Sage Monarch

'Such incredible power!' As the river of Jade Palace Golden Talismans descended onto Yang Qi, he opened the God Legion Paradise for them.

The power was like an elixir from the immortal world, which could normally change individuals on a substructural level. However, it was different for Yang Qi. He could refine them with his Hellfire Crucible, and then use them to awaken the megamammoth particles within him.

Already, his Hellfire Crucible was bubbling, and another ten million particles woke up, putting him at a total of forty million.

Fifty million. Sixty million…. The process finally stopped at eighty million. He had awoken roughly one tenth of the total eight hundred forty million. Once they were all awake, he would have the strength to pluck stars and snatch moons, and would have mastered the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

As the river of talismans poured into him, blessing him, it carried with it immortal energy, which entered his sage motes, and caused transformations to his true energy.

'Opportunities like this don't come often. I can use this power to form more Blood of the One God.'

Sitting down cross-legged, he sent sagelight streaming out to form more drops of Blood of the One God.

The sight of Yang Qi being blessed in this way caused the other nearby competitors to itch with envy.

"Damnation! Usually, the winner of the competition can only take some of the power from the immortal world, leaving the leftovers for the other competitors. But he's not letting any of it go!"

"What kind of a freak is he? Some ancient beast? An infernal worm from hell? Isn't he worried about bursting from taking in too much energy?"

"That power looks even stronger than the power the immortal world usually gives. Come on, leave some for us!"

Although many of the competitors were shaking their heads with envy, none of them dared to interfere.

Even the old-timers were jealous, but at the same time, too terrified to do anything.

Yang Qi was refining all of the power in his Hellfire Crucible, and using it to boost his Fist of the Halls of Heaven and Hand of the One God, and also to form Blood of the One God. As the Blood of the One God formed, it would be taken by the golden imp and then turned into golden light that spread throughout him.

Eventually, a sonorous rumbling could be heard as the golden imp produced his own drop of Blood of the One God.

That blood was far stronger than anything Yang Qi had produced. It looked like crystal or porcelain, and seemed to contain the universe, space, time, planes, immortals, demons, hells, devils, gods, human beings, and all the scattered aspects of the mortal world….

It was true Blood of the One God.

Yet again, the golden imp of the God Legion Seal was providing amazing help. Of course, the blood that the imp produced also was Yang Qi's blood; the two of them had long since become one.

Yang Qi was fairly convinced that the mysterious imp would continue to provide even more help as he grew higher in his cultivation.

Thanks to the power from the immortal worlds, thousands upon thousands of drops of Blood of the One God poured into the golden imp.

It was only by acquiring that vast amount of blood from Yang Qi that the imp could produce its own full version of the Blood of the One God.

With the immense power in that drop of blood, Yang Qi felt like he could rip open a passageway to the immortal world with his bare hands, or casually crush an eighth step Great Sage to death. With it powering his Hand of the One God, he could destroy worlds or create hosts of life.

Eventually, the power from the immortal world began to fade, with the final bits of it slowly taking the shape of a bow, and nine arrows.

There was also an octagonal immortal stone filled with immortal energy and motes. It looked like something produced by a Demi-Immortal.

Finally, there was a command medallion with a single character written in the script of the immortal worlds: Titan.

The sight of these things caused August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven to shoot to his feet. "That's a real set of immortal items! The Heaven-Burying Bow and the Heaven-Wasting Arrows! They were created and blessed by a Demolisher, a true immortal! It's impossible to say how much more powerful they are than half immortal items. And that immortal stone! It's definitely enough to push a Great Sage into the Demi-Immortal level. Why are the rewards from the immortal world so incredible this time? Look, that's a Titan Emperor Medallion, which will give him entrance to the Titan Emperor Collegium. As a student there, he'll be on the track to becoming an immortal."

