Sage Monarch

On a mountain somewhere in the Hell of Mahānata, Roc Glory and Princess Saddharma of the Rocfolk were looking at the mental image of the immortal ranking list, and Yang Qi's name at the very top of it.

No one could possibly have predicted that this would happen.

"Incredible," Roc Glory said. "He killed all the elites from the Lionfolk, even Lion Hightower. And after that, he shot right to first place. There's no way that Mammoth Manyvoids, Finest Magic, Stunning Beheader, and the sixth step Great Sages are going to just sit on their laurels. They're definitely going to try to kill Yang Qi to take first place.

"Sister, considering that we Rocfolk can attain unmatchable speed, why don't we head over and see how things turn out? If they all gang up on Yang Qi, maybe we can eek out some good fortune."

"Hold on a second," Princess Saddharma said. "Brother, are you saying that we should try killing Yang Qi too? He's the son of the Holy Mother, and I'm with the female Demonfolk. I need to support the Holy Mother! If I took part in killing Yang Qi, that would sow some very ill will that would definitely hurt me in the long run."

"I didn't say we should kill him. It's going to be a battle royale, so all we have to do is identify the weakest among the lot, and kill them to get their points. And if someone does manage to injure Yang Qi badly… well, that could benefit us even more." From the way Roc Glory's eyes glittered, he clearly took this to be an incredible opportunity.

Princess Saddharma nodded. "Fine, let's go."

Wings sprouted from their backs, and the two of them vanished without a trace.

**

"DIE!"

A bare-chested young man with a huge dagger-axe slaughtered a fifth step fiend-devil, and took its sage motes and devil core. Radiating the air of both a warrior and an executioner, he looked down at his weapon and said, "Well, Heaven-Beheader's Dagger-Axe, did you notice that someone just surpassed us in the rankings? Should we go kill him?"

He swept his dagger-axe through the air, opening up a dark passage which he leapt into. As he disappeared, he murmured, "You're dead, Yang Qi. You're the son of the Hanging Mountain's Holy Mother, huh? Well, I'm not from the Hanging Mountain. I'm Stunning Beheader from the Waste-Wilds Continent, and I'm going to take first place. With the blessing of the immortal world, I'll finally break through to the eighth step, and become a Without Limit Sage."

This young man was actually human, and was the person who had previously held third place. He was in the seventh step, making him a deadly individual similar to Ghost Emperor Yama and Chancellor Demi-Immortal.

How could a person like that possibly stand for someone like Yang Qi surpassing him?

In another location was a young man in yellow clothing, who radiated the aura of powerful magic. Smiling coldly, he said, "I, Finest Magic, definitely need to go see who this person is. Is the Holy Mother's son really that powerful? Can her son, a mere Legendary, really contend with us seventh step Great Sages? Even the child of an immortal wouldn't be able to do that, would he?"

Finest Magic was from another unknown continent out in the starry sky, and was the top disciple in his sect.

Forgetting about hunting and killing fiend-devils, he also joined the search for Yang Qi.

In the blink of an eye, countless top experts, all began to search for Yang Qi.

**

"Eternal Godwind. Jambudvīpa Deluge. Night Queen Flame. Amber Avalanche!"

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was continuing his breakthrough into the Great Sage level. Dramatic changes were underway for the God Legion Paradise now that it had all four elements combined. God-spirits wrought destruction, and the destruction brought nirvanic resurrection and rebirth. Projections of numerous planes appeared, which were subsequently exterminated. Flashes of light appeared, with increasing rapidity until a powerful new divine ability formed.

Billions of planes were created and destroyed, and countless godly voices whispered scriptures. The destructive tempering of the Eternal Godwind grew more resplendent, causing Yang Qi's Physique of the Sovereign Lord to become even stronger, until he was like a sheathed sword that grew sharper and tougher by the moment.

The halls of heaven appeared behind him, which spawned too many planes to count, and burst with hundreds of billions of divine abilities. Soon, an immortal skill began to take shape in Yang Qi's mind.

Fractured memories began to awaken, and the profoundly enigmatic genes inside of him stirred.

Also, his Physique of the Sovereign Lord began to change and transform.

New powers and abilities grew inside of him, were stabilized, and became pure. And his meridians became like enormous dragons.

His sea of energy was like a mass of preheaven primal-chaos, the type that could purify any and all types of vital energy. The elements of earth, water, fire, and air were fusing with his true energy and giving birth to a powerful sagely will.

