Sage Monarch

The medallion was incomplete. However, it was surrounded by marks of damage that made it clear that people had tried to take it in the past, but failed. With one look, Yang Qi knew that it was anything but ordinary. In fact, it immediately seemed to latch on to his soul, creating some sort of strange connection to him.

'That's definitely a piece of Mahātmā Jade,' Yang Qi thought. 'However, it's been sealed by something very powerful. Despite the generations that have passed, no devils have ever realized what it really is. But the Wretch-God Apostle got some of the will of the true Wretch-God from the god world, thus gaining a bit of information about it. Not even Archmonk Dharma Treasury, with his unfathomable cultivation base, knows what it is. If I can get it, I'll finally be able to improve my psychic power, without using the psychic scaling systems.'

Yang Qi looked over at the Shepherd, who was performing breathing exercises right in front of the Mahātmā Jade. Every time he inhaled, the jade would tremble as though it were pulsing with immense power.

It stood to reason that the Shepherd was so strong he was invincible. His mere breathing could destroy universes, yet it wasn't doing anything to the Mahātmā Jade.

If it really was that heavy, it must be very difficult to lift up.

Yang Qi's first impulse was to try to take it. However, he knew that a slip the width of a single hair can lead you a thousand miles astray, therefore, the best thing to do was rely on Archmonk Dharma Treasury and his cultivation base.

Besides, when the archmonk made his move, it would always be possible for Yang Qi to take action on his own if necessary. And once he got the jade, he should be able to improve his will conversion quickly, even stepping into the Terrifying level.

He had to wonder if he would unlock any new abilities upon reaching that next level. Things were always changing, and he had no idea what would happen next. For years and years, he had always used the God Legion Seal, but after vanquishing his dependency-devils, he had begun relying on himself instead.

Perhaps once he reached the Terrifying level, he would be able to fuse all of the various energy arts he had into something of his very own.

"Buddha Goes to a Strange World!" shouted the Archmonk. At the same time, Yang Qi kept his will focused on the archmonk's nascent divinity. In the blink of an eye, he felt himself become incredibly tiny, as though he were standing on the shoulder of an immensely gargantuan golden buddha.

That, of course, was the will of Archmonk Dharma Treasury, an expert whose psychic scale was above twenty. Of course, that was still very far from the mid Terrifying level. Only by having a psychic scale of a hundred could one be considered that strong.

'Wait,' Yang Qi thought, 'if the Shepherd is in the mid Terrifying level, that means he has a psychic scale of at least a hundred. That's simply too heaven-defying! I'm definitely no match for him.'

As Yang Qi watched on, Archmonk Dharma Treasury's nascent divinity rapidly shrank, as did the manifestation of Yang Qi's will on his shoulder. Soon, the archmonk was human-sized, and completely transparent.

With that, they stepped into the stone chamber with the Shepherd.

The Shepherd didn't notice them, and just continued with his breathing exercises.

Buddha Goes to a Strange World was a truly shocking technique, and that was especially so considering it was backed with Fateless blood.

Of course, they were only there as projections of will. If they were there in their true bodies, the Shepherd definitely would have noticed them. The difference between the two states was vast. Meanwhile, Yang Qi sensed the Terrifying fluctuations coming off of the Shepherd, and they made him feel like he was being suffocated.

Luckily, Archmonk Dharma Treasury was there protecting him.

All of a sudden, Archmonk Dharma Treasury went motionless as he focused completely on the jade medallion. At the same time, Yang Qi poured more true energy from his fleshly body into the archmonk's. From what he could tell, without that aid, the archmonk's body would already have collapsed, and he would be dead.

'That divine ability is ridiculously draining. It eats away at the fleshly body so quickly that it's outrageous. Without my help, he would already be completely and utterly dead!'

RUMBLE!

As his true energy circulated into and out of Archmonk Dharma Treasury's body, he was filled with immense pain. However, he treated the pain as tribulations, and had no problems.

Meanwhile, Archmonk Dharma Treasury was waiting for the perfect moment to act.

All of a sudden, the Shepherd inhaled and exhaled, then did the same again. As a result, two streams of energy appeared, which appeared to Yang Qi to be two serpentine dragons above the Shepherd's head. Both were immensely fierce, golden in color, and seemed designed to be the bane of devils and monsters.

