Sage Monarch

All of the Great Sages attacked Yang Qi simultaneously.

The only one who held back was the Crown Prince himself. The group consisted of six Great Sages from the Western Continent, the eight Great Sages from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral, the chancellors of the Sea God and True Dragon Institutes, and Emperor Sage-Ancestor. Seventeen Great Sages were unleashing deadly attacks with the goal of cutting him down.

On the one hand, it was a breathtaking sight. On the other hand, it seemed impossible that anyone could survive something like this.

In Sage Monarch City, Chancellor Sun Moon felt completely crestfallen and without hope, and was sure that he was about to die. He knew that Yang Qi was much stronger than he had ever realized. Because he had the Yore-Wilds' Heart fragment, he could activate the ancient formations in the primal-chaos beneath the continent. He had absorbed the sage motes of a powerful Great Sage, and also had the Grand Emperor's Pagoda and other similar treasures.

Despite all that, though, it seemed inevitable that he would die in the face of an attack like this.

The Great Sages in question were all of relatively low level, including the first, second, and third step. Perhaps someone like Ghost Emperor Yama could destroy seventeen such individuals with ease.

But Ghost Emperor Yama was so far beyond their level of power that he was almost in another world. Yang Qi was in quite a different position. He was in the sixth Legendary transformation, making him like little more than an ant.

To top it all off, the Crown Prince was holding back, and he was a person who was completely enigmatic and impossible to predict.

He had a serious expression on his face, which indicated that, at long last, he was taking Yang Qi seriously, and realized that he wasn't someone to be underestimated. No longer was he a mere ant that could be squished with relative ease. No, he was like a primeval wild beast!

And yet, the Crown Prince was still waiting to see exactly how strong he was. Now that he had provoked the enraged attack of seventeen Great Sages, it seemed likely that he would be dead within moments.

Truth be told, the total number was eighteen, but he had just reduced one of them to a bloody pulp. With him out of the count, it was seventeen Great Sages.

At this point, many of the terrified lower-level individuals who had come along with the Crown Prince began to discuss the events, keeping their voices low.

"This Yang Qi really does have access to some sort of invincible power! I can't believe that he actually defeated three Great Sages in one shot! It's really shocking."

"What transformation is he in? Even in ancient times, it was unheard-of for a Legendary to be able to defeat a Great Sage."

"Even the Crown Prince must be astonished by all this. Although, considering how many Great Sages are left, and that they're all furious at Yang Qi, I doubt he'll escape with his life. How could a Legendary possibly stand up to the combined attack of so many Great Sages? If that happened, word would probably spread to other planes of existence. Even in the era of the Yore-Wilds, something like this would be surprising to immortals, let alone sages."

In that moment, time seemed to slow down, creating an image that would exist for all eternity in the minds of those present. Seventeen Great Sages were all joining forces to attack Yang Qi.

C-C-CRACK!

Seventeen flows of all-destructive energy parted the primal-chaos paleo-energy and bore down on Yang Qi's soul.

Each attack was the manifestation of a sage domain, and all of them were different. Some were murderous in nature, while others were incisive, fierce, or imposing. All of them were attacks that were backed by the full force of the Great Sage that unleashed them, and were designed to destroy their target in every sense of the word.

Yang Qi would die beyond the shadow of a doubt.

That much seemed certain, both to the attackers, and the people in Sage Monarch City. Time started moving again.

RUMBLE!

Heaven and earth filled with darkness and gloom, as well as with primal-chaos vital energy. It was almost as if the sun had lost its ability to cast light.

At the same time, all of the sagelight emanating from Yang Qi swirled around him protectively.

Moments ago, the sagelight had been spread out in the form of the God Legion Paradise, bolstered by the primal-chaos spell formations, to make it even larger than before.

But now, it was as if heaven and earth were returning to their original state of primal-chaos, as he pulled in the God Legion Paradise.

"And thus I step onto the long road of battle…." Yang Qi murmured.

As the God Legion Paradise shrank down, something else appeared within the sagelight: a projection of the halls of heaven. The pure land around him now contained living people, the sky, the land, oceans, as well as the corpses of countless god-devils.

Yang Qi sighed, and a blood-red sun rose, which was none other than the core of the God Legion Paradise, the Yore-Wilds' Heart fragment.

At this point, Yang Qi murmured, "God Legion Paradise: Superlative Defense!"

Instantly, the power of ten thousand galloping horses surged out. It was the rage of heavenly deities, like the falling of countless meteors to crush the lands beneath. Even a million volcanoes all erupting at the same time would pale in comparison. The God Legion Paradise shrank down to a size of only ten square meters. Then, the attacks of the seventeen Great Sages hit it with mind-boggling force, instantly causing crevices to open up in the ground of that pure land.

However, closer examination revealed that they were not, in fact, crevices. They were a turtle-shell-like pattern, like that of a divine turtle from the distant past. It was none other than the God Legion Paradise's Superlative Defense.

