Sage Monarch

As soon as the Eternal Godwind sprang up, the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind began to build up in the God Legion Paradise, and sage motes began to form.

Sage motes were a key aspect of the Great Sage level, and Yang Qi had killed plenty of Great Sages, which meant that he had many such motes in his God Legion Paradise. Some he could use and some he could not, but now that he had all four tribulations and their elements, he could easily break down the miscellaneous sage motes and access their will and energy, then use them for his own purposes.

Crick! Crack!

Yang Qi was like ice being melted into water.

The godwind blew, sweeping up the infernal as well, tossing him about like a headless fly.

"Your end has come, infernal! Now that I'm a Great Sage, I can crush you beneath my feet."

Whoosh!

Yang Qi emerged from the Eternal Godwind and immediately sent the Fist of the Halls of Heaven toward the infernal, which cracked and began to fall apart within the destructive power of the Eternal Godwind.

"Hand of the One God!" Yang Qi unleashed all of the power he could, sending the Hand of the One God toward the infernal's head. Instantly, the will of the One God poured into the thing, and he was transformed into powder.

The amount of quintessence-blood in a sixth step Heavenly Workings infernal was shocking to think about. Even one drop of it would be like a devilish sea.

And yet, thanks to the Eternal Godwind, all of the blood rushed to Yang Qi, providing him with profound understanding of the ultimate meaning of hell. Instantly, his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth buzzed as if it were alive.

WHIZZZ!

As his sage motes took form, the Eternal Godwind grew more intense. However, Yang Qi drew more fully on the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and then finally just sat down to contemplate the deeper meaning of the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind.

He was now rising to the Great Sage level.

This transformation was very different from anything before; he was truly changing into something new and different. He was becoming a sage.

When the Eternal Godwind stopped blowing, his God Legion Paradise would become a sage domain, and would increase dramatically in power. It was a very critical juncture.

**

The situation in the Hanging Mountain was one of utter chaos.

After all, in the moment that the infernal died, Yang Qi's name had rocketed up the rankings, surpassing Mammoth Manyvoids to take first place.

The number of points given for killing a sixth step infernal was equivalent to killing an ordinary fiend-devil in the eighth step, which was worth the points of ten in the seventh step.

Not even Mammoth Manyvoids, who was considered the top contender, could have done anything to an eighth step Without Limit fiend-devil. If he ran into something like that, he would have been killed without question. In fact, he would have had trouble killing a single seventh step fiend-devil, much less ten.

Not only had Yang Qi gotten lucky to run into the infernal to begin with, but he was also far more capable of dealing with it than anyone else.

RUMBLE!

Back on Mount Sumeru, the immortal ranking list trembled, and pulsed with immortal energy. And everyone could see as Yang Qi's name surpassed Mammoth Manyvoids'. Yang Qi now had so many points that it seemed hopeless for anyone to try to catch up to him.

Not even the now-second-place Mammoth Manyvoids could possibly close the gap.

"What's going on? What just happened? How did Yang Qi suddenly take first place? Wait, don't tell me he cheated somehow."

"You think he cheated? There's no possible way. How could you cheat in a competition like this? The immortal world runs this thing! Not even the August Patriarch or the Holy Mother would be able to cheat. The only explanation is that Yang Qi must have killed a powerful Great Sage fiend-devil."

"But what kind exactly? How could he have gotten that many points?"

"This is bad!" Ape Heavenhelve said, his face a mask of shock. "Considering how many points he just acquired, he must have killed a Without Limit Sage!"

Chief Lion looked like he was about to go crazy, and his bloodshot eyes were fixed on the ranking list, and Yang Qi's name at the top. Yang Qi was in the lead position, but was only a Legendary. This competition had Planet God Sages and Heavenly Workings Sages, and yet, they were like nothing compared to him.

"He killed a Without Limit fiend-devil?" Chief Shark said. "Impossible! He's not strong enough. I'd say it's more likely he killed an infernal! Even the immortal worlds fear infernals. But if you killed one, the points would be incredible."