Unexpectedly, it was a manifestation of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth!

'That's Proud Heaven's version of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth!' To Yang Qi's complete and utter shock, the Shepherd had obviously sustained a blow from Proud Heaven! And he now had some of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth inside him, which he couldn't assimilate and was continuously inflicting damage on him.

There were traces of another energy art inside him, this one green. In fact, it reminded him of the All-Eternity Spring-Autumn Annalist God-Dao Scripture used by Patriarch Annalist, except vastly stronger.

Based on the ferocity, profundity, and power of that energy art, it had to be from the Executors of the Ancient Road. All of a sudden, Yang Qi realized that the Shepherd must have been struck by both Proud Heaven and the emperor of the executors. Although he had survived, he was seriously injured and was still trying to extrude the two types of energy that had remained within him.

All of a sudden, a howl erupted from within the Shepherd. It wasn't coming from the Shepherd himself, but rather the true energy inside of him. A stream of white energy flowed forth and slammed into the other two energy flows, shoving them toward the top of his head.

If he expelled them, he would recover his true strength and would definitely dominate the general assembly of fiend-devils.

"This is the moment!" Archmonk Dharma Treasury said, suddenly bursting into action and sending all of his will rushing toward the altar. However, when it wrapped around the jade medallion, nothing happened. "Young friend!"

Yang Qi quickly sent his own will out, creating an invisible hand with the power of the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body.

RUMBLE!

As soon as his will contacted the jade, he felt like he was slipping into an endlessly spinning vortex. Even his soul and psyche seemed to be sucked inside. Not only was he failing to pick up the jade, he had made himself absolutely defenseless.

'Crap! How could this be happening?!' In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi felt like his own fleshly body was about to crumble to pieces.

One by one, the power of the twenty-four tribulations within him began fading away.

All of his energy arts were being abolished!

"What's going on?" Archmonk Dharma Treasury said, sensing that something was going wrong.

"Who's there?" a voice asked, rumbling like thunder. All of a sudden, the Shepherd opened his eyes and detected the wills of Yang Qi and Archmonk Dharma Treasury.

"Get out of here!" Archmonk Dharma Treasury barked. "I'll buy you some time. Forget about me!"

"I can't move!" Yang Qi said, even as his fleshly body began withering. "It's the jade. It's absorbing my power."

"How dare you people sneak into my home!" the Shepherd said. Suddenly, rumbling sounds could be heard as two streams of energy were shoved out of the top of his head. Instantly, his wounds recovered and he returned to his previous peak.

His psychic scale rose, and at the same time, the two streams of energy shot toward Yang Qi and Archmonk Dharma Treasury.

"Damn, he's awake!" Archmonk Dharma Treasury said. "I'm afraid we're both going to lose our lives here...."

An attack from Proud Heaven and an attack from the Executors of the Ancient Road closed in on Yang Qi and Archmonk Dharma Treasury. Acting quickly, Yang Qi pulled his fleshly body into the chamber and used it to block the two streams of true energy.

"Hurry! Run!"

Thrusting his palm out, he sent Archmonk Dharma Treasury's nascent divinity flying back, leaving himself alone in the chamber.

Back in their assigned accommodations, Archmonk Dharma Treasury opened his eyes and looked around in shock. As of now, he had no idea what was happening back in the chamber. "My new young friend saved me? And I failed. I failed! But what will happen to him?"

Of course, Archmonk Dharma Treasury had no way of knowing that Yang Qi was actually very pleased by the development. 'You can wear out iron shoes in a fruitless search, then find what you're looking for without even trying. And that's exactly what's happening here. I won't be dying anytime soon!'

As soon as the two streams of energy entered him, they provoked dramatic transformations. That was especially true of Proud Heaven's version of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. After years of trying to refine it, the Shepherd had long since removed virtually all traces of Proud Heaven's will, leaving behind only pure quintessence energy. That was why he had finally been able to extrude it. Therefore, the instant it entered Yang Qi, it stimulated his own Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, combining with his true energy and pushing his cultivation base to a higher level.

Crack. Rattle.

His True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body instantly recovered, and the power of tribulations flowed through him, shoving the green-colored energy into the jade medallion.

Suddenly, the medallion twitched and Yang Qi picked it up.

1. The term I'm translating as "annalist" contains the character for "green" (or cyan, blue, azure, etc.)