Sage Monarch

Yang Qi's Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker decimated the asura's battle flag, and completely vanquished its devil energy.

It was as if the swordbreaker had been specifically forged to be the ultimate weapon for this sort of thing. However, it required a huge amount of true energy, so much that ordinary people would be quickly drained if they tried to use it.

No wonder the Never-Dying Legendary Jin Zhenyun had become winded so quickly, and had been unable to recover.

However, it was almost the perfect weapon for Yang Qi; there was no better type of true energy in existence than Sovereign Lord True Energy, energy which could overwhelm opponents of much higher levels of skill.

Every sweep of the swordbreaker contained nearly unstoppable force, the power of golden metal as expansive as a sea, like golden gods from ancient times, surrounded by glowing halos as they stomped barefoot over countless enemies, flanked by golden dragons that could topple mountains and destroy all enemies.

"Level Mountains; Drain Rivers!" Yang Qi struck out again, and the swordbreaker extended to a length of five hundred kilometers, like a pillar that could support the vault of heaven as it smashed toward the Half Sage Agghedḑa.

Shocked and enraged, Agghedḑa tried to fight back with the remains of his war flag, but it was already far too damaged.

BOOM!

The next blow from Yang Qi shook all creation, and caused the flag to completely explode. The wreckage of the flag rained down in the area as Yang Qi strode forward, his footsteps seemingly in unison with the dao of heaven.

Boom, boom…. Boom, boom….

They were like the crash of stampeding megamammoths from the ancient past, the likes of which no horde of demons or devils could possibly evade.

When six hundred thousand megamammoths all trumpeted at the same time, it could cause stars to fall from heaven. A group that large could suck up an ocean into their trunks, spray the water into the air, and cause a massive rainstorm.

Considering that was the level of power Yang Qi was using to wield the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker, it was little wonder that his every blow caused the asura to gasp for breath.

Of even more to the despair of the asura was that whenever he struck Yang Qi's true energy, his own energy would vanish as surely as the statue of an ox tossed into the sea.

All of a sudden, Agghedḑa threw his hands out in front of him, causing a waterfall of devil energy to erupt out, like a tempest, which ripped into the golden sea, replacing it with a myriad of devils. It was almost as if he were receiving a blessing of power from some other mysterious location.

"Heaven-Devil Soul-Devouring! Spirit-Soul Vortex! Myriad Devils Life Possession!"

Blasting through the defenses of the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker, he landed a savage palm strike onto Yang Qi's chest.

The quintessence of his martial path was the type that Yang Qi couldn't even dream of matching. Furthermore, his deep understanding of space itself made his skill even more enigmatic, with his every move designed to kill.

BOOOOM!

When the palm hit Yang Qi's chest, it sounded like a huge bell being struck. This was the type of force that would shatter a mountain made of iron.

Agghedḑa smiled cruelly and said, "Prepare to be destroyed, mortal. Weaklings like you have no choice but to be reduced to ashes by my Iron Fist."

However, as the words left his mouth, his eyes suddenly widened as he realized that Yang Qi didn't seem hurt at all. In fact, his true energy was bubbling even more vigorously than before.

Suddenly, a crucible popped into being around Yang Qi, holy and pure, covered with inscriptions written in the script of the legion of gods.

'That's… the Hellfire Crucible…?' Apparently, Agghedḑa was reminded of the profoundly ancient legends among the asuras, stories which were actually imprinted into the memories and blood of devil-gods. 'In the depths of the ancient hell, the lowest of the billions of planes, in the netherworld itself, there was a crucible that could be used to melt disgraced gods….'

"What are you!?" he blurted, backing up, realizing that he was vanquished. Even a fist strike backed by secret asura magic had done nothing to this opponent. What was the point of even trying to fight someone like that?

"Are you prepared to die, asura?" Yang Qi once again hefted the swordbreaker, and then attacked with violent force, causing a stream of golden light to descend.

The truth was that he was struggling to get his true energy to respond the way he wanted. Moments ago, it had only seemed like he had shrugged off the asura's attack. In reality, the force had been devastating; if any opponent Half Sage other than an asura had hit him with that force, he would have been grievously injured.

Thankfully, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was the bane of asura true energy, and could negate it with the Hellfire Crucible.

If he had kept fighting with full strength, Yang Qi would have been in trouble. But when the asura saw the crucible taking form, he had become so filled with terror that he began to back away. His ancient, inborn memories told him what the crucible was, and thus, he instinctively attempted to flee from it. Asuras were gods of battle, with boundless life force that let them fight without ever stopping. However, the dread of the Hellfire Crucible that was built into them was something they couldn't escape.

