Sage Monarch

The bitter fight was reaching a climax.

Shockingly, Yang Qi actually opened a huge wound on Buddha Thunderjolt's arm, but at the same time, received a massive blow that nearly ripped him to shreds.

Thankfully, he recovered quickly.

All he had to do was breathe, and all of his injuries would heal up. Even if he died here, he would almost instantly come back to life. So what was there to worry about being injured?

Meanwhile, Buddha Thunderjolt was both injured and furious. He had impressive recovery abilities, yet was still soaked with blood as those powers were being pushed to their limit.

"Boy, you—"

"That Demon Master talisman of yours incited the wrath of the Sovereign Lord," Yang Qi interrupted. "Even if I don't kill you, you're going to have a tough time getting out of here. That starlight is going to keep at it until you're dead."

Without further ado, he attacked again, this time with the God Tombstone Palms.

Numerous tombstones appeared, smashing with tremendous force into Buddha Thunderjolt before he could dodge.

Now, Yang Qi was in the same level as Buddha Thunderjolt: the late Paramount God level. Unless Buddha Thunderjolt somehow rose to the peak, he was definitely going to get crushed.

Thanks to the assault of the God Tombstone Palms, he was powerless to do anything but be slammed backward, his head swimming to the point where he was having trouble seeing. Thanks to Yang Qi's breakthrough, the God Tombstone Palms were stronger than ever.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi blurred into motion, heading to Buddha Thunderjolt's side, where he produced the Infernal Deity Spear and stabbed him.

Screaming with shock at this unexpected development, Buddha Thunderjolt shouted, "Vile Dragon Armor!"

Power flowed out of him, transforming into a suit of armor that ejected the part of the Infernal Deity Spear that had stabbed into him, and then shattering the weapon.

"Heaven-Dao Transformation!" Yang Qi's hands blurred in a complex incantation gesture, as he simultaneously chanted a host of enchantments. It was none other than the Sovereign Lord's Holy and Far-Reaching Consummate Omnicurse, and it created a stream of chains that shot forward and bound Buddha Thunderjolt so he couldn't move.

Howling as he powered up his energy arts, Buddha Thunderjolt said, "I'm going to kill you, boy! There's no way I'm going to fall here!"

Spitting out some more blood, he drew on a sacrificial technique. "Oh mighty Dragon God, I am a child of yours, just on the verge of being slaughtered. Don't tell me you're blind to this! I hereby sacrifice my spirit, soul, flesh, and blood to call you to me!"

The power of sacrifice ripped through the void, yet apparently, it didn't do a single thing.

Yang Qi burst out laughing. "You think your sacrifice will call out to the will of the ancient Dragon God? Impossible. Don't you know where we are? This place belonged to the Sovereign Lord. Even when the ancient Dragon God was alive, he wouldn't dare to come here. If he did, he'd have to kowtow in subservience to the Sovereign Lord. Are you crazy?"

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was trying to decide what deadly move to use next. He had plenty at his disposal, and this was the perfect opportunity to get a bit of experience. Buddha Thunderjolt couldn't fight back now, and could be used as target practice.

Furthermore, the power of the Demon Master's talisman was waning. Once it ran out, Buddha Thunderjolt was definitely going to die.

His only hope was to become a peak Paramount God, but how could that possibly happen?

"Fine. You're really forcing my hand, boy. Inimitable Dragon-Pill!"

Buddha Thunderjolt was being ripped to shreds, to the point where he was losing human form. Now he looked like a dragon, and his demon energy was rapidly fading. That was when he reached out and produced a god pill that shone with a brilliant red light. It was an inimitable pill whose medicinal aura was so strong that Yang Qi's nose twinged.

"In the ancient era, the Dragonfolk patriarchs concocted numerous Inimitable Dragon-Pills, which were later scattered in the Myriad Dragons Lair. I just happened to come across this one day, but never dared to use it. But now I have no choice. Once I reach the peak level, boy, you're dead! Do you know what peak Paramount Gods are? That's the same level as the Lord of Radiance and Light reached! Only the Dragonfolk are truly unparalleled in this world. We've never been defeated. And I'm going to break through right now!"

Gulp!

With that, he tossed the Inimitable Dragon-Pill into his mouth and swallowed it down.

