Sage Monarch

"The aura of our most ancient ancestors…?!"

The Epic Saga Sages of the Mammothfolk shot to their feet in shock. "Sir, are you talking about the godmammoths?"

"It's just a feeling," August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven said, "so I can't be certain. But it's little surprise that the son of the Holy Mother has some supernatural talents. After all, his father is a very mysterious individual that not even I can get much information about. In fact, it's highly likely that the man was a banished immortal."

"So what are we supposed to do now, August Patriarch?"

"Wait and see what he can actually do in the end. Don't forget that we Mammothfolk always put on the best showing in the Immortal World Training Competition." With that, the August Patriarch closed his eyes, ignored the immortal list and began to contemplate other matters.

Meanwhile, back in the Hell of Mahānata, many of the competitors were paying attention to the changes on the ranking list. Maintaining the quintessence energy link to the list was one way to prevent from getting lost in the Hell of Mahānata.

Deep in a mountain range, Mammoth Force hefted the severed head of a Great Sage fiend-devil that he had just killed.

"Damnation!" he said. "What's going on here? How can that little bastard Yang Qi be rising in the ranks so quickly? I'm gonna lose all face here!"

He was surrounded by Demonfolk Great Sages of all types, including Apefolk, Sharkfolk, Horsefolk, Leopardfolk, and even some Giantfolk. They were all from the Demonfolk factions who supported the August Patriarch, and were here to keep Mammoth Force safe. There were even quite a few present who were in the fifth step.

Of course, considering that they were in the Hell of Mahānata, it was actually necessary for such individuals to stick together. As one of the Mammothfolk, Mammoth Force led the group, and was killing fiend-devils at a respectable speed. And yet, he was still overtaken by Yang Qi.

As arrogant as he was, he nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood when that happened.

"Where is that little brat hiding around here?" said one of the geniuses from the Lionfolk, a burly man with a prominent upper nose and a mane of golden hair. "How are we supposed to find him? If we teamed up, we could easily kill him."

Mammoth Force took a moment to calm himself down. Although he had a short temper, when the situation required it, he could be cool and collected. "Track him down! Once we figure out where he is, we surround him and kill him."

When his fellows saw how calm and focused he was, they realized that, without any doubt, Mammoth Force viewed Yang Qi as his main rival right now. After all, he would only drop his arrogant act when dealing with people he felt were worthy rivals.

A bit of time passed, after which Mammoth Force said, "Send out an order with the August Patriarch's name on it. Tell everyone that they're required to look for Yang Qi. Whoever provides me with his location will be given a reward of magical treasures from the August Patriarch's treasure houses."

Within moments, Mammoth Force's orders were echoing into the ears of numerous disciples in the training competition.

He was from the Mammothfolk, and they were one of the dominant, ruling forces in the Hanging Mountain. Even the Apefolk would submit to them, and therefore, orders from them were taken very seriously. And that was even more so in training competitions like this, in which the Mammothfolk had a clear advantage.

Before long, numerous Great Sages were all searching for Yang Qi.

Crack!

In a certain mountainous valley, a young man and women landed on the ground. The young man reached down into the golden soil and pulled out a fiend-devil that resembled a pangolin. Before the thing could react, he snapped its neck.

These two were from the Rocfolk. Specifically, they were Roc Glory and Princess Saddharma.

Suddenly, Roc Glory pulled a mirror out and cocked his ear as if listening to a message. When it was over, he chuckled coldly. "Guess what, sister. Mammoth Force has issued orders for everyone to track down Yang Qi."

"Oh really?" Princess Saddharma said, her expression flickering. "That Yang Qi is strong, and particularly fast. He came into this hell alone, and immediately vanished. Not even we Rocfolk can manage the speeds necessary to chase him down."

"Yes. And it's impossible to say which direction he went in. His aura perfectly conforms with this hell, and he keeps rising in the rankings. Obviously, he's been doing quite a bit of killing, and if you analyze how his score has been going up, it's obvious that he's been killing fourth step Great Sages. From that, I would say that he's as strong as the fourth step, but not the fifth."

"But he's only in the eighth Legendary transformation!" Princess Saddharma shivered. "In ancient times, Astral-Star Legendaries were eighth-level energy warriors. The difference between that and the fourth step of the Great Sage level is too vast to even calculate. Not even ten thousand Astral-Star Legendaries working together should be able to fight a Great Sage like that."

"Just wait and see what happens, sister. I guarantee that he won't be killed by Mammoth Force. At least not easily. Did you notice that he's been in the eighth transformation from the moment he entered the Hanging Mountain? He never achieved a breakthrough. That leads me to believe that the heaven and earth of the Hanging Mountain won't permit him to break through. He needs a place like an immortal plane, and the Hell of Mahānata will do perfectly. Once he finds a stable place, then he'll do it. You just watch, sister. Once he breaks through, he'll advance by leaps and bounds. In fact, he might even become a Great Sage. And then Mammoth Force will die beyond the shadow of a doubt."

