Sage Monarch

This newcomer was from the Hell of Books and Civilization, however, he only looked like a fiend-devil. He didn't actually possess fiend-devil blood, just a hint of the air of a wretch-god. Immediately, there were several old-timers present who recognized him.

"It's Wretch Heaven-Gentleman!"

"Wretch Heaven-Gentleman has actually joined the fray. Isn't he the houselord of the House of Wretch-Gentlemen? People are saying that not too long ago, he tried to break through to the mid Terrifying level, but failed, experiencing cultivation deviation and exploding into absolutely nothing. So what's he doing here alive?"

"He obviously didn't break through to the mid Terrifying level, but he did experience an unimaginable boost to his divine abilities. I'd say he's very, very close to being as strong as the mid Terrifying level."

Another extremely famous person had arrived.

"Sire, are you Wretch Heaven-Gentleman?" Yang Qi said.

"Of course I am," the man replied. Instead of lunging forward in attack, he simply smiled and said, "Who could have guessed that a little group like the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect would produce an expert such as yourself? Very unexpected. If you actually become the league-lord, they'll have reason to be very proud."

Crack!

Yang Qi suddenly slapped his hand down on himself, grabbing something that no one could see. Whatever it was, it was twisting and writhing in his hand, and simultaneously emitting piercing screams that were very uncomfortable to anyone who could hear them. In fact, everyone present suddenly felt dizzy and light-headed.

Soon, the object in Yang Qi's hand became visible. It was a blackish-violet scorpion with a vicious stinger that glowed with mutant, wretched godliness.

This was not some ordinary venomous creature like those that existed in the mortal world. This was a pest from the god world, and a very powerful one at that.

It was impossible to say when, but Wretch Heaven-Gentleman had secretly sent the thing onto Yang Qi in the hopes of poisoning him. However, Yang Qi had detected the creature and grabbed it.

Yang Qi exerted about one-third of the force he was capable of, and cracking sounds rang out along with the piercing screams of the scorpion. However, it didn't die. Its carapace was incredibly strong, so much so that one-third of Yang Qi's strength, which would easily kill many top experts in an instant, wasn't enough to deal with the scorpion.

Upon seeing Yang Qi capture his scorpion, an intimidating expression appeared on Wretch Heaven-Gentleman's face. "At what point did you steal my scorpion, Junior Sectlord? When we were talking just now?"

Yang Qi laughed. "You certainly live up to your name, Wretch Heaven-Gentleman. How very sinister of you to plant your scorpion on me like that. In all fairness, this creature would be considered difficult to deal with even in the god world. Sadly for you, it's not enough to cause problems for me. I've come to win the spot of league-lord with real swords and real spears. Do you really think that some silly plots and machinations could be used to defeat me? Did I hear correctly that you tried to reach the mid Terrifying level, but failed? If so, I guess it's true what they say: heaven and earth won't tolerate a malicious heart! What other explanation could there be for your failure?"

Crack!

Yang Qi exerted a bit more effort and the scorpion exploded. Expression turning even more malicious, Wretch Heaven-Gentleman said, "You just killed a venomous beast from the god world. Do you know how grave of a sin that is?"

BZZZZZZZZ!

All of a sudden, a host of insects flew out, creating streaks of light that shot toward Yang Qi and slammed into his defensive empyrean energy, then began gnawing their way through it.

"Those are godcorpse flies!" Sectlord Will Manifestation blurted, rising to his feet with a look of shock on his face. "According to the legends, they grow on the corpses of gods! And as they feed on such corpses, they develop a powerful poison that can eat through any kind of true energy!"

Wretch Heaven-Gentleman burst out into piercing laughter. "My godcorpse flies come from the corpses of gods in the god world. It took a lot of effort to capture them with my God-Entrancing Song, but after a few hundred million years of work, they've become a very powerful tool for me. I hope you enjoy the sensation of being killed by them!"

"Oh really?"

As the flies surrounded him, Yang Qi simply looked on, allowing them to eat through his defensive empyrean energy for a moment. But then, he waved his hand and a pulse rolled out, sending all of the flies tumbling in the opposite direction.

However, they weren't dead. Instead, they clumped together into a large ball that turned and began rolling back toward Yang Qi.

Unfortunately for them, he went on to murmur an enchantment.

Instantly, the ball of godcorpse flies stopped moving, their psychic connection to Wretch Heaven-Gentleman broken. Then, they began loudly buzzing as they aggressively flew back toward their previous master.

