Sage Monarch

"G-godly… godly-class energy art?" Chancellor Sun Moon stammered, his mind spinning. The top-secret art practiced in the Sun Moon Institute was the Grand Radiance Scripture, but it was only saintly-class. And not even he could gain complete enlightenment of it. Of course, even saintly-class arts could be divided into categories based on their quality, and the high-level type were rarely seen.

Beyond saintly-class were the heavenly-class arts, which were the thing of fables even in the Yore-Wilds Continent. They were supposedly descended from heaven itself, and only the most powerful individuals from the most powerful organizations would have them.

As for godly-class arts, they surpassed heavenly-class arts exponentially. They were the remnants of shattered universes and gods, and even a scrap of one, a tiny remnant, could cause entire immortal planes to go to war.

And now, Ghost Emperor Yama was casually saying that Yang Qi had a godly-class energy art? And not a low-level one, but rather, one of the most powerful types? How could Chancellor Sun Moon not be completely bowled over?

In fact, he actually didn't believe it. It was simply too outlandish of a concept to accept. At the most, he could accept that Yang Qi cultivated a saintly- or heavenly-class art.

"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that," he said. "If word got out, it could lead to the entire Rich-Lush Continent being destroyed. In fact, it could bring catastrophe to countless other planes in this part of space-time."

Chancellor Sun Moon was exactly right. For example, the Hell of Euphoria had invaded the Yore-Wilds Continent for a lesser reason than a godly-class energy art.

If word got out that Yang Qi had a godly-class energy art, it could cause conflict the likes of which would make Great Sages seem like ants to be squashed left and right.

"Even I have difficulty understanding the deeper aspects of the Grand Radiance Scripture. Not even the top geniuses among Legendaries could do any better. And considering that godly-class energy arts are designed to be cultivated by god-spirits, there's no way that a human could understand them."

Ghost Emperor Yama's eyes glittered. "You're right. Even Great Sages have trouble with heavenly-class energy arts, much less godly-class. It stands to reason that Legendaries would be limited to imperial-class. But Yang Qi is different. He's marked with a seal from the legion of gods. It seems highly likely to me that the sealing mark is helping him to cultivate the technique."

"You're right," Yang Qi said coolly. "The God Legion Seal does help me cultivate the technique. In fact, even if I give you the method to use the Infernal Deity Spear, you might not succeed."

Ghost Emperor Yama snorted coldly. "Regardless, having the technique will be better than not having it. And how do you know I would fail? Even if I did, I would at least gain some significant enlightenment from the process, enough to reach the Demi-Immortal level."

At this point, Chancellor Sun Moon's face flickered dramatically. "Wait a second. Yang Qi, are you telling me that when you repaired the damage to heaven, you used the God Legion Seal, and didn't actually have the help of a Demi-Immortal backer?"

"What's with the shocked facial expression, boy? Not even a Demi-Immortal could do anything to Yang Qi's God Legion Seal. In fact, a Demolisher who tangled with him would end up dead, and even Godmyths would have trouble. You're really not very bright, are you? Why do you think I didn't just kill Yang Qi a long time ago, absorb his soul, steal his memories, and take his energy art? Well, actually, I tried that. Thankfully, he left before the God Legion Seal could completely kill me. And why do you think that brat chancellor from the Demi-Immortal Institute never dared to do anything to Yang Qi? The God Legion Seal is mighty enough to destroy even top experts from the Yore-Wilds Continent or the Titan Emperor Heaven. Although, my guess is that the seal is actually incomplete. If it were whole, it would be even mightier. It could decimate countless heavens, and destroy myriad worlds. It could eradicate literally anything that refused to exercise faith in the legion of gods."

"I guess you're right," Chancellor Sun Moon said, deeply shaken. In fact, when he looked over at Yang Qi, the fear in his eyes was as plain as day. How could he ever have guessed that Yang Qi would have something that could kill Ghost Emperor Yama instantly?

Considering that Ghost Emperor Yama had just restored Hua Tianxiong's soul right in front of Chancellor Sun Moon's eyes, it was obvious how powerful he was. The fact that someone like him could be cut down with impunity was a terrifying thought.

"Enough," Yang Qi said. "No more talk about this. I have pressing matters at hand, especially improving my cultivation base. Chancellor Sun Moon, considering the good relationship I have with your Sun Moon Institute, is there any chance you can suggest a way for me to improve my cultivation base more quickly?"

Chancellor Sun Moon was a Great Sage, and the leader of an entire institute, so he would obviously have access to abundant resources, as well as numerous secret magics.

And his fate was now tied to Yang Qi's. Considering that, and the situation with Hua Tianxiong, the Crown Prince would obviously not let his institute off the hook. Getting rid of the Crown Prince was the only way the Sun Moon Institute could guarantee its own safety.

"I do have some secret magics that can help you, as well as some medicinal pills." With that, he waved his finger, sending a stream of true energy out to surround Yang Qi, apparently, to test his strength.