Princess Saddharma gasped. "Impossible. You really think Yang Qi would dare to kill Mammoth Force? I mean, Mammoth Force isn't the strongest of the Mammothfolk in the competition. That spot belongs to Mammoth Manyvoids. This is his tenth and last competition. As a seventh step Great Sage, he's just on the verge of breaking through to the Without Limit step. In fact, look, he's currently in first place. You really think that he would turn a blind eye to someone killing Mammoth Force?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Roc Glory said. "Not even I could match up to Mammoth Manyvoids right now."

The Hell of Mahānata had oceans and seas too, except instead of water, they had golden liquid that was incredibly heavy. Powerful fiend-devils would be born in such oceans, things like dragons and snakes that could devour worlds.

Currently, a young man in a snow-white robe flew over the ocean, a lonely expression on his face. Everywhere he went, the ocean turned pure and calm, and even the Great Sage fiend-devils in it would die.

In hells such as this, Great Sage fiend-devils were like the common people of the mortal world, and existed everywhere. After all, this place was equivalent to an immortal plane.

It was only Demi-Immortal fiend-devils who bordered on being nobility.

As for this white-robed young man, he didn't need to do anything to kill the fiend-devils. His mere presence was enough. A starry nebula hovered above his head, making him seem like the incarnation of a god of the stars, come to travel about in hell.

The starry nebula bore the image of a megamammoth in it, clad in armor that made it look similar to a godmammoth. It was blurry and illusory, not realistic like the type of godmammoths that would appear for Yang Qi, and yet, the level of power definitely did surpass him.

This young man was one of the top elites of the Mammothfolk, Mammoth Manyvoids.

He hoped to break into the eighth step of the Great Sage level, and become a Without Limit Sage. Once he achieved his breakthrough, he would become a major leader among the Demonfolk.

He currently occupied first place on the ranking list, mostly because he was so strong that he didn't even need to fight these enemies to kill them. Releasing the power of his energy arts alone was enough to kill most lower-level Great Sages.

Suddenly, he stopped moving. 'Yang Qi…. There's something odd about him, that's for sure, but I'm not interested in fighting him. Let's see if Mammoth Force has what it takes to handle him. Besides, it wouldn't be fair for me to attack him, considering how vastly separated we are in cultivation level. If I killed him, I would definitely become the subject of widespread ridicule.'

With that, he waved his hand in a complicated pattern to create a spirit talisman, which subsequently caused the ranking list to appear in the air in front of him. He was mainly interested in the individuals in second and third place: Finest Magic and Stunning Beheader.

Those two were the biggest threat to him. They weren't very far behind him in terms of points, and were obviously interested in taking first place. After all, the fantastic rewards from the immortal world were too enticing to ignore. According to rumor, the winner would get an Immortal Spirit Body, as well as immortal items, immortal pills, immortal stones and godly-grade spirit stones.

All such things would be of incredible help in the effort to break through to the Demi-Immortal level.

And of course, Mammoth Manyvoids wasn't going to simply let other people take away the first place spot.

Finest Magic and Stunning Beheader were both seventh step Great Sages as well. If Mammoth Manyvoids wasn't of the Mammothfolk, and inherently the bane of fiend-devils, it was entirely possible that he wouldn't occupy first place right now. In any case, he wasn't about to start being lax.

'Finest Magic and Stunning Beheader are both humans, and foreigners at that, not even from the Hanging Mountain. In that respect, they're like Yang Qi. Well, how could I possibly let them take first place from me? That would be too much of a loss of face.'

All of a sudden, he flew high up into the air, and then began to drop massive balls of godlightning into the water below.

They were like stars that fell into the sea, causing the water to boil and bubble as they exploded in the depths.

Instantly, a whole group of Great Sages was killed below.

Waving his hand, he pulled all of their treasures up to him, all of them rare items and ores of incredible value. There were even spirit stones and immortal stones, the type of thing that were deeply tainted by the energies of hell. In fact, they were similar to the Euphoria Godstone that Yang Qi had acquired long ago in the Demi-Immortal Institute.

The golden seawater below was so packed with power that a single drop of it could taint thousands of kilometers of land. However, it could also be used to create demon-devil magical treasures, or to cultivate the dao of devils and demons.

In the Hell of Mahānata, just about everything was a treasure of some sort.

**

Hissss!

Yang Qi took a deep breath, sucking all of the Amber Avalanche into his God Legion Paradise. Looking around at the corpses of the yamas, he waved his hand, and their sage motes flew forth and entered his domain's greyspace, where they transformed into the script of the legion of gods.

Yang Qi threw his head back and roared, and then seemed to explode into a mass of magical symbols, which then formed back into his body.

He had finally reached the Never-Dying Transformation.

1. Banished immortal: I'll include more information about this term later when it becomes more relevant.