Sage Monarch

Yang Qi didn't have access to a space-time wormhole leading directly to the Hanging Mountain, and thus, he decided to go the long way, and visit the Quake-Dawn Continent along the way.

Besides, there was also the issue of how the Grand-Wilds Mansion had hired him as the captain of a mercenary squad that they sent directly into Yama Mountain. That was a grudge that he wasn't willing to simply let go of.

As far as he could tell, the best way to go about it all would be to get the Grand-Wilds Mansion into conflict with the Quake-Dawn Cathedral, and have the two of them wipe each other out. The only question was how to go about doing that.

Considering how badly he had offended the Quake-Dawn Cathedral, it was only a matter of time before they struck back at the Rich-Lush Continent. His sworn siblings, his family, and the Sage Monarch Society were all major weaknesses for him right now.

Therefore, he needed to nip things in the bud as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, the Quake-Dawn Cathedral was not the Demi-Immortal Institute. It was a massive organization that he couldn't underestimate.

One slip-up could be fatal. After all, they could theoretically kill Ghost Emperor Yama, let alone him. They had old-timers who were so strong that, unless Yang Qi became a Great Sage, he couldn't deal with them directly.

In terms of his immediate goals, the first was to get stronger, and the second was to make sure that the Quake-Dawn Cathedral didn't end up invading the Rich-Lush Continent.

Suddenly, his Angel Wings spread out, and he shot into the spatial tempests. He flew for the equivalent of several days in a row before he saw an enormous planet up ahead, hanging in the middle of outer space. It was surrounded by countless satellite planets, all of which moved in a specific orbital path. In the dark void between them all were numerous hell monsoons of varying size and strength, as well as hosts of fiend-devils, who would attack the greyspace of the planets and try to enter them.

This place was many, many times larger than the Rich-Lush Continent.

It was the Quake-Dawn Continent, which Yang Qi had visited once before.

At the moment, he had no idea where the Hanging Mountain was. However, there were plenty of teleportation portals and spatial nexuses in the Quake-Dawn Continent which led in that direction.

The Western Continent had once contained teleportation portals and spatial nexuses, but Yang Qi had ordered them destroyed. The last thing he wanted was an invasion of Demonfolk from the Hanging Mountain or some similar place. His plan was to secretly enter the place and start looking around for information about his past.

'These armies of fiend-devils have the Quake-Dawn Continent completely under siege. No wonder they never sent a major force to the Rich-Lush Continent after the big fight.' Yang Qi slipped through space, passing the fiend-devils, and eventually touching down onto the surface of the Quake-Dawn Continent. Instantly, he was surrounded by powerful spirit energy, the perfect fuel for cultivation.

Without any hesitation, he sent his divine will spreading out for thousands of kilometers in all directions.

It was a very brazen act on his part. Even Great Sages would usually keep their divine will contained within their own territory. Sending it into the territory of another person would be considered a provocation, and could lead to outright warfare. But Yang Qi was able to mix his divine will with the will of heaven, and was thus able to escape detection from anyone other than an expert like Ghost Emperor Yama.

Unfortunately, the Quake-Dawn Continent was such a huge place that he didn't have any luck finding what he was looking for.

"Get out here, Nie Chaoguang!"

Waving his hand, he summoned the lazy Nie Chaoguang from inside the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. Nie Chaoguang was already a very high-level Half Sage. And after everything he had experienced, including being able to watch first-hand as Yang Qi slaughtered countless Great Sages, he felt that he had made significant advancement toward a breakthrough.

In fact, of all of Yang Qi's followers, he was currently the closest to reaching the Great Sage level.

However, he was from the Quake-Dawn Continent, and Yang Qi knew that if he became a Great Sage in the Rich-Lush Continent, it would be difficult to control him. Therefore, he had kept him imprisoned in the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, sealed and incapable of making any cultivation progress. Now that he was in the Quake-Dawn Continent, he was obviously the perfect person to use for information.

"How long are you going to keep me suppressed, Yang Qi?" Nie Chaoguang asked with a furious glower. "I never did anything to you. In fact, you're the one who stole the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker from my Spirit Origin Association."

"I'll keep you suppressed until you offer me wholehearted allegiance," Yang Qi replied. "You have the legacy of an immortal, Nie Chaoguang. Keeping you close by is as dangerous as handling a viper. One bite could be deadly. However, you're right. You never did anything to me, and therefore, I've kept you alive. So tell me about the Quake-Dawn Continent. Where are the teleportation portals, and how do I get to the Hanging Mountain?"

