Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

At this level, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth had four major capabilities.

First, the Infernal Deity Spear.

Second, the Fiend-Devil Wings.

Third, the Infernal Deity Aegis and its next form the Plate Armor.

Fourth, the Hellfire Crucible.

The Infernal Deity Spear was the strongest offensive weapon, and the Fiend-Devil Wings provided incredible speed. The Infernal Deity Plate Armor was incredible in terms of defense, and the Hellfire Crucible provided major help in cultivation.

The next ability was the Devil-God Seal, which provided perfect powers of concealment.

After that was the Hell Portal, a powerful tool of summoning.

Yang Qi had no idea what came after the Hell Portal, but he did know he would have to wait until the Legendary level to find out.

Now that his Hellfire Crucible was complete, he could start working on the Devil-God Seal. Although the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was inherently capable of concealing his energy arts and blood quintessence deep in his sea of energy, if someone probed him deeply enough, they would still be able to find them.

Now that he was in the Lifeseizing level, he was so strong that such things were actually impossible to cover up.

Thankfully, he now had the Devil-God Seal, which would resolve all those issues.

After memorizing the mnemonic, he circulated his true energy, which emerged and became like black snowflakes swirling around him.

Eventually, the black snowflakes transformed, becoming dark golden, resplendent in every aspect as they burrowed into the depths of his body.

Then, his physical body began to shrink down.

The scintillating dark golden blood within him once again turned red, and his bones began to turn soft. Even his muscles began to weaken. All of the strength left him, like the receding tide.

Next, the true energy snowflakes sealed all the power in his blood, bones and meridians, pulling it into a fist-sized sphere of true energy in his sea of energy. It shrank rapidly until it was the size of a sesame seed, completely undetectable by any outside force.

His overall true energy was now at only ten percent of its normal level, with all of his power having been sealed.

Right now, he seemed like an ordinary person who had just become a Lifeseizer, nowhere near the level of people like Chu Tiange.

That said, his sealed true energy could be released at any time, allowing him to use his true strength whenever he wanted. This was unlike other sealing magics which would usually take time to unravel.

It was not uncommon for people to use sealing marks to hide their true energy. However, it was always a dangerous process, and difficult to undo. And that was not to mention how tragic it would be to be killed before being able to draw on one's full strength.

The Devil-God Seal had no such weaknesses. A mere thought on Yang Qi’s part would give him access to all of his energy arts, and all of the massive power that entailed.

To an outsider, though, his aura seemed somewhat weak. That said, even though he seemed weak, that still made him vastly mightier than any Master of Energy.

After doing a bit more work to make sure as much true energy as possible was sealed away, Yang Qi flew into the air and headed back toward the Demi-Immortal Institute.

The moon had already set, and the night had passed. Soon, the first rays of sunlight began to stretch out over the waters of the ocean.

Then the sun rose, and a new day began.

Yang Qi made it back around noontime, and the institute was alive with activity. Some students were hard at work practicing cultivation, some were going out to hunt demonlings, some were sparring, some were attending classes, some were in the gardens, drinking and enjoying the scenery, and some couples were enjoying each other’s company.

Spring had come, and life in the place reflected that.

Immortal cranes and fenixes soared in the air, as well as multicolored peacocks and griffons belonging to higher-level students. [1]

The sight of the griffons made Yang Qi realize that, as an outer campus student, he could spend some merit points to get one of his own if he wanted.

Of course, it didn't make much sense to do so. It took a lot of expensive medicinal pills to care for griffons, and besides, no griffon could possibly match the speeds he was capable of with his Fiend-Devil Wings.

Now that he was in the Lifeseizing level, his cultivation base was even more powerful than before. And his status would only continue to increase; when he became an elite student, he would have access to even better materials.

After finding a certain tower, Yang Qi stealthily made his way to a certain room.

There, Li He, He Jili, Liang Dong and Hua Yinhu were working together on the Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique.

By joining their true energy, they could unleash the Thousand-Ton Sword Net, which they were currently using to wrap up the sun gem and extract the quintessence of the sun from inside it. That process saved them months and months of difficult cultivation, perhaps even more than a year.

This technique from the Cosmic Sunflare Sword, which not even Chu Tiange could use, was now a simple cultivation tool for them.

The sun gem continued to slowly shrink as the four of them focused completely on their cultivation.

Unexpectedly, Liang Dong already had a sun-like manifestation of sword energy behind him that seemed equivalent to the one Chu Tiange had used. He had the highest cultivation base of the group of four, and was the most naturally talented in cultivation.

Truth be told, Liang Dong really was a genius, as was evidenced by him being the first to actually become a Master of Energy.