"Infernalfolk? They're brutal and incredibly strong; it's almost impossible to kill them. Besides, he would have had to kill a sixth step infernal to get that many points. How could he possibly have killed something like that?"

The chiefs of the Horsefolk, Rhinofolk and Leopardfolk were visibly taken aback, and were now starting to worry what would happen if their Great Sages in the competition tried to take out Yang Qi.

Meanwhile, Father Leviathan, Yan Wubing, and the others who supported Yang Qi were all laughing in loud voices.

"The young master is really a god!"

"Yeah! Despite all the powerful enemies in there, he managed to go right to first place. If things keep going like this, he'll definitely be rewarded by the immortal world, and reach the Great Sage level immediately. Then who could cause any problems for him?"

"The young master is incredible! I've never seen another genius do anything like this. I doubt anyone like him existed even in the Yore-Wilds, or the immortal planes for that matter."

"I have the feeling the young master has already reached the Great Sage level. Back when he was in the eighth Legendary transformation, he could take out fourth step Great Sages. If he's really a Great Sage now, then he wouldn't have any trouble killing Mammoth Manyvoids."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see, right?"

"The young master is definitely going to be famous now," Yan Wubing said, "but you know the old saying. The tallest tree attracts the most wind. Everyone in there is going to go crazy trying to track him down and kill him. Anyone who succeeded would then take the first place spot. Things aren't going to get any easier."

Yan Wubing couldn't have been more correct.

However, the Mammothfolk chief elders were starting to get very anxious. "August Patriarch, that Yang Qi just took first place. What's going on?"

"He got lucky and somehow managed to kill a sixth step infernal," August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven said. "Even the immortal worlds fear the Infernalfolk, so killing one brings incredible rewards. That Yang Qi really has some bullshit good luck."

"A sixth step infernal?" blurted an Epic Saga megamammoth. "That couldn't have been easy to kill. I don't think Mammoth Manyvoids could have pulled it off. How did Yang Qi manage it? We megamammoths always take first place in these competitions. Don't tell me that we're going to be deposed!"

"Not necessarily," Mammoth Heaven replied. "As the saying goes, the most prominent tree in the forest suffers the worst damage from the wind. This Yang Qi doesn't know how to keep a low profile, and will suffer greatly because of it. The competition is filled with elite young ones, and people like Mammoth Manyvoids and Finest Magic aren't simply going to let Yang Qi off the hook. In fact, the fiend-devils of the Hell of Mahānata are probably aware of what happened, and will send people for him."

"What do you mean? The point of going into the Hell of Mahānata in the first place was to kill fiend-devils. Are you saying the fiend-devils are using it as a training competition of their own?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Hell and the immortal worlds have been trying to destroy each other for tens of thousands of years. These training competitions are more like warmups for the real battles to come. Just wait. The true game is beginning. It won't be long before we find out exactly how long the Holy Mother's son can last in there."

Yang Qi's name was spreading out from the Hanging Mountain like a shock wave, and was astonishing experts of all sorts. Of course, most shocked of all were the other competitors in the Hell of Mahānata.

"What? How did Yang Qi surpass me? What's going on?" It was now impossible for Mammoth Manyvoids to remain calm. He no longer looked arrogant like before, and immediately flew up into the air to try to track Yang Qi down.

Now that Yang Qi was a threat to his standing, he couldn't ignore him. In fact, he definitely had to attack him in order to take back the first place spot.

Yang Qi's score was so far past his own now that the only way to recover was to kill him.

Mammoth Force had been doing his best to remain calm, but this news was just too shocking.

"Yang Qi is in first place?!" he blurted. "He surpassed Mammoth Manyvoids!? Find him! Hold nothing back in the search. We can't let him get any more kills, and we definitely can't let him achieve any more breakthroughs. And we have to figure out how he got all those points!"