Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Sectlord Nine Yangs was completely powerless to fight back and could only tremble as the agony of the Hell Scourge washed through him.

King Bone Dragon didn’t think the whip looked particularly special, but when it hit Sectlord Nine Yangs, he lost all sense of face and squealed like a dying pig. It was enough to cause one’s blood to turn as cold as ice.

However, Sectlord Nine Yangs did seem to have some more mettle than the young patriarchs from earlier. Although he let loose countless bloodcurdling screams, he was still holding strong internally. It was a shocking sight, even to Yang Qi. Despite being assaulted by countless hells, his will held strong.

Yang Qi snorted coldly. “Alright, let’s see exactly how much you can take. I'm going past a thousand hells!” The essence of even more hells poured into the whip, which instantly became much thicker and longer than before. Sectlord Nine Yangs sagged as if from exhaustion, but then went crazy, spittle flying from his mouth as he shouted, “Just let me die! Don’t torment me, Yang Qi. I’ll die, but I won’t give you my faith!”

“You want to die? Sorry, it’s not that easy.”

Thus, the torment continued, one lash at a time. The sight of it caused King Bone Dragon to shiver. He was a very experienced and knowledgeable person, and could tell how much hellish pain was being inflicted with each blow.

‘Is that the same whip the Sovereign Lord would use to punish disgraced gods? But how did this guy get it? And how is he so skilled in using it? Who exactly is he?’

“Aggghhhh!” Sectlord Nine Yangs unleashed a final scream and collapsed into unconsciousness. Of course, Yang Qi wouldn’t let him stay unconscious. A moment later, a halo of light appeared behind Sectlord Nine Yangs’ head. Now he was more awake than ever, and even more sensitive to pain.

“No! Don’t push me, Yang Qi, or I’ll never let you off the hook for this. I’ll never give you my faith. It belongs to an ancient god! If you try to strip away my faith in that god, you’ll have a hard time staying alive!” Face twitching, Sectlord Nine Yangs said, “I'm going to break the seal! The power of a true god is about to flow through me to wipe you out of existence, blasphemer!”

Even as the words left his mouth, something inside of him seemed to break, allowing mighty power to surge through him. Then Yang Qi sensed another mighty and boundless power rushing in his direction. It smashed through the borders of the God Legion Paradise and entered Sectlord Nine Yangs, who instantly grew larger, transforming into an enormous god-spirit who stared coldly at Yang Qi.

“You forced me to use my godpower, Yang Qi! I’d planned to use this to eventually become a demigod. I'm paying a huge price here, therefore, you’re definitely going to die!”

Howling with rage, he lunged toward Yang Qi.

King Bone Dragon was caught completely unprepared and was knocked out of the way by Sectlord Nine Yangs, which nearly rendered him unconscious. Eyes filling with terror, he said, “That’s the power of a god! Milord! Get out of here! He’s been building up that godpower for a long time, now!”

“Leave?” Yang Qi laughed coldly. Golden light flickered in his forehead as the golden imp suddenly appeared, stretching out a finger to meet Sectlord Nine Yangs’ palm.

All of a sudden, an explosive aura appeared on Sectlord Nine Yangs as his godpower was completely put under the control of the golden imp. It ebbed, shrinking down inside him until it was like a seed that then flew out of him and vanished.

Still recovering from his surprise over what had just happened, Yang Qi reached out and grabbed it.

‘It’s godpower! From a real, living god! I can’t believe there are still actual living gods in existence!’ He’d always thought that the gods had vanished in ancient times. After all, he’d heard it said that after the gods experience nirvanic rebirth, a new civilization would gradually be born. But apparently, Sectlord Nine Yangs had somehow become connected to a god, and he’d even given faith to that god. That meant there were living gods, which was a terrifying thought.

Of course, Yang Qi hadn’t forgotten about his conversation with the god, Brahma. Although Brahma’s body was chopped up into pieces, he could eventually be resurrected, at which point he would be a true living god again.

‘Don’t tell me that the Dao Defense League doesn’t just have demigod old-timers, but also gods as backers?’ A serious expression appeared on his face. ‘That’s a scary thought. If they really have a god, even just a Lesser God, there’s no way I could match up to it. Gods of the Deathless Throne surpass anything and everything.’

