Sage Monarch

These two mighty individuals, the Second Devil General and Yang Qi, were both wily old foxes.

Although the Second Devil General considered Yang Qi his junior, he didn't dare underestimate him. Having been present as a witness to many of Yang Qi's actions, he knew that Yang Qi wasn't someone who could be dealt with easily. In fact, the difficulty level of profiting off of him would be sky-high. That said, it was an amazing opportunity.

"From now on, Yang Qi, perhaps I should hold back from calling you 'boy'. You might not be strong enough to fight me right now, but you have incredible potential. Fine. I'll back off. I'll leave the Everlit Godlamp and give full control to you. The lamp can shift into different states. If you can push it into its second state, it'll become a torch of radiance and light, capable of illuminating the forward path of fate. That's the key to seizing further control of it.

"Use whatever amazing ability you have that will extract me from the lamp. Once I have my freedom, you can assimilate it. However, there's going to be a certain critical point in which you need my assistance. You see, the lamp belonged to the Lord of Radiance and Light, so you can't just assimilate it. Thankfully, I was imprisoned in it for many years, so I'm completely familiar with it. When the moment comes in which I give you the Mahātmā Jade, your cultivation base will skyrocket, and you'll automatically start assimilating the lamp. That's when you have to free me. If you don't do it right away, it'll make things dangerously difficult. After all, if you ride a tiger, it's hard to get off. What do you say?"

"Fine," Yang Qi said. "It seems like a great plan. But let me warn you again: don't try anything funny!"

"You think the Second Devil General would try something funny, boy? Cut the crap. There are limits to my patience!"

"Alright, let's begin. Hurry up and relinquish your control over the core of the lamp." Yang Qi opened his Lord's Eye and was soon able to see the lamp as a whole, and could tell that the devilishness within it was receding, making room for his own energy to enter it and take control of the spell formations.

Before, he had only controlled about ten percent of the lamp. The other parts were filled with the Second Devil General's devilishness. Truth be told, his attempts to take the lamp had really been a contest with that devilishness.

But now the Second Devil General was retreating.

They were like two countries at war, with one of the countries expanding and the other ceding territory.

Things started out well.

But then, before Yang Qi could pick up any speed, he realized that the Second Devil General's 'retreat' was actually a way for him to build up power. And when he had built up enough power, he'd have a chance to strike back and take control of all the spell formations.

Yang Qi wasn't stupid; he had assumed something like that would happen. That was why he had struck this deal with the Second Devil General while in the Bastille of the One God, right under the halls of heaven. Here, the power of the starlight flowed continually, and could be transformed into vital energy that he could pour into the lamp to take control of it.

Using his own cultivation base to assimilate the lamp simply wouldn't be possible. He obviously couldn't provide enough of his own vital energy to succeed. It would be similar to an ordinary person standing in front of a mountain of gold. No matter how much they might want that gold, it wouldn't be possible for them to just take it.

Looking at Yang Qi struggling to gain control of the lamp, Jadefall said, "Purrling, this Second Devil General isn't going to cause any trouble, is he?"

The lamp was burning with incredibly intense light, while at the same time, black smoke rose up from it.

"Purr, purr...." the purrling said, seemingly the opposite of anxious. Seeing that, Jadefall felt a bit better.

Eventually, the critical moment arrived. Yang Qi had fifty percent control over the lamp.

"Second Devil General," he said via will projection, "now's the time to give me the Mahātmā Jade."

"Take a bit more control," the Second Devil General responded. "Then you'll be able to eject me from inside the lamp. You haven't reached the golden ratio yet! Let me give you some devilishness. I know you can absorb it, given that you have the Mahātmā Jade. Take it and use it to grow stronger!"

The Second Devil General suddenly erupted with boundless devilishness that shot right into Yang Qi.

Yang Qi shuddered as he suddenly started being devilized and scales rippled out over his body, all of them covered with the magical symbols of the Devilfolk.

