Sage Monarch

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Yang Qi shook his head slowly, weary from the hundred years of research and study. Despite using more than a thousand evil characters in his attempts to unlock the secrets of the Mahātmā Jade, he had failed.

That said, none of the fiends he had used in his experiments had particularly impressive psychic power. The highest any of them got was a psychic scale of five, which was nowhere close to the level of the Shepherd.

"At least you learned something," said the immortal-slaying clone. "First, the Mahātmā Jade cannot produce its own psychic power, but it completely unlocks the limitations of any power it absorbs. That in itself is heaven-defying. The second thing you learned is that only people with the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body can be absorbed by the Mahātmā Jade. Third, there are no specific rules or patterns, which means you have to be extremely careful when using it.

"Right now, the jade contains the psychic power of an expert with a scale of five. Whoever uses it next will definitely reach the Terrifying level. Unfortunately, you have no idea if the next person who uses it will be blessed or killed."

"You're exactly right," Yang Qi said with a nod. "Unfortunately, I don't know what to do now in terms of research and study. What's worse, if for some reason a test subject reached a psychic scale of twenty or thirty, we wouldn't be able to control them."

"I wouldn't worry about that. As long as we're in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, I can deal with someone who has a psychic scale of thirty. That said, I don't think you're going to learn anything else by continuing this line of research. This definitely isn't how the Mahātmā Jade is supposed to work, otherwise it wouldn't be worth much. What if the problem is that this is only one fragment of it? Perhaps you need to collect more pieces before you can properly use them."

"Maybe. But one thing I still don't understand is how the Shepherd was able to send his psychic power into it even though he doesn't cultivate the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. That technique is definitely one of the requirements. The fact that his psychic power was inside the jade is the only reason I reached a psychic scale of eighteen."

"Maybe he does cultivate it and you just couldn't tell. Or maybe he has some other secret abilities you're not aware of. You just did a hundred years of research, and I helped you with plenty of the powers of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Despite all of that, we have no idea what the jade will do with its next use. It's almost like the Mahātmā Jade is similar to you, in that it exists outside of fate. It's almost like it's a Fateless One."

"True. I even used my Wheel of Fate, but found nothing. It really is a heaven-defying god item. It befuddles yin and yang, surpasses the three realms, and doesn't conform to the five phases. That said, we still have time on our hands. Might as well continue to do some research."

"What's your plan, though?" the clone asked. "Don't tell me you have some other trick up your sleeve."

"I do. I'm going to finally try the God Legion Seal and King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions. I want to see what happens if I use the jade on them. This is actually going to be a very important step for us. You're the successor of King Immortal-Slayer, so when he is finally resurrected, you'll be in a very delicate situation. After all, if you ride a tiger, it's hard to get off. Even worse, the final medallion is still in the hands of someone else, probably Proud Heaven. And that means he might be able to break into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. As you know, the chart is our final line of defense, so the fact that it has a vulnerability is very troublesome. We don't want this chart to end up as our tomb."

"Our top priority right now should be to get that final legacy medallion, although I'm still worried about what will happen when the nine medallions combine. The will of King Immortal-Slayer is definitely going to try to possess me." The clone sighed. "You're absolutely right that if you ride a tiger, it's hard to get off. We can't leave the final medallion in the hands of an enemy, and we can't combine them. So what are we supposed to do?"

"Simple," Yang Qi said. "Once we get the last medallion, we immediately lock it down and prevent it from fusing with the others. The medallions might be too formidable for us to directly control, but if we can use some powerful item to do it for us, we'll be set. And nothing could be more powerful than the God Legion Seal and this Mahātmā Jade."

"There's something else that's stronger than the legacy medallions and the Mahātmā Jade," the clone said with a smile. "And perhaps it's even on the same level of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. They might even have similar origins."

Yang Qi nodded. "You mean... the Great Necropolis?"

Considering that the necropolis could erupt with numerous immortal worlds, even some with ranks in the hundreds, it was obvious that it was immensely strong. Maybe it was roughly the same level as the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, or even beyond it.

Unfortunately, it was hard to say who would be the ultimate owner of the necropolis.

"Alright, time to get started!" Yang Qi waved his hand and called upon the power of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. A sealing mark instantly appeared in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, and as it unraveled, golden light shone and the God Legion Seal shot into Yang Qi's hand.

