Sage Monarch

Immortal will had filled Yang Qi.

The magical laws of an ancient plane turned the bronze door into a meteor that shot down and entered his sea of consciousness to take him over. It was a very dangerous moment, as the slightest mistake on Yang Qi's part would involve his soul perishing. He would be parasitized, and most likely turned into a slavish disciple of an entity from a higher plane.

Even Ghost Emperor Yama with his vastly higher cultivation base wouldn't take such a dangerous risk.

Yang Qi was weaker than him by a hundred times over, so the fact that he was doing this was mind-boggling.

'Good,' Nie Chaoguang thought. 'Excellent. He offended the immortal who created the Ballad of the Dao Testimonial. Anyone who could create a song like that is obviously a paragon entity in creation, making us bugs in comparison. And if you mess with beings from high-level planes, aren't you courting death?'

He was excited, but also trepidatious, so he rose to leave the platform in the hopes of avoiding being hurt by what was to come.

However, even as he leaped into motion, Yang Qi waved his hand, leaving him stuck in midair.

"Stay," Yang Qi said in a booming voice. "You're the missionary of this great immortal, aren't you? I want you to see how I fight this immortal will."

A look of terror overtook Nie Chaoguang's face. "How could this be happening? Didn't the immortal's will enter you?"

"Enter me? Just look and see. It's not like I can't fight back. My sovereign will can dominate anything and everything. My soul is eternally indestructible, and comes from the Sovereign Lord. I will not exercise faith in any living being. I am a Lord who exists above all. The legion of gods gives me glory, and I support the legion of gods."

As he spoke, his voice grew louder and louder, and at the same time, he began to float up into the air above the platform. Then, he took a step forward, and cracks spread out in the air around his foot.

As he did, countless expressions of will streamed out to cover him, accompanied by a most ancient of voices: "Acknowledge allegiance to me! Acknowledge allegiance! I'll give you an immortal destiny. You'll have immeasurable power! You can help spread my glory to beings on countless other planes!"

"Screw the hell off!" Yang Qi said, his voice grimly cold, like the sovereign lord of anything and everything.

"Yang Qi," the other voice said, "you have profaned my will, and you have blasphemed against my glory. Now, you will be forever shackled…." Clanking sounds could be heard as bronze chains began to wrap around him, sealing him, even piercing his flesh and blood to enter his bones, meridians and sea of energy.

The will of the immortal was putting on a show of great might.

RUUUUUMBLE!

Inside of Yang Qi's sea of consciousness was an enormous, bronze entity, like a god, whose hand was reaching out to rip his soul apart. His bronze skin was covered with a dense network of complex designs, all of which pulsed with a sensation of ultimate power. This was the immortal whose will had created the Ballad of the Dao Testimonial, and his fists and feet could shatter worlds. His rage could cause stars to fall, and could fill the void with brilliance and glory.

Meanwhile, a representation of Yang Qi also appeared in the depths of his sea of consciousness. He was much smaller than the bronze giant, but he had an elephantine head and a human body.

He was a godmammoth, and he was much smaller than his opponent, but his substructure glistened with radiance, with his Angel Wings behind him. He looked like he had just stepped out of hell, but at the same time, abounded with holy glory and mightiness.

However, the radiance, glory, and mightiness were secondary to the aura of purity that spread out from him.

It was a pure energy that seemed separated from all other things, something that could create an eternal kingdom. It was a paradise that could contain all types of living beings. It was the aura of the God Legion Paradise.

According to the legends, the God Legion Paradise was the location of the ultimate radiance and light, and of utmost holiness. Back before the destruction of countless universes and creations, the legion of gods had created it to be a safe haven for all living beings. It was a never-ceasing temple to their glory.

Yang Qi had succeeded with the Five-Phases Transformation and the Yin-Yang Transformation, and had perfectly combined yin and yang with the five phases. He also had the Yore-Wilds' Heart fragment, and plenty of true energy. The only thing he had lacked was enlightenment, and the proper stimulation. However, as the saying went, place someone on a field of death, and he will fight to live. And thus, he summoned the will of an ancient immortal to contend with.

The struggle finally stimulated his true energy in the proper way, and he knew that a key moment in the development of the God Legion Paradise had arrived. The next few moments in the fight would determine whether or not he could succeed. Could he defy heaven, and then use that heaven-defying will to defeat the immortal?

"Despicable worm!" the bronze immortal shouted inside his head. This was a contest of pure will, without energy arts, magical treasures or the like.

The bronze immortal unleashed a fist strike on Yang Qi's godmammoth form, sending intense psychic fluctuations to fill his sea of consciousness like an explosion.

