Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi was waiting for Young Master Leaf to come out of seclusion, and the arrival of General Samman.

However, his plans had changed.

Some time ago, he had been too weak to take on General Samman, who had vivicreation systems on his fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization. Originally, Yang Qi had hoped to get General Samman into a fight with Young Master Leaf. Then, when they were both wounded and running low on energy, he could jump in to launch a fatal blow. But now he was thinking of just directly attacking General Samman and taking away his piece of the Cruiser of Civilization, as well as any legacy medallions he possessed.

After all, there was always the remote possibility that General Samman and Young Master Leaf would end up joining forces, and that would be a big problem.

Of course, there was also the chance that General Samman had three of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions. Since Young Master Leaf had only two, General Samman could easily take them. Then Yang Qi would lose any control he had over the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. As the saying went, long delays usually lead to trouble, therefore, Yang Qi felt that his best bet was to try to get more of the legacy medallions as quickly as possible. General Samman had at least one, so that meant that Yang Qi could, at a minimum, reach a total of five. Of course, that would also benefit his immortal-slaying clone.

POP!

Even as he was considering these matters, his clone was heading toward another breakthrough. He was now in the peak of the Shattered God level and was still absorbing energy. It seemed a foregone conclusion that he would soon become a fifth division Nirvanic God.

‘I wonder how close General Samman is. I suppose I can use King Heaven-Devourer’s talisman to check.’

Yang Qi currently commanded a total of two thousand two hundred of the talismans. However, he’d placed two hundred of them near Brahma’s heart, which he could easily use to gather vital energy from the future.

Because of that, it was an easy task to peer into the depths of the space-time wormhole that served as the passage between the present and the future.

He sent out a stream of divine will, and before long he was inside the passageway. Of course, he wasn’t there physically, so what he was doing wasn’t particularly taxing. Almost immediately, Brahma noticed his presence, and despite being somewhat surprised, gave him a small portion of godpower to help his current effort. Pleased at Brahma’s friendly reaction, Yang Qi nodded and continued on.

Soon, he saw an enormous spacecraft flying along at incredible speed. Based on what he could tell, it would arrive in the present world fairly soon.

‘I only have about three days before he gets here. That should be enough time to head to the Eight Tribes Heaven and try to get those imperial snakecharms. Getting a few hundred more would be a nice boost.’

Considering what he was capable of doing with two thousand two hundred of the talismans, he could hardly imagine what would happen if he had all three thousand. Just getting the additional two hundred that he had recently, he could sense that there were at least three hundred in the hands of the old-timer in the Eight Tribes Heaven. If he got them, he would have close to two thousand five hundred, and would definitely reach a much higher cultivation level.

Swish!

Just like that, he vanished from in front of the seventy-one patriarchs.

Now that his Angel Wings had transformed into Freedom Wings, it was like he had the same freedom as the ancient legion of gods. With no effort at all, he could fly past thousands upon thousands of worlds, and even see into parallel universes. Before long, he was high above the heavens within primal-chaos.

Soon, he was nearing the home of the Dragonfolk, the Eight Tribes Heaven, which was nestled within primal-chaos so boundless that only gods could use it to create new worlds. According to certain stories, when doomsday came, boundless tribulations of earth, water, fire, and wind would spring forth and destroy everything, after which a new world would be ushered in.

‘This is just what I would expect from the Eight Tribes Heaven, a place ruled by the Dragonfolk!’

This place seemed even bigger than the Tusita Heaven and was more on par with the Heaven Beyond Heaven.

It was filled with mists that resembled dragon scales, which could turn ordinary people who breathed it into dragons.

As the mists became particularly dense, they formed entire continents, upon which both humans and animals that were half-dragon could be seen, mixing together to create a very unique cultivation society. A closer look revealed that there were many such continents floating here and there, like satellites orbiting a larger world.

Yang Qi realized exactly what he was looking at. The outer continents were inhabited by half-dragon servants, who resulted from couplings between Dragonfolk and outsiders. Their blood obviously couldn’t compare to true Dragonfolk, and they were considered bastards who didn’t deserve to work on their cultivation in the Eight Tribes Heaven itself.

