Sage Monarch

Feeling overwhelmed with pain, Yang Immortal-Slayer said, "Yang Qi! Yang Qi! I feel like my body and mind are about to explode! The pain. It's horrific! My body is going to fall apart. I can't do this! I can't! My monarch godhood can't handle this level of power!"

"You've got to hang in there!" Yang Qi shouted, backing his words with his Unbounded will. "Get control of yourself! If your thoughts are out of control, how can you accomplish anything? Expand your heart and mind. Allow them to contain anything and everything. Give freedom to your psyche! The only one who controls the shackles of your mind is you!

"A clay jug can't contain a sea. But if you break the jug, there's no limit to what you can contain. The world will be yours!"

"I understand." Yang Immortal-Slayer had started out as Yang Qi's clone, so all it took was a few words, and their thoughts were aligned.

He opened his body and mind, ignoring his monarch godhood as he began to slough off the shackles that held him back from unbounded freedom. It was a lack of action or thinking that led to the realm of Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana, which was that of neither perception nor non-perception.

He was beginning to tame his mind and thoughts, and as power coursed into his monarch godhood and psyche, the devil embryo refined it and added it to his cultivation base.

He climbed from the peak of the Greater God level to the Consummate God level, then to the mid, late, and peak of that level. Next, he went through the early, mid, late, and peak of the Perfect God level.

His will convergence rose without stop as well, going from the mid Paramount level to the late and peak, until he was half a step into the Unbounded level.

Yet even with Yang Qi stealing power from Summer Soundfyre, Summer Vastcold, and Mother Voidwalker, then channeling it directly into Yang Immortal-Slayer, it still wasn't quite enough to push him into the Unbounded level.

Perhaps he was ready for the breakthrough, but unfortunately, his cultivation base needed some more tempering. He needed to do some more bitter cultivation before he could take advantage of everything he had built up in terms of resources.

SPLAT!

In the Supplication God Temple, Summer Soundfyre slumped weakly. Not only had her sacrifice failed, but she'd apparently been drained of the power she started out with.

She was so weak she couldn't even lift a finger!

'What's going on here? How come my power disappeared like water escaping from a burst dam?' Summer Soundfyre still didn't dare to believe that it was really happening. It seemed more like something from a nightmare.

Meanwhile, Summer Vastcold and Mother Voidwalker were both coughing up gobs of blood as they realized that they had also been drained of power. Mother Voidwalker had it a bit better off. Circulating her will, she struggled into a sitting position, her face a mask of fear. "What's going on here? What just happened? Why did things change all of a sudden? From the time I first reached the Unbounded level until now, nothing like this has ever happened!"

"M-Master," Summer Vastcold stammered, "the power of the Wisdom and Knowledge God Pill is gone! Not only that, my original power reserves are gone, and my godhood's been weakened. What's going on? Did I experience cultivation deviation?"

Trembling physically, Mother Voidwalker replied, "You didn't just slip into cultivation deviation. You fell victim to a plot! But who was it? Who managed to get in and out unnoticed? Not even a Paramount God should've been able to do that easily."

"Master, we're right in the middle of the Nacrelight Sageland? Who could plot against us?" Summer Vastcold shivered as her will collapsed. Only moments ago, she thought she was going to enter the Unbounded level, only to end up like this. Not even cultivation deviation would result in something this bad.

"I have to notify the Paramount Gods immediately," Mother Voidwalker said. "If we don't get help, we're going to lose all our techniques and become ordinary people. At this point, any god who came along could kill us. Only Paramount Gods can help us now. We have to get out of this state of cultivation deviation!"

"But if you're also suffering from cultivation deviation, Master, how will we notify the Paramount Gods? Without your Unbounded will convergence, how can you pierce the god kingdom of the Paramount Gods?"

"I have another way to do it," Mother Voidwalker said. "I have a talisman I can use to summon a Paramount God. In the end, I'm still an Unbounded expert, so there's no way the sect will throw someone like me away."

"Hurry, Master!" Summer Vastcold said, although in truth, she was actually completely demoralized.

"There's no need for that," someone said from behind them, and Yang Qi suddenly stepped into view.

"Void Qi!?" Summer Vastcold blurted.

Mother Voidwalker's face immediately fell. "Are you behind this mischief, Void Qi? You... you couldn't do this on your own. Who are you working for?"

"I'm not going to waste words. You two bitches tried to take advantage of me; did you really think I would just let that slide?" Waving a hand, he sent out a stream of light that bound up both women. "Now, you're mine. And Summer Soundfyre, too."

