Sage Monarch

"Young Sir, doesn't that mean you could kill Yang Qi?! Or capture him and force him to give you his God Legion Seal? Then you could give him over to me, so that I could crush him out of existence!"

The mention of Yang Qi caused Empress Joyflower to grind her teeth angrily. After all, he had put an end to her life's work.

"He has the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, which will make it hard for me to kill him. Plus, he's extremely crafty and cunning. Worse, now that he's on guard, it'll be very difficult to catch him off guard. The key to actually taking him down will be to destroy the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart first. And to do that, we need Proud Heaven. You see, he found the last of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, the one that was supposedly created from King Immortal-Slayer's heart. And do you want to guess who he gave that legacy medallion to?"

Empress Joyflower nearly gasped. "Don't tell me... don't tell me he gave it to my son?"

"Exactly. It's in the possession of that bastard you and Proud Heaven created. Proud Heaven is really working hard grooming him for power. And there's only one reason he gave your son that medallion. He wants him to get into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart and kill Yang Qi, then take the other medallions and the God Legion Seal. Unfortunately for him, I'm onto his plan, and I'm going to use it to my advantage. Yang Qi is going to die, but so is Proud Heaven. Then I'll take both of their God Legion Seals and become the Sovereign Lord who rules all creation!"

Only now was Empress Joyflower being made privy to this young man's ultimate plan. Of course, it was only fitting for someone with a God Legion Seal to have such grand aspirations.

"So what now?" she asked. "Do we go to the future world to look for my son? Proud Heaven took him away as soon as he was born, so I don't know anything about him. But I do know that Proud Heaven doesn't do things randomly. It was no accident that I gave birth to such an amazing son, and I'm curious to see where he ended up."

"Your son may be a bastard, but if my guesses are correct, he's a god from heaven descended into the mortal world. In other words, he's from the god world, and actually has no blood relationship with you. You were scammed by Proud Heaven. What's worse, he's destined to be a calamity for me unless I kill him. Thus, I saved you just now. Henceforth, you'll follow my rules and my plan. If you do, I'll help you with your energy arts and make you stronger than you could ever imagine. Got it?"

"Er...." Empress Joyflower's face flickered with various emotions before she finally smoothed it out. Regardless, watching out for herself was always her top priority. "Fine. Maybe he's my bastard son, but if he has to die, so be it. My main goal in life has always been to cut absolutely all ties with Proud Heaven, so if that bastard is connected to him, then he has to die. But what about Yang Qi? If you don't do something to deal with him, he'll continue growing stronger, and he'll eventually cause big problems for you."

"Don't worry about that. Just because he's hiding out in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart doesn't mean I'm completely out of options. Again, it comes down to your son. If I can get the legacy medallion from him, then I'll have a chance to deal with Yang Qi. You see, everything is interconnected. Meanwhile, now that I've absorbed the power of this three thousandth ranked immortal world, breaking the barriers to the future world shouldn't be too much of a problem." He chuckled. "The Great Necropolis really changed the face of the world. Resources were scarce in the Primeval Age, so there was never anything close to a world with a rank of three thousand. It took a huge amount of effort for me to reach the Immortal Dao Age from there. But now that the Great Necropolis is here, resources are abundant. It shouldn't be a problem at all to reach the future."

Flying up into the air, the young man said, "World-King God-Assimilating Grand Magic!"

He was using aspects of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth that were different from those used by Yang Qi, yet they were no weaker.

He exhaled, and Empress Joyflower felt herself growing lighter as he assimilated the final magical laws of the immortal world.

Meanwhile....

Out in the Great Necropolis were world forests packed with immortal worlds ranked in the hundreds, hanging there in primal-chaos. Occasionally, the Great Necropolis would erupt with such worlds, almost as if it were some colossal monster that was slowly breathing in and out.

To date, no one really knew what the Great Necropolis was. People were continuing to explore it, but its history hadn't been revealed yet. In fact, even the most erudite individual perusing the ancient records of the god world would never find mention of it.

Logically speaking, if the creator of the necropolis was as strong as, or stronger than, King Immortal-Slayer, then there should have been a record of that person's identity.

Yet no such record existed.

The Joyflower Palace had been working on expanding the Dao Defense League. Unfortunately, when the Great Necropolis erupted with immortal worlds, the big picture changed and the Dao Defense League became little more than a third-tier organization. By now, there were countless other powerful organizations, sects, empires, and the like, all of them struggling to seize universal fortune.

