Sage Monarch

The nine magisters had appeared with Brahma under their control and surrounded Yang Qi. However, he didn't seem the least bit afraid. Using his God Legion Seal, he awoke Brahma, instantly putting the magisters in a deadly situation. At the same time, he called out to the third piece of the God Legion Seal; if he got it, he would be completely invincible, capable of conquering a chiliocosm of worlds, and definitely able to kill the magisters and Proud Heaven.

"Proud Heaven, let's work together to power our Ten-Secrets Grand-Monarch Formation!" said the head magister. "We were the ones who created the future world, and it was all thanks to our planning that it became great. There's obviously been some misunderstandings between us. What need is there for this infighting? Let's reconcile right now, and then get to the god world!"

"Alright!" Proud Heaven said, viciously grabbing his God Legion Seal. At the same time, a burst of light shot out of the top of his head, becoming like a pillar that connected heaven and earth, as if it might pierce through the Ancient Road to the Gods to reach the immortal worlds.

Simultaneously, all of the other magisters did the same thing, creating a huge spell formation.

"Ten-Secrets Grand-Monarch Formation! Future domination; change the future. We control everything, including your future, Yang Qi. Now hurry up and surrender!"

RUMBLE!

The ten experts transformed into a gargantuan hand that rumbled down toward Yang Qi to crush him. It was a hand that could snatch a person's future away from them, leaving them bereft of all hope and forcing them to comply.

"You bunch of chickens and dogs!" Yang Qi said with a cold laugh. "Don't tell me you really think that teaming up will be enough to fight me." He shot up to meet the hand, simultaneously sending out millions upon millions of streams of light, like a scintillating river that sped right toward the hand.

The hand collapsed.

"Brahma: attack!" the head magister shouted. He then spat out a stream of blood that flowed into Brahma's body. As Brahma stood there like he was ready to trample on the sun and moon, breathing primal-chaos in and out, a kingdom of the five phases appeared in his hands.

"Cardinal Grand Brahman Five Phases Energy Arts? I mastered that a long time ago, and my skill with the four tribulations of Success, Steadiness, Destruction, and the Void have reached the pinnacle. In fact, thanks to the God Legion Seal, I pushed it to a higher level. Brahma, you lost your godhood, and are nothing but an undying spirit now. Do you really need to let them control you? Hurry and wake up! If you work for me, I might be able to help you form your own godhood again, and once again become an actual god. With the God Legion Seal under my control, gods must obey my commands. So, attack!"

Yang Qi clenched his hand into a fist as he also unleashed the Cardinal Grand Brahman Five Phases Energy Arts, and his version was clearly superior to Brahma's. As his energy flowed into Brahma, the god's eyes became clear again, and his godpower began flowing more freely through him. Brahma was mighty, but without his godhood, he wasn't really a true god. He was more like a banished god. That said, he was still strong, with a psychic scale at the mid Terrifying level, and an invincible power index of over nine thousand. If he unleashed all of his fighting prowess, he would be no weaker than Yang Qi, and would be a truly troublesome opponent.

But how could a god actually be controlled by mortals?

After being called out to by Yang Qi, Brahma said, "How dare you try to control me, mortals! Seeds, detonate!"

Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam! Bam! Bam!!

Booms rang out from inside Brahma's body as true energy explosions rocked his insides and godpower flowed through him. Mortal cultivators worked with true energy, but gods worked with godpower. And there were fundamental differences between the two.

The nine magisters' faces went pale, and blood sprayed out of their mouths as the warding spells they had placed inside Brahma collapsed. They were already experiencing a catastrophe that would be difficult to recover from.

The nine magisters had such powerful cultivation bases that they were superior to virtually all of the experts from the Ancient Road to the Gods. They were all mid Terrifying experts, and the reason was that they had implanted Brahma with seeds allowing them to draw on his power. They were like saplings planted in rich soil that could quickly grow into mighty trees. After all, one could only imagine the cultivation advancement that would be possible by drawing on the power, enlightenment, and experiences of a god.

But now that those seeds were being detonated, the 'roots' of those immense 'trees' were being severed.

Their foundations were shattering.

