Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘I did it. I snagged the terrifying God-Noble Goldensword. Unfortunately, he’s still beyond my ability to fully subjugate, even in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.’

Sending some divine will into the chart, he saw a golden streak slashing back and forth. “Who did this?! Who sealed me? I can’t believe you fooled me, boy. So, you’re using King Immortal-Slayer’s Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart? Do you really think this will be enough to deal with me? Show your face so I can cut you down! Dammit, you may have fooled me, but you still can’t defeat me. Even in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, I'm still invincible!”

Yang Qi ignored his words. He knew that he would have to wait until he was a lot stronger before daring to enter the chart to deal with the god soul. Right now, he was more concerned with how to profit from his current situation.

After all, a whole host of experts had just been struck with God-Noble Goldensword’s sword energy. There were around fifty or sixty people who still had sword will raging in their meridians and souls.

For example, there was Cipher Rite-Heaven of the Cipher-Devil Sword Sect, who had a profound cultivation base. Most of the people present had power indexes at roughly twenty, with the highest being a bit over a hundred. And considering they were all gasping for breath, Yang Qi hoped to gain their faith and have a whole new host of experts to protect the Dao Defense League.

Considering how everything was changing, the current experts in the Dao Defense League were little more than ants. If Yang Qi wanted to protect them all, he definitely needed some stronger defenders.

“Brother, are you alright?” Star Swordlife said, taking a step forward. “Did you use some powerful magical treasure to seal God-Noble Goldensword? If so, you still need to be careful. The dao of the sword from the ancient god soul is perfectly designed to vanquish magical treasures and god items.”

“I’ll be fine,” Yang Qi said, waving his hand dismissively. “The device I used has him completely locked down.” Looking around, he continued, “All of these people were hit with God-Noble Goldensword's sword will, and they're all going to die as a result, from the look of it. Thankfully, I can take them away and neutralize that energy.”

“Help! Save me!” cried Cipher Rite-Heaven. “I have sword will in my sea of consciousness, and it’s going to kill me. Help!”

Swish!

Yang Qi flew over, examined him, and could see the immensely powerful sword will within him. Going to work, he quickly extracted the sword will, which came out of him in a bright, golden glow. Afterward, Cipher Rite-Heaven sagged a bit. Clearly, he had been injured, but now that the sword will was gone, he was naturally recovering.

After a moment passed, Cipher Rite-Heaven suddenly turned into a ghostly blur that shot toward Yang Qi in a completely unexpected attack. Who would have guessed that, right after being rescued, Cipher Rite-Heaven would do something like this? Without Yang Qi to help him, he would have soon been dead.

However, he didn’t seem to care about that at all, and sword light flashed as he summoned a huge net of swords to attack Yang Qi.

“Your energy arts are formidable, brat, but there’s no way you're strong enough to take out God-Noble Goldensword on your own. You used some sort of magical treasure, didn’t you? Hand it over immediately!”

However, even as he unleashed his attack, Star Swordlife shouted, “Stop!” Unfortunately, he was too busy dealing with the sword will inside himself to do anything.

Yang Qi’s pupils constricted as he saw Cipher Rite-Heaven flying toward him with deadly intent. However, he didn’t hesitate to exhale a stream of Life-Killing Sword Energy, simultaneously unleashing fist strike after fist strike. Booms rang out, and the incoming sword energy shattered.

“Myriad Aeons Heaven-Devouring!”

A primal-chaos elder-snake appeared and devoured the sword energy. Then he looked over at his opponent, his eyes flickering with the profundities of universal life and destruction. Obviously, his observations and interactions with God-Noble Goldensword had already provided him with immense benefits.

POP!

His fists crushed the sword light and sent Cipher Rite-Heaven staggering back. Yang Qi could tell that Cipher Rite-Heaven’s will wasn’t properly converged. Before, he had been at the Stupendous level, but now he had dropped to the Normal level. Obviously, his clash with God-Noble Goldensword’s will had been very damaging, and he hadn’t yet fully recovered. Yang Qi could see that he had a good opportunity.

“Life-Death Void-Destruction!” he said, throwing his hands out and causing Life-Death Void-Destruction God-Lightning to spring out. The Infernal Deity Spear also appeared, stabbing forth with infinite variations.

Cipher Rite-Heaven wasn’t just going to stand there and let himself be hit, though. Black light flared as he drew on the full might of the Cipher-Devil Sword Technique. A long black sword appeared, almost like a sinister black dragon pulsing with viciousness and evil.