The Hellfire Crucible was a furnace of punishment and judgement.

Any fiend-devil would fear it, even those higher than the Demi-Immortal level. Even the suzerains of hell, who existed at the peak of life force, would tremble in terror in the face of the Hellfire Crucible.

As the asura backed up, Yang Qi circulated his true energy, neutralizing the foreign energy in his meridians. At the same time, the flames in the Hellfire Crucible roared to greater heights.

Yang Qi's gamble had paid off. Lunging forward, he swept the swordbreaker out, not giving the asura any opportunities to escape.

"Where are you from, human?! You have the Hellfire Crucible, so it's only a matter of time before the forces of hell come for you!" Agghedḑa spun as if he intended to literally run away. "This is important news! Enough to get me what I need to reach the Great Sage level! Then I can truly enter the Hell of Suras!"

Not even Half Sages could enter and exist in the Hell of Suras; they would be forced to stay in surrounding planes. The Hell of Suras was a plane in which weakness was simply not tolerated.

However, this news about the Hellfire Crucible would be like a bolt from the blue, and would likely be enough to ensure a high leadership role for any asura who brought it to light.

However, even as Agghedḑa tore open a rift in space, an enormous spear suddenly plunged into his chest.

Never in his wildest imaginings could he have guessed that the Infernal Deity Spear would appear here.

Immediately upon stabbing the asura, Yang Qi grabbed him by the head and used the God-Devil Seal on him.

The sealing mark hit him like a glob of ink, causing him to tremble violently, and his eyes to shine with vicious light. From the look of it, he wanted to fight back by attacking Yang Qi on a psychic level.

Clearly, he was underestimating Yang Qi's magical seal. Mysterious magical symbols of true energy formed that the asura could not fight against, and at the same time, an infernal deity appeared behind Yang Qi.

"Souls Decry the Body; Fight without Cease; Live On and On; Suras Defy Death! Asuras only die in battle! Asuras refuse to be taken captive!" The asura was clearly preparing to self-destruct.

However, Yang Qi had been prepared for that, and quickly opened his Lord's Eye, sending burning flames to attack the asura's will.

"The Lord… the Lord who exists above the legion of gods? This is the glory of the Lord!"

Yang Qi continued to slap sealing marks down onto the terrified asura, until he was as immobile as a statue. Then, that statue shrank down and came to rest on Yang Qi's palm.

With that, he wiped the asura's memories clean, so that there would be no record of himself in his mind.

Once he had full control of a fiend-devil, every aspect of it would be under his control.

Now that he had the Half Sage asura, he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't return to the army to fight more asuras, instead, he opened a spatial tempest and sat down cross-legged inside. All he wanted to do was rest for three days until it came time to make his deal with the Grand-Wilds Mansion.

The Grand-Wilds Mansion was the ticket to a quick return journey to the Rich-Lush Continent. Plus, he was interested to see what kind of experts would be a part of this supposed mercenary squad.

They would obviously be impressive folks, and they would surely be interested in pillaging and plundering the Rich-Lush Continent. People from higher planes often felt the desire and right to do such things.

In any case, at least Yang Qi could use the sagely-grade spirit stones for purposes other than traveling through space.

After all, getting back from the Quake-Dawn Continent wouldn't be as easy as coming, considering he had arrived via hell monsoon. It wasn't as if he could simply summon a hell monsoon to take him back.

As he sat cross-legged in the void, circulating his energy, he thought back to the fight he had just experienced, and at the same time, gathered five phases quintessence energy.

Before long, the preheaven five phases true energy had become five spheres within him, pulsing in his five viscera. Sending some Sovereign Lord True Energy caused them to become more true and real, and filled him with a sense of strange enlightenment.

Slowly but surely, the true energy transformed into burning flames, towering trees, sandy expanses, muddy silt, oceans, weapons, and other things.

WHIZZZ!

A huge river appeared, filled with writhing dragon-snakes. As it flowed, it became a sea of flames that towered to the sky, filled with fire dragons. Then life came to be in the fire, huge trees that instantly became verdant and lush, and completely realistic in every aspect.

Then, birds began to fly about within the forest, and the roar of beasts could be heard.

Yang Qi's five phases true energy was so powerful that Lifeseizers wouldn't be able to distinguish it from reality itself.