Sage Monarch

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh!

A figure blurred across the lands at top speed.

It was Yang Qi, flying over roads, rivers, mountains, forests, lakes, and other terrain features. He passed along like a specter, moving so quickly that no one could even see him, his energy arts at such a high level that he was like a god-immortal.

He wanted to reach the Black Sea as quickly as possible, all in the hopes of getting Hua Yinhu, He Jili, and Li He into the Lifeseizing level immediately. His plan was to hunt for black floodwyrms that were in the Lifeseizing level, and harvest their demon cores. And of course, he was operating alone.

At the same time, Liang Dong would go apply to be an elite student, which would also significantly increase the sway of their group as a whole.

Furthermore, the fact that the Black Floodwyrm Grotto was run by one of the seventy-two demon kings subordinate to the Hanging Mountain had Yang Qi's heart pounding with anticipation. Hopefully, this trip would also net him some clues about that mystical mountain, and how to get there.

The subject of his mother, and by extent the Hanging Mountain, occupied his thoughts day and night, and he couldn't stop thinking about traveling there.

Even his desire to get revenge on Yun Hailan counted for almost nothing compared to that.

This trip to the Black Floodwyrm Grotto would not only help him in his fight with Yun Hailan, but it could also get him information about his mother. How could he possibly pass up an opportunity like that?

He knew that it would be a very dangerous place, but wasn't very worried. He was a Secondary Lifeseizer who could kill Quaternary Lifeseizers, and maybe even Quinary. And by engaging in brutal fights, he would likely become even stronger. The time had come for tempering.

Besides, perhaps if he consumed some of the demon cores, he could even reach Tertiary Lifeseizing.

At that point, even the brownnoser Yun Hailan would have a hard time catching up to him.

Why wouldn't he want to kill three birds with one stone?

His actual approach to the Black Floodwyrm Grotto was made, not by flying through the air, but rather, on foot. Trying to follow the twists and turns in the road to the Black Sea from up above would be too difficult.

He kept to the ground, and constantly referenced his detailed map of the Rich-Lush Continent. The map revealed all the various locations of profound danger, and also the forbidden regions. It was a map produced by the Demi-Immortal Institute itself, and was far beyond ordinary maps available in the Rich-Lush Continent.

Just by studying the map, it was possible to learn a lot about the continent. In fact, Yang Qi was thinking of sending a copy of the map back to Yanhaven. A better understanding of geography would definitely help his father when it came time to move troops.

"A desert," Yang Qi murmured, looking at the seemingly endless sand dunes which stretched out in front of him. This desolate desert was tens upon tens of thousands of kilometers wide, and filled with dunes and sand mountains. All sorts of cactuses could be seen, some, mighty trees that stretched for dozens of meters up into the sky, others, spherical and roughly the size of an ordinary house.

Yang Qi scanned the area up ahead with true energy, and could sense a bit of demon energy from demonlings. There were snakes, scorpions, centipedes, poisonous insects, and even foxes and wolves, all of them demonlings who were adapted to desert life.

However, he had no interests in the little demonlings, and didn't want to waste time. Without any hesitation, he headed into the scorching desert, following the map toward his target destination.

Surprisingly, the Black Sea was not located out on the open ocean, but rather, in the middle of a desert.

According to the stories, it was fed by numerous subterranean rivers and channels of spirit energy, making it a holy land for the demon-devils and demonlings that lived in the surrounding desert.

As for the desert, it was called the Northern Frontier Desert, and was known as a boundless danger zone devoid of any human population. It contained only demonlings, and countless bizarre terrain features.

About five hundred kilometers into the desert, a tornado-filled sandstorm suddenly sprang up, so powerful that the blasts of sand caused sparks to fly off of Yang Qi's defensive true energy.

Even though the grains of sand were tiny, when they were propelled by the wind en masse, they could pierce even steel. Luckily, Yang Qi's defensive arts and equipment were far beyond that level, and weren't damaged at all.

It was now obvious why people didn't live here. Even some of the toughest demonlings would burrow deep into the sand when the tornadoes came, sometimes going as far as the subterranean rivers.

WHOOSH!

Yang Qi waved his hand, sending out a blast of true energy that completely destroyed a massive tornado that was in his path.

