Sage Monarch

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The mask that had been harrying the four compatriots had finally come out into the open.

Numerous faces had flown into the vile crimson coffin and ended up awakening this larger face of unknown origin. It possessed what seemed to be the might of a god, something that Yang Qi and the others couldn't possibly fight against. The only upside that Yang Qi could think of was that the thing seemed to be leery of his God Legion Seal. And the fact that it hadn't immediately attacked them was very telling.

Although Yang Qi made sure to word things politely, he was actually probing the thing in the hopes of learning more of its motives and powers.

He had already fully refined the ten thousand pieces of godhood within him, so he could rise to the mid Terrifying level whenever he wanted. That was thanks to the power he'd received from Doom, which came from the other God Legion Seal. As of this moment, the nascent souls inside him were enormous, and all of them resembled golden imps like the one from the God Legion Seal. At the same time, their fluctuations were highly reminiscent of the Unspoiled Body.

If he broke through, he was certain that heaven-shaking, earth-shattering transformations would result, although he wasn't certain if he would be able to reach the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

Furthermore, for all he knew, this masked face might have some sort of divine ability that could prevent him from achieving his breakthrough. Being unclear about who this face was, or what it was capable of, he needed more information before he decided what to do. The last thing he wanted to do was end up shooting himself in the foot.

RUUUUMBLE....

"Two bearers of the God Legion Seal," the face said. "Great. Excellent! There's no need for you to ask about who I am, boy. Even if I told you, it wouldn't make any sense to you. You killed one of my subordinates and used him to further your cultivation. For committing a crime like that, I should skin you alive. Instead, I'll give you a chance to atone for your crime. What do you think?"

"What do you mean atone for our crime?" Doom said. "How, exactly? If you need help from us in some way, we'd be more than happy to comply."

No one dared to act arrogantly in front of a bizarre entity like this; one wrong step and they could easily be wiped out of existence, with no chance to throw up a defense.

"Simple," the masked face said. "This coffin here has a seal powered by the Great Necropolis itself, which is keeping me imprisoned. As long as you remove the seal and free me, I won't kill you. I'll even give my subordinates to you to assimilate. Do you know how powerful you'll become if you do that?

"You two bearers of the God Legion Seal are my only hope, so I'm obviously not going to hurt you. The truth is that helping you will be helping yourselves. This stone cave is part of the essence of the Great Necropolis, so I'm guessing your ultimate goal is to move the necropolis and gain access to the Ancient Road to the Gods. Therefore, you have no other choice than to help me. Agreed?"

"Move the necropolis?" Yang Qi said. "Senior, are you saying you know how to do that?"

The masked face cackled strangely. "Of course I know. The Great Necropolis was used to block the Ancient Road to the Gods as part of a larger conspiracy. An evil faction of gods in the god world hoped to prevent anyone in the lower worlds from reaching godly ascension. The road has already been removed from the Primeval Age and the Future Era, but the evil faction of gods has continually failed to remove it from the Immortal Dao Age. Therefore, they sent the Great Necropolis to block access to the road. But eventually, they'll figure out a way to completely destroy the ancient road. And when that happens, no one will ever be able to become gods again."

Upon hearing this information, Yang Qi kept his face expressionless, but inside, he was flabbergasted.

Although it was entirely possible that this evil entity was partially or completely lying, one thing was obvious: the thing really was sealed. Otherwise, why wouldn't it have left long ago?

All of a sudden, Yang Qi's heart started pounding. "Senior, have you encountered another person with the God Legion Seal?"

"I have," the face replied. "And he was far, far stronger than you two. He even had the aura of the god world on him, which means that he's been there. Obviously, he returned, although I'm not sure why or how. In any case, he managed to slip out of the constraints I've erected and leave this place. Before leaving, he worked out a deal with me and left some of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth in the sealing mark holding me in place. In other words, as long as you use your Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth on the seal, I'll be able to break free. Once I'm free, certain items connected to the Great Necropolis Fountainhead will also emerge. You see, not too long ago, the essence of the necropolis erupted with godpower seeds, which allowed people to become Inheritors. Little do they know that the seeds were all infected with some of my wretched evil!" The face burst out into maniacal laughter.

