Sage Monarch

Sitting between the twin trees of permanence and impermanence, Yang Qi growled, "Evil creature! I can't believe you're acting so impudently here in my pure land. Tribulation Monarch Cannon: FIRE!"

His will spread out, stilling the twitching god kingdom around him. Truth be told, he was actually shocked that his opponent was so powerful, and that his energy arts could transform everything around them into dragons. Even the vital energy was being turned into dragon scales.

If he had clashed with someone like this while in the Deva Dynasty, he would have been in big trouble.

Thankfully, his trip to the Bastille of the One God had involved slaughtering spacetitans and going through five months of cultivation. Furthermore, after entering this place, he had devoured ancient angel soul conglomerations and actual transmogrified angels, furthering his cultivation again. Right now, he was stronger than ever, so even if Buddha Testimony's cultivation were stronger than it was, he would still be in real trouble.

RUMBLE!

All heaven and earth trembled violently.

The sun and moon inverted, and mysterious power surged everywhere. At the same time, the sage monarch magistrates leaped into a tight formation, creating an enormous cannon that pulsed with the power of tribulations. Godpower surged and an immense roaring sound was heard, then a massive blast shot out and smashed into the vile dragons.

This cannon also contained elements of the Cannon of Civilization. The white beam of light that shot out of it could both create and destroy countless civilizations.

Who could create civilizations, destroy civilizations, and carry the legacies of civilizations? Who could make full use of civilizations?

It was as if these questions were being asked of all living beings by the great heaven above. But then the living beings asked the gods, and the gods asked time and fate itself.

This was an attack that surpassed both the corporeal and the psychic.

Crack. Rattle.

When the dragonized vital energy was hit by the blast from the Tribulation Monarch Cannon, it shattered and exploded. There wasn't anything that could survive power like that.

"Aiiiiieeee!"

Buddha Testimony shrieked as the white light locked onto him. He tried using the Heaven-Defying Eight Steps to dodge the blast, but this was an attack that surpassed the corporeal and the psychic, and it transcended time, space, souls, and physical bodies. It contained permanence and impermanence, and was something that simply couldn't be dodged.

C-C-CRACK!

The sky ripped open from the force of the attack, and Buddha Testimony's magical treasures and defensive powers were incapable of defending him.

As blood sprayed out of countless wounds on his body, he drew on the most powerful counterattack his godhood could muster.

"Heaven and Earth Become Dragons; Lair of Ten Thousand Dragons!"

The area around him transformed into a lair filled with ten thousand dragons. There were so many that they almost looked like writhing earthworms. Red dragons, azure dragons, green dragons, silver dragons, gold dragons, jade dragons, ghost dragons, underworld dragons, bone dragons, iron dragons, god dragons, heaven dragons, buddha dragons, spike dragons, white dragons, grey dragons, snake dragons, earth dragons, tiger dragons.... Every possible type of named dragon in existence could be seen.

It was truly a lair of ten thousand dragons!

This was his most powerful energy art, and it was his only hope of fending off the power of the Tribulation Monarch Cannon.

Both the Lair of Ten Thousand Dragons and the God Legion Paradise were physical god kingdoms that could absorb immense levels of power, providing an incredible level of defense.

Yang Qi shouted, "Tribulation of the One God! Let the Halls of Heaven Fall from the Sky!"

Within the white light of the Tribulation Monarch Cannon, the halls of heaven appeared. After all, the Tribulation Monarch Cannon had originally been created in the depths of hell by the Supreme True-Devil, and its power had been used to fire at the god world, and its most core element, the halls of heaven.

But Yang Qi had transformed the cannon, changing it from the Grand Tribulation Cannon into the Tribulation Monarch Cannon, making it stronger and more mysterious than ever. And this was its most powerful volley, called Let the Halls of Heaven Fall from the Sky.

RUMBLE!

Immense power split through everything and crashed into the Lair of Ten Thousand Dragons, ripping it to shreds causing blood to spray out of the mouth of the wild-eyed Buddha Testimony as he was thrown backward to slam into one of the godtrees of the God Legion Paradise.

The blow had severely damaged his godhood, soul, and sea of consciousness, nearly destroying them. There was no way he could recover from this injury!

Everything in the God Legion Paradise went calm, and Yang Qi walked forward, then squatted next to the twitching Buddha Testimony.

"Now are you convinced?"

"No! I refuse to accept this. If we were outside, I'd definitely crush you. I would never have ended up in this situation. I hate you! I should've done everything differently!" Buddha Testimony was no fool, and was aware that he was in an extremely dangerous situation. He also knew there was no way Yang Qi would let him off the hook. "If I'd done something on the way here, you wouldn't have been able to fight back."

"There's no point in dragging out this conversation. In life, there's no medicine you can take to cure regrets." He shoved his palm out, causing an embryonic version of the halls of heaven to appear right over Buddha Testimony's head, then crush down!

