Sage Monarch

The masked Young Lady closely watched Yang Qi carrying out slaughter in the hell monsoon, and her eyes glittered.

'This guy's cultivation base really is designed to dominate fiend-devils. He can even neutralize a hell monsoon and turn it into burning fire to temper his true energy. Not even Great Sages can do things like that. One who got caught in a hell monsoon would need to be very careful to avoid being infected with wretch energy.'

She was an observer, and apparently, wasn't even in the same world as Yang Qi, but rather, in another one. It was a special ability of hers that not even most Great Sages could duplicate, something born of her unique constitution. In this regard, she was similar to Yang Susu.

Yang Qi didn't have time to spend observing her. He continued to charge deeper into the hell monsoon, where the devil-ghosts, zombies, and fiend-devils grew stronger and more powerful. As a result, his Hell Portal and Hellfire Crucible raged with increasing intensity, his true energy continued to be refined, and the scope of his psychic tempest increased.

The Grand Emperor's Pagoda was also in full operation. Combined with the effects of his two techniques, Yang Qi was like an executioner from hell, slaughtering fiend-devils like mad. Millions of them were ripped to shreds, causing a powerful aura of death to spread out.

Soon, the fiend-devils in the hell monsoon began to back away from him.

But then, a terrifying howl swept forth as the most enormous fiend-devil so far appeared, a leader of sorts, fierce and murderous, fully three hundred meters tall, burly, with massive wings.

This beast was in the third Legendary transformation, a fiend-devil count who was a Space-Void Legendary. He fairly radiated a sensation of nobility and power that would cause any human who encountered him to feel like they were suffocating. His entire three-hundred-meter frame was covered with armor, and it was impossible to say how much raging true energy existed inside him.

Whether it was true energy or physical strength, a fiend-devil like this would surpass any human of the same cultivation level by dozens of times. In other words, not even ten Blightczar Manyrivers would be a match for him.

Only the ancient megamammoths could possibly match up with fiend-devils in terms of physical constitution; a single megamammoth could suck a river into its trunk and then spray it up into the air to create a rainstorm. And the energy arts cultivated by the megamammoths were focused on brute strength. After all, they were the descendants of the godmammoths, so even the weakest of the megamammoths could slaughter fiend-devils with ease.

At the moment, Yang Qi had the power of multiple megamammoths, plus the Physique of the Sovereign Lord. On a substructural level, he was the equivalent of two thousand megamammoths, and therefore, he had what it took to crush this powerful fiend-devil.

As he faced the beast, his aura surged, and he summoned his Infernal Deity Spear. Burning with fire, the spear extended until it was three thousand meters long. The Nightfall Symphony rang out, causing the hell monsoon to tremble violently.

Eyeing Yang Qi, the fiend-devil spat out a string of words in the Infernal tongue of hell, apparently some sort of spell or curse.

"Kurūkh karražk…."

Ghostly light sprang from his eyes, and misty winds swirled around him as he extended a blood-colored ghost saber made from true energy. Everything in the area was suddenly stained the same color, making it like a sea of blood. Without hesitating, the fiend-devil slashed the saber at Yang Qi.

Clash. Clang.

The Infernal Deity Spear and the blood-colored ghost saber slashed back and forth, causing killing energy to ripple out in all directions.

Yang Qi's true energy flowed without cease, and flames wreathed the Infernal Deity Spear. At the same time, the image of a godmammoth appeared behind him, surrounded by stars that fell like rain.

Massive power smashed into the blood-colored ghost sabre, which quivered and then shattered.

Shocked, the fiend-devil count backed up a few paces.

Suddenly, an ancient voice spoke from Yang Qi's forehead, using nothing other than Godtongue.

"You have blasphemed the legion of gods, fiend-devil, and you will be punished for it. Under the glory of the Lord, all fiends will be slaughtered, and the world will be bathed in radiance and light."

His Lord's Eye opened, and a massive stream of light shot out, smacking into the huge fiend-devil with might that surpassed any divine weapon or god item. In fact, the fiend-devil's armor was instantly pierced.

The burning light ignited the fiend-devil's flesh and blood, and he was absolutely incapable of doing anything to stop it.

