Sage Monarch

Yang Qi stepped out of the teleportation portal to find himself in a vast land of pure whiteness.

Spirit energy abounded here, as well as the most ancient of auras. Stooping down, he scooped up a handful of soil and rubbed it between his fingers. It was grainy, and filled with life force, to the point where it almost seemed like some sort of spirit medicine that could be directly consumed.

The quality of this soil vastly surpassed anything from the Rich-Lush Continent.

"This place is a holy land," he said. He then shook his head. "If the Rich-Lush Continent can ever become like this, I'll be very happy."

Yan Wubing looked around at the surrounding lands. "Welcome to the Plateau of the Leviathan. This entire land was once an actual leviathan from primeval times. He fused his flesh, blood, and quintessence energy into a plane, in the hopes of using the energy boost to become a Demi-Immortal. Unfortunately, he failed and perished, and his remains became this place. Later, the August Patriarch brought this land to this location to become a subsidiary 'peak' of the Hanging Mountain.

"Young Master, I'm aware you hope to improve the Rich-Lush Continent, so keep in mind what happened here."

Yang Qi knew that when he eventually reached the ninth step of the Great Sage level, he would fuse with the Rich-Lush Continent, and try to use that force to become a Demi-Immortal. If he failed, then the Rich-Lush Continent would become another Plateau of the Leviathan.

This land was a plane of its own that roughly resembled the shape of an enormous whale. The depths of the continent contained enormous stone configurations that were obviously the remnants of the leviathan's five viscera and six bowels. The remnants of his meridians were still present, except that the true energy inside them had become veins of spirit stone ore.

Primeval leviathans were massive things, and their quintessence energy surpassed that of humans by thousands of times. And when such an entity failed to enter the Demi-Immortal level, and became the continent itself, it was only natural that it would leave behind all sorts of spectacular things.

Obviously, this continent was an ideal place to practice cultivation.

'I got quite a few immortal sealing marks from the Crown Prince's corpse,' Yang Qi thought. 'By combining them with primal-chaos paleo-energy, and the ancient immortal formations, I can slowly build up power in the Rich-Lush Continent, and turn its lands into spirit soil. When the process is complete, it will be time to push the continent to a higher level.'

Merely studying the Plateau of the Leviathan itself was giving Yang Qi a much clearer idea of what to do with his own continent.

Yan Wubing looked at the thoughtful expression on Yang Qi's face, and nodded inwardly. He was already convinced that this young master of his was a spectacular individual, and was perfectly suited to gaining enlightenment quickly.

'Compared to the genius sons of August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven, the Holy Mother's son actually isn't that bad!'

Looking over, Yang Qi noticed the pleased expression on Yan Wubing's face, and his reservations about the man yet again shrank. As a result, it was even easier for him to seek enlightenment from the Plateau of the Leviathan.

The teleportation portal they had emerged from was one of many in a large public square, with scattered groups of people walking here and there between them. Obviously, they were people from other planes, traveling to and from the Plateau of the Leviathan. Some were Legendaries, others were Great Sages. It was even more bustling than the Quake-Dawn Continent.

Clearly, this location was central to the larger planetary system of the Hanging Mountain. As for the Quake-Dawn Continent, Rich-Lush Continent, and Western Continent, they were all border territories.

By this point, Yang Qi knew a lot about the planetary system as a whole. It had once been part of the Yore-Wilds Continent, which, along with the Brute-Wilds, Waste-Wilds, and Proto-Wilds planetary systems, were subsidiary to the Titan Emperor Heaven.

Yang Qi had no idea how many locations had resulted when the Yore-Wilds planetary system shattered. But he did know that they covered a vast area so large it was almost impossible to travel between them without the help of space-time wormholes.

Perhaps when he was a Great Sage, he could leave the planetary system and travel to even further locations.

Because of its central location, the Plateau of the Leviathan had as many experts as the sky had clouds. There were even people from organizations outside the Hanging Mountain. Because of all that, it was also a major business center, with all sorts of treasures and energy arts changing hands. Obviously, there were far more prospects here than in a remote, isolated place like the Rich-Lush Continent.

As they stepped off of the teleportation portal and began to walk away, they were noticed by many of the surrounding passersby.

"Look! That's Yan Wubing!"

"He's the famous grand steward of the Holy Mother! He started out as a mortal human tens of thousands of years ago, and was very famous in the ancient world. I wonder why he agreed to serve the Holy Mother."

"People say he's a ninth step Great Sage, and that he's just on the verge of reaching the Demi-Immortal level."

"He's really famous here in the Hanging Mountain. What is he doing here in the Plateau of the Leviathan?"

"Look at that young man standing next to him. He's not even a Great Sage, and yet Yan Wubing is acting all deferential toward him. What's going on?"

"I heard rumors a while back that when the Holy Mother was young, she actually gave birth to a son. It was a big secret back then, but after she became the Holy Mother, the news spread far and wide. I'd say there's a high likelihood that young man is her son. Think about it. Why else would Yan Wubing be treating him so respectfully?"

