Sage Monarch

"It's a sage weapon! Who was it that broke open the seal?"

"It was someone from the Watson Association! They sensed the sagely might and started digging here. Sadly for them, they hit the temple's spell formation and ended up getting killed. Look, see that blood? That's all that's left of them."

"The Watson Association is a big daoist sect from the Quake-Dawn Continent. They have as many experts as the sky has clouds. And yet their entire group here got killed? How strong is that spell formation? Are you telling me we're going to be forced to just sit here looking at that sage weapon, unable to take it away? Does anyone else have the guts to try to break the sealing mark?"

"Not me! After what happened to the people from the Watson Association, there's no way I'll do something that stupid."

A whole host of experts stood outside of the temple, looking in at the sage weapon, shaking their heads. Not a single one of them dared to take a step forward, for fear of being attacked in deadly fashion.

A long moment passed, and eventually, someone couldn't resist the temptation and lunged forward. Thrusting both hands out in a lightning attack, he tried to smash his way into the temple and pull the sage weapon out.

Sadly, as soon as his palms reached a certain point, the spell formation in the temple sent out a field of bright light to create a mirror world. The mirror world then reflected the lightning back onto the man who had unleashed it, except amplifying the power by millions of times.

In the blink of an eye, the man was overwhelmed by a sea of lighting, and completely destroyed. Nothing was left behind, neither bones nor ashes.

Everyone present was shocked to the core, and didn't dare to make any attempt at entering the temple.

"That sage weapon looks pretty strong," Yang Qi said. "Not quite as good as my Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker or Grand Emperor's Pagoda, but clearly it was made by a powerful Great Sage. I don't really need it, but father definitely could."

Ghost Emperor Yama chuckled in derision. "That sage weapon is much weaker than your Grand Emperor's Pagoda. That said, a Lifeseizer could definitely use it to great effect, and maybe even a Legendary. But overall, nothing amazing. I could easily make five or ten weapons like that."

"What step are you in within the Great Sage level?" Yang Qi asked.

Ghost Emperor Yama snorted coldly. Instead of answering the question, he said, "Grand Emperor Rich-Lush was tough, but not that tough. He was only in the eighth step of the Great Sage level, and could never reach the ninth. Understand the implication? The Grand Emperor's Pagoda is only as powerful as the eighth step. You have another sage weapon, don't you, something even more powerful, something forged by the famous Golden Sage from the era of the Yore-Wilds Continent? He was incomparably mighty, and his Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker simply couldn't be beaten."

Surprised at how much Ghost Emperor Yama knew, Yang Qi said, "Yeah, I do have the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker. I took it from some weakling. You haven't seen it in action yet, but just wait a bit, and you will."

"So, you do have it!" Ghost Emperor Yama's eyes glittered. "Ah, what a pity. There's no way you can actually call upon the golden true energy in that weapon. Otherwise, you would be really strong."

"You think I care about that? The legion of gods has the power to create anything and everything. The true energy of the Wilds God himself is like nothing compared to their will. I already inserted my energy into the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker, and not only can I unleash its ultimate power, I actually transformed it into something stronger than it was before."

Even as Yang Qi and Ghost Emperor Yama were chatting, a sinister voice rang out into the area.

"Get out of the way, slackers!"

Suddenly, a group of black-garbed individuals appeared from within the primal-chaos energy flow. Looking over, Yang Qi saw that they were dressed exactly like the expert from the Hall of Ninjas that he had killed earlier.

As they approached, a cold, sinister aura spread out that caused all of the other experts present to back up slowly.

"Hmph. The people from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral really are domineering."

"How else would you expect them to be? Keep it down, otherwise you're courting disaster. They kill people without blinking an eye. Everybody knows that the Hall of Ninjas is the most dangerous and terrifying hall within the Quake-Dawn Cathedral."

"Our Feudal Association doesn't necessarily fear them! But they have numbers on their side, so let's be careful. What a pity they're going to end up getting that sage weapon."

"Not necessarily. First they have to get through that sealing mark, which isn't exactly something simple to do."

Yang Qi backed up along with the crowd. Instead of trying to fight with this group, he decided to see how exactly they planned to open the seal.

"The lot of you surround this temple, and if anyone gets too close, kill them without hesitation!" As the leader gave orders, numerous black-garbed men flitted through the air to form a perimeter around the temple. Almost at the same time, something like a black cloud appeared, which shot toward the temple, carrying a group of high-level experts.

As the experts from the Hall of Ninjas attacked the temple, they summoned an enormous black cauldron, which settled down to cover the entire temple. Almost immediately, the spell formations in the temple fought back, causing many of the attackers to cough up blood.