Despite only being a third-tier organization, the Dao Defense League had been in a state of constant expansion. The flames of war raged on its borders, and god formations were constantly active as it attacked, and ultimately absorbed, other, smaller organizations.

With no warning whatsoever, a black hole suddenly popped into being on the border of the Dao Defense League and began gobbling it up. Countless immortal worlds flowed into it like quicksand. Not a single one of the defensive god formations could do anything to stop the process.

The Dao Defense League was instantly thrown into chaos.

"This is bad! Your Majesty Flower Goddess, there's a black hole devouring the Dao Defense League!"

"Aggghhh! The sky is turning dark!"

"We're being eaten by a black hole!"

"Who's behind this?!"

In the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple, numerous women from the Joyflower Palace were thrown into a frenzy of terror, and rushed to cluster around Flower Goddess Orchid Purity. Of course, Orchid Purity was the same person who had taken the Dao Defense League from Yang Qi, then 'tricked' him into willingly becoming a 'god-general' prisoner.

As she watched the Dao Defense League being destroyed around her, her face turned pale white. Looking into the sky above the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple, she said, "Senior, what are you doing? Is this some sort of practical joke? The Dao Defense League is part of the Joyflower Palace, and Empress Joyflower just reached the Terrifying level! You should think twice before causing problems for us!"

"Oh really?"

Numerous women looked on in shock as Yang Qi appeared, floating down toward the temple.

"Yang Qi?! It's you!" Orchid Purity was visibly astonished. "What do you think you're doing? Don't you know that Empress Joyflower recently—"

"Recently reached the Terrifying level? Sadly, I already defeated her. And destroyed the entire Joyflower Palace." With a flourish, Yang Qi produced a bright red flower. He threw it out and it grew larger and larger, until it was possible to see the Joyflower Palace itself. Then, familiar voices could be heard, those of various sect disciples, eunuchs, consorts, and the like, all of them begging for mercy.

"I'm gonna kill you!" shouted one of the women in the temple, and a beam of sword light was right in front of Yang Qi in the blink of an eye.

Yang Qi looked over at her and she was suddenly locked in place, incapable of moving. Then, a second later, she exploded, leaving behind nothing but a fragrant aroma.

"What a poor, fragrant soul," Yang Qi sighed, sounding almost bored.

Orchid Purity's eyes flashed, and she said, "We'll meet again!" Then she waved her hand, causing a haze of red powder to fill the temple as she turned to flee.

"The only place you're going is the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart," Yang Qi said. "And once you're inside, you'll never leave." His hand shot through the red haze and latched onto Orchid Purity's neck. "That empress of yours couldn't stand up to a single attack, and you think you're going to somehow escape? Who do you think you are? That being said, I'm not going to kill you. Instead, I'll give you an opportunity. Call a meeting here in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple, and in front of everyone present, kowtow to me and acknowledge the error of your ways. If you don't, I'll kill all the women from the Joyflower Palace."

"Er... I..." Orchid Purity looked at Yang Qi like he was a devil-god, and being completely at a loss for words, finally just nodded in agreement.

"Junior Sectlord, I can handle all of this for you," someone said. It was none other than Emperor Heart-Celestial, who was now a Terrifying expert. Of course, he had done it thanks to Yang Qi, who he now virtually worshipped in admiration.

"Very well," Yang Qi said. "There are some good people in the Dao Defense League that you need to help. For instance, Patriarch Annalist with his All-Eternity Spring-Autumn Annalist God-Dao Scripture. Although he hasn't fully mastered the technique, he's quite amazing, and with a bit of help, he should make significant progress. I'm going to head to the Hell of Sages and Mahātmās. Please work with the Exalted Immortal-Slayer to handle everything here and in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. I've already taken care of all the warding spells in the Passionless God Flower. It's now simply a powerful god item you can use. Incidentally, please take special care of my Sage Monarch Society, which is my ultimate foundation here in the Immortal Dao Age."

"Yes sir!" Emperor Heart-Celestial said.

'A Terrifying expert!?' Orchid Purity thought, her eyes filling with dread.

"Hmph! Listen up, slave girl. Don't even think of trying anything funny. Yang Qi is the junior sectlord of the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect. You've heard of our sect, haven't you?"

Orchid Purity nearly passed out from fright. Being from the Ancient Road to the Gods, she had obviously heard of the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, and knew it was a superpower that completely surpassed anything she could imagine.