"The Holy Mother's son…."

"Tisk tisk…. Yeah, the fact that she has a son is an open secret. Our August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven has tacitly approved of such talk, although the Holy Mother isn't very happy about it."

"Through the generations, the Holy Mothers and the August Patriarchs have always struggled for dominance. It's not unusual at all for them to be at odds."

"Perhaps the Holy Mother sent for her son because she plans to formally acknowledge him as her offspring. Or maybe he's here to participate in the immortal world's competition to search for geniuses. But could someone who isn't even a Great Sage participate in that sort of thing?"

"Maybe the Holy Mother is going to personally help him rise to a higher level first. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

As they headed away from the teleportation portals, Yan Wubing said, "The Plateau of the Leviathan is a terminal of sorts. Plenty of people from outside the Hanging Mountain use the teleportation portals here."

"Interesting," Yang Qi said. "Who is this August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven that I hear people talking about?"

"August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven? Well, the August Patriarch is one of the Demonfolk, and he occupies a similar position in the Hanging Mountain as the Holy Mother. He's actually the incarnation of an ancient megamammoth, which makes him incredibly strong. You know, the type they say can 'absorb stars and swallow moons'. People say that his blood comes from the most faithful adherents to the legion of gods, the godmammoths. That's why people from his pure bloodline have always been the August Patriarchs of the Hanging Mountain."

'What?' Yang Qi thought, shaken. 'The incarnation of an ancient megamammoth?'

If there was one thing he was deeply familiar with, it was megamammoths. They were the descendants of godmammoths, but because they were actually too strong, they eventually faded away into the river of time, and became extinct. Modern-day elephants were essentially mortal creatures, and were not like the megamammoths of old, who could inhale rivers and lakes, then blast the water into the sky to create rainstorms.

All of a sudden, Yang Qi wondered what would happen if he got his hands on this August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven, extracted the godmammoth in him, and then used it to bolster his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. What kind of progress would that lead to?

In fact, forget about capturing him. Even a drop of his blood probably contained immense information about the ultimate truths of godmammoths, and would likely help Yang Qi to advance by leaps and bounds.

Although he had the God Legion Seal to help him cultivate the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, he didn't have any actual godmammoth blood, and therefore, little way to gain deep enlightenment about the truths of godmammoths.

Even as Yang Qi considered all of these things, a nearby teleportation portal suddenly thrummed to life, and a powerful, wild aura spread out.

In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi felt the immense power of the primeval Yore-Wilds, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Hey, Yan Wubing!" someone said. "And you, punk. Don't go anywhere. I have something to talk with the two of you about."

Yan Wubing turned to look in the direction of the nearby teleportation portal. Stepping off of it was an extremely tall and burly young man.

He held no weapon in his hands, but was clad in a luxurious set of armor, and had an afro. His muscles seemed to thrum with explosive power that could destroy planets and stars.

He was flanked by a solemn host of experts who were all Great Sages. Together, the entire group was carrying an enormous battle-axe, as bright as snow, and covered with complex designs. It was also spattered with blood, and surrounded by vengeful souls. In fact, fiendish embryos wiggled in the depths of the axe, thirsting for blood.

It was so large and heavy that it required multiple people to hold, and all of those people were Great Sages.

To Yang Qi's shock, that axe actually contained numerous immortal motes, indicating that it was an immortal item.

Of course, Yang Qi had an immortal item, that being the armor he had taken from the Crown Prince. However, he had fused it with his God Legion Paradise, making it part of the domain's greyspace. As for the immortal motes in it, they were currently buried deep in the pure land, waiting to be absorbed. Immortal motes were vastly superior to sage motes, being much tougher. Yang Qi wouldn't be able to do anything with them until he was a Great Sage.

"You're the Holy Mother's son?" the burly young man asked, eyes on Yang Qi. He snorted, and it was like thunder, tearing apart the air and ripping crevices into the ground. Cracks even appeared in the sky above.

Numerous screams rippled out as passersby collapsed into unconsciousness, some of them Legendaries, some of them Half Sages.

As for the Great Sages, they didn't pass out, and yet they trembled in fear, their faces draining from blood.

"Who is that guy? He's so strong!"

"He just appeared, and he already unleashed his energy arts and sagely might? He didn't even care about the onlookers? Who is he? And look at that axe! It's being carried by multiple Great Sages? How heavy could it be?"

"Hey, keep your voice down!"

"That guy is the ninth son of August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven of the Hanging Mountain! His name is Mammoth Force! Not only does he have a high position, he's incredibly strong. Not too long ago, he used that axe to cut the mountain headquarters of an entire sect in two!"

1. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit, because the word used to describe this man means "giant, gigantic, jumbo, extra-large, invincible person, etc." It's also the exact same word for the Big Mac at MacDonald's.

2. In Chinese, "afro" is literally "exploded head/exploded hair", so it actually matches the description of his muscles having "explosive power". It is a very distinctive word in Chinese, so there is not any question about this guy's hair. Definitely an afro.

3. Regarding the names, please read the translator note associated with this chapter.