Sage Monarch

Yang Qi was facing the most critical moment of his Secondary Lifeseizing tribulation.

The storm around him was building in intensity, sending massive lightning bolts at him which he simply absorbed into his true energy. Toward the end, the lightning took the form of swords, sabers, hammers, and all sorts of other weapons which bore down on him with reckless abandon.

As for Yang Qi, the constant influx of lightning energy was almost intoxicating.

Slowly but surely, symbols of lightning began to form around him, the images of gods and devils, of angels and ghosts.

In the middle of those angels and devil-ghosts was a god of heaven with an elephantine head and a human body, which seemed capable of propping up all the heavens as it crushed hell beneath its feet. This was the invincible might of the godmammoth.

Yang Qi's true energy was now so boundless that it was like an ocean capable of fighting back against heaven and earth. The tribulation that had come with Secondary Lifeseizing wasn't a problem for him at all, and in fact, benefited his true energy, and made him even stronger than before.

The golden layer on his skin slowly retreated, leaving behind a powerful aura, as well as sparkling and translucent skin. It seemed flawless in every aspect, almost as if it were carved from the purest crystal.

As of now, the blood inside him wasn't dark gold anymore. Instead, it was like platinum. And instead of having a hellish aura, he now seemed like he came from the holy legion of gods in heaven.

WHOOSH!

His widespread wings were no longer pitch black. Instead, they pulsed with a holy aura, and were now laced with streaks of white.

His Fiend-Devil Wings were progressing toward becoming Angel Wings.

The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was not an inherently evil energy art. It was a mythical technique that had existed for so long that it had become tainted with bits of evil.

However, as progress was made within the technique, those evil aspects would be cleansed and expelled by holiness.

The most obvious evidence of that change was how the Fiend-Devil Wings were becoming Angel Wings. Furthermore, the Infernal Deity Spear would also change color, and would become pure and holy, like a sage, infused with energy of the dao of monarchs.

'Infernal Deity Spear!'

The flick of his hand summoned the spear, which was not dark golden anymore. It was also laced with platinum. Now, anyone who looked at the spear wouldn't think of it as the result of some evil technique, but rather, something orthodox and righteous.

Of course, it would take more time to truly expel the evil, or at least, purify and absorb it.

Only a small portion had been cleansed at this point. When his Fiend-Devil Wings truly became Angel Wings, they would be scintillating platinum. And to do that, he would need to seize life multiple times, and reach the Legendary level.

'Physical transformation, and subjugation of evil. Use the power of hell to bolster heaven!' Yang Qi's mind was filled with the mental dharma of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and his meridians were growing even more powerful.

Countless bolts of lightning entered him, along with boundless vital energy of heaven and earth.

The wind screamed high in the air where he was, a massive storm of vital energy that he forcibly grabbed and shoved into his meridians.

His meridians were now twice as large as they had been, and also twice as tough. And his sea of energy really was like a massive sea, overflowing with turbulent true energy.

Although the vital energy this high in the sky couldn't compare to Nine-Yang Immortal Energy, it was still useful, and incredibly abundant.

As it poured into his meridians and went to his sea of energy, it became a mist, which was crushed into a liquid that then became a solid substance.

Then, that solid substance was crushed into tiny, nearly invisible bits, which then were absorbed into the existing particles within him.

With that vital energy, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was once again awakening.

BOOM!

The forty-first particle within him sent the true energy of a megamammoth pouring through him.

'Awaken! The power of a megamammoth can prop up the heavens! And its legs can crush the countless hosts of devils in hell. I have accepted your legacy! I am supreme in all creation!'

Yang Qi felt as though he could dry up rivers and drain seas, or pluck stars and snatch moons.

Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam! Bam!! BAM!!!

Eight booms resonated as more megamammoths woke up. In the blink of an eye, he went to a total of forty-nine awakened particles. He was right on the verge of reaching fifty.

With the power of so many ancient megamammoths coursing through him, Yang Qi didn't feel like himself. He felt like a god in embryonic form.

His meridians continued to change, growing larger and tougher. When he closed his eyes and looked inside, he saw that his meridians were now platinum, holy to the extreme, within which flowed platinum true energy, energy that seemed to be on the verge of merging with his blood.