In the Eight Tribes Heaven, there were the actual eight tribes, which included buddha, god, heaven, and true dragons. But there were many other minor clans, such as silver, gold, jade, fire, and black dragons, as well as many others.

The latter weren’t considered very powerful or influential.

Immortals who weren’t native to the Eight Tribes Heaven, but wanted to enter it, had to travel through the Continents of Scales, which were sort of like a defensive barrier.

Of course, the half-dragons there were very strong, and although they were looked down upon as bastards by the Dragonfolk, when compared to human cultivators, they were still very imperious. In fact, they considered themselves to have very mighty blood that made humans naturally inferior. It was even a common thing for them to capture and enslave human cultivators.

Yang Qi wasn’t in a mood to deal with them, so he simply flew straight through the misty continents and pierced right through the greyspace of the immortal world.

The vital energy of the Eight Tribes Heaven immediately enveloped him, and as he breathed, it attempted to transform him into a half-dragon hybrid.

He quickly drew on the Eight Tribes Godfist and the vital energy melted and collapsed, transforming into a unique type of Heaven-Devouring śarīra.

The śarīras from the Heaven Beyond Heaven were mysterious and energetic. They almost didn’t seem to belong to this universe, but rather some other civilization. The śarīras from the Tusita Heaven were violet and glittering, almost like nobility, filled with the energy of kings and emperors.

As for śarīras that formed in the Eight Tribes Heaven, they resembled dragonpearls filled with millions upon millions of dragons. They were marvelous, and pulsed with a very domineering aura.

‘So, where exactly are these talismans?’ Looking around this world of dragons, Yang Qi saw towering trees and lush vegetation, all of it strange and bizarre. At one point, he squatted to look at a tiny plant that was pulsing with an aura of dragons. As soon as he got close, it shot out a hail of seeds that resembled dragon teeth, which plinked against his defensive empyrean energy. Any other Godmyth other than himself would have been pierced through.

‘Dragon Tooth Grass?’

He dug the plant out of the soil and could sense from its spirit power that it could be used to make immortal pills like Dragon Power Pills. And the science and technology of the future could use it as a main ingredient for a high-level medicinal brew.

Of course, now was not the time to go around harvesting plants. He needed to find King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans as quickly as possible.

The Eight Tribes Heaven was a strange and marvelous place, like a heaven for anyone who practiced cultivation. Demolishers who came here and somehow managed to stave off the effects of the vital energy would benefit immensely. For that reason, it was a common thing for immortals from other locations to try to sneak in and harvest materials. Unfortunately, most such individuals ended up being discovered and killed.

‘Let’s see if I can sense them!’ Yang Qi transformed into a primal-chaos elder-snake and swirled through the air, trying to lock onto the location of the talismans.

The Eight Tribes Heaven was a huge place, filled with complex terrain features including oceans, mountains, and wastelands. There were actually few cities. The Dragonfolk preferred a more rustic way of life, building nests and lairs in the oceans and mountains. Sometimes various dragon tribes would have dealings with each other, trading things like medicinal ingredients and cultivation equipment, but they wouldn’t form long-term associations. They didn’t build large sects, like humans did.

Humans preferred gathering together in large groups, but the Dragonfolk opted for a more solitary existence. That was just one of the big differences between people and dragons.

Thanks to all of his recent advancements, Yang Qi was able to speed through the Eight Tribes Heaven in a blur. And thanks to the Heaven-Devouring śarīras he was able to form here—and the addition of bits from the true godhood he had—not even the most elite cultivators among the Dragonfolk could match him for speed.

Although there were dangers in this place, he was able to avoid them all.

Gong!

At a certain point, he finally sensed the aura of the imperial snakecharms. Almost at the same time, he heard the ringing of a bell.

The bell continued ringing, booming like thunder or the voice of a buddha.

‘That’s the lokapāla zen music of a buddhist school. Who among the Dragonfolk would be playing music like that?’ To Yang Qi’s surprise, an enormous temple appeared up ahead, nestled in the peaks of the mountains.

It was nearly as large as an ordinary immortal world and shone with dazzling golden light that resembled burning suns.

‘This must be where the Buddha Dragon Tribe is! The most mysterious of all the Dragonfolk! So, my search for King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans have led me to the buddha dragons!’ Yang Qi said in shock.