve to die!” Confucian Daoless wailed, kowtowing immediately. “I never could have guessed that Dragon Proudheaven would be so cunning! Spare me, Master! He was moving too fast for me to actually send a message! It was only just now that he left me behind and ran off to look for the Heaven Beyond Heaven!”

“You scum. You worthless piece of trash! Even after all I did to help you, you simply let him get away? Why did he leave you behind anyway?” Killing intent immediately began to fill Young Master Leaf’s eyes.

“No! Don’t kill me, Master!” He kowtowed again, then crawled forward and attached himself to Young Master Leaf’s leg, begging and pleading the entire time. It did no good. As far as Young Master Leaf was concerned, he was a piece of trash who deserved to have his immortal-slaying power taken away.

“Stop. Begging won’t do you any good.” With that, Young Master Leaf sent a stream of true energy toward him.

And in almost the exact same instant…. BOOM!

Confucian Daoless exploded.

An enormous mushroom cloud rose up as immense energy shook the entire area. The nearby primal-chaos tempests were wiped out of existence, and at the same time hundreds of thousands of beams of sagelight slashed into Young Master Leaf. Instantly, heaven and earth became a sea of flames, and the entire area was transformed into hell itself.

The Cannon of Civilization, powered by god crystals, pierced through Young Master Leaf’s body, instantly inflicting severe injuries.

Yang Qi wasn’t holding back at all. He used Confucian Daoless as a bomb, and added in the Cannon of Civilization as well as godpower from his God Legion Seal. And for good measure, he added in the Heaven-Questioning Soul-Summoning Banner.

Back when he had first met the Mechfolk in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, he wasn’t even close to being a match for Young Master Leaf. But he was a lot stronger now. Although he wasn’t a Godmyth, he had pushed the power reserves of the Cruiser of Civilization to one ten-thousandth, and that alone was too much for Young Master Leaf to deal with.

Yang Qi had planned this out very carefully. To Young Master Leaf, Confucian Daoless was scum, a person who couldn’t harm him no matter what kind of attack he unleashed. Never in his wildest dreams could he have guessed that he had been packed with such heaven-destroying, earth-extinguishing power, and that he would self-detonate to release it.

“Aggghhh!” In the blink of an eye, Young Master Leaf’s skin was shredded into mincemeat; no amount of defensive empyrean energy could block the force of the blow, and in fact, everything below his waist was simply wiped out of existence.

His power immediately drained out of him, and flesh and blood splashed out everywhere, twitching and wriggling as it stained the space in the area.

Of course, the initial force of the detonation wasn’t the most destructive aspect. The detonation of Confucian Daoless’s soul targeted Young Master Leaf’s soul, making it feel like it had been struck by an enormous hammer. At the same time, it was wrapped with blood red destiny power, as if it was hitting him with a curse he wouldn’t be able to escape no matter how many lives or lifetimes passed.

Young Master Leaf regained his senses almost immediately. He looked down to find himself physically injured, and also damaged on the level of his soul. Thankfully, his thinking faculties were still working. ‘What’s going on here?! How could that detonation have been so powerful? His soul was catalyzed by science and technology from the future?! It was a soul attack that already lost me half of my animadestiny power? Dammit! That wasn’t Confucian Daoless! He was a mere puppet! And he was transformed by some sort of high-level god item created by future science and technology!’

He immediately realized that he had fallen into a trap.

“King Immortal-Slayer’s medallions are invincible! Heal me! I'm eternally undying, blessed with unparalleled good fortune! I'm a Fortuned One! No one can fight me, nor can anyone plot against me. And those who try will only help me!”

Three of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions appeared above Young Master Leaf’s head as he began healing himself. Boundless immortal-slaying power flowed into him as he simultaneously drew on his own numerous divine abilities, causing a kingdom of his own to spread out in the area to protect him during the process.

However, it was in that same moment that a bright beam of light shot out of nowhere and slammed into the legacy medallions! Yang Qi was drawing on his fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization to unleash another attack.

There was no way Yang Qi would pass up this opportunity to put an end to Young Master Leaf’s life while he was wounded. Thus, he launched his attack from within the primal-chaos debris.

Of course, there was more to Yang Qi’s plan. Even as he unleashed the attack, he sent out a stream of divine will with even more information to throw Young Master Leaf off his trail.

All of a sudden, a voice echoed out. “You’ve had this day coming for a long time, Young Master Leaf! Do you know how many of us Mechfolk you killed? That's why we’ve allied with the future world to take you down! We recruited your own apprentice, then laced him with destructive power to use against you! What do you think? Next, the Warriors of the Great Dance will come to deliver the final blow. But before then, we Mechfolk are going to take your three legacy medallions!”

If all went well, Young Master Leaf would believe that it really was the Mechfolk, colluding with the future world, who had attacked him.

Normally speaking, Young Master Leaf wouldn’t be so easily taken in. But right now, he was still stunned from the attack on his soul and was so overwhelmed with rage that he wasn’t thinking clearly.

Hopefully, the next time he saw the Warriors of the Great Dance he would be so angry he would just attack them. If both parties got hurt, it might be possible for Yang Qi to slip in at the last moment and benefit.

Gong!

The Cruiser of Civilization’s attack hit home, causing the legacy medallions to violently vibrate, and Young Master Leaf to cough up a mouthful of blood. Right now, the only whole part of him left was his head, as his body was slowly stitching itself back together.

Yang Qi had hoped to snatch the legacy medallions. But as soon as his attack landed, a tremor passed through him and spatial tempests sprang up in the depths of the Cruiser of Civilization. Obviously, Young Master Leaf was just too strong. Yang Qi needed to reach the Godmyth level before he could truly fight him, even drawing on the powers of the Cruiser of Civilization.

Young Master Leaf recognized the attack that had just hit him as coming from a fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization. Shaken, he shouted, “Damn you evil Mechfolk! I'm not going to let you off the hook for this! You want my legacy medallions? What are you, crazy? I’ve already completely fused with them. Trying to take them by force will just get you killed!”

Then he slashed his two hands out in front of them. One hand represented a sword that could kill immortals, the other a saber that could slaughter humans.

“Slay Immortals; Slay Humans!” he said.

RUMBLE!

As the attack hit the Cruiser of Civilization, Young Master Leaf seemed to be heading back to full power, making him like a god from heaven descended into the mortal world, an entity who could end the heavens and crush the earth with a single attack.

Once again, Yang Qi was violently shaken, and the photonic computers on the Cruiser of Civilization flickered as the power reserves dropped.

‘Is he really this strong?’ Yang Qi was really starting to feel some doubts, and was now uncertain that he could actually win over Young Master Leaf. In fact, it seemed like it might be impossible to kill him, or even just take King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions from him.

Yang Qi gave a cold harrumph. ‘Of the thirty-six stratagems of war, retreat is often the best option! This guy is crazy! He’s hurt now, but he’ll be back to full power soon. I need to get to the Heaven Beyond Heaven!’

Now was not the time to fight to the death. Besides, what would happen if both of them ended up so badly hurt that someone swooped in and took advantage of the situation? Then he would be the moron.

WHOOSH!

With no time for thought or contemplation, he activated the hyperdrive systems and prepared to flee.