The Titan Emperor Collegium was an ancient educational establishment, and the most powerful organization in this starry sky. It had existed from the most ancient of times all the way to the modern era, and directly oversaw the Yore-Wilds, Brute-Wilds, Waste-Wilds and Proto-Wilds Continents. And of course, the Hanging Mountain was technically a part of the Yore-Wilds Continent. In fact, all of the Four Wilds Continents had organizations like that. All of them were forced to submit to the immortal world, and were governed by the Titan Emperor Heaven, and its administrative and educational arm, the Titan Emperor Collegium.

After the hellish invasion which ended in the shattering of the Yore-Wilds Continent, the collegium gradually faded from the minds of the survivors. Because of that, virtually no one in the Rich-Lush Continent had even heard of it. Of course, some of that had to do with the remoteness of the Rich-Lush Continent.

Even in mortal kingdoms, country folk would often be ignorant regarding the important people who lived in the capital city.

'Incredible!' Yang Qi thought, reaching out to take the bow and arrows. Without any hesitation, he branded them to himself. As of now, the bow and arrows could join his arsenal of powerful tools like the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker and the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

Of course, the latter two were already on the verge of being useless. They had both been created by ninth step Epic Saga Sages. Even the Crown Prince's immortal armor, or the immortal items he had taken from Wilds Primeking and the others, had all been forged by Demi-Immortals.

In contrast, this bow and these arrows had been created by a Demolisher.

Yet again, Yang Qi's fighting prowess had reached another level. As he took the bow, arrows, immortal stone and the identity medallion, an expression of will from the immortal world spoke into his mind. "You are the top competitor. Take this Titan Emperor Medallion and check in at the Titan Emperor Collegium. As a student there, you will become a candidate for immortal ascension."

'The Titan Emperor Collegium….' He sent some divine will into the identity medallion, which contained a star chart, in the middle of which, surrounded by countless heavenly bodies, was a dazzling collegium.

Thanks to all of the blessings, Yang Qi had made significant progress. Although he wasn't quite in the Eternal Sands Step, he was getting close to it. The biggest benefit of all was the drop of the Blood of the One God from the golden imp, which had significantly increased his battle prowess.

With the power of eighty million megamammoths, he could easily crush just about any opponent.

After the rewards were doled out, the immortal ranking list disappeared, and the immortal energy swept back up into the sky to vanish. At long last, the Hanging Mountain began to settle down.

As for Yang Qi, he transformed into a beam of light that pierced through the sky toward Leviathan Truesoaring and Yan Wubing.

"Young Master!" they and the other Great Sages said deferentially.

"Things went very smoothly," Yang Qi said. "Is my mother out of seclusion yet? I really want to see her."

"Not yet," Yan Wubing replied. "She still needs some more time. She's aware of what you're doing, and is very pleased. Young Master, now that you have that Titan Emperor Medallion, you can join the Titan Emperor Collegium and begin to learn of the dao of immortal ascension. You'll be a Demi-Immortal very soon."

Before anyone could say anything else, a powerful roar interrupted them, causing everything to shake violently.

"Yang Qi!"

A lion appeared, along with several other Demonfolk chiefs.

Yang Qi looked over calmly and said, "What do you want, Chief Lion? Looking for revenge? Want to vent a bit because of me killing Lion Hightower?"

The truth was that these chiefs, despite being afraid of Yang Qi, were still furious.

"You killed my son!" Chief Lion said. "How can I live under the same sky as you? Well, for the Holy Mother's sake, I'm not going to cause problems, but I demand compensation. Give me that Titan Emperor Medallion, right now! Only that will settle your debt with the Lionfolk. Oh. And give me the immortal stone, the Heaven-Burying Bow, and the Heaven-Wasting Arrows as well."

"We Rhinofolk demand that you cripple yourself as punishment!"

"Quite the little mob you've got here," Yang Qi said.

"What did you just say?" Chief Lion roared.

"I said that you're a mob of rabble-rousers. But that's fine. You also called me a bastard, which is why I slaughtered all of the Lionfolk in the competition. I think it's time for the Hanging Mountain to see what I'm capable of now, and you're the perfect training dummy."

Without any warning, he extended his right hand.