Sage Monarch

Three days had passed, and the Shepherd, Doom, and Proud World were now waiting to meet back up with Yang Qi. As they did, they kept an eye on what was happening in the Sage Monarch League.

Of course, they were quite taken aback by how it was developing.

God formations were being set up left and right, and Terrifying auras were spreading out everywhere. Obviously, a heaven-shaking, earth-toppling transformation was underway. Even more shocking, something like a pillar that could prop up heaven and earth had appeared, which served as the foundation of the main spell formation of the sect.

"Look at this..." Doom said, his eyes flashing. "Well done, Sage Monarch League. And well done, Yang Qi. He did all of this in only three days? It reminds me of the legendary Preeminent God Pillar of ancient times. With that pillar in place, not even ten thousand evils could get inside. However, it should require millions upon millions of ingredients from the god world. You simply shouldn't be able to make it in the mortal world. How did he do it!?"

RUMBLE!

As the words left his mouth, mountains began rising up within the Sage Monarch League.

One of them had three peaks, hearkening to the Three Powers, those being heaven, earth, and man. Another looked like a hand, whose five fingers represented the five phases. There were others that had six, seven, eight, or nine peaks.

"Those are... the legendary Nine God Mountains!" the Shepherd said. "Mount One Origin. Mount Two Polarities. Mount Three Powers. Mount Four Divisions. Mount Five Phases. Mount Six Directions. Mount Seven Stars. Mount Eight Trigrams. Mount Nine Palaces. Together they make nine, which is the ultimate number. When the god mountains appear, they can crush anything and everything. The Nine God Mountains are connected to the Paramount Gods, and the method of creating them is long lost. And that's not to mention the materials required to make them. Only the Executors of the Ancient Road could possibly create something like this. Yet even the ancient executors, despite having the ingredients, never built them. How is Yang Qi doing this? And where did he get the materials? The Preeminent God Pillar and the Nine God Mountains. With them, the Sage Monarch League is going to have the strongest foundation imaginable."

Breathing a sigh of admiration, Doom continued, "It's not a simple task to create the Nine God Mountains. Anyone beneath the mid Terrifying level couldn't possibly succeed. And even with the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, the God Legion Seal, and a host of powerful energy arts, I don't see how it could be possible."

"One origin, two polarities, three powers, four divisions, five phases, six directions, seven stars, eight trigrams, nine palaces." The Shepherd also sighed in admiration. "Tremendous. How exactly did Yang Qi manage all of this? Where did he get all the treasures?"

"My guess is that he did this all in the last three days," Proud World said. "If he had the ability to do this before, he would have."

"You think he got enough treasure to do all of that in only three days?" the Shepherd said quizzically. "Where in all the many heavens could a treasure trove like that even exist? Even in the Fiend-Devil League, we don't have anything close to that level."

Smiling mysteriously, Proud World said, "The only place where that much treasure could be stored up is with the Executors of the Ancient Road. If my speculations are correct, Yang Qi must have used the past three days to somehow sneak into the executors' treasure storehouse and rob it. Then he used the materials to create the Nine God Mountains, which not even the three of us could do if we worked together. And he also made the Preeminent God Pillar to control the Nine God Mountains. All of it functions together perfectly. One thing is for sure; we couldn't break into the Sage Monarch League now, even if we wanted to."

Whizz!

As the words left his mouth, a stream of energy appeared, whereupon Proud World shut his mouth.

Yang Qi was now standing in front of them.

"You're quite the genius, Proud World," he said. "You managed to figure out exactly what I did. Not bad. Not bad at all. For now, though, I want to make sure this matter remains a secret known only to us."

He waved his hand and a dense mist sprang up, covering the Sage Monarch League so that it was impossible to see inside. It was obviously the result of a powerful spell formation.

Doom's eyes flickered. "That's a Fate God Barricade, which can completely obstruct even the workings of heaven. How did you manage to build it?"

Yang Qi laughed. "Simple. I'm a Fateless One. It's easy for me to make spell formations like that. Presumably the three of you noticed what I accomplished in the past three days? Can any of you break through the barriers I've set up? I wouldn't mind having a little test."

"There's no need for any test," Doom said. "None of us could break through that. You have some powerful warding spells in there. Plus, you have a Preeminent God Pillar controlling the Nine God Mountains. You even have more mid Terrifying experts inside keeping things running. Very impressive. And unless I'm mistaken, you also have a god corpse puppet."