To the complete shock of everyone present, the blazing attacks of the seventeen Great Sages entered the God Legion Paradise, only to be completely vanquished by the blood-red Yore-Wilds' Heart fragment.

Within his domain, Yang Qi controlled everything, and could create an entire heaven and earth.

"What? Not even seventeen Great Sages can break into his personal domain?!"

"What exactly is going on here? Those are seventeen Great Sages! And they're all working together! Any opponent they attack should be killed instantly. How did this guy block them? Look, he's not even hurt. Is he really a Legendary? Is he even human? He's not an immortal, is he?"

Chancellor Sun Moon, as well as countless other members of the aristocratic clans, were numb from shock.

'Superlative Defense!' Ghost Emperor Yama thought, shivering from fear. 'That must be the Superlative Defense from his godly-class energy art. If I had that, I wouldn't have anything to fear from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral! I wouldn't even need to worry about Demi-Immortals! It's too bad that his God Legion Seal is so strong, otherwise I'd figure out a way to deal with him.'

According to certain legends, when the God Legion Paradise was complete, it would become impervious to attacks, and could even convert them into power. Normally speaking, the attacks of seventeen Great Sages should have been more than enough to destroy the God Legion Paradise. But with the Yore-Wilds' Heart fragment, that was absolutely not the case.

The combination of those two was powerful to an unimaginable degree.

They could create a truly superlative defense.

"He has the Yore-Wilds' Heart fragment in his personal domain!" shouted Chancellor Sea God. "There's no way we can break through it! We're just not strong enough. Look! His domain is actually absorbing the force of our attack and turning it into more sage motes!"

"How could this be happening?" Chancellor True Dragon shouted. "What kind of a personal domain is that? Why is it so terrifying!?" He had the projection of a true dragon behind him, ready to unleash another deadly attack.

However, before he could, Yang Qi made a move.

Considering that these sages couldn't possibly break his Superlative Defense, there was no way he was going to let any of them go.

Sagelight flared, illuminating everything for thousands of kilometers in all directions. The projection of the halls of heaven floated above his head, and sage motes flitted about, which had all been created thanks to the seventeen Great Sages.

Clenching both hands into fists, he took a step forward, placing him directly in front of the chancellors from the Sea God and True Dragon Institute.

"Fist of the Halls of Heaven!"

Holy light shone out that could illuminate the universe, becoming a raging sea that completely swept over the two chancellors.

As they tumbled within the 'sea water', the powers of destruction inundated them, and within the blink of an eye, they realized they were in incredible danger.

Without hesitation, they called upon their most deadly techniques, drawing on sage motes to unleash a dragon-snake and a sea of light to fight back against Yang Qi.

Clank. Clang….

Their sage mote attacks hit the God Legion Paradise like a metal sword hitting a shield. Not only did they not hurt it, the God Legion Paradise actually absorbed the force of the attack.

As Yang Qi stood there on the porcelain land of the God Legion Paradise, with fists clenched, tall and straight, his domain spread out, locking the two chancellors in place.

Wham! Bam!

In a sight which no one would ever be able to forget, two enormous, glowing fists of light shot forth, hitting each chancellor in the chest. Sagelight poured into them, burning so hot that their blood quickly transformed into sagelight.

Their screams echoed about in the pure land, but could not leave it. Everyone looked on in silence as vicious expressions of pain and terror twisted their faces in terrifying fashion.

Pop!

Sagelight shot up, almost as if it wished to drag the stars down out of the sky. The primal-chaos paleo-energy in the area grew stronger, and the two chancellors began to glow so brightly that they soon turned into pure light. Then the light faded away, revealing that the ground of the God Legion Paradise now had two etchings, depicting both Chancellor Sea God and Chancellor True Dragon. They were now a permanent part of the porcelain-colored pure land.

Yang Qi stood there with his pure white God Legion Battle Robe fluttering about, looking down at the two portraits etched into the ground. Then, he began to speak, almost as if he were uttering an elegy to the two fallen chancellors. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. If the pure land is not pure, then purified it shall become…."

These two chancellors had led two of the most powerful organizations in the Rich-Lush Continent for thousands of years. And yet, now they had fallen, and were nothing more than etchings in the ground of the God Legion Paradise.

Yang Qi had killed them with complete ease.

Even among Great Sages, they were no slouches. Their names were nearly as prominent as that of Chancellor Demi-Immortal.

After a moment of shocked silence, the grand elders and prime elders of their two institutes began to wail as loudly as if their own mothers had perished.

1. Yang Qi murmurs a line of poetry originally attributed to the famous historical general . The quote is actually slightly different from the original, so I'm not sure if that's a typo on the part of the author, or an intentional deviation from the source. In any case, it's poetry describing the figurative road to be traveled during an extensive military campaign.