Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“Doom Sect?” the junior superintendent said quizzically. “There was never a buddhist organization with a name like that before. They’ve gained popularity recently? How dare they defy the Executors of the Ancient Road? Prince Ningxiao might be a rival as far as I'm concerned, but he’s still an executor. For this buddhist school to challenge him is an insult worthy of complete extermination.”

“Things aren’t that simple, Junior Superintendent,” the steward said, kowtowing the entire time. “The Doom Sect is extremely strong, so much so that they actually came here to our headquarters and demanded fealty. One of the Doom Sect’s experts is so terrifying that it took nine of the princes working together to finally drive him away. As of now, none of the princes are willing to fight anyone from the Doom Sect.”

“What?” the junior superintendent said, visibly taken aback. “Where did this top expert come from? I can’t believe it took nine princes to expel him. You would think they would’ve killed him, but in the end, all they could do was make him leave? How strong is he? Wait, don’t tell me it’s Proud Heaven.”

“Not even Proud Heaven is that strong,” one of the four executors said. “Junior Superintendent, these slaves aren’t going to be able to tell us anything useful. The Great Necropolis has stirred all sorts of people into action. Although we Executors of the Ancient Road have benefited a lot from the necropolis, we haven’t produced a single Inheritor. It seems it’s only going to be a matter of time before the Inheritors start posing a big threat to us.”

“You’re right,” the junior superintendent said. “But in the end, we’re the strongest force there is, and I'm going to be the most powerful emperor there ever was. I'll lead the Executors of the Ancient Road back to the previous heights of glory, and slaughter any who defy me. I’ll conquer all of heaven and earth, seize universal fortune, and ensure that we become the successors of the gods.”

The Executors of the Ancient Road had once been a very powerful force, but their biggest weakness was that they couldn’t reach godly ascension. After all, they had been created by the legion of gods for the purposes of law enforcement, so how could they possibly become gods? For generations, there had been executors stuck right at the level of godly ascension, but unable to achieve a breakthrough.

That said, they were still the most powerful force on the Ancient Road to the Gods, and there were no immortals who could stand up to them. And anyone else who wished to become a god had to somehow break free from their control.

“You’re right,” another of the four executors said. “We’ll definitely figure out a way to break through the impasse. Perhaps the Great Necropolis is just what we need. Your father is currently exploring a mysterious thousandth ranked immortal world, deeper in the Great Necropolis. Perhaps when he returns, he can exterminate the Doom Sect. Junior Superintendent, let’s crush all of the secrets out of this brat we captured. His True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body contains the wisdom of the sages and mahātmās of hell. It encapsulates the saying, I will sacrifice myself and go to hell before I let anyone else do so. It was designed to fight the legion of gods, so if you can cultivate it, you might finally be able to break the limitations placed on us by the legion of gods. We could become gods ourselves, and finally go to the god world.”

“That's exactly what I was thinking,” the junior superintendent replied. “We need to find a cultivation method that can let us defy the gods. Although Wretch God Ultimate's Obsidian Flame has given me an advantage, it's not enough to overcome the genetic barriers that were placed inside us.”

“The Unspoiled Body can definitely break them,” another executor said, nodding. “Junior Superintendent, I’ll go out and get some more information. Don’t tell anybody about this brat we captured, otherwise your rivals are going to cause more trouble for you. Then all of our effort will have been wasted.”

“I obviously know that already. Go! The rest of you, I want you to come with me to find Ghost Ace, Hill Master, Curve Swallow and Fiend Kṣetra. They’re the strongest among my father’s subordinates, and they’re running things while he’s gone exploring that thousandth ranked immortal world. They’re very experienced, so there couldn’t be anyone better suited to dragging the secrets out of that brat.”

“Yes sir!”

One executor left, and the other three joined the junior superintendent as he headed into the depths of the palace to find the people he had just mentioned. Before long, they were in a huge medicinal pill factory. It was impossible to tell what the structure was constructed from. The floor seemed to be made of fire, and there were countless pill furnaces filled with bubbling ingredients.

The heat was intense. Even the junior superintendent’s green silk clothing seemed too weak to fend off the heat.

“Bring me some manacles and leg-irons!”

“Yes sir!”

The executors quickly bound Yang Qi’s hands and feet with the irons.