As he began to fully step into the Great Sage level, the God Legion Seal in his forehead stirred. The golden imp stood, and began to release numerous motes, all of them filled with profound truths of the martial path. They filled Yang Qi like a flood, and immediately pushed him to greater heights in his martial arts.

Somewhere beyond the immortal planes, which numbered as many as the eternal sands, was the world of the legion of gods. And when the golden imp released the truths of the martial path, a golden beam of godly light descended from what seemed like that very world, and plunged into Yang Qi's forehead.

In the blink of an eye, the imp seemed to grow bigger.

All of a sudden, Yang Qi felt enlightened.

'Ghost Emperor Yama was right. My God Legion Seal is incomplete. As my cultivation base improves, I'll slowly awaken and repair it. In the end, I will reach the pinnacle of the legion of gods, and become their leader.'

In that moment, he came to understand the Fist of the Halls of Heaven even more deeply than before. This martial path revealed by the golden imp eventually caused Yang Qi to shudder as memories flooded into him. Every part of him seemed to be chanting in Godtongue, until the image of a hand was revealed to him.

The universe, all aspects of space-time, all planes, all light, all darkness, all elements, everything that existed and didn't exist, were in that hand.

It was the final form of the Fist of the Halls of Heaven, the Hand of the One God.

It was a hand of mercy and a hand of destruction. It controlled the majesty of the legion of gods, and could bestow their glory. It could give life to all living things, and take it away. It could create planes with a mere thought. This was God, who surpassed heaven on high.

The might and grandeur of the Hell of Mahānata was only one ten-thousandth that of the Hand of the One God.

Profound enlightenment filled Yang Qi. From here on out, he would be able to use the Fist of the Halls of Heaven completely on his own, instead of relying on stolen sage motes.

'The profundity of the martial path leads to sage motes. A fist that can defeat ten thousand techniques, and crush everything in the world. It can vanquish everything in the six directions, and will make me invulnerable to the five phases!'

Numerous enormous sage motes were growing inside of him, pulsing with immortal energy. As that happened, his meridians, flesh, blood, and sea of energy were linked together with the chain-like sage motes. Even his bones were connected, making him as powerful and sturdy as a mountain.

'Time to burn some spirit stones!'

He needed a huge amount of power to fuel the sage motes, and therefore, he didn't hesitate to ignite all of his spirit stones, including the imperial-, sovereign-, sagely-, and heavenly-grade ones. As they burned, massive amounts of power rushed forth, like that of thousands of Great Sages all attacking at once.

A moment later, all of the spirit stones were gone.

Not even that level of power was enough to finish his sage motes.

Yang Qi wasn't worried though. He stamped his foot down onto the golden ground of the Hell of Mahānata, breaking it open to reveal an entire vein of spirit ore. Wrenching it up, he quickly slashed it into spirit stone form, and ignited it.

Spirit ore like this existed everywhere in the Hell of Mahānata, and only a few of the fiend-devils bothered to mine for it.

Igniting the new spirit stones gave Yang Qi plenty of power. Without coming here, he would never have been able to reach the Great Sage level. Furthermore, he was wondering how he would achieve later breakthroughs without the immense quantities of spirit stones he needed.

As the tribulation of the Eternal Godwind continued to scream around him, it gave birth to countless dragons. Wind dragons belched destructive wind fluctuations that sought to destroy anything in the area.

Heaven-devils and other monsters appeared, and began to rush toward the God Legion Paradise to try to destroy it.

Anyone who succumbed to this devilish tribulation would be devastated, and would end up crippled or dead. At the same time, the emotions of the mortal world assailed him from within.

Beautiful women, dear family members, and other personal connections filled his sea of consciousness, attempting to drag him down.

"The Eternal Will Always Withers. Those Who Perish Become the Dust. Only the Glorious Exist Always." Yang Qi waved his hand, and sent thousands of beams of godly light out to vanquish the devilish tribulation. His will remained pure, spotless, and irreproachable.

In the depths of the God Legion Paradise, the Yore-Wilds' Heart fragment exploded, sending bright light out in all directions, fusing inseparably with Yang Qi and his domain.

In this moment, the Yore-Wilds' heart really was Yang Qi's heart.

After all of these things occurred, Yang Qi was ninety-nine percent into the Great Sage level. The final step was to unify all of the various new and transformed aspects of himself. Then he would be in the first step of the Great Sage level, the Born Again Step.

Particles within him began to awaken. Before, he had been at the level of ten million megamammoths. Now, another million awoke, and then two million….

Henceforth, the particles would awaken in millions, fueling his rise to power in shocking fashion.