At the same time, his monarch godhood started rising to a higher level, and the sage monarch magistrates in his God Legion Paradise began transforming. Splitting rapidly, they turned from a force of sixty thousand into one of seventy thousand. Then eighty, ninety, and ultimately a hundred thousand!

It was as if the Second Devil General was personally channeling his own essence into Yang Qi to help him!

'There's no way the Second Devil General is doing this out of the kindness of his heart. It's no small thing to have my sage monarch magistrates instantly reach the level of a hundred thousand. And my cultivation base is now so advanced that I definitely wouldn't lose in a fight with Buddha Thunderjolt.'

Had the Second Devil General gone insane? However, even as Yang Qi accepted the massive influx of devilishness, the lamp suddenly trembled and a massive stream of radiance and light shot out of it, wrapping around Yang Qi's soul, spirit, sea of consciousness, and will.

WHOOSH!

Everyone looking on watched as Yang Qi's fleshly body was suddenly sucked into the Everlit Godlamp! Even his God Legion Paradise vanished. In the blink of an eye, everyone was exposed to the boundless power of the starlight, which shot toward them wildly.

It was a very serious situation. After all, Yang Qi's friends and family had very low cultivation bases. Even Buddha Thunderjolt hadn't been able to sustain the onslaught of power here.

Thankfully, the purrling was there. It quickly created a huge bubble that surrounded everyone and protected them from the starlight.

'Not good!' Yang Qi thought. 'As expected, the Second Devil General is vicious and merciless. The power he gave as a gift was really a deadly trap! Now I've been sucked into the Everlit Godlamp, where the will of the Lord of Radiance and Light is going to take me for the Second Devil General and try to seal me. Then the real Second Devil General will break free and take control of the lamp. We'll have switched places! Impressive. Very impressive. But how could I fall for a trick like this?'

Yang Qi had known all along that the Second Devil General would try to pull a trick. In the dao of devils, treachery like this was considered an art.

'The Second Devil General filled me with devilishness so that I'd take his place. Little does he know that he's actually given me an amazing opportunity! Mahātmā Jade. God Legion Seal. Great Necropolis God Art. Combine into one! Boundless Everlit Godlamp, Fly to the Halls of Heaven!'

It was Yang Qi's turn to unleash his own secret preparations. All of a sudden, the Everlit Godlamp shot into the air like a rocket, heading right toward the halls of heaven.

Yang Qi had set up a teleportation portal that the Second Devil General had no clue about. And within that portal was the Tribulation Monarch Cannon.

At the moment, Yang Qi was inside the Everlit Godlamp, having replaced the Second Devil General. He couldn't use any of his own powers, but that didn't mean the Tribulation Monarch Cannon had ceased functioning.

The Tribulation Monarch Cannon was a transformed version of the Grand Tribulation Cannon, which the True Devil had used as a trump card against the halls of heaven. And now, Yang Qi was using it to shoot the Everlit Godlamp right toward the halls of heaven like a missile.

It was a given that the halls of heaven would react to that.

As soon as the Tribulation Monarch Cannon unleashed a volley toward the halls of heaven, they responded, sending out light in the form of a huge hand.

It was enormous, its five fingers each containing three thousand chiliocosms of worlds, all of which contained millions upon millions of flourishing civilizations, as well as endless time and space.

It was the hand of the Sovereign Lord!

In the blink of an eye, a third type of power was raging into the Everlit Godlamp, which flared with blinding light.

Yang Qi felt like an ant facing an avalanche. However, it was all going according to plan. Smiling, he drew deeply on the God Legion Seal, which sucked the power of the Sovereign Lord into himself, neutralizing the devilishness and creating a complete synthesis between the godly and the devilish.

The Second Devil General never could have predicted that something like this would happen, that Yang Qi would set a trap that would invoke the raw power of the halls of heaven.

As soon as the power of the Sovereign Lord slammed into him, he let loose a miserable shriek.