Sage Monarch

Deep in a vein of ore in hell, a spirit stone begot a devil embryo.

It was a house-sized spirit stone that vastly surpassed heavenly- or godly-grade stone, with the power of the devil embryo being similar to that of an immortal stone.

It was truly marvelous as far as Yang Qi was concerned.

The benefits of turning this into an immortal stone embryo would be many. For one thing, when it came time for another major breakthrough, he definitely wouldn't lack the power necessary. And after expunging the devil energy, and allowing the embryo to develop in his God Legion Paradise, it would become an out-of-body incarnation of incredible power, that he could do many things with.

With the wave of his hand, he prepared to take the vein of ore, and even more importantly, the enormous stone.

However, it was in that instant that a shocking beam of sword energy shot down from the sky, piercing into the depths of the earth and heading straight toward Yang Qi's back.

The speed was so incredible that it seemed as though the sword could ignore the magical laws of space in the Hell of Mahānata.

Not even Yang Qi was fast enough to avoid it.

Even as the sword light was about to stab into him, he arched his back, and a shock wave rippled out from him, spatial distortions that immediately dissolved the sword light.

Then he waved his arm, and the God Legion Battle Robe rippled out and sucked up all of the spirit ore and the immortal stone embryo.

Afterward, he shot out of the ground and looked up into the sky.

He saw a devil-god radiating golden light, which quickly shrank down into the shape of a young man. He wore golden armor, and had golden eyes, and shockingly, looked exactly the same as the sixth step infernal Yang Qi had fought and killed not too long ago.

This was definitely one of the Infernalfolk, who were the most revered denizens of hell.

However, this young man's blood and aura were definitely stronger than the other infernal Yang Qi had killed. It seemed a hundred times more powerful, indicating that he must be one of the Infernalfolk nobility.

Infernalfolk based their society on strength of the blood: the stronger the blood, the stronger the infernal, and the more power they would wield in hell.

That said, this young man's cultivation base actually wasn't very high. He was only a third step Eternal Sands Sage, not even close to the level of the sixth step infernal from earlier. However, there was something else unique about him. Yang Qi could sense that he had also ensconced his nascent divinity in the Hell of Mahānata, and not even the countless fiend-devils who existed in this place should be able to do that. They could only perform ensconcement in the void outside of the Hell of Mahānata, which led to much weaker results.

Because of all these different factors, this third step infernal was actually a lot stronger than Mammoth Manyvoids had been.

The young infernal extended his weapon, a long sword made of shadows. "You were sent here by the immortal world for a training competition, right? I honestly can't believe you realized that there were godly-grade spirit stones here, and an immortal-level stone with an embryo in it. Unfortunately, I need that thing, so hand it over. You couldn't do anything with it even if you wanted to."

"What if I refuse?" Yang Qi said, an enigmatic smile playing out on his face. "You have pretty strong Infernalfolk blood. That makes you nobility, right? Rare."

Eyes glittering, the young infernal responded, "If you refuse, then you die. I'm from here, and I know all about how the immortal world opened up a passageway to send you mortal cultivators here for training. My name is Infernal Wave, and I'm participating in a training competition of my own. We get points for hunting down and killing mortal cultivators."

"Interesting," Yang Qi said, flexing his fingers. "So you want to kill me to get some more points for your competition?"

"Of course. Although, you're only a second step Great Sage, so you're not worth much. Sadly for you, you bit off more than you can chew by taking those godly-grade stones and that immortal embryo. Well, I'll just kill you real quick and then go find someone stronger to take out. Infernal Sword Snatches Souls!"

He attacked again with his shadow sword, which blurred into motion, heading directly toward Yang Qi's forehead. A gravitational force erupted from the tip of the sword, which immediately began to tug at Yang Qi's soul and nascent divinity.

Yang Qi didn't move, and in fact, didn't even look in the direction of the sword. He extended his hand, and time slowed. A massive wind kicked up, and the shadowy sword stopped only three inches from his forehead, and could proceed no further. Then, he tapped the blade with his finger, and a destructive shock wave swept forth, causing the sword to tremble violently.

POP!

Infernal Wave coughed up a mouthful of blood and yanked his sword back, then shot away from Yang Qi, simultaneously becoming one with the magical laws of space in the Hell of Mahānata, causing himself to vanish.

