Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Everyone was completely shocked by the burgeoning destiny of the Dao Defense League. A hundred trillion immortal worlds all had temples erected in Yang Qi’s name, allowing the faith to flow directly to him and bolster his cultivation base.

Faith was not an ordinary power; it was a kind of destiny that superseded anything and everything, something that surpassed any individual person.

Faith that was offered fully and willingly was pure and without spot. Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers… none of them could compare to someone who was the subject of complete faith. Because of faith, a believer would follow the instructions of a god to destroy anything in existence, or even revile their own clan. It was both crazed and unadulterated, and it could not be stopped or reversed.

Furthermore, faith was tied to godly ascension and the Deathless Throne.

Throughout the years, many experts had studied the power of faith, but few people had ever truly come to understand it. It was very difficult to control, and required countless humans and other living beings to get it. Furthermore, faith was connected deeply to karma.

Whatever karma existed in the believers would be part of their faith, including impurities that could ultimately lead to cultivation deviation and death.

There were many old-timers throughout history who had founded religions or sects to gather faith, only to meet a grisly end. Because of that, the practice of using faith for cultivation purposes gradually became less and less popular, until it very nearly died out. At the most, it would be seen among relatively weak cultivators in the mortal world. Among higher-level experts, the preferred method of cultivation was to absorb primal-chaos and convert it into essence power.

Now Yang Qi was ignoring that trend, establishing a network of faith that was both unbelievable and terrifying.

“So he's established a system of faith,” Leaf Dao-Denier said. “But faith is tied to karma, which means he's accepting the karma of all his believers. This Yang Qi is going to meet a horrible end, that's for sure.”

“It’s not that simple,” Eldest Brother Secundus said gravely. “His cultivation base is far beyond ours, and he knows a lot more about this than we do. There’s no way he's unaware of the side effects of using faith for cultivation. Even the legion of gods would have difficulty dealing with karma and avoiding corruption. There is truth in the two sayings when things reach an extreme, they can only move in the opposite direction and all things start to crumble after reaching the zenith. No one can defy such truths, not even the dao of heaven or the legion of gods. However, Yang Qi seems to be doing just that! What’s his secret?”

“He's terrifying,” Grand Emperor Myriadmagic Heavenspan said. “He seized the destiny of the Dao Defense League from us, and now he’s built a system of faith. Not even we would dare to do that. Destiny is the basis of imperial power among mortals, whereas faith is the basis of godly power. They’re completely different. No one but a true god-spirit could do what he’s doing. He’ll definitely suffer retribution for his brazen actions.”

Destiny was the basis of imperial power. In the mortal world, the emperor was said to command the destiny of the commoners. He had a golden mouth and jade words, meaning that his pronouncements could decide the fate of anyone he commanded.

However, the emperor wasn’t a god who the people would worship, and he couldn’t benefit from their faith. If he did, he would accept their karma. Eventually, either he, or his descendants, would suffer.

“Let’s just wait and see what happens,” Grand Emperor Heavenearth Vastocean said. “He’ll definitely meet a horrific end. Those who are anxious for quick results will always meet death in the end.”

“But what do we do right now?” Grand Emperor Ninelimits Paragon asked. “Matters of karma will take years to resolve, and right now we aren’t a match for him. He’ll eventually try to track us down and kill us. Don’t tell me we'll be forced to hide out here in primal-chaos for the rest of our lives.”

“Well, hello there,” a voice suddenly said, much to the shock of everyone present.

“Who was that?” Eldest Brother Secundus said. “The only person who could possibly sneak up on us would have to be at a higher level than us. But we’re already on the ninth stair of the Deathless Heavenly Stairway, the Stair of the True Void. Don’t tell me this person is stronger than that!”

“Who—”

“Over here,” the voice said, and an old man appeared, clad in bizarre, primitive clothing and a tall hat. He seemed to thrum with power, and had eyes as deep as the ocean that seemed to radiate the feeling of the Ancient Road to the Gods. As for his aura, it seemed both righteous and evil, yet was neither. It was actually a combination of both, making him like a god-devil incarnate.

“Who are you?” Eldest Brother Secundus said, taking a step forward.

The old man flicked his sleeve, and Eldest Brother Secundus suddenly felt immense power weighing down on him, the kind he couldn’t possibly sustain. It forced him to take two steps backward, causing an unsightly expression to appear on his face.

“I'm Patriarch Hell-Crusher,” the old man said.

“The top patriarch among the Demonfolk?” Grand Emperor Myriadmagic Heavenspan said. “What are you doing here?”