According to legend, in the highest levels of cultivation, the practitioner would become one with energy. The practitioner would be energy, and the energy would be the practitioner. That person would then be able to transform at any time, becoming an embodiment of pure energy. It was essentially a state of undying.

Of course, not even Legendaries could do that.

And yet, Yang Qi could tell that he was gradually heading in that direction. If people such as Patriarchs Wind and Cloud back in the Demi-Immortal Institute could see what was happening to him, they would be shocked to death.

He was truly transforming on all levels.

With that, he burst out laughing. At the same time, the violent energy flows around him were swept away, leaving him hovering in the air like a god or devil.

"Trident!" he said. Suddenly, the rippling blue door leading into his thumb-ring opened, and the divine weapon therein flew out. That trident was the weapon that had long since been on the verge of becoming a spirit weapon.

What were spirit weapons? They were weapons that developed their own spirit. They were essentially daemons with powerful energy arts. Most weapons never became daemons. But once they did, and once they developed their own spirit, they could not easily be vanquished by even the most powerful energy artists.

A spirit weapon was essentially like an expert in the Lifeseizing level.

As for the trident, it had been forged with cold, ten-thousand-year-old iron from the bottom of the ocean, bolstered by seasoul crystals and the quintessence-blood and souls of countless sea demonlings. It was named Trident of the Sea God, and had been infused with medicinal pills for decades, all for the purpose of turning it into a spirit weapon.

Yang Qi had learned of the matters pertaining to the trident after attending classes in the institute.

During his time at the Demi-Immortal Institute, he had not only transformed from an ignorant youth into something of a man of learning, he had also learned a bit about equipment forging.

"The dao of equipment forging involves manipulating the soul of steel. Clear the meridians, cast the spirit. Alright, trident. Now that I'm a Secondary Lifeseizer, I'll help you form your soul and become a spirit weapon!"

WHIZZZ!

The Infernal Deity Spear suddenly flew out into the open.

As true energy poured from the spear into the trident, numerous cracking sounds rang out, as though something inside the trident was opening up.

In the end, a huge boom rang out, and the trident began to shine with dazzling light, and pulse with the vital energy of heaven and earth.

It was also possible to see, in the very depths of the trident, something like a blue soul.

The trident rose into the air, emanating true energy fluctuations that were equivalent to a Primary Lifeseizer.

"Not a bad weapon. Of course, considering I have my Infernal Deity Spear, I have no need of such a thing. I'll give it to one of my brothers. If Yun Hailan makes a move against them or one of their clans, they will need all the help they can get."

Although his Fiend-Devil Wings were not Angel Wings, they were laced with platinum, and were now even more powerful than before.

He flapped the wings, not only propelling himself downward, but also sending out a blast of heat.

The friction between that heat and the storm around him caused flames to erupt everywhere, making him look like a phoenix speeding down from the sky.

That fire moved so fast that the sound of its passage didn't arrive until the fire was more than fifty kilometers away, a truly terrifying level of speed.

In fact, it was speed the likes of which meant Yang Qi could kill some Lifeseizers by simply running into them, and not even unleashing an attack.

Now that he was fully in Secondary Lifeseizing, he was so powerful that if he ran into Longxuan Ye again, he could kill him without a second thought.

In fact, he could easily hold his own against Quaternary or even Quinary Lifeseizers.

WHOOSH!

By this point, he was back among the sea of clouds, and before long, landed on the ground. It was summer; the air was hot and parched, and the lands were dry, cracked, and covered with dust.

Smiling, he circulated his true energy, then turned into a blur that headed back to the Demi-Immortal Institute, leaving behind only a curl of smoke.

By the time he arrived, it was night. He didn't go to the College of Elite Students, but instead, to the location where Li He and the others were in secluded meditation.

He had left behind some Humanoid True Energy to help them operate the energy formation of the dao of monarchs, but had no idea how their cultivation had progressed since he left.

As it turned out, the one who benefited the most was Liang Dong, who was rapidly approaching the Lifeseizing level.