The beast screamed, and his devil energy raged as he tried to extinguish the fire. Unfortunately for him, it did no good. Even if he had far more devil energy than he did, he couldn't fight those flames. In fact, it was actually like pouring oil onto fire. Soon, even the surrounding areas of the hell monsoon were burning.

Once again, the Hell Portal appeared, sucked in the burning fiend-devil count, and deposited him into the Hellfire Crucible. As the fiend-devil's life force was turned into burning fire, Yang Qi became even more holy. His flesh and blood grew more refined, almost as if he had been refined by the striking of a thousand hammers.

'He took out a Space-Void Legendary fiend-devil, just like that?' thought the Young Lady. 'Burned alive, and the thing couldn't even defend himself? What type of fire is that? It's designed to target devil energy.'

Without saying a single word, Yang Qi continued into the depths of the hell monsoon, fighting and killing everything in his path. Each slash of his spear was like a mountain crushing into the armies around it, slaying zombies, devil-ghosts, skeletons, fiend-devils, spirit creatures, and other hellish beasts.

Before long, the Infernal Deity Spear began to change color. The blood of the hellish fiend-devils which covered it provoked a transformation in which it shone with scintillating light. Angels appeared, flying in the air around the spear, singing holy hymns as a beautiful choir.

Massive flames burned away at the hell monsoon, as brilliant light pushed away the darkness, replacing hell with pure holiness.

'I represent the legion of gods, and I spread radiance and light. I will drive darkness to the furthest reaches of the universe…. Where I stand, life is welcome, and the rot of hell will be forced to retreat…. The glory of the legion of gods, and the dignity of the Lord. I shall propagate both….' As the slaughter continued, Yang Qi's true energy grew stronger, until his meridians were virtually magical symbols written out in Godtongue. He felt like he was one with nature, and because of the cleansing quality of the quintessence energy of heaven and earth, he would never run out of energy. He was like a tool designed specifically to wage war on hell.

At the same time, the psychic tempest inside him grew more powerful, to the point where the vital energy in the area was beginning to transform.

Eventually, the Young Lady settled down cross-legged, hovering there in the void, eyes closed. When she finally opened her eyes, she murmured, "An entire day has passed."

Later….

"Two days…."

Multiple days passed. At one point, the Young Lady opened her eyes and saw that Yang Qi had slaughtered just about every hellish being in sight. Time worked differently in the hell monsoon, but the Young Lady was able to sync this aspect of space-time with the Rich-Lush Continent. And thus, she knew that Yang Qi had been fighting nonstop for seven days and seven nights.

He was like a god of battle who could never tire.

'Whether or not he has a Great Sage backer, his future prospects are limitless. Give him a few dozen years, a hundred at most, and he'll be another Crown Prince. It's too bad that two tigers can't live on one mountain. The Crown Prince definitely won't allow him to stay alive. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before Yang Qi surpassed him.'

Even as she considered the matter, she heard Yang Qi shout, "Second Legendary transformation. Spirit-Soul Transformation!"

Boundless flames wreathed him, and his true energy created the images of palaces, god-spirits, and war being waged. There were even scenes from hell.

A massive psychic tempest erupted, ripping the void around him to shreds, and putting an end to even more devil-ghosts in the hell monsoon.

Thanks to the seven days and nights of fierce fighting, Yang Qi had pushed his fleshly body to the limit, and had finally broken through to the second Legendary transformation.

As of this point, his spirit and soul were unimaginably powerful. Thanks to the psychic tempest, something like an infant had been created, which was none other than a manifestation of his soul, barely visible within the depths of his pupils.

Looking around, he suddenly realized that the many distortions in space-time around him resembled the holes worms might leave as they burrowed through the soil.

Wormholes.

That was the word that came to mind. Looking out through his psychic tempest, he saw numerous barriers which were obviously passageways to other worlds and planes. Some of them had no life, some of them teemed with it. Others abounded with evil.

The world had changed to him, on a substructural level.

It was as if the world had been two-dimensional to him before, but now, it was three-dimensional, and richly colorful. Everything was different.

Inside of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, spirit stones burned brightly as his power rose higher and higher. However, in that moment, he suddenly saw what looked like a sea of lightning out in the void. Tribulation had come.

It spread out without cease, covering everything in the area, to the point where the Young Lady actually began to back away. "Sea Lightning Grand Tribulation?"