"Metadimensional Greyspace!" The godmammoth's trunk swished about, causing a porcelain manifestation of radiance and light to spring up, which was none other than a multi-layered greyspace. Not only was his sea of consciousness repaired by it, but there were numerous metadimensions and alternate dimensions that sprang up to suck away the residual power.

"Not bad," said the will of the bronze immortal. "Surprisingly, you've harnessed the power of metadimensional greyspace. So, you want to form a personal domain? Sadly, you won't succeed. You're no match for me; your will is simply too weak. Prepare to be destroyed!"

The will of this bronze immortal could exterminate ancient powers and slaughter everything in existence. And as he struck out with his fist, he shattered layer after layer of the greyspace, and crushed the metadimensions into fragments. In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi's sea of consciousness was thrown into a state of primal-chaos, focusing mostly on the godmammoth. And at the same time, immortal skills were unleashed in devastating fashion.

Bam!

Suddenly, the Infernal Deity Spear appeared in the hand of the godmammoth, and it thrummed with heaven motes as it struck the incoming fist.

Cricking and cracking sounds rang out as, in utterly shocking fashion, the godmammoth began to fall apart as surely as a destroyed roof tile. However, Yang Qi's will remained strong. "This is my sea of consciousness, so as long as I'm not destroyed, my will remains eternal."

The godmammoth formed back together and once again lunged forward to fight the bronze immortal.

The immortal seemed to be building momentum, as if he desired nothing more in the world than to thoroughly crush Yang Qi beneath his feet. "Despicable thing. Maybe this is your sea of consciousness, but I can still destroy it. You think you can heal it from my attacks? We're fighting on your home ground, which means that all the damage hurts you. Stop this senseless fighting. You've cultivated my Ballad of the Dao Testimonial, and thus, you are destined to serve me. As my disciple, you will spread faith of me throughout the lower planes.

"Dao-Cracking form!"

Even as the words left the immortal's mouth, he threw his hands wide, and massive cracks spread out in all directions in Yang Qi's sea of consciousness, until it seemed like it might shatter.

However, Yang Qi's will surged, and his spear became a streak of light that stabbed into the bronze immortal's hand.

"Dao-Severing form!"

The bronze immortal unleashed another fist strike, which caused the Infernal Deity Spear to bend like a bow, its golden designs snapping and shattering.

"Ying Yang; Five Phases. True Energy God Incarnation!" Yang Qi in godmammoth form focused his will, and even as the Infernal Deity Spear shattered, numerous spatial fluctuations began to roll off it, as though a paradise were about to appear.

As the battle continued, Yang Qi's personal domain began to take shape further.

"Dao-Shattering form!"

The bronze immortal didn't seem to be worried at how fiercely Yang Qi was fighting back. He launched another fist strike, which seemed capable of shattering great daos. A psychic tempest rolled out that seemed capable of destroying the universe, much less Yang Qi's sea of consciousness.

POP!

Blood began to ooze out of Yang Qi's physical eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Clearly, that last move had done some significant damage to his sea of consciousness.

Ghost Emperor Yama shook his head at the sight. 'Not good. That crazy brat can't hold out. Unfortunately, not even I can interfere. That immortal's will is just too terrifying, and would wreak havoc even on me. Maybe I could expel it, but I would lose too much of my soul essence. Besides, he said I couldn't interfere. I guess I'll wait until he's fully possessed, then save him. That will definitely count as me winning. Although, why hasn't that God Legion Seal done anything? Don't tell me that it's not working?'

All of a sudden, Ghost Emperor Yama's eyes flickered with killing intent toward Yang Qi. If it weren't for the God Legion Seal, he would have killed Yang Qi a long time ago, absorbed his soul, taken his memories, and crushed him like a bug.

Pop!

Just when it seemed like Yang Qi was about to lose, and even as blood poured out of him, porcelain sagelight suddenly surrounded him.

It instantly purified the blood, and transformed Yang Qi into something incomparably holy. As he hovered cross-legged in the air, dimensional representations of elemental fays appeared, in the form of magical symbols, holy light, angels, and the like. In something like an explosion of fireworks, they created palaces, mountains, rivers, and a starry sky. It was like a mural depicting a plane itself, and at the same time, an enormous personal domain.

In the middle of the domain was the huge bronze immortal, who was lashing about with fists and feet to destroy the palaces and other terrain features around him.

What was happening in Yang Qi's sea of consciousness was now being projected outside of him by means of true energy.

"Yore-Wilds Battle Mural…." he murmured. Instantly, the fragmented images that made up the Yore-Wilds Battle Mural erupted from his dantian region, and entered the projection, making his personal domain stronger and mightier than before.

In that moment, the bronze immortal suddenly found it difficult to move.

1. The term I'm translating as "metadimension" is actually a loanword from Japanese that generally just means "dimension". However, it's a totally different word in Chinese from the one I normally translate as dimension, and is also used a bit differently in the story.