Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Normally speaking, a godworm at the Grand Emperor level would be impossible for any individual to take. They had very mysterious cultivation bases and were generally impossible to predict or control. After all, primeval godworms were the original creators of space-time wormholes.

Yang Qi had acquired quite a few godworms in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, but few that were in the Godmyth level. He had encountered some that were ninth division Chaos Gods, but none that were at the Grand Emperor level. But here one was in the Great Necropolis.

There was no way he would just allow the forces of the future world to take it. If he got it, the Dao Defense League would have yet another powerful Grand Emperor. And no ordinary one at that, but one that surpassed even Patriarch Annalist.

There was no level higher than Grand Emperor at the moment, so the overall strength of any alliance would be determined by its fighting prowess, and ultimately its Grand Emperors.

Those individuals who were on the ninth stair of the Deathless Heavenly Stairway, the Stair of the True Void, were essentially invincible. They were qualified to not only walk the Ancient Road to the Gods, but also to defend and protect all of their subordinates.

However, Yang Qi didn’t immediately attempt to take the godworm. Instead, he chose the moment in which the battleships closed in on the thing to snatch the fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization that had the power assessment systems.

One of the most powerful features of the Engine of the One God was that, when it encountered other fragments of the cruiser, it could pull them toward it.

The new fragment shot toward Yang Qi in a stream of light, and he lunged forward to grab it. Then, with no fanfare at all, he absorbed it, sending it straight to the Engine of the One God in his heart.

He immediately realized that the new fragment was protected by warding magics put in place by a mighty magister from the future. Of course, even the mightiest of wills were paltry in comparison to the God Legion Seal. The gold imp flared with golden light, sending it straight into the new fragment. Then, the voice of a photonic computer could be heard.

[Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep. A true possessor of the Sovereign Lord's legacy talisman has been detected. Ejecting previous master. Bonding new master for all eternity!]

Crack!

The previous will shattered, and Yang Qi could now sense that he now had three major systems under the control of the Engine of the One God. The genetic systems, vivicreation systems, and power assessment systems. Soon, all of his previous fragments had united into a single, snow-white spacecraft.

The Cruiser of Civilization was returning to a state of completion at last.

‘Finally!’ Yang Qi murmured to himself. ‘Other people who try stealing a fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization from someone else will have trouble fusing with it. In fact, they might even suffer a dangerous backlash. But with the Engine of the One God, I have no such problems. All it takes is a single command and the new piece will be mine. The future world has really suffered a big loss here. Now, let’s see how these power assessment systems work! Activate!’

[Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep.]

The power assessment systems immediately got to work.

[Scanning. Scanning. Powerful enemy detected ahead. Power index above one thousand.]

“Hmm?”

Looking closely, Yang Qi realized that the power assessment systems were calibrated to assign an ordinary Grand Emperor with an index of ten.

In other words, a power index of several thousand was equivalent to several hundred individual Grand Emperors. Obviously, the combined forces of the future world and the Mechfolk were equivalent to several hundred Grand Emperors.

“Recalibrate the power index. Assign the power of one Grand Emperor to the number one!” As far as Yang Qi was concerned, people who were weaker than Grand Emperors weren’t even worth thinking about. Therefore, he decided to simply assign the lowest number to a single Grand Emperor.

A moment later, the power assessment systems were recalibrated.

“Now scan me,” he said. He was very interested to know how strong he was. This would be ignoring King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, the God Legion Seal, or any magical treasures he had. It would simply assess his cultivation base, quintessence energy, nascent divinity, soul, blood, and the like.

[Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep…. Scan complete. Power level very high. Thirty-five. You are as strong as thirty-five Grand Emperors!]

