Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi was shocked at the power flowing through his blood and meridians. In some ways, the godhood was like the turtledove occupying the magpie’s nest, and was attempting to destroy his soul and his true energy, which would turn him into a completely different person.

However, Yang Qi wasn’t afraid. As his true energy repaired itself, and his flesh and blood reformed, the fragmented godhood shone with scintillating light, transforming into something like a crystal shard on his palm.

Yang Qi knew full well that he couldn’t assimilate the shard. The moment it had entered him, it assailed him like the sharpest of blades. Obviously, it would be of no benefit to his fighting prowess, and would require more research before he could use it.

‘Wait, what about the Engine of the One God?’ he thought. Focusing his attention on the engine, he asked, “Can you disassemble this shard and absorb the power?”

The photonic computer immediately offered a response. [This fragment of pure godhood has an index of one, and is from a Lesser God. It can be converted into power.]

“Begin the conversion!”

A pounding sound echoed out from his heart, the location of the Engine of the One God, as it began breaking down the fragment of godhood. The engine began to vibrate and pulse with godpower. Almost immediately, Yang Qi was filled with power that vastly surpassed his own current levels.

If he started fighting Zilin now, the power of the Engine of the One God would ensure that he couldn’t possibly lose. After all, some of the most powerful aspects of the engine were now coming online, including the strength god systems.

[Assimilating godhood fragment. Filling power reserves. Strength god systems online.]

Yang Qi watched as the Engine of the One God began transforming in the depths of his heart. It was as if a juvenile dragon existed in the engine now, an ancient heaven-god whose every breath caused power to flow through Yang Qi. It was a power that, when combined with his true energy, could end the heavens and crush the earth, even pushing him to the level of the god world.

The strength god systems of the Engine of the One God truly provided immense and boundless power.

‘Unfortunately, it’s not my own power,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘My fighting prowess is definitely more incredible, but my overall cultivation level hasn’t improved.’ He shook his head. After all, even the weakest of persons could use the power of a huge battleship to slaughter immortals or devils. But that didn’t make the person any stronger than before.

It would only benefit him personally if he assimilated the godhood on his own, except he couldn’t do that right now.

‘Well, this is only a fragment of godhood. I guess I should absorb all of it into the Engine of the One God and improve my fighting prowess. Then I can open the seal and get the full portion of godhood. If nothing else, at least Zilin won’t get it.’

With the strength god systems activated, he was now strong enough to fight opponents with a power index of seven or eight hundred. Of course, it would drain a lot of power if he did that. The piece of godhood he had taken would only keep the greater divine ability systems going for so long before it was exhausted.

He took a breath, and a god of strength appeared behind him as a projection. It was a manifestation of pure power, without any flaws whatsoever. Power was the foundation of everything in existence, and without it, nothing could function.

All of a sudden, Yang Qi got the sensation that heaven and earth was filled, not with vital energy, but by connections of power. Power itself was what made the universe function. The movement of the sun and the moon. The functions of the dao of heaven. The birth and destruction of the universe. The grip of friction. Even the movement of flesh and blood, down to the tiniest particles, all required power. Without it, there could be no life, no dao of heaven, no primal-chaos, and no existence.

In that moment, Yang Qi realized that power itself was the most majestic thing in all existence.

At the same time, he gained a new understanding of the grandeur of godmammoths. Godmammoths were the ultimate expression of power, the embodiment of its core meaning.

With the strength god systems activated, his cultivation of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth would significantly improve. [1]

He didn’t even realize it, but the particles within him were all stirring, extruding impurities that emerged from his pores and fell to the ground beneath him. Those impurities had come to exist within him as he absorbed the quintessence of heaven and earth during his practice of cultivation.

Truth be told, people would accumulate impurities whether they practiced cultivation or not. After all, everyone breathed, and as a result, would bring spirit energy into them. As for those who practiced cultivation, as they reached higher levels, the spirit energy would bring more and more impurities.