"How is that even possible? My cloud of godcorpse flies is an out-of-body incarnation! A second nascent divinity! How could they be turning on me?" Wretch Heaven-Gentleman very nearly screamed as he drew on a host of magics and incantations to defend himself. Sadly, none of them worked, and the godcorpse flies were soon gnawing their way into his defensive empyrean energy.

Walking up to him, Yang Qi said, "Enjoy yourself. This is called reaping what you've sown."

Whoosh!

He stabbed his finger out, hitting Wretch Heaven-Gentleman's defensive energy arts and shattering them. Instantly, the godcorpse flies began burrowing into the man's body and chewing their way toward his sea of consciousness.

Wretch Heaven-Gentleman let loose a bloodcurdling scream as he fell to the ground, where he writhed violently as his body decayed. Not even his nascent divinity was able to escape. Once godcorpse flies entered a body, their poison would immobilize the nascent divinity, making escape completely impossible.

The screams pouring from Wretch Heaven-Gentleman's mouth caused chills to run up the spines of the onlookers. Everyone on the Ancient Road to the Gods knew that once someone fell victim to godcorpse flies, there was no escaping them.

Crunch. Crunch....

Everyone present could hear the sound of the bugs eating away at Wretch Heaven-Gentleman until he was nothing more than a skeleton. However, the skeleton suddenly twitched, and a stream of will shot out that said, "Save me! Save me, Yang Qi! I'll work for you. Just let me live. I've already cultivated to the point of developing a Skeletal Soul! My skeleton is my soul, and my soul is my skeleton! I'm so close to being deathless...."

In response, Yang Qi merely thrust his palm out, causing cracking sounds to ring out as the skeleton crumbled into dust, which the godcorpse flies ravenously devoured.

Wretch Heaven-Gentleman had been devoured by his own godcorpse flies, to the point where not even his bones were left behind.

Next, Yang Qi waved his hand, causing the godcorpse flies to gather into a sphere that floated over to his hand. Looking closely, he saw that they looked like little more than gnats, yet they were obviously incredibly powerful.

Drawing on the Sovereign Lord's Holy and Far-Reaching Consummate Omnicurse, he forced the godcorpse flies to become his.

A droning sound could be heard as the sphere of flies then shot out into the audience. Everyone nearby jumped out of the way as the flies headed to the area where the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect was sitting, where they stopped and hovered next to the sectlord.

"Sectlord," Yang Qi said, "you can use your divine will to command those godcorpse flies. They won't turn on you. With a god item like that, no one will dare cause problems for our sect."

"Excellent. Excellent!" the sectlord said. Not daring to actually touch the flies, he carefully sent some divine will toward them as a test. Sure enough, the flies were completely docile in response to him and instantly accepted his commands. Chuckling, he said, "They really are listening to me!"

The cloud of flies then flew up his sleeve, to the shock of everyone present. Obviously, nobody would be causing problems for the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect any time soon; not with the threat of the flies.

Having taken care of Wretch Heaven-Gentleman, Yang Qi looked around and said, "Anyone else?"

A long moment of silence unfolded, during which not a single person stepped forward. Normally speaking, it would be a big drain to kill a powerful expert the way Yang Qi just had, which would then lead to people taking advantage of the situation by 'tag-teaming'. However, Yang Qi had won his victory as easily as blowing some dust off his shoulder. Even cultivators that had only just stepped into the Terrifying level and had a psychic scale of one or two could tell that he wasn't even close to running low on vital energy. He was still at his peak.

Considering that, nobody was willing to fight him.

"What about Bastard Seacliff? Why isn't he stepping forward?" A lot of people were wondering why Bastard Seacliff hadn't stepped in yet.

As for Yang Qi, he continued to look around vigilantly, convinced that his victory couldn't possibly be won this easily. Winning this smoothly would be unrealistic; there had to be additional powerful experts waiting to make a move. In fact, he was expecting to face people who were actually in the mid Terrifying level, but were pretending to be at a lower level.

And they wouldn't be easy to fight.

Enough time passed for an incense stick to burn, which was when someone suddenly said in a grating voice, "I wouldn't mind asking for some fighting tips from you."

Then, someone shot onto the fighting platform in a blur of motion.

It was a mysterious-looking man wearing a bronze mask, his hands bare of any weapons. "I'd like to test out your most powerful move."

"Who are you?" Yang Qi asked. He didn't recognize the man, and apparently neither did anyone else in the crowd.