Sage Monarch

Pacing back and forth, the White-Haired Boxer King thought, 'How come I can't divine its location? I've cultivated my Heavenly Workings Secret Magic to the highest level, and should be able to use it to locate any item I've lost.'

None of his divinations were working.

Finally, he gave up. Expression twisting into a vicious semblance of an evil ghost from hell, he thought, 'Killing that brat Yang Qi lost me a medicinal pill, plus, I didn't gain anything at all from the effort. Is it really possible that I just dropped the pill in the toxic mist? Someone must have plotted against me. But who? Was it Jadefall? No, no. She doesn't have that level of ability. Maybe it was her Master. But her Master is in seclusion.'

Despite wracking his brains, he couldn't come up with any good theory.

It got so bad that he seemed to be on the verge of experiencing cultivation deviation and becoming infected with heart-devils. Just when he was about to plunge past the point of no return, a talisman on his person vibrated, bringing him back to lucidity.

'That was dangerous. I almost experienced cultivation deviation.' His heart was pounding from fear as he pulled out the talisman that had just activated. It currently pulsed with the power of a heart-devil. It was a talisman that Dragon Floret had personally crafted for him for his protection, designed to suppress the power of heart-devils. And it had just saved his life.

'Without this talisman, I definitely would have experienced cultivation deviation.' The White-Haired Boxer King settled down into a meditative state. 'I lost that pill, and there's no more to be said about it. It's not even worth thinking about. Once my cultivation base is back to normal, I'll be able to uncover the truth.'

Although hatred for Yang Qi was still simmering in his heart, he believed him to be dead, and thus not worth thinking about. For now, he tried to put the matter of the medicinal pill in the back of his mind, although it was only minimally effective.

Unfortunately, he had developed a heart-devil, which meant that his cultivation base wasn't going to progress well in the future.

Meanwhile, the Yang Qi that he thought was dead was actually making progress the likes of which no one had ever dreamed of, not even in aeons past.

Ten days passed. Twenty. A month.

Deep underground, Yang Qi was constantly absorbing godpower and life force. He had taken in more than ten thousand ordinary gods combined could handle, but it still wasn't enough. He was like a gobblewock or a chymera who could devour the essence of everything. The voice of the godhood within him continued echoing out, creating images of heavenly palaces, the halls of heaven, the Sovereign Lord, godmammoths, the True Devil, the Demon Master, and countless other entities.

However, in the end, an enormous necropolis appeared and devoured all of those mighty entities.

Three months passed, during which time Yang Qi worked hard on his cultivation. At that point, he had absorbed all of the life force, and only had the power of the God Legion Seal to work with.

The God Legion Seal was now a perfect representation of himself. Instead of being an imp, it was like a giant that could prop up heaven and earth. The surrounding soil couldn't stop the brilliant light shining out from it, as it existed in the depths of a different space-time.

It howled, and godpower surged out like a river, filling Yang Qi and stirring the nascent monarch godhood within him. It began rotating faster and faster, like a millstone spinning in water. It rotated a billion times. Ten billion. A hundred billion. A trillion. Ten trillion. In the blink of an eye, the rotating of Yang Qi's godhood vastly surpassed anything the White-Haired Boxer King was capable of.

RUMBLE!

"Monarch godhood, form!" At a certain point when the three months had passed, Yang Qi threw his head back and howled. As he did, the God Legion Seal, the piece of the Mahātmā Jade, and the sheepskin scroll in the form of ten thousand characters, were all sucked into his virtual godhood.

That was when the godhood began to transform dramatically.

Heaven and earth seemed to tremble; thankfully, he was deep underground. The spell formations he had erected around himself glittered like diamonds, and the mountains above quaked, with some of them collapsing. Rivers were diverted, and wild animals were thrown into chaos.

Meteorological phenomena appeared in the sky overhead, including thunder and lightning. However, no one realized what exactly was happening, as Yang Qi had used the God Legion Seal to suppress the energy fluctuations.