Whether it was in the mortal world, or during his time in the immortal worlds, Yang Qi had consumed many immortal pills. After he became a Godmyth, he removed all of the impurities that had come with them and began consuming god pills instead. Unfortunately, even god pills contained impurities.

When people practiced cultivation, they rose to new heights and left behind the things of the past. With the enlightenment that came with acquiring godhood, and also upon activating the strength god systems, Yang Qi was now taking past impurities and removing them, pushing himself closer to the level of the legion of gods, and closer to godliness and godhood.

As he continued absorbing the piece of godhood, the strength god systems worked furiously and a power structure appeared within his mind. Then, thanks to the godhood, his physical body began conforming to that power structure.

It was as if his physical form were porcelain in the midst of flame, soft and malleable, but slowly becoming something more pure.

In the end, he experienced a deep transformation in which the potential of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth exploded out, making him more pure and natural. He looked elegant and calm, as if even his most casual movements conformed perfectly to the dao of heaven.

There were more fragments of godhood floating around the altar, which he pulled into the Engine of the One God, pushing the strength god systems to higher levels. At the same time, he gained new enlightenment, aiding his cultivation base. Although his power index remained at two hundred eighty, the structure of his body now pulsed with more power than ever.

In fact, he was at least three times stronger than he was when he initially clashed with Zilin. As of now, there was no way he would be hurt by the effects of the man’s butterfly attack.

After Yang Qi took all the pieces of godhood, the altar went completely dark.

At the same time, a halo appeared behind his head, filled with black magical symbols that seemed to pulse, not with the power of the legion of gods, but rather, that of hell.

Shocked, Yang Qi thought, ‘Did some hellish entity seal or kill a god here? Are there really such fierce beings in hell?’

The magical symbols seemed filled with a fiendish energy that desired to possess Yang Qi’s body, allowing some sort of bane-devil to be born again.

Of course, Yang Qi wasn’t afraid of baleful energy, especially considering his transformation from moments ago. The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was designed to counter baleful energy, and could easily dispel it. As such, he refrained from absorbing them, knowing that they were essentially impurities, as far as he was concerned.

He only wanted pure godpower in him.

‘Obviously, some hellish fiend-devil created these symbols. But who, exactly?’ He shook his head. ‘Thankfully I have the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to undo the sealing marks on this altar.’

Just as he was about to unleash some energy arts to undo the seals, several streams of light appeared. It is always on a narrow, cramped road that enemies meet, and sure enough, it was Zilin. Looking surprised, Zilin said, “You again?! How did you get here before me? Is this where the godhood is sealed?”

The other consorts who had accompanied Zilin spread out to surround Yang Qi.

“Let’s see you try escaping from us this time!” one of the consorts said. “We have the entrance to this altar blocked, trapping you like a turtle in a jar!”

“Surrender,” Zilin said. “There’s no way you can undo that sealing mark. It was put in place by a hell-born fiend-devil who killed a true god. The godhood is sealed there so that the god could never be resurrected. And even if you undo the seal, you’ll never be able to assimilate the godhood.”

‘Dammit,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘Just when I was about to undo the seal, these guys had to show up. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have wasted time on the strength god systems. I would have just gone right on to the godhood and worried about enlightenment later.’

Even as those thoughts ran through his head, he said, “Are you saying you can undo the sealing mark?”

“Of course,” Zilin said. “The Joyflower Palace has done a lot of research into the Exquisite Cathedral over the last hundred million years. For all intents and purposes, that godhood already belongs to us. We just need to take it away. Didn’t you notice that this fan of mine is a god item? Look at the picture on it. It’s none other than the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting, which is specifically designed to suppress all forms of wretched evil. So, of course it can deal with that sealing mark.”

“Stop being stubborn, boy,” one of the other consorts said. “On your knees!”

1. There is a bit of term crossover here in “strength”. Technically, the character I'm translating as “strength” in the strength god systems is different from the one in the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.