Having sent his true energy so far ahead of him, he realized that there was a source of water up ahead.

"The Black Sea," he murmured, and then began to follow that sensation of water.

He flew along for hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers until eventually the sandstorms died down, and a sea became visible up ahead.

It was pitch black, even the waves, and covered in mists that made it impossible to see very far along its surface. It was so large that Yang Qi couldn't see the ends of it.

For a huge sea to be located in the middle of a vast desert went to show how spectacular the works of nature could be.

'This is the location of the Black Floodwyrm Grotto. The demon kings of the seventy-two grottos in the Rich-Lush Continent are all subordinate to the Hanging Mountain. I hope that I can unearth some more secrets here, maybe information about where exactly my mother is. I know her nickname is Greensura, but what is her real name…?'

As he stood there on the shore of the sea, he kept his true energy reined in, making him seem like nothing more than an ordinary person.

As the water lapped against the shore, he knelt down and scooped some up in his hand. Immediately, he could sense a frigid energy that seemed to be thousands of years old.

Unexpectedly, this water was freezing, and yet hadn't turned to ice.

Furthermore, the darkness of the water made it seem like ink; clearly, this sea was different from ordinary seas.

'This water has frigid yin energy of a black, baleful nature.' Yang Qi was gradually becoming more knowledgeable in the ways of the world, and recognized this as a variation of the more common type of subterranean baleful energy.

Black, baleful yin energy could be extremely harmful to humans, but for some water-type demonlings with frigid yin aspects, it was profoundly beneficial.

Obviously, lurking in the depths of this sea were demonlings of incredible power and ferocity.

Yang Qi looked out thoughtfully at the Black Sea, the water slowly draining through his fingertips. The most important thing to do right now was find the actual location of the Black Floodwyrm Grotto.

According to what his friends had told him, he knew that King Black Floodwyrm of Black Floodwyrm Grotto was an actual black floodwyrm. However, one of the Great Sages from the Hanging Mountain had magically transformed him, changing his floodwyrm body into that of a human. He was a powerful Legendary, and someone that Yang Qi currently couldn't hope to match up with.

King Black Floodwyrm was vicious to the extreme, and the yearly raids he led resulted in countless lost lives among humans. Even the top experts in the institutes weren't sure what to do about him.

Although there were Legendaries in the institutes, King Black Floodwyrm was backed by the Hanging Mountain, an organization so massive that ordinary people didn't even know how large it actually was.

If Yang Qi caught the attention of someone like him, he would have a hard time making it out alive.

After all, he had no techniques of invisibility.

Such arts did exist though. For example, there was the Shape-Altering Art and the Form-Concealing Technique. Such abilities used one's true energy to create a field of distortion around oneself that essentially made one invisible. There were even some that could perfectly hide one's true energy.

But Yang Qi had only been in the institute for a short time, and had never had the free time to study such things.

Thankfully, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth innately enabled him to conceal his aura.

Waving his hand, he summoned his suit of armor.

The Infernal Deity Plate Armor appeared, and this time, it was even sturdier than before. In fact, it was so strong that he could swim through lava for three days and three nights without being hurt.

Thus equipped, he leapt into the water, diving down to begin his hunt for black floodwyrms. He was like a deadly assassin, his aura concealed, his black Infernal Deity Plate Armor the perfect color to match the Black Sea around him.

As he swam along, he sent out his true energy, filling an area dozens of kilometers around him and enabling him to see everything as clear as day.

There were many creatures around him: strange fish with vicious fangs who absorbed the black, baleful yin energy around them and used it to fuel their powerful water-type energy arts. Down here, the weak were prey to the strong, and not a single creature was docile in any way.

Yang Qi saw a pitch-black, nine-meter-long fish battling with a water snake. Water surged around them, until the black fish spat out a mouthful of sword light, killing the snake, which it then swallowed whole. Then it sent out energy fluctuations that caused the surrounding demonling fish to tremble in fear.

That fish was as powerful as someone in the eighth phase, similar to the white ape Yang Qi had fought in his early days in the Blackcorpse Mountains.

Of course, creatures of that level were of no interest to him now. He needed black floodwyrms who were in the Lifeseizing level.

With three such demon cores, he would have accomplished his mission, and would be able to leave whenever he wanted.