"Such incredible true energy. Such shocking power!" After examining Yang Qi, Chancellor Sun Moon was so astonished he couldn't maintain his composure. "You're only in the fourth Legendary transformation, but your true energy is stronger than a Half Sage's. It's actually on the border of the Great Sage level. If you had sage motes, you could definitely kill a Great Sage. This level of cultivation advancement, it's… not just difficult… it's virtually impossible! You're so strong that I don't think any of the secret magics I know would be useful for you. You're so unique that, not only have I never seen anything like this, I don't think any of the chancellors throughout the history of the Sun Moon Institute ever did. In fact, you would be unique even in the Yore-Wilds Continent."

Hua Tianxiong sighed admiringly. "Lifeseizers who could kill Legendaries were the stuff of fable even in the Yore-Wilds. Legendaries who could kill Great Sages, well, that just defies logic. People like that would be considered heaven-defying freaks."

"So what you're saying is that you can't help me with my breakthrough." Yang Qi only had a hundred days before he would be fighting the Crown Prince, which was not much time at all. He absolutely needed to reach the sixth Legendary transformation by then. Only with the God Legion Paradise would he be able to fight and kill a Great Sage. There was no guarantee that he could do it otherwise.

Even if a Great Sage helped him, reaching the Yin-Yang Transformation would be difficult in a hundred days, much less the Personal-Domain Transformation.

This transformation was an important watershed, and was ten times harder to reach than any level before it. Most times, energy artists would take a hundred years to reach it.

At this point, Ghost Emperor Yama chuckled. "Like I said, Yang Qi, all you have to do is give me the Infernal Deity Spear, and I'll hand over the sage motes. They will definitely push your cultivation base much higher. What do you say? You could stand up to people with vastly higher cultivation bases than you." Ghost Emperor Yama was taking every opportunity to try to force Yang Qi to give him what he wanted.

"How about more infernal deity sutras?" Yang Qi said.

"Nope. Come on, those things would definitely be helpful, but you're at a life-and-death crossroads. How could I not take advantage of the moment to get something even better? Either the Infernal Deity Spear, or nothing. If I have to, I'll just sit around and watch the Crown Prince kill you!"

Ghost Emperor Yama was really digging his heels in.

Yang Qi smiled. "I'm not going to get killed by the Crown Prince any more than I would be killed by you."

"Maybe, maybe not," Ghost Emperor Yama replied lightly. "Who knows what unexpected things might occur."

"Well, if that's how you're going to be, then just forget about it." Yang Qi rose to his feet. "I'll go work on my cultivation my own way. I'll figure out my own heaven-defying way to achieve progress!"

With that, he tore open a rift leading to Yanhaven.

Even as he stepped through, he smiled; he had just come up with a new idea to achieve the breakthrough he sought, and afterward, defeat the Crown Prince.

Ghost Emperor Yama followed him, and when he saw the smile on his face, couldn't help but ask, "What are you planning to do, brat? I'm telling you, without my help, there's no way that you're going to reach the Personal-Domain Transformation."

"I don't need your help. If you don't believe me, then how about we have a little wager? I say that I'll definitely be a Personal-Domain Legendary within a hundred days. In fact, I'll probably be stronger. Dare to take me up?"

"Another bet?" Ghost Emperor Yama had already lost one wager with Yang Qi, which resulted in him losing the life force motherspring seed.

"You're going to use the motherspring seed, aren't you? Well, that's not very realistic. You would need more than a thousand years to properly absorb it." He shook his head. "Look, I've been following you around for a while, so I know most of your secret techniques. What else do you have that you could use? If you really had something that you could use to break through, you would have used it already."

"Quit yapping and make your decision. Are we going to have a wager, or not?"

A moment passed.

"What do you want to bet?" Apparently, Ghost Emperor Yama was convinced that he was right.

"Simple. The sage motes and the Infernal Deity Spear. Agreed?"

"Agreed! I'm very curious to see how you plan to break through in less than a hundred days. What, you have a celestial treasure? The ability to defy the dao of heaven? The skill to reverse time? Even Great Sages like me can only slow down time temporarily, and in a small region. There's no way you can pull off one of those situations where a thousand years passes in your meditation chamber with only a few days passing on the outside."

"You'll find out soon enough. However, let me point out right now that, no matter what I do, you're absolutely not allowed to interfere. If you do, then I automatically win the bet."

"Well, that's a given. I would never stoop to interfering with your cultivation. Are you kidding me? I can't believe you would even insinuate that I would do something like that. Am I some sort of despicable villain or something?"

Yang Qi had just recalled an important tidbit of information: he had been sent to the Rich-Lush Continent by the Grand-Wilds Mansion, with the purpose of finding the fragment of the Yore-Wilds' Heart.

And he had a huge advantage when it came to searching for that item: the Grand Emperor's Pagoda!