“To join forces with you, of course,” Patriarch Hell-Crusher said. “Don’t worry, we have a common enemy in Yang Qi. With his Army of Radiance and Light and the Aeonic God Temple, he waged war on our Demon League and destroyed dozens of demon-immortal worlds. It was a big blow for us. I heard that about a month ago he drove you lot out and imprisoned Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven. Well, that won’t do, will it? So why don’t you work with us Demonfolk? We’ve already worked out an agreement with the Dragonfolk from the Eight Tribes Heaven to open a passageway to the ancient past. It won’t be long before we have ancient experts here to help us wipe out the Dao Defense League. Then we can control the dao of heaven and no one will be a match for us. What do you think?”

“I'm in,” Leaf Dao-Denier said coolly. “I want Yang Qi dead, and I’ll do anything to make that happen, even sink to the darkest depths.”

“I'm in, too,” Eldest Brother Secundus said, “especially if experts from the past are coming.”

After all, Eldest Brother Secundus was from the Primeval Age himself.

The other three emperors of the Heavenly Court exchanged glances. Considering their background, joining the Demonfolk didn’t seem very appropriate. But Leaf Dao-Denier and Eldest Brother Secundus had already done so, leaving them in an even weaker position than before. But when you stand under low eaves, you have no choice but to bow your head.

“Fine, we’re in.”

“Excellent,” Patriarch Hell-Crusher said. “You won’t be disappointed. And when the power from ancient times is delivered, you’ll get your share. The top experts from the Primeval Age are already under a lot of pressure from the future world and anxious to come here. Once they arrive, the influx of power will definitely push your cultivation bases to higher levels.”

“I'm already aware of that,” Eldest Brother Secundus said. “It’ll take a lot of top experts working together to open the passageway, and that power will spill out into the current age. Those experts will be much stronger than I am.”

“Fine. I’ll take my leave now. Remember, we’re working together on this. And by that, I mean you are working with me personally, Patriarch Hell-Crusher. If any other old-timers from the Demonfolk come to you, tell them that you're close friends with me. Sworn brothers, got it?”

His words made it abundantly clear that there were intense power struggles going on in the Demon League, and Patriarch Hell-Crusher was attempting to seize control.

Of course, that meant that this was the perfect time to take advantage of a crisis for personal gain, which was something Leaf Dao-Denier was very adept at.

‘You just wait, Yang Qi,’ he thought. 'Considering that I'm working with the Primeval Age, I'm going to get incredible benefits sooner or later. And now that you’re wrapped up with karma, you’ll definitely be dragged down into death eventually.’

The five experts joined Patriarch Hell-Crusher and vanished into primal-chaos.

There were now several clearly-defined camps. The Demonfolk were working with the Dragonfolk and the ancient world. The future world was on its own, and the Dao Defense League was leading the charge for the immortal dao civilization.

Three major forces were competing to try to get onto the Ancient Road to the Gods.

**

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was working on his cultivation, unaware of the situation within the Demon League. That said, all of them were already defeated opponents of his, so he wasn’t particularly worried. Right now, he was focused on gathering faith and helping his immortal-slaying clone with his cultivation. After all, the influx of faith was primarily beneficial to the clone right now.

As the clone grew stronger, his control over the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart increased and he could unlock more of its secrets.

Yang Qi could see his clone sitting cross-legged in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, surrounded by the sweet dew that was the influx of faith. As the faith flowed into him, his cultivation base pulsed with a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering aura.

Unfortunately, Yang Qi was able to detect the streams of karmic power within the faith, karma that existed in all living beings.

When accepting the faith of living beings, one accepted their karma. And karma was very powerful. As the faith flowed into the immortal-slaying clone, Yang Qi used his Lord's Eye to examine it closely. He soon realized that it was impossible to strip away, seal, or destroy that karma.

It was like a time bomb, slowly building up and waiting to explode. When it did, it could kill even gods.

However, Yang Qi knew what he was doing. He was stockpiling the karma and waiting for King Immortal-Slayer to be resurrected. Once he was, that karma would be the ticket to destroying him. At least, that was Yang Qi’s plan.

‘When I get all of your legacy medallions, King Immortal-Slayer, in the moment you’re resurrected, you’ll be assailed by the karma of all living beings. Will you be able to take it?’ Yang Qi chuckled coldly. ‘Tackling you is going to be quite interesting. Other than you, I don’t think anyone else is even close to being a match for me.’