The halls of heaven were crushing down!

Buddha Testimony had no time to react. The God Legion Seal had taken the form of the halls of heaven, and as it pierced into his head, golden light flared. The power of the God Legion Seal transformed his soul and mind, and at the same time, a golden throne appeared within the seal.

A moment later, he struggled to a sitting position, his eyes darting about, his hair in disarray. He no longer looked like a handsome young sir. Instead, his eyes were slack, with a sealing mark that looked like the halls of heaven, sitting there in his pupils.

"Awaken," Yang Qi said, tapping his forehead.

Buddha Testimony leaped to his feet. "You... you're actually—"

"Yes. I'm the bearer of the God Legion Seal. Now do you understand why I can move about so freely in the Bastille of the One God?" Yang Qi clasped his hands behind his back. "The God Legion Seal now administrates your thoughts. I control everything about you, and there's nothing you can do to free yourself. On your knees!"

RUMBLE!

Buddha Testimony tried to resist, but he couldn't fight back against the power of the God Legion Seal. Nothing did any good, and trying to take back control of himself only caused more power to flow through him and control him.

With a flop, he dropped to the ground and lay there unmoving. His thoughts and actions were no longer under his own control, to the point where the humiliation he felt in his heart was quickly dispelled.

In the past, he had been the type of expert that would feel it an immense insult to be forced to kneel to anyone. Even if heaven and earth fell, and countless of his own people were slaughtered in bloody fashion, he would never agree to do such a thing.

But now he couldn't even harbor thoughts of resisting.

"I bet you want to feel humiliated and furious, don't you, Buddha Testimony," Yang Qi said, his voice thrumming with a devilish tinge. "You want to think of killing me. But you can't. That's because I've transformed your mind and heart. If I want you to smile, you'll smile. If I want you to cry, you'll cry. If I want you to fly into a rage, you'll fly into a rage. And if I want you to cease any such activities, you will. Even if I tell you to go lick someone's boots, you won't get angry. I control your happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy."

Buddha Testimony looked up, a faint, enigmatic smile on his face. "I'm not myself anymore. Not even inside."

Yang Qi laughed. "Correct. Serve me well, and when I become the Sovereign Lord in the future, I'll give you back your freedom."

"You...." But in the end, Buddha Testimony had no words to speak.

"Enough chatting. I'll heal you now. With you back to full strength, you can help me subjugate Dibarra and the imperial uncle. After I have all of you on my side, I can deal with the rest of the experts from the Nine Dragons Court, Sumeru Temple, and Deva Dynasty. Then, after about half a year of cultivation and progress, I'll be able to seize control of all three sects."

Yang Qi thrust out his palm and sent godpower surging into Buddha Testimony. Within moments, his injuries were healed.

"They're here," Yang Qi said. Retracting the God Legion Paradise, he looked at Buddha Testimony and said, "You ambush Dibarra, and I'll grab the imperial uncle. We have to keep them apart."

"Exactly!"

Already, Buddha Testimony had reached the point where he didn't even consider defying Yang Qi.

All of a sudden, Yang Qi attacked with his palm, sending vital energy surging out. At the same time, he had Buddha Testimony unleash a trump card move, making it seem like the two of them were fiercely fighting.

Dibarra and the imperial uncle appeared, then stopped some distance away and looked thoughtfully at the battle playing out in front of them. At a certain point, Yang Qi let loose a howl as he hit Buddha Testimony with a bevy of palm strikes that forced the man backward several paces. But then Buddha Testimony spat out a dragonpearl, which hit Yang Qi and sent blood spraying out of his mouth as he was thrown to the ground.

Seemingly falling back in retreat, Buddha Testimony headed toward Dibarra. Meanwhile, thinking he could take advantage of the situation, the imperial uncle shot toward Yang Qi.

"Where are you going, Buddha Testimony?!" Dibarra shouted angrily. "You're supposed to be helping me get Mister Second!"

"I know. Quick, you handle the imperial uncle!" At this point, the two of them were passing each other so closely they nearly brushed up against each other. And of course, Dibarra wasn't at all suspicious of Buddha Testimony.

Without warning, brilliant white light suddenly shot out of Buddha Testimony, a cannon blast filled with the power of tribulation. And it shot right toward Dibarra's back.

He was caught unawares, but still was able to sense the danger, and quickly summoned a shining field of buddhist light behind himself.

RUMBLE!

The ground trembled as the buddhist light shattered, and he was hit, sending him slamming into the ground with blood spraying out of his mouth. "Buddha Testimony! I can't believe you would dare to ambush me!"

Uninterested in exchanging words, Buddha Testimony simply attacked with a host of killing moves, drawing on his Sin and Enmity Dragonization Incantation to fight Dibarra without a single indication that he was willing to hold back.