When monarch godhood formed, it would release immense power that would have dramatic effects if it wasn't deep underground. There would have been shocking pillars of light and great dao resonances that would have definitely attracted the attention of top experts.

Thankfully, there were no such disturbances.

In fact, the thunder and lightning actually masked some of the effects.

A rift opened, allowing spatial godpower from deep in the god world to pour into Yang Qi's godhood, causing dazzling light to shine everywhere.

It was a success!

His godhood was completely formed!

It was a monarch among other godhood, and it rumbled with such intensity that heaven and earth bowed to it. But then, as quickly as the moment had arrived, everything went still and calm deep under the earth. All the living things above withered, and everything turned completely still and quiet.

Within Yang Qi, godhood rotated.

It was different from any other kind of godhood, such that not even Yang Qi had ever seen anything like it. A great dao would hang shapelessly in the void, and this resembled that.

This godhood was like a world of its own, but at the same time, like a lonely monarch. It glowed with brilliant colors, but at the same time, was colorless. It was alive, but simultaneously, dead. When Yang Qi breathed, the godhood breathed, and at that point, he realized he had reached godly ascension.

The God Legion Seal settled down in his forehead, and Yang Qi could tell that it was rejoicing. At the same time, something deep within it became unlocked.

Memories rushed into Yang Qi's sea of consciousness like the tide, filled with indescribable brightness.

He wasn't sure of exactly what was happening, so he simply allowed the memories to swirl in his sea of consciousness and would worry later about what to do with them.

CRASH!

A vortex suddenly appeared above his head, and it wasn't remotely illusory. It was real.

He stepped into the vortex and vanished. He was now able to open spatial rifts, which was a level of power that surpassed even the White-Haired Boxer King. The White-Haired Boxer King could create similar rifts, but never would have dared to pass through them. But Yang Qi could, so it was only a moment later that he was on the surface.

'Godpower influx!' He drew on the God Legion Seal, causing a tremor to pass through him as endless godpower flowed through space and into his monarch godhood, transforming his body on the most fundamental level.

After forming his godhood, the next step was to use its power to remold his body into something deathless.

Ordinary Quasi-Gods would only be able to live a bit over a hundred years. Even the strongest among them might last for a few hundred, and that would be miraculous. But after reaching godly ascension, one's longevity would increase by ten times at the least.

When the God Legion Seal absorbed godpower from the god world, it didn't come in drop by drop, but rather in a huge torrent.

In the past, he couldn't do this. But now he could absorb however much godpower he needed or wanted.

'Let's form some godstones!' He waved his hand and godpower erupted from his monarch godhood, instantly causing a mountain of imperial caliber godstones to form!

A collection of godstones like that was something most people would fight to the death over. Even the top experts in the House of God Ordainment would go crazy over something like that.

"God Legion Seal: Form God Kingdom!"

The God Legion Seal flew up, and an illusory god kingdom took shape around Yang Qi. Even as it formed, it sucked in all of the imperial caliber godstones, which vanished without a trace.

'Impressive. Except that it's a huge drain on godpower.' Even a Consummate God who saw Yang Qi doing these things would be left tongue-tied.

However, despite having spent so much power, he simply inhaled, and the God Legion Seal sucked immense godpower into him. It was like a mighty river flowing into his godhood. After only a few breaths, his monarch godhood was full again.

Even Yang Qi was shocked. 'I just made a mountain of imperial caliber godstones, using godpower that even a Consummate God would need decades of cultivation to build up. Perhaps even more than a hundred years. And I filled it back up with only a few breaths? Is this real? I knew that when I became a god, the God Legion Seal would reveal stunning power. But this is simply terrifying!'

"Godnote forging!" A tremor passed through him as countless godnotes appeared, fluttering down to form a tiny mountain. It took a huge amount of godpower, but again, only a short time later, the God Legion Seal had refilled him.

As long as the god world existed, so would Yang Qi!