Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Hissss!

After a long moment of investigation, Yang Qi closed the eye on his forehead. Sighing, he looked at the two patriarchs. “I now understand everything about your hidden injuries. Winter Bloodless, you cultivate a godly-class energy art known as the God-Dao Blood-Spirit Nine-Heavens Grand Art. And you also cultivate the Blood-Sea Reincarnation Paleo-Devil True Energy from the Hell of Fresh Blood. Both of them are blood-type energy arts, with one being righteous and the other evil. Mixing those two types of energy can lead to bizarre results, and in this case you’re suffering from something similar to Sectlord Nine Yangs. You keep the effects under control, although you still suffer from a minor flaw.”

“Oh?” Winter Bloodless was more than a little shocked that Yang Qi could assess his cultivation so clearly. It was little wonder that he’d been able to wind the ruthless and ambitious Sectlord Nine Yangs around his finger and cause him to cough up blood.

Most people didn’t think Yang Qi stood much of a chance in his duel to the death with Sectlord Nine Yangs in Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple in three months. But all of a sudden, Winter Bloodless wasn’t so sure about that. Perhaps Yang Qi would pull off a heaven-defying stunt and slaughter the sectlord.

If someone as important as Sectlord Nine Yangs were to be killed, it would make huge waves in the Dao Defense League.

“Young Sir Dragon Proudheaven, what is the flaw you mentioned?”

“Cultivating the Blood-Sea Reincarnation Paleo-Devil True Energy from the Hell of Fresh Blood involves absorbing the animadestiny quintessence of that hell. Some ancient monster there realized what was happening and began slipping tiny bits of devilishness into the quintessence you've been absorbing. That devilishness infected your true energy in a way that not even you noticed. It’s so minute that, if it flared up, you’d be able to suppress it. At least for now. If you continue to practice this form of cultivation the way you have been, the devilishness will eventually reach your soul. And when that happens, you’ll be beyond any cure. You’ll eventually transform into a blood-devil, a puppet of the suzerains of hell.”

As Winter Bloodless listened, his face first flushed red, then turned as pale as death. When it was all over, he murmured, “I don’t believe it.”

“I'm afraid I'm skeptical too,” Patriarch Kingheaven said. “Young Sir Proud Heaven, aren't you being overly melodramatic here?”

“There’s nothing melodramatic about it,” Yang Qi replied coolly. “Winter Bloodless, deep in your heart, you know the truth. Let me ask you, when you cultivate the Blood-Sea Reincarnation Paleo-Devil True Energy, do you sense the reek of gore?”

“Reek of gore?” He frowned. “Well of course. We’re talking about the essence of the Hell of Fresh Blood. It’s only natural that there would be a reek of gore. You see, whenever I extract blood from the Hell of Fresh Blood, I use a godfire energy art to refine it three hundred and sixty times. By that point, the only thing left behind is that gory smell. It’s exactly what you would expect to happen, right?”

Yang Qi shook his head. “Wrong. You’re falling victim to a monster. Although the Hell of Fresh Blood focuses primarily on blood, don't forget that the name of the place also has the word ‘fresh’ in it. You see, the blood essence from the Hell of Fresh Blood isn’t the blood of devils. It’s fresh blood that was originally shed by the legion of gods, and it’s filled with their righteous indignation. The blood of gods is what forms the essence of the Hell of Fresh Blood, and that blood is fragrant and contains godliness. If you refine that blood properly, it definitely shouldn’t reek of gore.”

Winter Bloodless burst out laughing. Looking at Yang Qi as if he were a child, he said, “Come now, devils are devils. How could they have godliness? Young Sir Dragon Proudheaven, please, there’s no need to try to pull a fast one on us.”

“Don’t believe me? I guess I should explain a different way.” He threw his hands out in front of him, causing a passageway to appear in front of him, which began emanating the bright red color of blood.

“What?” Winter Bloodless said, shooting to his feet. “Is that a passageway to the Hell of Fresh Blood? How are you able to open a path like this? This… it’s—”

“Keep watching,” Yang Qi said. He waved his hand and a stream of fresh blood appeared, pulsing with intense, pungent devil energy. Yang Qi sent a stream of god flame out, burning the devil energy into a green smoke which slowly dissipated around them. The remaining blood now emanated a faint reek of gore.

“See, that's the essence of the Hell of Fresh Blood! That’s what I've been absorbing and turning into paleo-devil energy! What's so wrong with that?” Winter Bloodless frowned.