When Yang Qi entered the room and took in the scene, he waved his finger, sending out a bitingly cold stream of true energy to the sun gem.

In response, the sun gem erupted with power, sending four beams of bright red light into the tops of his four friends’ heads. As the light streamed into them, the sun gem quickly shrank down into nothing.

A sound like metallic bells filled the room, accompanied by a blast of heat as tiny swords appeared in front of each of the group of four. The swords glittered brilliantly, and radiated a profound cosmic aura.

These were the animadestiny sword manifestations of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword.

These manifestations were already about seventy to eighty percent as powerful as Chu Tiange's. After all, they had absorbed Chu Tiange’s preheaven sword manifestation, as well as the sun gem.

As of now, they could definitely tangle with a Primary Lifeseizer and come out alive on the other end.

And if they joined forces to create a sword formation, then they could easily fight on the same level as someone like Chu Tiange.

Liang Dong was the first one to open his eyes. First he looked at Yang Qi, then at the spot the sun gem had occupied moments before, and when he realized what had happened, looked visibly shocked. “Brother Yang Qi, you’re back! Your aura….”

“Yep. I reached the Lifeseizing level last night.” Although Yang Qi’s words were spoken casually, their import was anything but.

His other three friends retracted their true energy and rose to their feet, looking stunned.

“Really?”

“You reached the Lifeseizing level?”

“Such incredible progress.”

Instead of replying with words, he simply let loose a ripple of energy that calmed their hearts.

After a moment, Li He hesitantly asked, “Brother Yang Qi, how come your aura doesn’t seem very strong?”

“Because I’ve sealed about ninety-nine percent of my animadestiny quintessence. If I didn’t, it would be too terrifying. Even still, I could still crush an ordinary Primary Lifeseizer.”

“You sealed ninety-nine percent of it?” Hua Yinhu clicked his tongue in amazement. “How terrifying would you actually be if you unleashed it all?” He was pleased to say the least. After all, the stronger Yang Qi became, the more it would benefit the group, and the more likely the rest of them would rise to the Lifeseizing level.

The Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique was the type that could conquer the cosmos. It was incredibly powerful and dangerous, and could only be cultivated by individuals with very strong meridians.

The four of them had been blessed by Yang Qi, their bodies remolded and their meridians made much tougher than before. Therefore, cultivating an aggressive sword technique like this was very appropriate for them.

Although they wouldn’t necessarily achieve a breakthrough any faster because of it, they still had a high likelihood of succeeding. It wasn’t like their situation before when they seemed to have no hope of ever becoming Lifeseizers.

“Yang Qi,” Li He said, “why don’t you head over to the Academy of Sage Studies and apply to be an elite student? All you have to do is pass a test to prove you’re in the Lifeseizing level, and then you would rise to a much higher level than before. Nothing could get in your way after that. Furthermore, your clan would also have a much more stable position.”

“That’s right,” He Jili added. Having been in the institute for about eight years, he was very familiar with how much respect was given to elite students. “Brother Yang Qi, if you were an elite student, and your involvement in Chu Tiange’s death were to be revealed, the worst thing that would happen is you would be punished. After all, he was trying to kill us. It was self-defense!”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Yang Qi replied. “Come on, let’s go.” After all, he had his Devil-God Seal now, so he was confident that no one would be able to reveal his secrets. With that, he took out a jade pellet and tossed it to Liang Dong. “I got that from a zombie general I killed in the Fiendcorpse Mountains. It’s designed to hold true energy, and can thus provide a major power boost. Liang Dong, at the moment, you're the strongest, and have the best shot at reaching the Lifeseizing level. Make good use of that pellet.”

“This is made from Kṣitigarbha sagejade!” Liang Dong blurted. [2]

“What’s that?” Yang Qi asked.

“There are nine different types of legendary jade in the Rich-Lush Continent,” Li He said. “For example, Nine Heavens godjade, Kṣitigarbha sagejade, Star River monarchjade, and so on…. Each type is precious and filled with unique power. Kṣitigarbha sagejade is perfect for hoarding purposes for example, and can even contain life force. It’s incredibly expensive, and normally speaking, something that not even Lifeseizers would have. For a Master of Energy to acquire one would make them vastly more powerful.”

1. The “fenix” here is a mythological bird that is very similar to a phoenix, but slightly different in some ways. I’m unaware of any English translation for it, so I’m going with fenix because of how close they are to phoenixes

2. Kṣitigarbha is a bodhisattva. Whether this reference implies he exists as a character in this novel’s universe remains to be seen. See here for more info.