Yang Qi had previously assumed that, having struck out on his own, the God Legion Seal would feel increasingly distant. But instead, it felt as familiar as ever. In fact, it seemed as eager to reunite with him as a lover would, and it clearly wanted to shoot right into his sea of consciousness.

Yang Qi knew that some of the reaction was because he had absorbed a bit of Proud Heaven's version of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. For all intents and purposes, it was almost like he had acquired another piece of the God Legion Seal.

Of course, Yang Qi couldn't just let the seal do what it wanted.

He waved his hand, activating his energy arts and causing the God Legion Seal to float up in front of him. It wasn't a person, just a sealing mark. And although it contained immense power, it was currently still fragmented, and definitely within the realm of what Yang Qi could control.

"Be suppressed!" the golden imp of the seal landed on the Mahātmā Jade, and rumbling sounds instantly echoed out. In the blink of an eye, the jade began shaking as surely as if it were in the presence of an old archenemy.

At the same time, it looked like the God Legion Seal was about to absorb the Mahātmā Jade.

Perhaps these two god items really had clashed in the past.

All of a sudden, Yang Qi felt like he was back at the beginning of everything, when devils and gods clashed and the Sovereign Lord had fought the True Devil, shaking all creation, shattering the great dao, and plunging the universe into oblivion.

"King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions!"

With the wave of a hand, the clone released the medallions, sending them directly toward the Mahātmā Jade.

The jade was now sustaining attacks by two powerful items, causing it to emit jade-colored light that created a domain of protection around it.

Gong!

The three items clashed, and a deafening boom rang out, causing Yang Qi's soul and sea of consciousness to tremble.

Yang Qi suddenly felt like an enormous devil of the past was rushing toward him with the power to crush heavens and earths underfoot. It was impossible to evade the blow, and he was sent flying, blood spraying out of his mouth.

The immortal-slaying clone fared little better, and was thrown backward, his body crushed. Thankfully, he had the godhood stars to call upon, and was fully healed in almost the same moment.

Crack. Crunch.

With no one operating them, the three magical treasures simply hung there, motionless.

After a long moment of recovery, Yang Qi and his clone climbed to their feet and exchanged wry smiles. "So," the clone said, "they can keep each other under control, but unfortunately, we're not strong enough to deal with the resulting fluctuations. Ordinary people who tried to do that would be dead already."

Another experiment had fizzled out.

"Ai! This Mahātmā Jade is not easy to work with. I guess it's only to be expected, considering its reputation. If I could win control of the Great Necropolis, it wouldn't be a problem at all to deal with. But that's not exactly realistic at this point...."

"The Great Necropolis?" the clone said. "You still haven't fully assimilated that godpower seed, have you. Profound Valor is imprisoned here in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, but he can still draw on the power of the necropolis to further his cultivation. His energy arts have increased quite a bit through the years, and he's getting closer and closer to the Terrifying level. In fact, if I hadn't reached the Terrifying level myself, I wouldn't have been able to keep him sealed. Incidentally, although Leaf Dao-Denier still looks like little more than skin-and-bones, he's bursting with power on the inside."

"The two of them are still trying to cause problems?" Yang Qi said. He chuckled coldly. "Considering how much stronger I am than I was before, they're courting death! I wouldn't even be worried if both of them reached the Terrifying level."

All of a sudden, Yang Qi's eyes glittered. "Wait a second! Profound Valor is an Inheritor! I could force him to cultivate the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body, then send his psychic power into the Mahātmā Jade. If the jade absorbs it, it should also absorb the godpower seed. This will be like a fight between the Great Necropolis and the Mahātmā Jade; I wonder which one is stronger!"

"That's a good idea!" the clone said, nodding. "Just don't make a fool of yourself in trying to be clever. What would happen if Profound Valor actually absorbed the power of the jade and used it to stimulate the godpower of the necropolis? That could cause major problems, even here in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart."

"I know. Trust me, I have a lot of experience in this regard. That mahātmā fiend-devil tried to use me for research purposes while they were attempting to seal Lord Blood River. In the end, I was the one who benefited. The Wretch-God Apostle tried to do something similar, only to be turned into a psychic slave. I'm fully aware of the ramifications." He thought for a moment. "Right now, there's power equivalent to a psychic scale of five inside the jade. Even if Profound Valor did absorb it, he still wouldn't reach the Terrifying level."

"A Terrifying Inheritor would be extremely powerful," the clone said.