“A lot,” Yang Qi replied. “You see, there’s still devilishness in there that needs to be removed.” A beam of white light shot into the blood, provoking what sounded like an agonized shriek, as though something had just been killed. Then the blood transformed, turning into something like pure, brightly-shining jade, with a fragrant, godly aroma.

“Righteous blood from the distant past!” Winter Bloodless murmured. “Incredible! So I really have been practicing cultivation incorrectly!”

Only now did he finally believe and trust Yang Qi. Clasping his palms together as if in prayer, he said, “Young Sir Dragon Proudheaven, please rid me of the monster!”

“No problem,” Yang Qi replied. “It won't be difficult at all. By the way, Patriarch Kingheaven, you cultivate the Cosmic-Empyrean Transformative-Illusion God Dao, which was left behind countless years ago by the ancient God of Illusion. It imitates the transformations of the dao of heaven to create illusory god-daos. Although it’s very powerful, your imitation of the transformations of the dao of heaven is slightly incorrect. And as the old saying goes, a slip the width of a single hair can lead you a thousand miles astray.”

“Please, what advice can you give me?” Patriarch Kingheaven didn’t argue at all; he was already thoroughly convinced that Yang Qi knew what he was talking about.

“I can fix the problem,” Yang Qi replied. “However, I'm currently faced with a bit of a problem that I hope the two of you can help me with.”

“You need our help?” The two patriarchs exchanged a glance. “Young Sir Dragon, considering how invincible you are, what could we possibly do to help you? Whatever it is, we’ll do what we can without hesitation.”

“It’s nothing major, and if you don’t feel up to the task, that’s fine.” Yang Qi frowned thoughtfully as if he were considering the matter.

Winter Bloodless and Patriarch Kingheaven were instantly worried. If they didn’t provide the help, it was entirely possible that they might not ever fix their current cultivation problems. And then, not only would they not achieve further progress, they might end up dead.

But with Yang Qi’s help, they would easily reach the Demigod level, start forming true godhood, and finally have a chance to reach the Deathless Throne. The two of them briefly conferred with divine will to make sure they were in agreement.

“Young Sir, whatever issue you’re having problems with, just tell us and we can help.”

“Well, it’s not really a big issue,” Yang Qi said, “but on the other hand, it isn’t small, either. As both of you know, I have something of a blood feud going with the Nine Yangs God Sect and the God Dragon Tribe.

“Young Sir, are you saying you want our help to fight the Nine Yangs God Sect?” Patriarch Kingheaven said. “That’s not a big deal at all. Sectlord Nine Yangs is arrogant and conceited, and putting an end to him would be good for everyone. If you want, I could order some of my disciples to go pick fights with Nine Yangs God Sect disciples. Killing a few of them between now and your duel would definitely cause unrest in their sect.”

“No, no,” Yang Qi said, “that’s not what I mean. We’re all members of the Dao Defense League. Creating large-scale internal conflict would just be helping the wretch-devils from the future world, right? I don’t want anyone doing anything to the Nine Yangs God Sect. I don’t even care if they grow stronger in the next three months. Once I kill Sectlord Nine Yangs, all of the patriarchs will get the message that they can't cause problems for me.”

Confused, Winter Bloodless asked, “Oh. Well, what do you need help with, Young Sir?”

“It’s simple,” Yang Qi said, emphasizing his words with the snap of his finger. “As you two saw, I took Dragon King by surprise during our little fight in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple. That was how I got him into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. But that’s only a temporary solution. I'm currently not strong enough to actually kill him, and sadly for him, I can’t quite bring myself to just let him go.”

“Young Sir, are you saying you want us to….” Winter Bloodless let the words hang for a moment, then continued, “The God Dragon Tribe has a lot of experts, including plenty of Chaos Gods, and even some demigods. They're second only to the Buddha Dragon Tribe. Offending them would be a bad idea.”

“I couldn't care less if I offended them. Do you really think that they’d stop causing problems for me if I just let Dragon King go?” Yang Qi’s face flickered with killing intent. “If you’re willing, I’d like the two of you to go into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart with me. We’ll kill Dragon King together, then I’ll assimilate his power and soul. Afterward, I’ll be invincible in all creation.”

“Invincible in all creation?” Both patriarchs reflexively smiled. They knew that Yang Qi was only a Dao-Demolisher, yet here he was casually talking about being invincible in all creation?

“Young Sir, you’re asking for our help to kill Dragon King? That’s… er… that would be making an enemy of the entire God Dragon Tribe. That would be bad for the Dao Defense League, wouldn’t it?”