"Ten Dharmas Combined; Ten Universes Mastery!"

RUMBLE!

A strange expression appeared on Proud Heaven's face as the energy of his Ten Universes technique suddenly slammed into the other nine magisters. Screams erupted from their mouths as they realized the catastrophic circumstances they were now in.

"You're trying to take control of our souls, Proud Heaven!?" shrieked one of the female magisters. "How ruthless!"

"Just what do you think you're doing, Proud Heaven?" the head magister said, his voice quivering with terror. "How could you be doing this? When did you get control of our souls?!"

"You scum have been following me for years," Proud Heaven said. "Don't you know what kind of person I am by now? Anyone I work with ends up dying in the end. I, Proud Heaven, am the only future! I'm the true Lord of the Future. The reason I sought enlightenment of the Ten Universes was to deal with the rest of you. Including me, there are ten of us. And now we're going to be combined together in one body. Mine!"

All of these things happened so quickly that not even Yang Qi could react. The nine magisters screamed miserably as they exploded and turned into nine streams of true energy that shot into Proud Heaven. In the blink of an eye, he combined the ultimate powers of the future world.

Yang Qi backed up, grabbing Brahma as he did. That seemed his best option as Proud Heaven was experiencing his boost in power.

Furthermore, he needed to see what exactly Proud Heaven was planning to do.

Perhaps it would be best to take advantage of this moment to launch a fatal blow on Proud Heaven. Wipe him out down to his very soul, and make sure he understood that no matter how strong he became, he would never best Yang Qi. That way, he could kill him without fear of him being resurrected.

After all, when mighty individuals died, but their rancorous will didn't dissipate, it indicated that they were unwilling to die, which would give birth to all sorts of problems with karma. For example, King Immortal-Slayer had been killed, but his rancorous will escaped, and now he was almost fully resurrected. Although it was only his will, it went to show that he was incapable of truly dying.

Yang Qi would only be satisfied if he slaughtered Proud Heaven down to his very soul, without allowing him any delusions of having a fighting chance. If he died in despair, without any hope of resurrection, then all loose ends could be tied up.

RUMBLE!

As Proud Heaven powered up, Yang Qi saw a passage open behind the man that led to the future world.

It was a place filled with glittering stars, planes of existence, and of course science and technology at its very peak. There were powerful battleships, enormous space station fortresses, and endless wormholes. It was an enormous place filled with so much life it was impossible to quantify.

It was a place where both science and cultivation flourished.

The future world.

But right now, Proud Heaven was extracting the power of that universe. Yang Qi watched as planet after planet withered, the living beings on their surfaces screaming as doomsday came. Billions of trillions of planets, with too much life to count, were all destroyed, their power flowing into Proud Heaven.

The young man in the bronze mask shrilly screamed, "Proud Heaven! You animal! You betrayed the magisters and are destroying the future world to power up?! You're bringing about the end of all civilization!"

Gathering his strength, the young man lunged at Proud Heaven.

However, Proud Heaven did nothing but twitch, which transformed the young man into ash.

Yang Qi looked on coldly as the future world experienced its apocalypse. The person responsible for their grisly fate was their own Magister Proud Heaven, a vicious and merciless beast who was willing to destroy the very civilization he had created. What did it mean that he was now being blessed by the power of the future? It was almost like the power of a god was awakening within him.

There were countless planets and innumerable peoples in the future world. Some lived useless lives, while some worked hard on their cultivation in an attempt to stand out among their peers. Some were conniving tricksters, and some were just ordinary people. In the end, it didn't matter; they all died.

It was the ultimate equalizer. When death came, when the apocalypse arrived, everyone met the same end: death.

Proud Heaven burst out into maniacal laughter. "You helped me reach my true goal, Yang Qi! I created the future world and the nine magisters, all with the purpose of absorbing them. And now I have. With the power of an entire age to back me, do you really think you can fight me?"

1. The Cardinal Grand Brahman Five Phases Energy Arts were originally brought up by name in back when Yang Qi was infiltrating the Brahman Society. It was mentioned in numerous later chapters. The four tribulations were originally mentioned in , and also came up a bunch of times later.