"You have sharp eyes," Yang Qi said, giving him a thumbs-up. "I placed a god corpse puppet in the Preeminent God Pillar. Anyone who tries to dismantle that pillar will be killed in an instant. In any case, Brother Doom, it seems to me that you've gotten a lot stronger in the past three days as well."

"That's all thanks to you," Doom replied coolly. "My energy arts have advanced significantly, although I doubt I've improved as much as you have. You really raided the executors' treasure storehouse?"

"I did. Since you guessed the truth, I suppose there's no need to be cryptic. I cleaned out most of the storehouse and used it to strengthen the Sage Monarch League. I'd say my league is now one of the very best there is. And my top subordinates just spent three thousand years working on their cultivation in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. I now have more mid Terrifying experts in my forces."

"As expected," Doom said. He, Proud World, and the Shepherd were deeply shaken by the news. The fact that Yang Qi now had even more mid Terrifying experts was definitely no joking matter. On the Ancient Road to the Gods, mid Terrifying experts were considered patriarchs and sect leaders. And the truth was that it wasn't possible for people to reach the peak of the Terrifying level. Only in the god world would that be possible.

In other words, the mid Terrifying level was the highest possible level.

Right now, Yang Qi and Doom were essentially the strongest and most invincible cultivators there could be. The only people who might be considered worthy enemies for them would be the emperor of the executors and Proud Heaven himself.

Of course, the emperor had been given blood blessed by the legion of gods, and was specifically tasked with policing the other experts on the ancient road.

Despite that, Yang Qi wasn't particularly worried about him.

The man he feared was Proud Heaven.

It wasn't possible for people who hadn't been to the god world to reach the peak Terrifying level. But Proud Heaven had been to the god world, and returned. As for his cultivation base, it was impossible to say. If he had received some sort of blessing in his time in the god world, it was entirely possible that he was at the peak Terrifying level, which would make him capable of slaughtering anything in his path.

Yang Qi couldn't afford to head into a conflict with him without being prepared.

Either way, Proud Heaven was definitely the strongest entity in the mortal world.

And the fact that he had yet to make a move indicated that he definitely had a master plan at work.

Seeing Yang Qi standing there thoughtfully, Doom said, "Alright, Yang Qi, let's head into the depths of the Great Necropolis. We need to unlock its secrets and figure out a way to defeat Proud Heaven. That's our only hope. Besides, if we gain control of the necropolis as a whole, we should be able to get through the Ancient Road to the Gods to the god world."

"I was just thinking about something," Yang Qi said calmly. "People who haven't been to the god world can't reach the peak of the Terrifying level. But someone who has gone there... could possibly have absorbed the magical laws there and become a peak Terrifying expert. I'm worried that we might be heading down a dead end here."

The faces of the other three suddenly turned very unsightly. Yang Qi was right.

After a moment of silence, Doom said, "I thought of that as well. But it's not exactly easy to reach the peak of the Terrifying level. Besides, someone who reached that level would be able to become a god, creating a god body and forming godhood. On the other hand, godly ascension isn't possible in the mortal world. So why would Proud Heaven give up on the chance to become a god by returning to the mortal world? That's why I'd say there's only a fifty percent chance he's at peak Terrifying."

"Whether he is or isn't, we need to get the essence of the Great Necropolis," Proud World said. "Proud Heaven is profoundly mysterious. I've never even been able to assess his cultivation base, although he always makes it seem like he's in the mid Terrifying level. I would guess he's actually stronger than that. After all, despite years of conquests, he's never been defeated."

"That's true," Doom said. "Whenever I clashed with the magisters of the future world, I always had the advantage. But when Proud Heaven showed up, I was always forced to flee. Even now, I don't think I'm a match for him. The only option would be to combine our two God Legion Seals and unleash a devastating attack with it. But if either of us gave up our seal, we would lose out on too much, so that's not an option.

"Let's go!"

It was with thoughtful expressions that the group of four began to fly deeper into the Great Necropolis.

The three thousandth ranked immortal worlds were the true end of the Great Necropolis.

Beyond that, the pathways vanished, leaving behind nothing but dense mist, like primal-chaos itself. No one knew what lay within, nor what dangers they would face.