Swish!

Taking the two of them with him, he vanished.

Simultaneously, an invisible hand appeared in the Supplication God Temple, which grabbed Summer Soundfyre and whisked her away. Yang Qi's cultivation base was so advanced that he could move about freely in the Nacrelight Sageland. That was what happened when Unbounded will was powering the God Legion Seal and Cruiser of Civilization. It was something not even Paramount Gods could deal with.

A short time later, Yang Qi had all three women somewhere far outside of the Nacrelight Sageland, in the midst of the chaotic void.

With a smack, the three of them were flung down onto a huge altar in the middle of the Cruiser of Civilization, an altar that thrummed with imperial-heaven pre-beginning powers.

He wasn't planning to kill them, but rather use them to take control of the entire Nacrelight Sageland. After all, the Nacrelight Sageland was a major sect, with numerous Paramount Gods, so taking it over wouldn't be an easy task.

As soon as she looked around, Summer Soundfyre blurted, "Summer Vastcold? It's you!"

Meanwhile, Summer Vastcold and Mother Voidwalker looked over with expressions of shock.

"Summer Soundfyre?!" Hatred flashed across Summer Vastcold's face, but just as quickly, it vanished, and she smiled bitterly. "We were both fooled by Void Qi, weren't we?"

"That's right." Yang Qi said, walking out with hands clasped behind his back, flanked by Yang Immortal-Slayer.

Smiling ruthlessly, he continued, "Of course, you brought this disaster on your own heads. I offered to help you, and even gave you immense wealth. But you were plotting against me the entire time. You planned to take control of me in the end, and take my wealth. So can you really blame me?"

"How could I have fallen for this?" Mother Voidwalker said, glaring at Yang Qi as she struggled to sit up straight. "Tell me, who are you working for? Your cultivation base isn't strong enough to do this to us."

"My cultivation base?" He laughed loudly as a tempest of Unbounded will erupted around him crushing everything around them.

Mother Voidwalker's face fell. "Unbounded will convergence?!"

"That's right. I'm an Unbounded expert. And you think I can't do anything to you? Very funny. You just can't see the truth about my cultivation base, that's all." Reining in his will, he clasped Yang Immortal-Slayer on the shoulder and said, "By the way, let me introduce my brother, who's an apprentice of King Immortal-Slayer."

"King Immortal-Slayer!" Mother Voidwalker said in shock. "King Immortal-Slayer isn't dead?"

"Of course not. How could he have an apprentice if he's dead? And we're in the Cruiser of Civilization right now. The complete cruiser. Did you really believe me when I said I hadn't unlocked the full legacy of the Lord of Civilization?"

"Void Qi!" Summer Vastcold grated. "The Nacrelight Sageland won't let you off the hook for treating us like this. It doesn't matter if you have help from the Lord of Civilization. He was inferior to the High Priestess!"

"The High Priestess?" Yang Qi clasped his hands behind his back. "I forgot to tell you that I'm not just the successor of the Lord of Civilization. You see, I bear the God Legion Seal."

He waved his hand, and a vortex sprang up, sending a dazzling stream of golden light shooting out. It weighed down so heavily on the three women that they were immediately forced to prostrate themselves on the ground. As for Mother Voidwalker, her eyes were already blank with shock.

"You three are going to acknowledge allegiance to me and become my slaves," Yang Qi said. "Don't worry, I'll restore your strength. The God Legion Seal is omnipotent, after all. I want to take over the Nacrelight Sageland, and even though the three of you have been bled dry, I can help you recover. After all, I command the Cruiser of Civilization's godhood manufacturing systems, psychic scaling systems, imperial-heaven pre-beginning systems, genetic systems, vivicreation systems, and of course I have my God Legion Seal."

"You're delusional!" Mother Voidwalker said. "You'll never enslave us, Void Qi. We're loyal to the Nacrelight Sageland. Not even killing us will change that."

"In that case, I suppose I have no other choice than to kill you. Most people say, better a bad life than a good death. But if you disagree, then so be it." Yang Qi shook his head sadly.

"Hold on a moment, Young Sir," Summer Soundfyre said. "Just wait a second."

"Oh? What is it?" Yang Qi asked.

"Young Sir, surely you understand everything that happened before," Summer Soundfyre said. "People will die for riches just as birds will die for food. You want to punish me, and I understand that. Perhaps Mother Voidwalker and Summer Vastcold want to be stubborn, but not me. If you restore my power and give those two to me to handle, I'll serve you faithfully, no matter what."