"So this place is the essence of the Great Necropolis!" Doom said. "It seems my intuition was correct."

"In that case, Senior," Yang Qi said, "We'll definitely help unseal you. But considering how strong you are, it would be really easy for you to kill us once you're free. How can we trust you?" Although the masked face was saying some very enticing things, Yang Qi couldn't just ignore the fact that it had met with Proud Heaven and come up with some sort of deal.

Furthermore, the fact that Proud Heaven had escaped this thing's clutches only went to prove that escape was possible.

In fact, it was entirely possible that the masked face wasn't as strong as it seemed. Perhaps it was only putting on a front of strength, but was really weak inside. Already, the gears in Yang Qi's head were turning.

In response to Yang Qi's question, the masked face gave a cold harrumph, then angrily said, "If you four ants don't help me, I'll just kill you! I could easily wipe you out right now, even in my current state. You've already had a taste of my strength, so you know what I'm capable of."

"Alright, give it a shot," Yang Qi said, suddenly sounding a lot less humble than before.

"Brother Yang Qi, don't be rash!" Doom said via will projection. "This thing is far too strong for us to fight. Let's take things one step at a time. For all we know, we might benefit from this situation."

"I'm just testing him," Yang Qi replied. "If this thing has had contact with Proud Heaven, it's highly likely that its understanding of the outside world is all based on things Proud Heaven told it. And the fact that Proud Heaven escaped proves that the masked face has limits to its power. Another thing to consider: we know that it has powers of illusion. So it's possible that when we were hit and sent flying just now, we weren't actually hit. What if we just flew backward of our own accord and it made us think we'd been struck? Perhaps his energy arts are actually mental attacks."

"Mental attacks?" Doom replied thoughtfully.

"Exactly. Mental attacks! I've done a lot of research into past civilizations. Did you know that on some planets in the mortal world, people don't practice cultivation? In other words, they have no way to send their true energy outside of their body. However, they developed other abilities. For example, they have the ability to force an enemy into retreat, not by the power of a blow, but by taking control of the opponent's will and mind.

"That's what I mean by mental attacks. What if this thing's true energy isn't as strong as we think it is, and he's relying completely on mental attacks to deal with us? Remember, everything that happened up to this point involved external forces tampering with our minds. In the end, it was as if we were attacking ourselves."

Even as the words left Yang Qi's mouth, he had a sudden burst of enlightenment.

Who am I? I'm who? Who is who? Confusing questions like that were often hard to answer. And right now, this masked face seemed to be using exactly those questions to exploit the weaknesses that existed in the hearts and spirits of its enemies. Of course, Yang Qi still had a secret weapon in case he was wrong.

"Could it be that you're not going to agree to my lovely proposal?" the face said, sounding somewhat angry. All of a sudden, Yang Qi and his companions felt a mountain-crushing, sea-shattering force weighing down on them, as though their doomsday had come.

"Ha!" Yang Qi shouted, binding his psyche to his companions and causing them to suddenly surpass the space-time around them.

Then he threw his hands out, causing an enormous bubble to appear and shoot in the direction of the masked face.

All illusions crumbled as the face was then enveloped by the bubble.

"You were right!" Proud World said. "It's not really that strong at all! It was all an illusion! Now we can finally see what this thing is!"

"Watch out!" Yang Qi said as the bubble exploded.

The masked face chuckled coldly. "Not bad," it said, surprise in its voice. "Not bad at all. You broke through my illusion very quickly. You're a genius among geniuses, just like Proud Heaven. It would be hard to find someone like you even in the god world. Very good. Wonderful! But do you really think that everything about me is an illusion? Apparently, you still haven't realized that in this world, what is false is real and what is real is false. There's actually no difference between the two."