Sage Monarch

'What a powerful devil-ghost.'

The devil-ghost had countless ways to try to escape the Hellfire Crucible, but none of them did any good. Slowly but surely, the platinum sagefire ate away at the vengeful spirit, and transformed the wretch energy that made it up into pure life force quintessence, which poured into the next of Yang Qi's particles.

This devil-ghost's spirit body was the equivalent of a Quaternary Lifeseizer.

Whatever this thing had been in life, if it had turned into a zombie upon death,it might not have been a big deal, because that would have been little more than a fleshly body.

But instead, it turned into a devil-ghost, which was a different matter. Its soul had not dispersed, which only happened with incredibly mighty beings. It had obviously been very powerful before dying.

Yang Qi exhaled slowly, looking at the rippling wretch energy around him. The devil-ghost had tried to possess him, but he had turned the tables and benefited greatly. In fact, the benefit was no less than from the Nine-Yang Immortal Energy he had absorbed from the Minorcosm World.

'So, it seems these devil-ghosts look for flesh and blood bodies to possess or parasitize. Maybe I should just open myself up to them, sort of like the old saying invite the wolf into one's house. Then, once they're inside, I can trap them in my Hellfire Crucible. I can benefit from these devil-ghosts just like I benefited from the Nine-Yang Immortal Energy. In fact, with enough of them, I could probably reach Quaternary Lifeseizing, or even Quinary! At that point, the only people in the Demi-Immortal Institute who could possibly cause me problems would be the Legendaries.'

With that, he prepared to proceed forward through the twisting wretch energy toward what he knew was the entrance to the Heavencorpse Dimension.

But then, just before moving onward, he stopped. 'I need to get stronger before I go into this strange aspect of space-time. Otherwise, how could I be confident in being able to defend myself?

With that, he pulled in his true energy and concealed it in his dantian region. He also extinguished his sagefire, leaving behind only a very weak bit of defensive energy. Then, he intentionally stimulated his blood flow, and sent strong pulses of energy out in all directions.

Almost immediately, the wail of multiple ghosts could be heard. It was almost like he had just tossed blood into shark-infested waters, as rippling balls of ghostfire appeared in all directions.

Some of them were fist-sized, and were obviously very weak devil-ghosts.

But one was as large as a mountain, a massive conflagration of flame that was roughly on the same level as Jiao Wufeng in terms of strength.

A devil-ghost that was, at the very least, as powerful as a Quinary Lifeseizer!

"What a lovely fleshly body! What strong blood energy! If I could have that shell for my own use, I could reach a much higher level of cultivation." All of a sudden, the mountain-like mass of ghostfire began to pulse with soul fluctuations as it took on a devilish appearance. This creature seemed powerful enough to cause the stars to fall from the skies, and force all other ghosts to prostrate in worship.

The devilish image seemed to blot out all other creation as it loomed over Yang Qi.

Crack! Rattle!

As the devilish image closed in, the true energy around Yang Qi shattered, and the thing entered his body.

"Undying Devil Soul!"

Incredible levels of power seized Yang Qi's fleshly body, and wrested control of his meridians.

It was almost impossible to fathom how powerful this devil-ghost was; it was clearly stronger than Jiao Wufeng. In fact, it seemed to Yang Qi that it had likely seized life six times.

Almost as soon as the devil-ghost entered him, he felt his soul trembling on the verge of being expelled from his body. Even his blood seemed to freeze because of the icy true energy of the devil-ghost.

'Did I bite off more than I can chew?' he thought. The danger posed by this devil-ghost was almost beyond comprehension. However, he wouldn't simply give up and resign himself to eternal damnation.

"I am like an infernal deity! I crush devils beneath my feet, and issue orders to ghosts of all kinds!" As he spoke, his voice thrummed with true energy, and his Hellfire Crucible appeared.

The devil-ghost cackled evilly. "So, brat, this was all a trick. Inviting the wolf in your house in the hopes of subduing me? Sadly for you, your schemes will do no good. I cultivate the Undying Devil Soul! No type of burning true energy can hurt me. What sect are you from? Reaching the Lifeseizing level is no small feat. Sadly, I'm going to take over your body and suppress your soul for all time."

'Undying Devil Soul?' Yang Qi thought, shocked. He had actually heard of this type of energy art back in the Demi-Immortal Institute. It was something commonly cultivated among devil-ghosts with spirit bodies.

In ancient times, there were many things that devil-ghosts feared, such as fire, sunlight, blood energy, wild beasts, and burning true energy. Eventually, a spectacular genius arose among devil-ghosts, a being who came to be called Ghost Emperor Yama. He was the one who eventually created an energy art of the dao of ghosts, the Undying Devil Soul. Any devil-ghost who cultivated it would no longer fear burning fire or golden blood energy.

