Sage Monarch

Almost instantly, Profound Valor had mastered the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body to the level of ten tribulations. As that happened, he suddenly realized that combining the new technique with the godpower of the Great Necropolis was giving him access to all sorts of unbelievable divine abilities.

He suddenly burst out laughing. "So, you really are helping me, Yang Qi! Are you feeling suicidal or something? Not only am I not dying here, I'm actually gaining more enlightenment of the divine abilities of the Great Necropolis. I'm getting stronger! You can beat me, you can torture me, but you can never actually kill me! I'm going to keep getting stronger and stronger, and when I finally reach the Terrifying level, not even the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart will be able to keep me prisoner."

"Hurry up and send your true energy into the jade," Yang Qi said, ignoring his bravado. Drawing on the psychic enslavement powers, and taking advantage of the fact that the godpower seed was sealed, he forced Profound Valor to send his energy into the Mahātmā Jade.

Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.

The jade made odd noises, but instead of accepting the influx, it sent psychic power flowing back into Profound Valor, provoking more transformations.

RUMBLE!

His Unspoiled Body improved again, and at the same time, psychic power flowed into his sea of consciousness, instantly shoving him into the Terrifying level! It was as if countless suns and moons rose up in his sea of consciousness, then fell back down. Afterward, his nascent divinity and will began climbing until his psychic scale was one.

Then it continued. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Only then did it begin to slow.

"This is bad, Yang Qi!" his clone barked. "I can't control him. He's in the Terrifying level! His psychic scale is climbing too rapidly. With the godpower of the Great Necropolis added in, the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart isn't enough to keep him in check!"

SNAP!

Suddenly, the boundless godpower of the Great Necropolis slammed into the clone, sending him flying dozens of meters off to the side. If it weren't for the fact that they were in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, he would have instantly been killed.

Laughing maniacally, Profound Valor said, "I'm in the Terrifying level! My dream has come true! The Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart can't keep me in check now! And I'm taking this piece of jade too! I'll never free you, Yang Qi. The next time we meet, you're dead!"

Intense rumbling sounds could be heard as countless streams of light shot out, all of them the same stone-like color of the Great Necropolis itself. As they whipped around him, it seemed like he really was on the verge of opening a hole in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

The Great Necropolis blocked the entrance to the Ancient Road to the Gods, and was obviously a top god item. It could emit immortal worlds, and had all sorts of other fabulous powers. In fact, no one really knew exactly what it was capable of, and to find out, one would have to explore its true depths, which, to date, no one had ever done. Not even the emperor of the Executors of the Ancient Road.

In response to Profound Valor's words, Yang Qi noiselessly rose to his feet, and drew on the power of twenty-four tribulations and his psychic scale of eighteen. At the same time, a pearl filled with toxic energy appeared in his hand, which he thrust toward Profound Valor.

Profound Valor had just grabbed the piece of jade, so he used his other hand to meet Yang Qi's attack with a palm, sending out a torrent of Great Necropolis godpower. When they clashed, Yang Qi shivered, whereas Profound Valor was knocked nine meters backward. After all, despite his recent breakthrough, his psychic scale was only five, whereas Yang Qi's was at eighteen. Furthermore, Yang Qi had the Unspoiled Body and the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, a combination that had never been seen before. Plus he had a two-thirds combination of the latter that not even Proud Heaven could match. All of that would give him the upper hand against even some of the strongest Inheritors.

That said, even though Profound Valor had been knocked back, he didn't seem hurt. Clutching the jade, he turned to flee. Reaching out, he began to rip a hole open.

However, at that exact moment, he suddenly shrieked as his hand turned pitch black! Back when Yang Qi had clashed with the Shepherd, the Shepherd tried to kill Yang Qi with poison. Yang Qi managed to take the poison and turn it into a śarīra, and that was exactly what he had just used on Profound Valor.

Upon the initial clash, Profound Valor felt fine. But moments later, the poison was spreading through his body. Crazed, he threw his true energy against it to force it out, but it was only minimally effective. Then, unexpectedly, the godpower of the Great Necropolis began to flow into him, ignoring any limitations of space or distance, to extrude the poison.

