Sage Monarch

"So you want your head on the chopping block too, boy?" the man in sackcloth said, a sinister smile playing out on his face. "You're strong, so why not join the forces of the Great Necropolis? You could have a high position when we ultimately conquer this entire place. Eventually, we'll spread out to the Ancient Road to the Gods and take control of it, too. We'll even wipe out those supposed executors."

From his overbearing tone, it seemed clear that this man must have some immense support to rely on.

"The Great Necropolis has been spitting out immortal worlds left and right," Yang Qi replied. "One of these days, your world will be sent out as well. What will you do when you're part of the immortal dao civilization?"

The man laughed. "We'll enslave everyone there, as well. Regardless, all outsiders will be expelled to the Ancient Road to the Gods, and wait for us to come establish order and enslave everyone."

Another buzz of reactions could be heard.

"Crazy! He's completely crazy!"

"Why are we even allowing these people in here? Let's drive them out!"

"Younger Brother, if you can teach these people a lesson, we'll definitely agree to let the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect lead us, at least temporarily."

"I can't believe these people are so rude. We agreed to seek common ground in this sect assembly, all with the goal of forming an alliance to deal with the executors and the fiend-devils. As it turns out, these Great Necropolis savages are just as bad! They need to be kicked out!"

Some of the sect leaders were so angry it seemed they wanted to kill the people in sackcloth.

"Anyone who says another word will have their sect wiped out!" The man who had just defeated Houselord Raging Inferno glared around, and anyone who felt his gaze on them immediately closed their mouth.

"You scum really do deserve to be slaughtered," he continued. Looking back at Yang Qi, he said, "Consider what I just said, boy. Look, you might be strong, but there's only so much you can accomplish on your own. You're from the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, right? Did you know that, with a mere thought, we of the noble blood of the Great Necropolis could easily wipe out such a sect? Ant-like organizations such as yours are courting death by using the term 'superpower sect' to describe themselves. In fact—"

WHACK!

Before he could say another word, Yang Qi appeared right in front of him and smacked him across the side of the face, sending him flying off his feet with blood spraying out of his mouth. In fact, he had been hit so hard that his skull was cracked open.

"I hear a lot of arrogant boasting and conceited drivel from you people," Yang Qi said. "I suppose if I didn't put you in your place, you really would think that you're the strongest force in the Great Necropolis. The Great Necropolis was sent for the benefit of the people from the Ancient Road to the Gods, which means that you're destined to serve us." As he stood there with his hands clasped behind his back, he looked completely casual and at ease.

"Get in formation!" the people in sackcloth shouted, rushing to surround Yang Qi. At the same time, their leader rushed over to the man Yang Qi had slapped, pouring true energy into him to heal him.

Then he looked up and coolly said, "Do you understand what you've done, boy? You're about to have your whole sect exterminated. Nobody in the Great Necropolis can save you at this point."

"Kill him, Pontifex!" shouted the man Yang Qi had struck, his eyes blazing with hatred.

"Do you really think you have what it takes to heal him?" Yang Qi asked, a faint smile in his eyes.

At that moment, the pontifex realized that he had miscalculated.

Unfortunately, he was too late.

RUMBLE!

His subordinate suddenly let loose an agonized shriek, as though he were experiencing countless torture methods from hell. The sound of his agonized screaming was enough to cause goosebumps to pop up on all the onlookers. Even as everyone watched, the screaming man then exploded, splattering the pontifex with blood and sending the other members of the Sackcloth Cathedral staggering backward with new injuries.

Voice thrumming with coldness and brutality, Yang Qi said, "Since your goal is to enslave all of the sects here, it's obviously not an option to leave you alive. You're enemies just as much as the Executors of the Ancient Road."

With that, he floated over to one of the men in sackcloth, reached out, and laid a hand on him. Instantly, the man's head exploded and his body withered up into a corpse, which then plopped onto the ground.

Then Yang Qi unleashed another casual palm strike, causing another expert from the Sackcloth Cathedral to drop dead.

Next, he moved toward the shocked pontifex himself, who backed up and simultaneously thrust his hands out, causing stone-colored beams of light to shoot out and form something like a spider web right in front of him.

All of these developments were happening so quickly that the onlookers had no time to react.