In fact, even devil-ghosts who had just come to exist, but cultivated that technique, could go out into broad daylight at any time. Eventually, numerous Great Sages of the distant past joined forces to vanquish Ghost Emperor Yama, and his technique was lost in the sands of time.

And yet, here that very technique was, back in the world and being wielded by an enormous devil-ghost.

'Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, as unmovable as a mountain….' In that moment, certain skills and abilities he had worked so hard at became incredibly relevant. He had defeated his inner devil, gained enlightenment of the quick strike, and gained supreme confidence. Although this devil-ghost had entered his body with the Undying Devil Soul, he had already reached a state in which he felt neither joy nor sorrow nor fear.

Even as the devil-ghost entered his dantian region, a god appeared, with an elephantine head and a human body. A godmammoth!

Furthermore, it was just barely possible to see that, right behind the godmammoth was a Hell Portal.

"What's that? A godmammoth?" The devil-ghost simply couldn't believe what it was seeing.

How could it possibly believe that it would encounter an energy art of the gods inside of this human? Although Ghost Emperor Yama had been a Great Sage, compared to the countless devils which existed in hell, he counted for little.

The Great Sages of the distant past were little more than saints who dominated the world of men. They were like nothing when compared to the inimitable legion of gods that existed on their mysterious plane of existence.

All devil-ghosts feared the godmammoths that were the creation of the legion of gods. Such entities existed in both mythologies and the devil-ghosts' inherited memories.

"That's right. A godmammoth that can crush hells. The greatest level of strength from the legion of gods in heaven. You cultivate the Undying Devil Soul, a puny technique created by Ghost Emperor Yama? You're delusional if you think something like that can compare to my godly-class energy art." Instantly, platinum sagefire sprang up everywhere.

All of a sudden, the huge devil-ghost shrieked, "Devils and ghosts of all types! Come immediately and help me consume this human's fleshly body!"

Instantly, numerous devil-ghosts in the area began to rush over.

Emerald green ghostfire flickered within the surrounding wretch energy as thousands of wretch-devils attempted to entered Yang Qi's body.

Yang Qi felt immense pressure weighing down on him, the likes of which he had never felt before.

He really was inviting the wolf into his house.

Years in the past, the fabled Great Sages would often be besieged by hosts of devils and monsters when they achieved their dao.

In this moment, Yang Qi was receiving the same treatment. Although, these were not monsters from beyond the heavens, and Yang Qi was also not at the level of a Great Sage.

It was a battle to the death, and only one side would come out alive.

Countless ghosts poured into him, filling his meridians, racing to his dantian region, occupying his acupoints, invading his five viscera and six bowels, even occupying his brain….

In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi was completely overtaken by devil-ghosts.

There were millions of them, and they made his body like a living hell as they began to use their cultivation techniques to snatch at his energy, blood, and life force. Even a top expert like Holy Daughter Manyflowers would be helpless in a situation like this.

Only a Legendary could possibly do something to fight back.

However, the fact that a horde of ghosts was turning him into hell itself actually conformed quite nicely to the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. The aura of countless devil-ghosts swirled through his meridians, trying to transform his true energy into something completely evil. And that was when something deep within Yang Qi suddenly woke up.

"Trying to defile me with a horde of devils? Well, I'll just execute them all!"

He threw his head back and roared as pop pop pop pop… one after another, numerous particles within him released their power. Instantly, he was engulfed in platinum sagefire.

Unexpectedly, he was breaking through into Quaternary Lifeseizing!

Some of the smaller devil-ghosts burst into flames and became life force quintessence, which further fueled the power of Yang Qi's true energy.

In the shortest of moments, Yang Qi's power exploded in intensity, and a river of platinum sagefire streamed through him, wiping out any devil-ghost it touched.

The horde of ghosts that had just entered his body was now the fuel he needed to become a Quaternary Lifeseizer. He might as well have been sitting comfortably in the Minorcosm World, with Nine-Yang Immortal Energy flowing into him.

"No! I have to get out of here! I can't be exterminated!"

Screaming and howling, the devil-ghosts tried to flee, but unfortunately, they soon found that Yang Qi's skin was locked down, sealed, making it impossible for them to escape.

God-Devil Seal!

He was going to absorb each and every one of these devil-ghosts!

The largest of the devil-ghosts, the one with the Undying Devil Soul, was there in his sea of energy, struggling uselessly against the godmammoth. All it took was a single inhalation through that massive trunk, and the devil-ghost was sucked into the Hellfire Crucible.

The lid slammed down with a boom.