That was when Yang Qi struck out again with his palm, sending an attack into Profound Valor's sea of consciousness, using his psychic scale of eighteen to power the Devil-God Seal, which he placed right onto the godpower seed.

Profound Valor immediately devolved into a state of near-madness.

"What treachery is this, Yang Qi? You barbarian! But this still isn't enough to kill me. I'm a Terrifying expert now! I'm unparalleled under heaven, eternally indestructible! The Great Necropolis is my soul, so as long as it remains in existence, I can't be destroyed!"

"Imperial-heaven pre-beginning!" Yang Qi said. "Psychic enslavement!" So far, everything was going according to Yang Qi's plan. Unfortunately, the psychic enslavement technique wouldn't work on Profound Valor now; he was simply too strong. He continued grappling with the sealing mark, but kept a firm grip on the piece of jade at the same time, which he knew he absolutely could not afford to lose.

Of course, Yang Qi wasn't actually trying to perform psychic enslavement on him. Instead, he was trying to distract him. 'Hurry up and send your true energy into the jade!' he thought. 'That's the way to get rid of the poison!'

His thoughts surged through Profound Valor like heart-devils, imparting Yang Qi's suggestions.

It was something he had picked up from the Shepherd; in the blink of an eye, Profound Valor was filled with the confused urge to do exactly as Yang Qi had suggested.

RUMBLE!

Profound Valor sent more true energy pouring into the jade, which once again sent psychic power back to him. However, considering the jade hadn't been powered up since he had originally drained it, he didn't receive any big boost to his cultivation base.

Howling, he threw more power into the jade, only to have it sent back.

Expression flickering, he murmured, "Why isn't the jade trapping the poison!?"

Next, he drew on the godpower of the Great Necropolis, sending it smashing into jade, carrying the poison with it. He did this numerous times, hoping that this was the key to victory.

And it was then that the gravitational force finally appeared within the jade. The jade had no set pattern or rules governing its operation, but if someone sent power into it thousands upon thousands of times, it would eventually trigger.

Bzzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzz.

The jade finally turned on Profound Valor.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself in a nightmare.

All of his true energy and psychic power began flowing into the jade, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Even the godpower seed was starting to tremble. Yang Qi had performed numerous tests and had confirmed what happened in these situations.

It would always absorb everything about a person, until they were eventually reduced to ashes. It didn't even spare magical treasures. It would crush everything, suck it inside, and convert it into who-knew-what.

This jade was domineering in an unheard-of way.

At long last, Yang Qi could see what would happen after the jade absorbed the power of one of the Great Necropolis' godpower seeds.

"Great Necropolis godpower!" Profound Valor shouted, fully aware that he had suddenly found himself in an extremely dangerous situation. Unfortunately, the godpower did no good, and even worse, he couldn't even drop the jade.

As the godpower seed began to tremble more violently, his shock mounted.

"Invincible Great Necropolis; Newly Ordained God!"

As he drew on the full power of the godpower seed, the entire Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart began shaking. The immortal-slaying clone's face turned ashen as a stream of godpower descended, breaking through all barriers and penetrating right into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

Obviously, this was a direct challenge of King Immortal-Slayer's majesty.

Unfortunately, it didn't help Profound Valor. Although it was now clear that the Great Necropolis was a higher-level god item than the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, the problem was that it still wasn't fully unlocked.

Yang Qi had done everything in his power to extract Profound Valor's godpower seed, but had failed. In contrast, the force exerted by the jade was too intense for this partial version of the Great Necropolis' power to fight against. Slowly but surely, the jade was prevailing.

Profound Valor was withering and gasping for breath. Although the power of the necropolis seemed endless, the seed was slowly being pulled down Profound Valor's arm toward the piece of jade. Profound Valor hovered there, face filled with shock as he watched the seed slowly being gobbled up.

Yang Qi shook his head. Only then did he realize how powerful this jade was.

"Aaaiiiieee!"

At last, Profound Valor let loose a long shriek and crumbled into death.

The godpower seed of the Great Necropolis had been fully absorbed by the jade!