Thankfully, Yang Qi had gained valuable experience fighting Shi Yuan. Furthermore, he had begun to develop his Purrfect God Art. As such, he was easily able to advance, despite the complex blockage created by the stone-colored beams of light. Nothing could block his path as he closed in on the pontifex.

Yang Qi threw out a palm, and the pontifex met it with his God Tombstone Palms. An enormous tombstone appeared, the kind that could suppress souls and express the true power of the Great Necropolis.

In response, Yang Qi's eyes glittered and he drew on the Sovereign Lord's Holy and Far-Reaching Consummate Omnicurse and the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. Two godly abilities, backed by the Purrfect God Art, unleashed what seemed like something eternal and undying. And when the collision occurred, the power of the God Tombstone Palms was reflected back toward its source.

POP!

The pontifex was struck square on the chest, causing blood to spray out of his mouth. It was as if he had struck himself with full force!

As he continued coughing up blood, Yang Qi thrust his hands out again, with mountain-toppling, sea-draining force.

All of the onlookers were completely stunned by what they were seeing.

As Yang Qi's hands struck the pontifex, he didn't even have a chance to scream. He was instantly flattened into a smear of gore on the ground, without even a scrap of aura rising up from it.

He had been killed with that one blow.

Not even his psychic fluctuations remained behind.

Based on common understanding, it should be impossible for someone as strong as him to be killed in such a way. Even if he were to be flattened into a pile of gore, that gore should have wriggled back together and formed into human shape again. No one had any idea how Yang Qi had done what he had done.

But one thing was for sure, the pontifex of the Sackcloth Cathedral was completely and utterly dead.

"Zi Qiong, collect this flesh and blood. We can make medicinal pills out of it later, for use by the lower-level subordinates."

Zi Qiong immediately flew out to comply with his orders. The streak of gore was about three inches thick and contained everything from the man's clothes, to bones, to his internal organs. It really was a horrifying sight. Even the god items he had possessed were flattened. The surviving members of the Sackcloth Cathedral were visibly terrified, and even the experts from the Ancient Road to the Gods were stunned. None of them could ever have guessed that Yang Qi would turn out to be this domineering.

The pontifex of the Sackcloth Cathedral had obviously not been a weakling that was hoping to impress people with a show of confidence. He had been a truly formidable foe. Therefore, the fact that he had been killed without even a chance to scream only begged the question of just exactly how strong the junior sectlord of the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect really was.

Up to this point, a lot of people had assumed that the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect was formidable only because of the purrling and its bubbles. None of them had even guessed that the junior sectlord would also be so intimidating.

"You people from the Sackcloth Cathedral, get on your knees," Yang Qi said, clasping his hands behind his back. "Unless you join the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, you're going to end up just like that pontifex of yours."

The remaining dozen or so chief elders from the Sackcloth Cathedral gazed at Yang Qi with blank expressions. They had come here shortly before with wild ambitions, but now those feelings were gone, scraped away along with the smear of gore that was all that remained of their pontifex.

Thump!

All of them dropped to their knees. "Spare us, Young Hero. Please!" They then began knocking their heads on the ground as they kowtowed. "We'll join your sect. The Sackcloth Cathedral is clearly done for. We want to be part of the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect!"

"Fine. In that case, I'll place some warding spells in your heads. If you resist, you die." He flicked his finger, sending a host of warding spells out that burrowed into the minds of the people from the Sackcloth Cathedral. Henceforth, they would be members of the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, with the warding spells conveying all of the basic information about the sect.

After the warding spells were in place, they walked over to Sectlord Will Manifestation, dropped to their knees again, and said, "We kowtow in salute, Sectlord!"

The sectlord was delighted at how well Yang Qi had performed, and how he had furthered the glory of the sect. 'Could Yang Qi be using this as an opportunity to remove as many of our rivals as possible?' he thought.

"Very well, let's stand to the side and wait for the assembly to begin," he said. "Yang Qi, don't make too much of a scene here. Remember, the goal of this assembly is to forge a strong alliance with the other sects."

"Yes sir, Sectlord!" Yang Qi said. "However, I'm really worried about arrogant psychos like these trying to enslave us. I wonder if it would be a good idea to form a smaller, temporary alliance first, lest more Great Necropolis savages cause problems for us."