Yang Qi knew full well that not even a hundred million Chaos Gods working together would be able to do anything to a Lesser God.

It was similar to how not even a hundred million mortal foot soldiers could beat a Legendary cultivator in battle.

Right now, Yang Qi simply couldn’t imagine how difficult it must be for a Chaos God to rise to the Deathless Throne and become a true god. It was a major threshold that had yet to be crossed; in all the billions of years that made up the modern era, there had never been a single expert who’d done so.

It was terrifying to even contemplate the idea of Sectlord Nine Yangs being backed by an actual god. However, in the end, that god wasn’t present at the scene. The seed of godpower had been taken by the God Legion Seal, and now Sectlord Nine Yangs slumped like a limp rag.

Backing away, he said, “I can’t believe you took that godpower, Yang Qi. But you’d better not forget that I'm backed by a god! A real god, not a demigod. Do you really dare to kill me? Let me go, otherwise that god will come after you for revenge!”

Snorting coldly, Yang Qi cracked his whip. “Become a believer in me, or die. Your choice!”

The whip lashed Sectlord Nine Yangs and he finally broke. He’d lost his godpower and couldn’t hold out any longer. “I'll acknowledge allegiance. I'm willing! I’ll open my soul to you!”

“Excellent! That’s more like it. Besides, I need your help to handle Leaf Dao-Denier. He’ll be out of seclusion soon, and he’ll likely be a Chaos God, which will make him more terrifying than ever. I’m not going to rest until he’s dead! The only question is when it will happen. It should be soon, from what I can tell. His seventy-one patriarchs are all meeting, and I'm going to turn them all into my believers. Then I can surround Young Master Leaf and deliver a fatal blow! Oh, and then there’s General Samman. I need to deal with him, too. Once I take away his fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization, I’ll have vivicreation systems! Plus, he has at least one of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, which I also need. As long as I can get a total of five, there’s no way Young Master Leaf will ever be a match for me.” Already, Yang Qi’s plans had started changing.

A beam of sagelight entered Sectlord Nine Yangs, and a moment later his soul and thoughts had changed, making him a puppet of faith. Kneeling in front of Yang Qi with a blank face, he kowtowed and said, “I salute you, Milord!”

The old Sectlord Nine Yangs was essentially dead, replaced by this puppet.

“I have a mission for you, my newest believers,” Yang Qi said. “Sectlord Nine Yangs, go to the God Dragon Tribe and sow dissension among them. King Bone Dragon, go into hiding in the Sage Panacea Sect. Protect my disciples, and kill anyone who causes problems or plots against them. Report back to me about what the other old-timers are doing back there.”

“Yes sir!”

The two experts flew away.

Only a few moments had passed, but Yang Qi had immensely benefited. His immortal-slaying clone had reached a higher level and was now facing Incarnated God tribulation.

As for King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, they seemed more alive than ever.

‘It’s time to go take a look at this meeting of the seventy-one patriarchs. Before long, I’ll be able to break through to the second division and become a Tempered God. I need a lot of power… but I did just get that true godhood. It should be enough to propel me all the way to the seventh or eighth division, and if I'm lucky, the ninth.’

Unfortunately, it definitely wouldn’t be enough for him to reach godly ascension.

After putting some more thought into his plans, Yang Qi flew off toward a hidden plane of existence within the Tusita Dynasty. There, in an ancient castle, the seventy-one patriarchs had gathered.

Young Master Leaf was their leader, but he wasn’t present, so the group was leaderless and not particularly well organized.

However, Green Merchant and the other five patriarchs he led were sticking together and looking around with glittering eyes. The larger group was currently discussing how to lure Yang Qi into a big spell formation and kill him.

“We all know what Young Master Leaf wants,” one of the patriarchs said loudly. “Before long, he’s going to come out of seclusion, stronger than ever. With the essence of the Tusita Heaven at his command, he’ll be invincible. Before that, we need to work with the Tusita Dynasty to try to get that true godhood back from Yang Qi. Any ideas? Let’s come up with a plan.”