Grinning at Yang Qi, the junior superintendent said, “These Godly Fetters were created by us to restrain Terrifying experts. With them on you, you won’t be able to resist at all, got it? And now, I'm going to think of every torture method I can possibly use on you. I refuse to believe that the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body is strong enough to sustain you through all that.”

“I don’t have to do anything except experience tribulations to get stronger,” Yang Qi said coolly. “It really doesn’t matter what you do to me, Junior Superintendent. It's all a waste of effort on your part. If you inflict pain on me, it's just a tribulation. And the more tribulations, the stronger my energy art becomes. I advise you to spare yourself the effort and just let me go back to the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect.”

Yang Qi knew exactly what kind of person this junior superintendent was. The more he was provoked, the angrier he would get and the harder he would try to break Yang Qi.

Yang Qi actually didn’t care at all that his hands and feet were bound. He could sense that if he exerted enough strength, those bonds would break. After all, considering he was keeping his true strength hidden in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, the junior superintendent had no idea how strong he actually was.

Thump. Thump.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed out, and Yang Qi shivered. He could tell from the sound that four top experts were approaching, people whose footsteps conformed to the dao of heaven.

‘Four powerful executors are coming. I wonder if I can handle them. In the end, it's a tribulation. And the more difficult the tribulation is, the more my cultivation base will advance after overcoming it. And it's not like I’ll be able to clean out the executors’ headquarters the moment I arrive.’

Remaining calm, Yang Qi awaited the new arrivals.

A moment later, four executors entered the pill factory, and their mere presence caused the fire around them to die down.

“Junior Superintendent,” they said, clasping hands in formal greeting.

“There’s no need for such formality, Uncles,” the junior superintendent said. “In fact, I should have been the one to come looking for you. The thing is that this little bastard here is full of craft and cunning, and the slightest mistake with him could lead to big problems. I really need your help controlling him.” The junior superintendent was speaking in a very respectful tone of voice in dealing with these most powerful of his father's subordinates. [1]

His father was apparently royalty among the Executors of the Ancient Road, but unfortunately, Yang Qi had not yet been able to get an overall understanding of how their organization worked.

“I heard,” one of the executors said, a man who wore a pitch-black suit of armor covered with a snake motif. “Congratulations, Junior Superintendent. You actually captured someone who cultivates the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. From what I understand, this energy art comes from a sheepskin scroll penned by one of the most powerful mahātmā fiend-devils. Did you happen to get that as well?”

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any information about the sheepskin scroll out of him at all. We have to think of a way! We can’t hurt him physically, and in fact, any attempts to do so actually further his cultivation! I could never have imagined that the Unspoiled Body would be this strong.”

“Impossible,” said the executor in black armor. “Back on the Ancient Road to the Gods, there were people who cultivated that technique, but they always experienced cultivation deviation and died. How could this boy be so strong that he could actually cultivate the technique successfully?”

RUMBLE!

“Allow me to try some things out, Junior Superintendent. Let’s see if he can endure my Black-Heaven Ghost-Dao God Ability!”

“Please do, Uncle Ghost Ace,” the junior superintendent said. “Just be careful. He can use the power of tribulations to improve his cultivation and divine abilities.”

“We’ll see. I’ve observed fiend-devils who cultivated this technique before, only to be beaten to death by executors. How could he turn force into tribulation? It would require a major level of success with the technique to accomplish. No one weaker than a Paramount God could hope to do that. It would be crazy to think that a weakling like this could push his cultivation that far.”

POP!

Ghost Ace reached out toward Yang Qi’s head, and immediately tried to force his way into his sea of consciousness.

Everyone looking on saw a blackish violet smoke pouring from his palm into Yang Qi. Then they heard something like the sound of tiles shattering inside Yang Qi.

‘Such incredible power,’ Yang Qi thought, shocked by the destructive sensation of the palm attack. However, he quickly slipped into a zen samādhi trance, causing his nascent divinity to vanish from within his sea of consciousness. Then he began absorbing the power flowing through him.

“Let’s see how much of it you can take!” Ghost Ace growled, and more blackish-violet energy began shooting into Yang Qi.

1. The term Uncle being used here is just a respectful form of address for a male older than oneself. It does not imply any sort of blood relation.