Sage Monarch

Yang Qi wanted to kill the villainous Flower-Seizing Marauder, only to have the obsessed Star Swordlife interfere.

He had dealt with Star Swordlife many times, and had come to find that he really had a one-track mind. No amount of talking would convince him to change, and all he ever talked about was his refusal to kill. Moments ago, the Flower-Seizing Marauder had threatened to kill a whole group of cultivators with his God Tombstone Palms, a group that included women.

But now Star Swordlife was actually defending him. As far as Yang Qi was concerned, Star Swordlife's actions had long since surpassed anything that made sense.

In the end, Yang Qi didn't care. He would reveal the truth with his fists if he had to.

He knew that the Flower-Seizing Marauder wouldn't be easy to take down, and if Star Swordlife got involved, the fight would be even harder. However, knowing that didn't weaken his resolve or confidence. Oftentimes, his best performances were in tight situations such as this.

"Die!" he shouted, launching a fist right at Star Swordlife.

This caught Star Swordlife completely by surprise. However, he still had a Terrifying will convergence, and that was nothing to take lightly. He slashed out with his sword, sending a beam of light to meet the incoming fist. When the two collided, Star Swordlife felt immense force slamming into him, sending him staggering backward with a look of surprise on his face.

Ever since acquiring the godpower seed, his cultivation base had advanced so rapidly that his dao of the sword had become nearly invincible. In fact, he was actually superior to most of the sect leaders.

As such, he was completely taken aback to find that Yang Qi was so strong.

Yang Qi's fist strike was a combination of soft and hard. It pulled and pushed at the same time, and seemed like a tribulation of kalpas, unceasing and never-ending.

It was truly an ultimate manifestation of the art of the fist.

Yang Qi's fist technique had improved tremendously after cultivating the Unspoiled Body with the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. Although the combination was causing problems with his cultivation advancement, it did make him incredibly effective in combat.

Later, the Mahātmā Jade he acquired had helped his psychic power, but unfortunately, it was dangerous to use. He had no idea whether it would suck the user dry, or provide an influx of psychic power. Until his research revealed more of its secrets, he didn't dare to use it.

Thankfully, the newly born purrling had provided a lot of enlightenment, helping him use his three major energy arts together and reach a level that was completely unheard of throughout history.

Of course, there was still a lot of enlightenment to be had regarding his Purrfect God Art. He needed to spend time in secluded meditation in order to answer the many questions he had regarding the connection between his fleshly body and his psyche.

But even though the energy arts he had at his disposal weren't technically complete, they were still more than Star Swordlife was capable of easily vanquishing.

One of his reasons for taking the fight to the Flower-Seizing Marauder and Star Swordlife at the same time was that he hoped the brutal combat would improve his psychic enlightenment and further his understanding of the Purrfect God Art.

Even gods could gain enlightenment by walking the thin line between life and death.

After forcing Star Swordlife back with a fist strike, Yang Qi followed it up with another blow that contained elements of yin and yang, heaven and earth, and righteousness and evil.

The onlookers watched in amazement as he launched blow after blow. His superb skill in martial and energy arts was such that everyone began sweating with shock. How could any of them have guessed that he was this proficient?

Was he even human? Or was he actually the child of a Paramount God from the god world, descended to the mortal world in human form?

The Flower-Seizing Marauder was also stunned, as he realized that he had no idea what martial discipline Yang Qi was using. It was so powerful that he wasn't sure he could even fight it, or even escape its momentum once it was unleashed. He preemptively threw out a move from his God Tombstone Palms, creating a defensive perimeter around himself.

Specifically, he was using the Sink into Oblivion style of the palm technique, which created a rippling area around him that would draw in all offensive attacks and negate them. Any palm power that hit it would simply 'sink down into oblivion'.

Meanwhile, Star Swordlife finally struck back, sending out a tempest of sword energy that manifested as all sorts of meteorological and astronomical phenomenon, including falling rain, snowflakes, lighting and thunder.

It looked like a huge fight was about to take place.

It was one versus two, and Yang Qi wasn't holding anything back. His attacks all conformed to the dao of heaven, creating a field of energy that completely surrounded both Star Swordlife and the Flower-Seizing Marauder. At the same time, Star Swordlife was fighting back fiercely with his sword, to the point where Yang Qi couldn't afford any slowness or delays.

