Sage Monarch

The area around Mount Sumeru was like a boiling cauldron. Of course, it started when Lion Hightower and the other Lionfolk were killed. But the reaction to that event was like nothing compared to when Mammoth Force, Shark Seaguzzler, and geniuses and young chiefs of the other clans all perished. They vanished like they were wheat being harvested, and the crowd was instantly thrown into a state of frenzy.

That was especially true of the chiefs of the Horsefolk, Rhinofolk, and Leopardfolk. They and the other leaders of their people were crestfallen and grief-stricken, and many were literally howling in rage. Although they were all Without Limit Sages, they were not humans, and thus, were not constrained by human etiquette and ceremony. They did nothing to hide their emotions and feelings, and thus instantly devolved into fits of murderous anger.

"Dead! My son is dead!" The chief of the Sharkfolk began to laugh maniacally, and glare with hateful rage at Yan Wubing and Leviathan Truesoaring.

Of course, he didn't dare to actually attack them. Both were Epic Saga Sages, and were thus far beyond his ability to fight with.

All he could do was grit his teeth in frustration, and hope he could do something once Yang Qi emerged from the competition.

At the very peak of Mount Sumeru, a group of Epic Saga Sages were gathered with the August Patriarch. "Mammoth Force is dead! Yang Qi killed him, and a host of other young chiefs as well."

Mammoth Heaven was trembling with rage, and from the look in his eyes, it seemed like he wanted to go into the Hell of Mahānata to take care of things himself. Of course, he couldn't. The immortal world wanted the training competition to be for the younger disciples, and thus made it impossible for anyone else to enter.

Mammoth Heaven was no exception.

Otherwise, he would already have gone in to try to deal with Yang Qi.

"I'm aware of the situation." he said, his eyes flashing with killing intent.

Mammoth Force was his son, who he had painstakingly helped rise through the ranks of cultivation. For him to suddenly be dead was simply unspeakable, and thus, Mammoth Heaven's killing intent toward Yang Qi and the Holy Mother nearly defied description.

The time, energy, and resources that went into developing a fifth step Great Sage were immense. And that was not to mention the fact that only geniuses could succeed in reaching that level. People like that could be chiefs among the Demonfolk. The truth was that although August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven had many sons, he only had two that were particularly outstanding. One was Mammoth Manyvoids, and the other was Mammoth Force.

"Mammoth Manyvoids will avenge him. He has access to the ranking list just like we do, so he's aware of what happened. He'll definitely head over and kill Yang Qi right away."

"We can only rely on Mammoth Manyvoids to make things right," one of the elders growled. "After all, he is the best among your sons, August Patriarch. As a Planet God Sage who is on the very cusp of the eighth step, not even Yang Qi could possibly be a match for him."

"The Without Limit Step is a very important threshold," Mammoth Heaven said, "and it leads to immense energy arts power, and the ability to pool huge amounts of true energy." He closed his eyes. "Let's wait to see how things play out."

"You're absolutely right, August Patriarch. He still has the Apefolk to deal with, plus the top experts from the Quake-Dawn Continent. And that's not to mention Finest Magic, Stunning Beheader, and the others from further locations."

**

Far out in the void, in a certain ancient golden tree, an old roc was looking at the immortal ranking list. "So, another genius has popped up in the Hanging Mountain. Well, the Holy Mother is the Holy Mother, after all. I guess it's to be expected that her son would be like this. Ai…. It seems that from now on, the Hanging Mountain is going to be run by humans. Well, it's about time the Yore-Wilds Continent rose to prominence again. It's been many years since the shattering, and the Waste-Wilds, Brute-Wilds, and Proto-Wilds have had their shot at glory. Damn that Hell of Euphoria."

This old roc was another invincible Epic Saga Sage, the famous Great Sage Ultra-Heaven. He was the chief of the Rocfolk, and the father of Saddharma and Roc Glory.

"Roc Glory. Saddharma. Please, recognize how strong Yang Qi is, and leave him alone. Otherwise, you'll suffer a dismal fate. I truly hope you don't perish. Take care of yourselves." Sighing, he headed back into his nest in the ancient golden tree.

**

Back in the Hell of Mahānata, Mammoth Force and his cohorts were all dead, and Yang Qi was finally in the Great Sage level. And after absorbing the immortal motes from Mammoth Force's axe, he even had some immortal energy.

Normally, it was only by reaching the Epic Saga Step that Great Sages could do such a thing.

But Yang Qi was already treading the path of immortals, which would be of much benefit when he reached the Demi-Immortal level.

Furthermore, he had absorbed the power and energy from all of the Great Sages he had killed, placing it into his Hellfire Crucible to be purified. That, in turn, caused his projection of the halls of heaven to grow clearer.

