Sage Monarch

Time passed, one day after another.

Everyone in Yanhaven remained immersed in the spirit rain.

The city was becoming like a city of crystal, and everyone inside stopped their daily activities of life and focused fully on cultivation. In the past, most people could only cultivate with the help of energy convergence pills, making it a very slow process. But now, this nearly liquid spirit energy of heaven and earth provided benefits that vastly surpassed those pills.

Everyone was able to make incredibly rapid progress.

Because of the transformations that were constantly at work, Yanhaven was truly becoming a holy land of cultivation.

Of course, no outsiders dared to intrude into the territory controlled by Yanhaven. The Grand Emperor's Pagoda was extremely mighty, and kept the entire area locked down with incredible power.

Those who benefited the most were nearest the pagoda. That was especially true of the guards in the immediate vicinity. By now, they were motionless, so imbued with spirit energy that they almost looked like crystalline statues of ice.

The spirit energy flowing through them made them feel wonderful, and as they breathed, their meridians were cleansed, and their true energy flowed like never before.

Many of the expert energy artists among the guards, and even among the ordinary children of the Yang Clan, were already pushing into the Master of Energy level.

Days passed, and the process continued.

Because of the crystallization of the spirit energy, the areas near the pagoda were almost like a convergence of ancient spirit stones.

Thus was the power of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

It was the top treasure created by Grand Emperor Rich-Lush, connected to the essence of land, capable of creating the ultimate convergence of spirit energy. Even Legendaries would be able to benefit greatly because of its presence.

One month. Two months. Three months….

Soon, autumn gave way to winter, and snow began to fill heaven and earth.

However, the power of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda only seemed to increase, surrounding the area of Yanhaven with what looked like a rippling shield. Those who stood outside of that rippling distortion would not be able to see anything happening inside.

Of course, it soon attracted the attention of top experts in the lands. However, not even the strongest energy artists among them were able to observe what was actually happening in Yanhaven.

Yanhaven was a remote place to begin with, where Lifeseizers were little more than fables. And compared to the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, Lifeseizers were like ants.

'What? Something's happening over in Yanhaven? There's a distortion field surrounding the area? How is that even possible?'

One of the first experts to get the news was Supreme Leader Yun Zhonglong in the State of Yun. At first, he didn't believe the news, but when he flew up into the sea of clouds and looked over in the direction of Yanhaven, he saw the rippling distortion that seemed to indicate another dimension existed beyond it.

He tried to send his true energy into the distorted area of space-time, but was rebuffed, and ended up coughing up blood from the damage it inflicted on him.

Terrified, he flew back into the State of Yun.

'What exactly is going on?' Smacking his hand down onto his desk, he shouted, "It must be some sort of magical treasure. Men, go to the Demi-Immortal Institute and notify my daughter Yun Hailan!"

Similar reactions occurred among the experts of the House of Shadowblight.

A few dozen men in black garments stood on a towering peak in the Blackcorpse Mountains, surrounded by swirling toxic energy. All of them were Lifeseizers, and were obviously from the House of Shadowblight.

"What exactly is happening? Why is Yanhaven surrounded by a rippling distortion? Don't tell me it's a Legendary that just reached the third transformation, the Space-Void Transformation? Impossible. Yanhaven is a poor place with no major organizations. Lifeseizers are rare there, let alone Legendary patriarchs. What do you think, Blightking Crimsondevil?"

One of the black-garbed men was a Lifeseizer with a head of flowing red hair.

He was an extraordinarily powerful blightking, a Quinary Lifeseizer with true energy vestiges. When he unleashed his true energy, all of the devillings in the Blackcorpse Mountains would prostrate in fear.

Blightking Crimsondevil snorted coldly. "It doesn't matter. The chief elders of the House of Shadowblight gave explicit orders to reduce Yanhaven to rubble and kill Yang Qi. Considering he killed Blightking Skulkdevil, how could our House of Shadowblight maintain any level of dignity with him alive?"

"Kill him!"

"We'll raze Yanhaven to the ground with poisons and toxins. We won't even let the chickens or dogs survive!"

"Yes, but given the current situation, I'm afraid we can't do anything. We need reinforcements. Come on, let's head back and report to the chief elders."

"Yes. Let's go. We'll keep our eye on Yanhaven, and strike when the moment is right. Like the saying goes, it's easy to dodge an open spear, but hard to ward off a hidden arrow. I refuse to believe that he'll be able to defend against us forever." One of the blightkings flew up, and the flap of his wings caused toxic energy to spread out that killed numerous devillings in the area.

That was the power of hyper-toxic poison, which could corrode true energy and transform it into toxic energy.

More than a dozen experts from the House of Shadowblight who were present all vanished into the night.

