Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Outside of the Eight Tribes Heaven, there were countless mountains formed from pure vital energy, all of which were similar to twentieth-ranked immortal worlds. And of course, they were all occupied by the Dragonfolk.

Right now, there were members of the Dragonfolk pouring out of the mountains to patrol the area and keep watch. One of them was a burly fellow who shouted, “Listen up, boys. Pay attention on your patrols, and don’t let anyone into our Eight Tribes Heaven. The higher-ups have passed down orders to keep everything sealed tight. No slipups! If you make any mistakes, you’ll lose your head. Got it? We’ve summoned some top experts to our side, and if the master plan succeeds our Eight Tribes Heaven will rise to a higher level. All of us will benefit, too. Our cultivation will increase by three levels, at a minimum. That’s the equivalent of a hundred million years of bitter cultivation. Understood? Put your hearts into it!”

“Pillage and plunder! No one can stop us!”

“The wealth, women, and treasures of the other immortal worlds will be ours! Countless immortals will become our slaves!”

“There are too many immortal worlds to even count. How could we Dragonfolk be limited to just the tiny Eight Tribes Heaven!? We're going to take over all of the immortal worlds! Before long, we Dragonfolk are going to rule everything, and the immortals will all be our slaves. Once they’re trembling at our feet, we can take their wives and daughters for our own pleasure!”

“How detestable that the immortals sometimes capture us and force us to serve as mounts. That’s a humiliation that we simply can’t tolerate! An insult to our blood! The time has finally come to turn the tables and hold our heads high!”

As the Dragonfolk surged forth, their murderous auras surging, it was obvious that the other immortal worlds were in for a disaster.

“Tribulation. Major tribulation,” Patriarch Annalist said, shaking his head. “The Dragonfolk have always been villains in the making. Not only did they refuse to help in the fight against the future world, they’re actually making things worse. If the dao of heaven completely shatters in our immortal dao civilization and destiny vanishes, then none of us will have any hope of reaching godly ascension. And the lack of a foundation will outright kill many of us. Don’t the Dragonfolk understand that? Ai….”

“These Dragonfolk are unable to accomplish anything but liable to spoil everything!” Yang Qi said, his eyes glittering with killing intent. “The Dao Defense League is holding off the future world. If we get hit from behind right now, all the immortal worlds could fall. This is intolerable.”

“The Dragonfolk really do need to be purged,” Patriarch Annalist said. “Is there any way we can get in there and prevent them from summoning experts from the past? Considering that shield of ancient power covering the entire place, I'd say it’s likely that those experts are already here. We have to be very careful.”

“Don’t worry, I have a way.”

Yang Qi had not yet shown Patriarch Annalist what he could do with the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

WHOOSH!

The two of them flew like lightning into the Eight Tribes Heaven, piercing through its greyspace with the help of Yang Qi’s Freedom Wings, as well as King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans in the form of a primal-chaos elder-snake.

The power from the past that he was absorbing was already benefiting his Cruiser of Civilization.

That said, he had his fragments of the cruiser sealed in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart to avoid creating a resonance with the Engine of the One God. The last thing he wanted was the engine taking control of them.

The Eight Tribes Heaven looked very different from before.

Before, it was a place of incredible grandeur, with endless mountains and countless towering trees. It had seemed like an ancient and wild place. But now there were numerous temples rising up here and there, within which could be seen golden buddhas. They weren't corporeal, but rather power doubles, and they were chanting enchantments that turned into talismans and seeped into the greyspace above. In turn, the greyspace wriggled and twitched as it slowly expanded. Obviously, it wouldn’t be long before the Eight Tribes Heaven rose to a higher level.

But the Eight Tribes Heaven was already a thirty-third ranked immortal world. If it transformed, what would happen? Would it reach the thirty-fourth rank?

Based on what Yang Qi understood, thirty-three was the highest rank possible for immortal worlds. Anything beyond that was the domain of the gods, which meant that the place would basically be like a kingdom of gods.

If that happened, the Dragonfolk here would all definitely reach a higher level.

Patriarch Annalist was shocked by what he was seeing. “That’s the power of ancient buddhas, but where exactly is it coming from? How did the Dragonfolk reach this state? Their ambition knows no bounds! The Eight Tribes Heaven was never like this before.”

