Sage Monarch

"Well, if it isn't you, brat! So, you used Blightczar Manyrivers to get close enough to assassinate me. Dammit, why didn't I think to prepare for something like this!? Your plan to get close to me worked, I'll give you that. But don't think for a second that you'll actually kill me." There was no denying that Yang Qi had destroyed Blightczar Manyshadows' five phases defense, and stabbed him deeply with a spear, causing severe damage to his meridians.

"Ultimate Five Phases Transformation; Perfect Enlightenment of Heaven and Earth; the Sun and Moon, True Monarchs; Destroy all Confinements!"

All of a sudden, the mighty power of the five phases once again erupted around Blightczar Manyshadows, creating such a powerful energy flow that not even a Spirit-Soul Legendary would be able to break through it without dying in the process.

Unfortunately for him, Yang Qi had the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, which could defend him against spatial tempests. And Blightczar Manyrivers was a Space-Void Legendary who could himself similarly withstand deadly tempests. With the two of them working together, there was no way this move of Blightczar Manyshadows would possibly hurt them.

"Don't blame me for this, Elder Brother. Yang Qi has me completely and utterly under his control. I'm unable to act of my own volition." Blightczar Manyrivers was visibly frustrated, but had no choice other than to attack with full force. Each move he used was deadly in nature, and contained the corrosive power of rot, making it seem like a god of poisons had descended into the world of men.

The attacks came with such fury that Blightczar Manyshadows could barely breathe.

"Detonate!" Yang Qi said, twisting his spear and causing it to explode. His entire plan had been to blast away Blightczar Manyshadows's defenses with his Lord's Eye, then stab him with the Infernal Deity Spear.

Normally speaking, just stabbing someone with a spear would be enough to kill them, even a Legendary. That was exactly what had occurred with Patriarch Mongolbeast.

And now, he was trying to do that to Blightczar Manyshadows.

Unfortunately, a massive expression of true energy suddenly erupted from within Blightczar Manyshadows and wrapped around the Infernal Deity Spear like a tight cord. As of this moment, Yang Qi couldn't even pull his spear free, let alone detonate it an attack.

'What an incredibly strong fleshly body! So, the Five-Phases Transformation pushes the vital energy of the five phases to the ultimate limit. This is far stronger than the Space-Void Transformation. Dealing with Blightczar Manyrivers was easy, but not this Blightczar Manyshadows.' Although he was shocked, he quickly adapted, and dispersed his true energy, causing the Infernal Deity Spear to vanish.

"Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth; the Glory of the Lord; Judgement and Majesty!"

Swish!

Yang Qi flew up into the air and disappeared into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. Up to this point, the pagoda had been suppressed by Blightczar Manyshadows' five phases power. But now that Yang Qi was inside, he took control of the various spell formations, causing bright light to shine as the image of a grand emperor appeared.

Beneath his feet was a black turtle, and on either side was an azure dragon and a white tiger. Hovering above him in the air was a vermillion bird, and a flying snake was wrapped around his torso. As soon as he appeared, a mighty aura swept out that transformed the entire surrounding audience hall into ashes.

"Prepare to die!" the grand emperor said, and his voice was none other than Yang Qi's. "You want to exterminate my Yang Clan? How about instead I exterminate your House of Shadowblight? You won't escape from this tribulation, Blightczar Manyshadows." Then he roared, a sound so mighty that it could crush millions upon millions of mountains, cause seas to dry up, and rocks to melt.

"Blightgod Overturns Heaven!" Blightczar Manyshadows shouted back. Thanks to Yang Qi's sneak attack, his vital energy had been harmed, along with his meridians and sea of energy. Even his soul was badly hurt, leaving him like a cornered animal ready to fight to the death. And in his desperate struggle to stay alive, he unleashed even more power than he thought was possible.

Flying to meet the incoming attack, he projected a message to Yang Qi with divine will. "You're gonna die, you hear me?! I can't believe you ambushed me! When I escape, I'll heal up and then gather all the experts from the Blight Legion Church to wipe the Yang Clan off the map. You've got some guts, I have to admit that, but you're too reckless!"

A blightgod appeared behind him, pitch black and surrounded with roiling black energy. Bubbles of poison could be seen on his skin, which constantly popped and then reformed. All in all, he was a terrifying, vicious entity. If he exploded, it would send out a storm of poison that would exterminate all life within five hundred kilometers, even down to the grass and roots. In fact, the dirt itself would end up a toxic sludge.

However, Yang Qi in grand emperor form simply opened his third eye, causing the glory of the Lord to spill out. It contained boundless majesty, holy hymns, and inscriptions from the legion of gods. It was like an epic poetic saga as grand as the sea of stars itself.

In the blink of an eye, the toxic energy was vanquished and removed from existence.

At the same time, a voice spoke from within the light, using that most holy and boundless Godtongue.