Eventually, spring returned. It was the third lunar month, making it about six months since Yang Qi and the others had gone into their session of meditation. Life had come to a halt in Yanhaven as all of the people immersed themselves in the nearly liquid spirit energy of heaven and earth. The spirit energy imbued everything, from the city walls, to the buildings, to even mundane sabers, which slowly began to transform into divine weapons.

On one particular day when the sun shone high in the sky, Yanhaven trembled, and all of the spirit energy was sucked into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. At the same time, the barrier which had sealed Yanhaven dissolved.

Slowly, everyone began to emerge from their trance-like dreams, and began to look around in surprise.

Of course, in their hearts, they already knew what had transpired. They had not been frozen into ice over the past six months, but rather, had been in an extended session of cultivation.

Many Masters of Energy had risen up among the government officials and aristocratic clans. As for the common people, there were a large number who were in the sixth, seventh, or even eighth phase.

The children of the Yang Clan had benefited even more greatly, as virtually all of them were Masters of Energy now. And all of the chief elders were now in the Lifeseizing level. The palace had been filled with so much spirit energy of heaven and earth that it became almost like an ancient spirit stone mine; any of them who didn't reach the Lifeseizing level would have become laughingstocks.

Even some of the common animals in Yanhaven benefited, and quite a few had begun to develop demon cores.

Now, all of the remaining energy was sucked into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

RUUUUMBLE!

The pagoda began to shrink, and then Yang Qi flew out, followed by his family and sworn siblings.

Yang Zhan let out a stream of contented laughter. Then, he spoke in a booming voice that filled the entire city. "I finally reached Quinary Lifeseizing! I have true energy vestiges! It only took six months!"

"Quinary Lifeseizing! Our king is a Quinary Lifeseizer!"

"On your knees, everyone! Offer congratulations to His Majesty!"

Many of the members of the aristocratic clans, and even the common people, had been completely wrapped up in the joy of their own benefits. However, when they heard the voices of certain government ministers, they dropped to their knees to kowtow.

"Ministers," Yang Zhan said. "Immediately carry out a census to check the cultivation bases of the populace. We'll meet tomorrow to report matters and discuss the future."

It was obviously of utmost importance to see how the city as a whole had benefited. As could well be imagined, if the forces of the city were mustered, they would be a huge army that could sweep through any nation that got in their path.

And of course, Yang Zhan knew that Yang Qi now had nothing to fear even from Legendaries.

Contented laughter rang out as Yang Qi landed on the ground in the royal palace. As he did, his sworn siblings touched down around him. If the common people who were near the Grand Emperor's Pagoda had benefited, how did the rest of the people inside fare?

"Brothers and sisters!" Jun Tianchou said excitedly. "I'm actually in Nonary Lifeseizing. I'm a Nonary Lifeseizer! I'm ten times stronger than before, in only six months!"

"I'm also in Nonary Lifeseizing!" Hua Fengfeng said coolly. "Although, it's going to take a lot of power and enlightenment to reach the Legendary level."

"I'm a Nonary Lifeseizer too," Meng Qingshan said. He wasn't the only one. Soaring Cloudwyrm and his brothers were all looking down at their hands in amazement.

"I'm a bit behind," Li He said, shaking his head. "Only Octonary Lifeseizing. I guess it makes sense considering the rest of you are the top members of the institutes, and the pillars of your clans."

In a short six months, the fight with the will of the asura, and the vital energy they had absorbed, benefited them the same as ten years of ordinary cultivation.

Li He, Liang Dong, Hua Yinhu and He Jili were all in Octonary Lifeseizing.

Yang Zhan was in Quinary, whereas Yang Yunchong and Yang Hualong were in Quaternary. Everyone else was in Nonary Lifeseizing. After all, Yang Qi's sworn siblings all had much more stable foundations than Yang Zhan. They were either conclave students, or experts from clans that had once birthed Great Sages.

Back when Yang Qi had taken them as sworn siblings, most of them had been in Quinary Lifeseizing or a bit higher.

As for Yang Qi, he was still a Nonary Lifeseizer. However, in terms of strength, he surpassed a hundred Nonary Lifeseizers put together. And he now had access to the power of five hundred ancient megamammoths.

If he wanted to, he could casually rip a Blood-Form Legendary to pieces. Next on his path: the Legendary level.

1. The expression it's easy to dodge an open spear, but hard to ward off a hidden arrow is one of my favorite Chinese sayings. In fact, I liked it so much that I created an RPG character based on it named Hidden Arrow, a martial artist who uses deadly poison needles. He actually has a cameo as a villain in the prologue of my original novel , and then returns later in the novel to carry out more villainy. The entire prologue is available in the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon, so go check it out. And if you like it, you can sign up for Kindle Unlimited and read the entire novel for free.