He had mastered the Fist of the Halls of Heaven, and could now use the Hand of the One God, which made it possible for him to easily crush Mammoth Force and his half immortal item.

'Well, I wiped them clean out,' he thought. 'I'd sure love to see the reaction of the audience. They're probably going crazy, especially Chief Lion. If he hadn't called me a bastard, maybe his people wouldn't have been wiped out. Now that I'm a Great Sage, his days are numbered.'

By combining the blood of an infernal with the blood of a megamammoth, he unleashed a flood of power, and the Hand of the One God reached an even higher level. It was the level of the Sovereign Lord of all heavens and all gods, the absolute peak of the legion of gods, the god of gods, the monarch of all divinities.

RUMBLE!

He slowly reined in all of his power, and prepared to make some alterations to the Jambudvīpa Deluge, Amber Avalanche, Eternal Godwind and Night Queen Flame in his God Legion Paradise.

However, even as he did, an enormous cudgel ripped open the space behind him, and the fur-covered hand of a gigantic ape appeared.

Yang Qi spun in place and thrust out his fist to meet the descending cudgel.

Bam!

They collided, and the cudgel flew backward.

As it did, the space around it exploded, and the ape stepped out into the open. His fur was not white, but rather, golden. It was a unique type of gold, sparkling and nearly translucent, making it seem electric in nature. Furthermore, each hair seemed to contain actual lightning, and emanated an aura of heavenly workings.

"Sixth step," Yang Qi said. "A Heavenly Workings Sage."

"I'm Ape Electrospace," he said, hefting his cudgel and staring at Yang Qi with eyes that shone like lightning. Suddenly, he smiled, revealing a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. "You killed Mammoth Force? And the rest of those young chiefs? With their points, it's little wonder you took first place. But if I kill you, I'll take your spot."

"You must be the son of Ape Heavenhelve," Yang Qi said, keeping his hands clasped behind his back. "Your father wants me dead, but has no way to do it himself. I suppose it will be a big blow to him if I kill you here."

"That's easier said than done," a voice said, and suddenly, another ape appeared.

This ape was even stronger than Ape Electrospace, and he somehow seemed like the type of individual who had purged all malice from himself. His eyes radiated bright starlight that seemed capable of penetrating even the darkest parts of the Hell of Mahānata.

"Ape Purgemalice," he said by way of introduction. There was something scholarly about this ape; he held a scroll in his hand, and wore a daoist robe. He virtually smelled of books, and seemed like the type of person who could found a school of learning. Yang Qi could tell that he was on the very verge of breaking through to the Planet God Step, making him similar to Ghost Emperor Yama. He wouldn't be easy to deal with.

The Apefolk were very powerful among the Demonfolk, and were second only to the Mammothfolk. And these two were clearly the cream of the crop from their young elites.

Without any further talk, the two apes attacked him, using a formation that made them like a yin and yang taiji symbol that bore down in deadly fashion on Yang Qi.

Yang Qi nodded. "Leaping to your deaths. That's fine. You two are the quintessence of the Apefolk, right? Killing you will knock the younger generation of the Apefolk down quite a bit. Perfect…."

"Die!" Ape Electrospace shouted, and all of a sudden, lightning poured out of his cudgel, heading straight toward Yang Qi's throat. The cudgel was like a massive dragon, but as it closed in on Yang Qi, it shrank down until it was like a tiny needle.

"Dragon Spitting a Pearl!"

When it was large, the cudgel looked like a mountain. And when it was small, Yang Qi could tell that it was just as powerful; if it actually entered him, it would likely explode to devastating effect.

Smack!

Yang Qi's clothes rippled as he thrust his fist out, following a profoundly enigmatic path of movement to slam into the tiny needle. Instantly, he felt the power of electricity surging on the cudgel, and yet, it didn't enter him. In fact, the cudgel began to break apart.

No weapon was a match for Yang Qi's fists, which represented the halls of heaven.

"Ai. Purge malice, and cultivate truth. That is the real path of cultivation." Suddenly, an enormous, violet hand shot out toward Yang Qi from the other direction.

RUMBLE!

The palm closed in on his back, and streams of violet energy from the east enveloped him.

Ape Purgemalice had unleashed a quick, vicious attack.

"God Legion Paradise: Superlative Defense." Even as the attack closed in, the God Legion Paradise spread out and blocked its power.

1. There is a line in here that makes absolutely no sense to me or MDB, so I'm leaving it out. I think it might be a bad edit on the part of the author, where he went back and changed something incorrectly. I've done the same thing, so I can sympathize with how it happens.