Every time his fist connected with the sword, immense force would rip through him, making him feel numb as a result. Thankfully, he had some godpower seeds and access to the vital energy of the Great Necropolis, which helped him stave off the numbness.

Without those, Yang Qi would definitely have been at a huge disadvantage.

Meanwhile, the Flower-Seizing Marauder was having problems similar to Star Swordlife.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed that Junior Sectlord Will Manifestation was this strong. In fact, he seemed equal to some of the most powerful people from the Ancient Road to the Gods, imperial figures with psychic scales of eighty.

Not even his God Tombstone Palms, or other arts from the Great Necropolis, seemed enough to block Yang Qi's wild attacks.

As for the people on the sidelines, they watched the fighting with such astonishment that they had already begun crying out in shock at what they were seeing. Earlier, few people present had felt very optimistic at Yang Qi's chances. After all, they had all just seen Star Swordlife and the Flower-Seizing Marauder fighting. But now, Yang Qi's stellar performance had many of them considering joining the fight to try to slaughter Star Swordlife and the Flower-Seizing Marauder.

Obviously, Yang Qi was winning hearts here. Yet again, destiny was stirring.

"Sword Shattering!"

All of a sudden, he pounced like an eagle descending on a rabbit, heading directly toward Star Swordlife.

Before Star Swordlife could react, Yang Qi's hand clamped down onto his sword and twisted, shattering the blade. Then, Yang Qi's hand shot toward Star Swordlife's head.

Star Swordlife quickly backed up, and with a flourish of both hands, produced another sword. Waving it, he created a massive sword net, not to attack Yang Qi but to defend the Flower-Seizing Marauder.

When the audience saw this, more yelling and cursing could be heard.

"You asshole! You're actually defending the Flower-Seizing Marauder? What are you thinking? You want to save people? Do you know how many people are going to die if the Flower-Seizing Marauder escapes today? You might as well be killing them yourself!"

"The punk has already entered the dao of devils. Junior Sectlord, kill them both!"

"This brat is going to make himself public enemy number one. He definitely can't be allowed to live. If the Flower-Seizing Marauder survives, we have to kill this accomplice of his!"

The crowd was truly getting very angry at Star Swordlife's actions.

However, he was set on his dao. It didn't matter how people cursed him, he would defend the Flower-Seizing Marauder. Of course, the Flower-Seizing Marauder was both surprised and delighted by this. And at a certain point, he intentionally retracted his energy, putting himself in a dangerous situation.

Of course, Yang Qi immediately took advantage of the situation and pressed the attack. And just when it seemed he would pierce the Flower-Seizing Marauder's defense, Star Swordlife lunged forward, expending a huge amount of vital energy to create a defensive barrier.

When the onlookers saw this, their curses grew even harsher. To see Star Swordlife so openly defending the Flower-Seizing Marauder made them want to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

That was especially true considering how the Flower-Seizing Marauder had plagued the women of so many different sects. The Flower-Seizing Marauder was truly notorious, and really was guilty of countless crimes. If hatred alone could kill, he would have long since been dead.

Unfortunately, Star Swordlife was doing everything he could to prevent Yang Qi from killing him.

Howling, Yang Qi unleashed another devastating attack, causing an aura to spread out that seemed to contain the energy of countless fallen gods.

As Yang Qi's fist strike approached, the Flower-Seizing Marauder's face fell and he tried to dodge to the side. Before he could, Yang Qi launched another fist strike to block his path of escape.

The Flower-Seizing Marauder was trapped; if he were struck by either of these blows, he would die, or at least be seriously injured.

However, at that moment, Star Swordlife thrust out his sword, drawing on all of the power of his cultivation base, and all of his sword energy, to block the two fist strikes.

POP!

Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and he said, "Get out of here, Flower-Seizing Marauder! And remember, don't kill anyone!"

Chuckling coldly, the Flower-Seizing Marauder said, "You actually believed that I wouldn't kill anyone from here on out? You're so stupid you don't deserve to live! Give me your godpower seed!"

And he thrust out his hand toward Star Swordlife's head.