RUMBLE!

Yang Qi used the Hand of the One God to reach out in the direction he had vanished, which caused a deafening rumbling sound to echo out. Nearby mountains crumbled as the void suddenly seemed to solidify, turning into porcelain-colored crystal, trapped within which was Infernal Wave.

"Nine Transformations of the Netherworld Infernal!" he suddenly shouted, and he dissolved into a blood-colored mist which convulsed nine times, then exploded with immense power. Unexpectedly, that mist suddenly took the form of a huge worm, which vanished as though via wormhole.

'What? Is that some sort of special Infernalfolk technique?' Yang Qi opened his Lord's Eye, which pierced through all the mists around him. However, he couldn't see any trace of Infernal Wave.

'Well he's pretty incredible to have escaped me. He must be a top expert. The Infernalfolk who inhabit the Hell of Mahānata are too strong for me to tangle with now. I'll just worry about killing this Infernal Wave later. Right now, it's time to head back to the Hanging Mountain. The competition is over, so I should receive a blessing from the Immortal World Assembly, and hopefully achieve another breakthrough. I'll be bestowed with a level of power to match the Demonfolk chiefs. And hopefully I can finally get to the bottom of things with my mother.'

Turning, he vanished.

POP!

Far off in the distance, above the golden waves of the ocean, Infernal Wave dropped out of the sky and coughed up a mouthful of blood. Face ashen, he looked at his sword, which was visibly cracked and damaged.

"My Sword of Shadows was forged by a grandmaster Demi-Immortal of the Infernalfolk, and is supposed to be perfect for assassinations. I'm an elite among other infernals, and am deeply connected to the essence of the Hell of Mahānata. And my Infernalfolk blood is incredibly high-level. I can even fight eighth step fiend-devils. How could I possibly have lost to a second step human?"

He simply couldn't believe that it was true.

His eyes glittered with flickering green light as he thought back to the fight with Yang Qi. Then, he shivered. After all, he had just been forced to completely drain himself of power to get out of the fight. In short, he had almost died.

Suddenly, the sound of clicking tongues could be heard as numerous powerful auras arrived on the scene.

They were other experts of the Infernalfolk, all of them young and with noble blood of some variety or another.

One of the female infernals landed first, looked at Infernal Wave's injuries, and laughed. "What's wrong, Infernal Wave? When you heard the orders from the elders to kill human cultivators, you rushed over here. What happened? You're supposed to be a top genius with better blood than all of us, although your cultivation level is a bit low."

Infernal Wave snorted coldly. "I lost a fight. So what? That's what happens when you get surrounded by a whole bunch of enemy experts."

A seventh step infernal Great Sage laughed loudly. "You're lying, Infernal Wave. We just got word that all of the top human fighters ended up killing each other. Only one of them remained alive, a guy named Yang Qi. He's currently in first place on the ranking list from the immortal planes. The elders have ordered us and all the high-level fiend-devils to track him down and kill him. The reward for doing so is incredible: an opportunity to have a formal meeting with one of the suzerains of hell. It seems pretty obvious to me that you ran into Yang Qi and got beaten. There's no reason to hide the truth."

Calming himself, Infernal Wave said, "Oh, so that's the situation."

"So, we guessed correctly," the female infernal said. "Come on, let's head back to where you were just fighting, surround Yang Qi, and end his life. The rewards will be incredible."

"Okay, let's go." Infernal Wave didn't hesitate to join them.

Upon returning to the scene of the fight, Yang Qi was nowhere to be seen. The only thing left behind were craters and rubble.

However, in the middle of the air, there was the clear mark of an enormous hand.

"My god, how did he leave a hand print like that there?" one of the Infernalfolk said, his eyes going wide. "The air isn't a mountain or a tree or anything like that. To leave a mark like that, you would need to permanently alter the magical laws of space in the area. Only a Demi-Immortal should be able to do that."

It was true, the air was like an empty void. The attacks of a cultivator might produce ripples, or even shatter the air temporarily. But in the end, those things were like splashes of water that resulted from throwing a rock into water. After enough time, all evidence would fade away.

But this was like a rock being thrown into the water, and a flower taking shape because of it.

Such was the result of Yang Qi using the Hand of the One God.