“The situation is indeed grim,” Yang Qi said. “I can sense a gathering of primeval experts in one of their central temples. It's not going to be easy for me to get the Engine of the One God.”

Relying primarily on King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans, he headed back to the temple he had visited on his original trip. However, upon arriving, he found himself rebuffed by some sort of gentle power, making it impossible for him to enter the temple.

“That’s a primeval Lokapāla Ten-Directions Tripitaka Aegis!” Patriarch Annalist said. “This is bad. That thing can keep out all sorts of wretch-devils, and can rebuff any type of magic.”

Yang Qi snorted coldly. “Keep out all sorts of wretch-devils? I'm not convinced. Besides, I'm not a wretch-devil—I'm the successor of the Sovereign Lord!”

Drawing on his wheel of fate, he transformed himself into something of the same nature as the Lokapāla Ten-Directions Tripitaka Aegis and passed right through it.

“This… your energy arts!” Patriarch Annalist couldn’t have been more shocked.

“I've reached a level of cultivation where imitating other energy arts is a simple thing,” Yang Qi explained. “All I did was absorb a bit of the true energy of that Lokapāla Ten-Directions Tripitaka Aegis. Then I copied it, which allowed us to pass right through.”

Patriarch Annalist gave a heartfelt sigh. “Incredible. Truly incredible. Young Sir, it seems to me that the task of saving the immortal worlds is going to fall to you.”

“Let's go,” Yang Qi said, and they became a shadowy blur that flew into the depths of the temple. Eventually, they reached the location with the same young man and woman from before, who were still standing guard over King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans, furthering their cultivation at the same time. Before, they were second division Tempered Gods. But now they were eighth division Buddha Gods. It was a level of cultivation advancement that was on par with Yang Qi’s immortal-slaying clone. He couldn’t help but marvel.

Sitting down nearby, Yang Qi looked over at Patriarch Annalist and nodded.

In response, the patriarch exhaled a stream of righteous true energy that quickly entered the two Dragonfolk.

They shivered as their cultivation level suddenly advanced by leaps and bounds, causing popping and cracking noises within their meridians.

“What’s going on here?” the young man said, sounding quite delighted. “How come our cultivation bases are improving so rapidly!?”

Ignoring them, Yang Qi flicked his finger and sent his imperial snakecharms right into the middle of the formation, where they began rapidly absorbing the primeval power.

**

An enormous beam of power descended into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, so large that it rivaled the breadth of a twentieth-ranked immortal world. It was a power that could kill a low-level Chaos God, or seriously injure higher-level old-timers.

In the depths of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, the Cruiser of Civilization twitched and vibrated as if it wished to fly up into the air. But Yang Qi had tightly bound it to make sure it couldn’t leave the chart.

Even outside the Eight Tribes Heaven, Yang Qi had been able to sense the power of the Engine of the One God, and realized that it superseded the individual pieces of the Cruiser of Civilization. Thankfully, the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart could suppress those pieces. This sensation differed from his previous trip here, which went to show what the power of primeval times could do to the Engine of the One God.

As the power descended, it entered the Cruiser of Civilization, causing it to vibrate even more violently.

As he channeled all the power, Yang Qi carefully sent his divine will out, eventually identifying a spell formation further inside the temple where numerous altars had been set up to harvest the pure power from the past.

Eventually, he used his Wheel of Fate to confirm that there was something profoundly strange within the formation, something that emanated supreme godpower. It was something that surpassed Brahma’s heart or head, and could easily create channels of power through space-time.

There were numerous experts gathered around it.

The strange object was enormous, metallic, and elliptical. It was covered with countless protrusions that were twitching, almost as if they were made of flesh and blood.

Thump, thump. Thump, thump.

Godpower pulsed from it, throwing space, time, and the workings of heaven into absolute chaos. In fact, because it drove away the dao of heaven, cultivation advancement could be made without heavenly tribulations.

‘Is that the Engine of the One God? The power is incredible; not even my divine will can see inside of it.’

Looking around, he realized that in addition to the chief of the Buddha Dragon Tribe, there were seven other experts present. Of course, they corresponded to the God Dragon Tribe, the Heaven Dragon Tribe, and the others.

In addition to the eight tribal chiefs, there were five other powerful entities who seemed to be on the same level as the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court. Based on their primeval auras, they had to be Past Ones.

There was no doubt about it now; the Primeval Age had sent experts here through time