Sage Monarch

"Dammit!"

The hand of the Great Sage had summoned a blue sky and five pillars to prop it up. The goal had been to trap Yang Qi, and yet, with the help of his Angel Wings, he escaped. In his current state, not even spatial tempests could stop him.

In fact, those tempests were actually beneficial. The friction between their power and his own true energy created a tempering effect that made him tougher and more resilient.

He felt very close to being able to tear open space itself. As a result, becoming a Space-Void Legendary seemed much easier than before. Every moment he was in the chaos of space-time, his meridians and energy were influenced and honed by the void, and became more closely connected to it.

'Come on, keep chasing me!' he thought. 'If things keep going on like this, I'll hit the Space-Void Transformation, and then fleeing will be an easy task.'

In some ways, it was like a session of cultivation. The chase was helping him to understand space better, and as its power flowed through his meridians, bolstering his Angel Wings, his control of it grew more refined.

Without any hesitation, he headed deeper into space.

And the hand of the Great Sage followed.

The heaven motes in the hand flashed in rage. How could a nobody like this possibly escape from a Great Sage? And not just once, but multiple times in a row? How could any Great Sage maintain face after such a thing? And thus, whatever Great Sage was controlling that enormous hand continued to pour more and more power into it in the hopes of catching Yang Qi.

However, Yang Qi was perceptive and shrewd, and knew that he couldn't delay even the slightest bit. Although he had no idea where he was or where he was going, he pressed forward with all the speed he could muster. Thankfully, his decisiveness ensured that his pursuer was a projected hand, and not the actual Great Sage behind it.

The difference between the two was monumental.

Of course, most Great Sages would never think to use their true body to deal with a Legendary; it would be too embarrassing to have to do something like that. Great Sages could project their true energy across incredible distances, and even use it to kill people.

But how could the Great Sage pursuing Yang Qi have ever guessed that the quarry would be so powerful? His Angel Wings could actually borrow power from the spatial tempests, making it much easier for him to move about.

By now, Yang Qi was so far out in space-time that it was too late for the Great Sage to go after him in person. Unfortunately, he didn't have an actual destination to run to. And in the vast chaos of the spatial tempests, even a Great Sage would be like a drop of water in an ocean. One wrong turn could lead one to most deadly disaster.

Therefore, considering the Great Sage had Yang Qi locked down with his projected hand, there was no way he would give up the chase now.

Yang Qi could only continue to flee. The longer he dragged things out, and the further he ran, the more difficult it would be for the Great Sage to power his projection. Eventually, it would fade from existence, which was when Yang Qi would finally be safe.

In any case, at least he had hope.

However, at the moment, there were powerful fluctuations emanating from the enormous hand, the type that could pierce through space. From what Yang Qi could tell, that distant Great Sage back in the Western Continent was trying to set up a space-time wormhole connection between himself and the hand. Wormholes were fixed passages between two locations, even two worlds, something that could resist the dangerous spatial tempests. Therefore, if the Great Sage finished the process, it would take only a moment for him to show up in person to kill Yang Qi.

'The Great Sage level is so strong! Too strong!'

As Yang Qi flew along at top speed, the Great Sage was searching for the proper spatial nexuses to use to create his wormhole. Of course, it was no simple task, as Yang Qi was now far, far away from the greyspace of the Western Continent.

'Where is he going? Why doesn't he stop to rest?' The hand of the Great Sage seemed to be getting anxious. Suddenly, it vibrated, causing white lotuses to spill out everywhere.

"Grand Empress Sky-Heaven; Will of Blooming Flowers; White Lotuses Abound; Pure Land of Sages…."

Unexpectedly, the Great Sage was unleashing a land of sages to try to trap Yang Qi, a move that required expending a massive amount of true energy.

Once an expert reached the Great Sage level, his personal domain would become a land of sages. And it was even said that after the Great Sage level, the land of sages would become an immortal realm. And beyond immortal realms were the kingdoms of gods that belonged to members of the legion of gods.

Yang Qi didn't even have a personal domain, and here a Great Sage was unleashing a sage domain. Fundamentally speaking, capturing Yang Qi in this way would be as easy as trapping a turtle in a jar.

And yet, as soon as the white lotuses began to rain down to create the land of sages, a talisman appeared in Yang Qi's hand, which also resembled a white lotus. With it, he proceeded along through the land of sages as though it didn't exist.

"A Sky-Heaven Godcharm? Created by Grand Empress Sky-Heaven herself, the White Lotus Immortal? So, you actually killed Lady-Princess Silvermoon and got her talisman? But how did you break its defenses?!"

The hand of the Great Sage seemed to radiate even more fury than before. Suddenly, the heaven motes in the palm formed into what looked like an eye, which instantly locked down onto Yang Qi.

"Pure Space Eye; Purify the Void!"

Shining light from the eye slammed into Yang Qi's back, causing his Angel Wings to fold up.

'Not good!' Yang Qi could tell that the enraged Great Sage was holding nothing back to try to kill him. True energy swirled around him as an enormous figure appeared with an elephantine head and a human body, which subsequently lunged toward the hand.

As for the hand, it shot toward the godmammoth with full fury.

Letting loose an echoing trumpet, the godmammoth hefted its spear, and began to fight furiously with the hand.

"What powerful true energy. Sadly, your cultivation level is too low. Even still, how terrifying…." Clearly, this Great Sage was actually starting to fear Yang Qi. Despite his low cultivation level, he was capable of unleashing extremely dangerous attacks, which only led to the question of how powerful he would become in the future.

Even in the primeval past, it was unheard-of for Legendaries to kill Great Sages. At least, it was unheard in the Yore-Wilds Continent. Perhaps in higher planes of existence, it was more common.

But considering the level of power that was on display, this Great Sage had decided that Yang Qi absolutely had to die.

RUMBLE!

Suddenly, the enormous hand transformed into a mighty fist, which slammed into the godmammoth with such force that the godmammoth faded out of existence.

However, in the time it took for that small fight to play out, Yang Qi's Angel Wings recovered, and he shot off into the distance.

"I will kill you today, no matter what it takes!" the Great Sage shouted. "Nobody can stop me!" The voice itself was powerful enough to cause anyone who heard it to cower in fear.

And yet, Yang Qi ignored it, and pushed himself forward even faster. Thankfully, he had just replenished himself with a sagely-grade spirit stone, which meant that he could maintain his current state for quite some time.

Yang Qi had never been in such a desperate situation before, nor had he ever been forced to waste true energy like this. But he was under too much pressure from this Great Sage, and if he held back, he would die.

Thankfully, with the sagely-grade spirit stone, Sovereign Lord True Energy, and his Angel Wings, it was almost like he was connected to magical law, making him the sovereign of space-time.

Within the power of the spatial tempests, streams of quintessence appeared, which began to form countless invisible talismans. As they clumped together, they unexpectedly transformed into tiny fay creatures the size of a finger. They were tempest fays, or spatial fays, legendary things that were supposedly the children of space itself. These fays were purely elemental constructs, and anyone who possessed them, and made them part of their true energy, would gain vastly superior control over space.

To Yang Qi's shock, the countless spatial tempest fays began to gather in his Angel Wings, which caused the wings' connection to the spatial tempests to grow even stronger.

The fays began to merge with his Sovereign Lord True Energy, and as they did, he felt his own soul being strengthened. All of a sudden, he was now capable of seeing what existed out in the inky darkness beyond.

His soul was stronger, and as it linked with his fleshly body and his true energy, he suddenly felt like he was on the verge of being able to pierce through space.