"The Lord's Eye is the eye of heaven, and is filled with glory, blessing, eternity, and history…. No evil can escape it. Sinners, your evil will vanish in the face of the Lord's light. Your soul will follow the brilliance of the Lord into the eternal kingdom of heaven, to drink of immortality…."

Anyone who heard that voice would feel their soul trembling and stifled. It was an instinctual thing, like the reverence mortals felt for heaven, or that spirits felt for the legion of gods.

WHIZZZ!

Blightczar Manyshadows' blightgod shattered into nothing.

Still wearing the form of a grand emperor, Yang Qi strode forward and smashed his fist into Blightczar Manyshadows, causing him to cough up a massive mouthful of blood, and shoving him backward through the wreckage of the hall.

"DIE!" Blightczar Manyshadows drew on both true energy and life force quintessence itself, summoning an enormous, ancient dagger-axe.

"Ancient Blightlegion Dagger-Axe! Transform the world of humans into a sea of toxins! Destroy all living things! Destruction! I want destruction! Bring this world to ruin with me! Blightlegion Godslaying! Exterminate everything under heaven!"

Toxic energy filled the area as the ancient dagger-axe slashed through the air toward Yang Qi's forehead.

Obviously, Blightczar Manyshadows realized that Yang Qi's third eye, and the light it cast, was a terrifying threat that he had to eliminate. That was his last and only hope.

"Those who profane the light of the Lord shall perish!"

RUMBLE!

Just when it seemed like Yang Qi would be split in half by the Ancient Blightlegion Dagger-Axe, burning sagefire shot out from the Lord's Eye, becoming something almost like golden shackles made from magical law.

Clank!

The dagger-axe lurched to a stop three meters from Yang Qi's forehead, and could move no farther. It was completely locked in place by pure golden chains.

"Be broken!" Yang Qi said, and the dagger-axe shattered into fragments. Sensing how weak Blightczar Manyshadows was, he continued, "The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth scares hells into submission, and can exercise control over billions of planes of existence. Prepare to see my ultimate move, Blightczar Manyshadows. Then you will understand the true meaning of despair."

Immensely powerful true energy erupted out as the image of the grand emperor shattered, to be replaced by a god-spirit that surpassed any grand emperor by billions of times. It was an entity who could trample the eternal sands of hell and support all the gods in the halls of heaven. It was a godmammoth!

It had an elephantine head, a human body, and a powerful trunk. Its fists were like suns or moons, and its feet could trample all existence.

Without even the slightest pause, the godmammoth struck out, landing a fist onto Blightczar Manyshadows.

Cracks spread out over the man's body, and he let out a shocked scream. Blood began to spray out, and his eyes went slack as his true energy began to dissipate.

"You're mine now!" It was a blow intended to be fatal, and as a result, Blightking Manyshadows' life force was already spilling out of him in dramatic fashion, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

It was all thanks to the sneak attack. If Blightczar Manyshadows had been prepared, there was no way he would be in such a desperate situation right now.

The trunk of a godmammoth could inhale the power of the stars, so there was no way Blightczar Manyshadows could do anything about it. The trunk snaked out, grabbed him, and tossed him into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, where he disappeared. From the perspective of any outsider, it would be impossible to determine whether he was alive or dead.

**

Moments before….

"Not good. It's Yang Qi!"

As soon as the fight broke out, Huang Hou and his companions had flown out of the hall and used true energy shields to protect themselves. As such, they had no idea what was happening inside. Soon, the hall itself collapsed into rubble.

Then, they saw Yang Qi transform into what looked like a god-spirit, whose powerful trunk grabbed Blightczar Manyshadows and threw him into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

The final scream that echoed out across the battlefield proved that Yang Qi had won the fight.

'Yang Qi ambushed Blightczar Manyshadows and won! Blightczar Manyshadows is dead!' That was what all of the students from the Demi-Immortal Institute were thinking. After all, they weren't fools, and they could easily piece together what had just played out.

The holy neophyte Huang Hou was quick to assess the situation and come to a decision. "Let's get out of here! Yang Qi's a Legendary, and he has the Grand Emperor's Pagoda! None of us are a match for him. Even worse, he has control of a Space-Void Legendary, Blightczar Manyrivers. There's no way we can fight them."

Unfortunately, a massive force settled down over the area, locking it down. Before they could do anything, Yang Qi appeared in front of them, and sent out his true energy to block their path.

"Where do you think you're going? You think you can run off, just like that? You were just working out a deal with Blightczar Manyshadows to exterminate my Yang Clan. You were even going to go so far as to offer my Aunt Susu to these heretical wretch-devils."

Huang Hou, Lei Tao, Qu Ling, Xie Feng, and the other students from the Crown Prince Society were all extremely famous. But in front of Yang Qi they seemed like little more than shivering chickens.

1. Dagger-axes are a type of pole weapon that were very important in the early parts of Chinese history. .