The wailing of ghosts and weeping of gods could be heard, and spread rapidly, becoming like the howls of a myriad of dragons. Meanwhile, behind Buddha Thunderjolt appeared an enormous placenta of flesh and blood, filled with the wriggling shadows of thousands of dragons.

"What? You're reaching out to connect to the Myriad Dragons Lair?" Yang Qi recognized immediately what this new development entailed.

He launched a series of powerful attacks, but this enormous mass of flesh and blood absorbed all of them, making it impossible to hurt Buddha Thunderjolt any further.

RUMBLE!

Buddha Thunderjolt's power was rising like the burning sun; he was back in human form, tall and mighty, and thanks to the wriggling mass of flesh and blood, he was yet again climbing toward a breakthrough.

'Don't tell me he's going to do the same thing as me. He's going to use this moment of critical danger to achieve a cultivation breakthrough!?' Yang Qi knew that as long as someone had enough destiny, then even if they normally couldn't use it for a breakthrough, if they faced a life or death situation, they could often turn ill fortune into good luck and use it to get stronger.

That was just one of the useful aspects of destiny.

And Buddha Thunderjolt obviously had access to a huge flow of it.

"Fine. Let's see how strong you can be. Sage Monarch Grand Magic, Final Stance: Annul Death; Eternally Bury!" He knew that he absolutely, positively couldn't allow Buddha Thunderjolt to reach the Paramount God level. If he did, the power from the Myriad Dragons Lair would be too much for Yang Qi to handle, and he would end up captured or killed.

Therefore, he resorted to the final move in the Sage Monarch Grand Magic.

To date, he hadn't used this move, mostly because he didn't have full enlightenment of it. But just now, during his breakthrough, he had come to a deeper understanding of many things, including this final move.

RUMBLE!

Even as Buddha Thunderjolt was transforming, Yang Qi jumped up into the air and seemingly vanished without a trace.

"What? Where did his aura go? How could I have lost track of it?" Before Buddha Thunderjolt could wrap his mind around what was happening, he realized that something had appeared overhead.

Looking up, he saw an enormous necropolis, ancient, and immense enough to bury the entire god world, as well as the legion of gods. This wasn't something that belonged to the god world. It came from some other place, bringing with it the substructure and essence of the void. And whatever was buried in this great necropolis would remain buried for all time, with no clues left behind.

This was Yang Qi's final move, which was a transformation of the Great Necropolis, and was intended to bury the enemy.

He was an Inheritor of the Great Necropolis. And the Great Necropolis was the most mysterious object in the entire god world. It was even said that whoever came to understand its profundities could transcend the god world and reach the Annulled level.

The Sovereign Lord had attempted to use the Great Necropolis, leading to his attempted destruction of the god world. However, Yang Qi instinctively knew it was because the Sovereign Lord had made a grave mistake in his study and research. He hadn't used the Great Necropolis correctly.

On the other hand, Yang Qi had a special understanding of the necropolis. That was why his final move in the Sage Monarch Grand Magic incorporated the Great Necropolis God Art, and led to the final move of Annul Death; Eternally Bury.

It could bury the enemy, and it could bury oneself.

As soon as the projection of the Great Necropolis appeared, Yang Qi felt as if he were inextricably connected to the actual Great Necropolis. As if it were part of him, and he could control or borrow its godpower.

Not even Buddha Thunderjolt could fight against the might of the Great Necropolis. As it rotated above him, he felt like he was being ground into mincemeat, and his godhood even started to crack. His mind filled with agony and horror, just like an ordinary person's would be if they found themselves tossed into a necropolis and buried alive.

Buddha Thunderjolt knew that this move of Yang Qi's was something he couldn't fight against. It was making him so weak that he couldn't possibly step into the peak Paramount God level.

"The only way Dragonfolk die is in battle! We never surrender! I'm going for broke! I'll end this in mutual destruction!" Hatred consumed Buddha Thunderjolt, causing him to unleash a destructive power within him that would detonate both himself and the Great Necropolis.

It was suicide.

As the Great Necropolis expanded larger and larger, it seemed like it might explode. But then, the stone solidified, and started rapidly shrinking down.

Just like that, Buddha Thunderjolt's detonation of will was contained.

Then, Yang Qi began the work of assimilating him.