Not daring to talk back to Yang Qi, Nie Chaoguang looked around briefly and then said, "We're in the Mandrake Plains, which is one of the seven major plains in the Quake-Dawn Continent. This area is very fertile, and there are plenty of subterranean resources as well. All of it is kept under strict control by the Quake-Dawn Cathedral. See that city on the horizon? That's Mandrakor, where the Quake-Dawn Cathedral's Hall of Mandrakes is headquartered. The Hall of Mandrakes is nearly as famous as the Hall of Ninjas, and has more experts than you can imagine. It's run by multiple Great Sages, and focuses on foreign trade. As for the Hanging Mountain, if you want to get there, just head into the city. They have a cathedral there where you can most certainly acquire the right coordinates."

"I see. Alright, you take the lead. I'll disguise myself as a disciple of the Spirit Origin Association. Okay?"

"My life is in your hands," Nie Chaoguang replied coolly, "so I'll do whatever you say."

With that, they headed toward the city on foot.

Considering how large of a plane the Quake-Dawn Continent was, even the smallest cities there were larger than Capital City in the Rich-Lush Continent.

And there was little need to mention how large a massive place like Mandrakor was.

Before even getting close to the city, Yang Qi saw massive roads crisscrossing the terrain. There were even wormholes that flickered here and there. High above the city was a glimmering shield that spread out for thousands of kilometers, an enormous aegis that contained the city. Anyone who wished to enter the city would have to pass through special entrances in the aegis, and of course, pay a tax to do so.

In that regard, it was like many of the cities Yang Qi had seen in the past.

"That's the Mandala Vajra Aegis," Nie Chaoguang explained. "It's a type of ancient immortal formation that not even a Great Sage would be able to break through. It even protects the city underground. It's cast by a magical treasure that is part of Mandrakor itself. In ancient times, an immortal item shattered in the area, and the people from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral stitched the pieces back together and combined them with subterranean ley lines to create an impenetrable defense.

"Be very, very careful when we pass through it, and definitely don't do anything to reveal who you truly are. Otherwise, we're both dead."

'It's definitely a powerful formation,' Yang Qi thought. 'Back in the Rich-Lush Continent, I could probably use the primal-chaos paleo-energy to break through it. But not here.'

Back in the Rich-Lush Continent, Yang Qi could benefit from the powers of the primal-chaos paleo-energy, the immortal spell formations, and even the greyspace of the plane itself. He could essentially unleash double the level of his own power. But he didn't have those advantages here.

Maintaining full vigilance, Yang Qi and Nie Chaoguang headed toward the city entrance.

The guards were Legendaries. Thankfully, they weren't carrying out detailed investigations of those who wanted to enter the city. As long as the tax of supreme-grade spirit stones was paid, they let anyone in.

Mandrakor was clearly a very wealthy city, with abundant spirit energy. Towering buildings rose up everywhere, some of which contained their own small-scale worlds.

The streets were paved with some ancient bronze-like metal, and were untainted by even a speck of dust. There were pedestrians of all sorts, all of whom had abundant true energy. The Lifeseizers present scurried about with their heads ducked down, almost as if they were servants. Only the Legendaries seemed to carry themselves with a bit of respect, although only those who had achieved multiple breakthroughs were among the important government workers, or the nobility.

Occasionally, the raging aura of a Great Sage could be sensed; they were people who commanded universal respect wherever they went.

Of course, the situation was very different from the Rich-Lush Continent, in which Great Sages were rarely seen in public. Here, they were somewhat commonplace.

At a certain point, Nie Chaoguang pointed to a very impressive looking temple up ahead. "That's the Ultra-Heaven Cathedral, which manages all of the Hanging Mountain's business in the Quake-Dawn Continent, and also oversees all of the various Demonfolk here. There are plenty of demon kings and other monsters that they watch over. The Hanging Mountain is very ambitious, you know. They want to turn the Quake-Dawn Continent into a larger version of the old Western Continent."

The entirety of the Ultra-Heaven Cathedral was made of some sort of metal, and was crafted to look like some sort of heavenly roc, with wings outstretched in very intimidating fashion. It made sense considering that it was administered by Great Sage Ultra-Heaven from the Hanging Mountain. According to the rumors, he was actually a heaven-roc, capable of achieving immense, unmatchable speed, to the point where he could travel between planes of existence as easily as snapping his fingers.

He was much more famous than Great Sage Shroud-Heaven.

Hopefully, this Ultra-Heaven Cathedral was Yang Qi's ticket to getting in touch with the Hanging Mountain itself, and finding out information about his mother.

Even as Yang Qi was thinking about how to get into the cathedral and get the information he wanted, he noticed a group of people emerging from the structure, pulsing with demon energy. In the lead was a dignified and imposing Half Sage who was clearly on the very cusp of achieving a breakthrough into the Great Sage level.

'Who's that?'

Yang Qi immediately realized that this person looked familiar.

'It's Young Master Shroud-Heaven! I thought he ended up dead at the hands of the Crown Prince. What's he doing here?'