But then, the cauldron began to rotate, emanating rumbling sounds that resembled the howl of divine dragons. Cracking sounds echoed out as the spell formation in the temple began to shatter.

"Ah, the Black Golden Dragon-Smelting Cauldron," Ghost Emperor Yama said. "That's a seventh step sage item from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral. It's not as good as the Grand Emperor's Pagoda or the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker, but it's still pretty strong. It should be able to clear out the remains of the warding magics in that temple. If you're planning to grab that treasure, Yang Qi, now's the time to make your move."

Meanwhile, one of the experts from the Hall of Ninjas shouted, "Deactivate the cauldron! Take the treasure!"

The cauldron shrank down into the hand of the man who had been operating it, leaving behind spatial rifts that glowed with bright light.

'It's out in the open. Time to snatch it!' That was what numerous experts in the area thought. Instantly, true energy surged as powerful Half Sages leaped forward, some in teams, some alone, all of them in the hopes of snatching the treasure.

"Are you asking to die, miscreants!?" shouted the expert who had been operating the cauldron, a Half Sage. Calling on the powers of the cauldron, he knocked away all of the other Half Sages, then sent out a stream of black light that suppressed the hook-shaped sage weapon.

Taking advantage of the moment of chaos, Yang Qi took a step forward to appear next to the sage weapon. Before anyone could do anything, he locked down space in the area, allowing him to reach out and grab the weapon.

Then, he turned to leave.

"Bastard!" shouted the expert from the Hall of Ninjas. Reaching out, he called on the powers of the Black Golden Dragon-Smelting Cauldron to send a wild stream of explosive true energy toward Yang Qi, true energy that resembled a black golden dragon.

"Surround him and kill him!" The experts from the Hall of Ninjas all lunged toward Yang Qi, unleashing consummate arts of assassination.

"Crush him! Use the cauldron to refine him! How dare he steal from the Hall of Ninjas! This is unforgivable!"

The massive cauldron began to descend with the power to crush heaven, causing crevices to open in the ground, and tearing open rifts in the air.

Acting on instinct, Yang Qi pulled out the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker. Extending it to a length of three thousand meters, he swept it toward the dragon, and beyond, the cauldron. In response, a sonorous boom rang out, and the cauldron was sent flying backward to slam into the experts from the Hall of Ninjas.

Miserable screams echoed out as the mountain-like cauldron crushed dozens of them into bloody paste. Not even their souls managed to escape.

"Prepare to die!"

Four Half Sages flew forward to stop the path of the huge cauldron, then turn it back to face Yang Qi. At the same time, they all spit a mouthful of blood into the cauldron, which caused black golden light to shine up from inside.

It was black golden dragon water.

As it poured forth in waves, black dragons appeared inside, hundreds of them that all shot with deadly intent toward Yang Qi. They looked true and real in every aspect, and they didn't hesitate to spread out to surround him.

However, Yang Qi didn't shy away from them; instead, he hefted the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker and then swung it out.

RUUUUUMBLE!

A massive golden mountain appeared, pulsing with suffocating power that instantly crushed the black dragons, transforming them into nothing more than black smoke.

Gong!

Then the swordbreaker hit the cauldron, which trembled so violently that the Half Sages all coughed up blood.

"Get out of here!" one of them shouted. "This guy is too strong. Retreat! Wait till the backup army arrives!"

"You think you can just leave?" Yang Qi said. Taking another step forward, he unleashed four more attacks with the swordbreaker, each of which followed prescribed pathways conforming to heaven and earth, until they landed directly onto the Half Sages' heads.

Before any of them could recover from coughing up blood, they were dead.

"That sage item is mine!" Yang Qi announced. "Black Golden Dragon-Smelting Cauldron: get over here." The cauldron flew over, and he used his true energy to suppress it and shrink it down to the size of his palm. Black shafts of light whipped back and forth from inside of it, almost like ten thousand dragons, quivering in rage.

'Another sage weapon. And I can't forget their magical treasure bags!' With the wave of his hand, he scooped up the dimensional sacks of everyone he had just killed.

Then, he simply vanished into thin air.

"Who was that guy? He was so strong! He even killed those Half Sages and took their Black Golden Dragon-Smelting Cauldron. They were like tofu to him! What level of Great Sage was that guy?"

"Well he was a Great Sage, that's for sure. Only a Great Sage could do something like that. Do you know what the Black Golden Dragon-Smelting Cauldron is? It's a sage weapon! Short of a Great Sage, only a bunch of Half Sages working together could use it."

"Come on, let's get out of here! Considering what just happened, it won't be long before a Great Sage from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral shows up."