However, Yang Qi simply laughed. The Infernal Deity Spear slammed into the pitch-black sword and Cipher Rite-Heaven staggered back again. Then Yang Qi vanished, reappearing above Cipher Rite-Heaven and sending the power of the God Legion Seal crushing down.

RIP!

His hand landed on Cipher Rite-Heaven’s back, digging his fingers into the flesh as he prepared to destroy his meridians and then assimilate him.

“Stay your hand!” Star Swordlife suddenly shouted, having just vanquished God-Noble Goldensword’s sword will. “Brother, stay your hand! Whenever possible, you should spare your enemy. Don’t kill him.”

“What?” Yang Qi said, his eyes flickering with cold light. “Didn’t you see what just happened? I saved this guy, and he turned right around and attacked me. If I hadn’t been on guard, I would’ve died. There couldn't be more justification to get revenge, so why are you trying to stop me?”

“You misunderstand me, Brother,” Star Swordlife replied. “You see, I save people. Maybe Cipher Rite-Heaven was plotting against you, but he didn’t actually hurt you. So for you to kill him is improper. How about this: free him, and I’ll compensate you on his behalf as an apology.”

“Are you kidding me?” Holy Daughter Joyflower said. “Star Swordlife, I understand that you cultivate a dao of the sword that’s focused on saving lives. But this matter has nothing to do with you. Have you already forgotten that Yang Qi just helped you out of a difficult situation? If he hadn’t taken the risk to seal God-Noble Goldensword, how could you possibly have won that fight?”

“Yes, I'm very grateful for that,” Star Swordlife said. “And it’s truly a joy to be alive. That’s what I'm trying to emphasize here, Brother. Your name is Yang Qi, right? Please, refrain from killing. If you do, you can also feel the joy of life. The less you kill and more you save, the more of the universal fortune of heaven and earth will come to you.”

Yang Qi immediately understood what was going on. Obviously, Star Swordlife’s ideal dao of the sword was very different from his own.

“It was only moments ago that God-Noble Goldensword killed several people,” he said. “Why didn’t you stop that from happening?”

An expression of regret immediately overtook Star Swordlife’s face. “Because my sword technique is lacking, and I didn’t act fast enough. But the current situation is different. No matter what you say, I won’t permit you to kill Cipher Rite-Heaven.”

“This guy is innately evil,” Yang Qi said, not willing to let the issue drop. “Considering how he ambushed me just now, it's obvious that, if I let him go, he’ll go on to kill many others.”

“It's because he’s evil that I need to save him. That's the only way for me to gain true enlightenment of the ultimate meaning of life and life force. Then I can eventually convert that which is evil into that which is good.”

“Fine. I can see that we have very different outlooks on life. And I'm not interested in debating. Farewell.” Keeping a firm hold on Cipher Rite-Heaven, he flew up into the air. However, before he could get very far, a gentle stream of sword light appeared. Unexpectedly, Star Swordlife had made a move! However, this sword light didn’t contain any killing power. It spread out through numerous layers of magical law, creating a web-like net that made it impossible for anyone in the area to move. Yang Qi suddenly felt himself growing much heavier, and was slowly forced back down to the ground.

“Sorry, Brother. You saved me, and I will save him. My Taiji Restraining-Silk Sword Dao won’t hurt you, but neither will it let you leave.”

Yang Qi burst out laughing. “Nice sword technique!”

He waved his hand, and a vortex appeared leading to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, into which he threw the sealed Cipher Rite-Heaven. Then he reached out, grabbed the net, and tried to rip it up. However, nothing he did had any effect. Although this sword technique wasn’t particularly deadly, it was incredibly strong.

“Thanks for giving me a chance to study your sword technique,” Yang Qi said. Suddenly, he shrank down in size and unleashed the power of his Life-Killing Sword Technique.

“Perfect Slash!”

The sword slashed out and the Taiji Restraining-Silk Sword Dao was cut clean through, allowing Yang Qi to leap out. Then he shot directly toward Star Swordlife.

“Excellent sword technique,” Star Swordlife said. “A very stern and awe-inspiring killing energy. Unfortunately, the power of killing does not surpass the power of life. How about we have a little duel; if you lose, you agree to free Cipher Rite-Heaven?”

“Fine,” Yang Qi replied. “And if you lose, I’ll take your life!” With a shout, he pressed the attack.