“Excellent!” Yang Qi exclaimed. In his recent session of secluded meditation, he had assimilated the beast king clones, learned more of the mysteries of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, accepted heaps of destiny and faith, and learned more of the energy arts of the seventy-two monarchs. Although he still had a lot of work to do with all of them, he had definitely made huge progress. As for his cultivation base, he had pushed it as far as he could with the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. He was on the first stair of the Deathless Heavenly Stairway, but didn’t want to waste the effects of the tribulation that would come with progressing. For instance, back in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple, he had used his final Chaos God tribulation to help defeat the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court, Eldest Brother Secundus, and Leaf Dao-Denier. And he hoped that his next session of tribulation could be used in similar fashion. Perhaps he could use it to strike a heavy blow on the future world, the Primeval Age, or the Demon League.

“Scan that battleship,” Yang Qi said.

[Power index ten.]

The Grand Emperors from the future all had power indexes of only one, two, or three. But their battleships were extremely powerful, as much as ten Grand Emperors combined.

If you added all of the numbers together, they would reach into the hundreds.

The group as a whole would be almost impossible to take on, which made things frustrating for Yang Qi. Even worse, the future warriors were veterans of numerous battles and could work together with extreme efficiency.

Furthermore, there was some mysterious way that the battleships all linked their power together. Of course, Yang Qi’s Cruiser of Civilization was the pinnacle of science and technology, and was beyond anything the future world could produce. That said, it would still take time for him to understand exactly how they linked their ships together.

“Damn you!” The Grand Emperors in the future world’s fleet were going crazy with anger as they realized they had been robbed. “Who was that? Who robbed us of our fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization!? Once you bond with one of those fragments, it should be impossible to take them by force. Unless someone has the legendary Engine of the One God!”

Suddenly, one of the intelligence officers hurried forward and said, “It was Yang Qi, the league-lord of the Dao Defense League! According to our reports, he took the Engine of the One God from the experts of the Primeval Age! We meant to provide this information earlier, but then the Great Necropolis appeared and we got distracted!”

“Fool!” the generalissimos shouted in fury. A moment later, all of the intelligence personnel on the bridge were dead, leaving the entire place soaked with blood. “Dammit. He's been following us! Start scanning the area immediately. Look through all parallel universes! Find him!”

“Yes sir!”

The fleet grouped back together tightly and sent out a pulse that rolled through the Great Necropolis as they tried to pinpoint Yang Qi’s location.

Unfortunately, there weren’t many places that Yang Qi could hide, and the fleet was just too large and powerful. Outside, he could have slipped into a parallel universe and evaded their searches. But space was limited in the Great Necropolis, and the walls were so tough that he couldn’t easily pierce through them.

A moment later, a beam of light locked onto Yang Qi, and the fleet opened fire, sending blazing cannon light slamming into him.

Before he could react, he was hit, and sent tumbling backward like an autumn leaf in a brisk breeze.

As the cannons continued blasting away, he drew on one of the most powerful items he had, King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans.

The talismans began gobbling up the power of the cannon fire and converting it into Heaven-Devouring True Energy in his meridians and sea of energy. Essentially, the cannon fire was powering him back up!

Swish!

Yang Qi shot forward and began battering the nearest battleship with his fists. It was none other than the flagship of the fleet. As he smashed through its shields and hull, cracking and crunching sounds rang out.

“Not good!” one of the generalissimos said. “This guy is very strong. Remember how easily he beat Bright Tideflow earlier? We’re losing a lot of power thanks to his attacks, and it looks like our cannon fire doesn’t affect him at all.”

“It's fine. We have virtually unlimited power. Just focus all of the cannons on him. How long could he possibly last?” Generalissimo Worldking chuckled coldly. “Activate the Reticulated God-Executing Cannon! Power it with the Eternal Propulsion Reactor!”

“Yes sir!”

RUUUUUUUUMBLE!

The fleet began changing formation until it looked like one huge ship. Then an enormous cannon emerged and aimed directly at Yang Qi. The cannon fired and the fury of the gods was unleashed, with power to destroy universes.

Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam! Bam!!

Cannon fire slammed into Yang Qi’s chest, and there was no way he could possibly negate it.