Sage Monarch

Yang Qi's true self was only a second step Great Sage, but even back when he first joined the Titan Emperor Collegium he was able to fight ninth step Epic Saga Sages.

Later, he had gone through a session of cultivation in the Invincible Society in which he absorbed power and knowledge from multiple mutant humans. He had also studied all sorts of items from the World of Mirages.

His Elder Second Brother, a powerful Demi-Immortal expert, had given him insights regarding his cultivation base, and he had plenty of Blood of the One God. Even more relevant, he had nearly a hundred million particles awakened, which meant that a single fist strike of his was as strong as almost a hundred million ancient megamammoths.

After all of that, he had returned to the Sage Monarch Continent and spent months summoning and killing fiend-devils, which he used to build the continent into something far greater than before. The truth was that he had already gained full enlightenment of the Light King Step, and was now contemplating the Heavenly Workings Step.

Once he gained enlightenment of that step, his true self wouldn't be able to achieve any breakthroughs, but his immortal child could, and it would result in a huge boost in battle prowess for him.

He was now definitely strong enough to slaughter Epic Saga Sages.

Sadly for Northstar Myth and Northstar Jade, that was their exact level.

During the entire conversation, Yang Qi had kept his killing intent hidden, only to launch a surprise attack at the last moment!

Before either of them could react, the Infernal Deity Spear stabbed directly into Northstar Jade's chest.

POP!

She looked down in disbelief at the spear which had pierced right through her defensive empyrean energy and into her fleshly body.

"Northstar Sage Domain!" she blurted, drawing on all the powers of an Epic Saga Sage to protect herself. Instantly, her sage domain sprang out, filled with burning flame and crashing lightning, as well as countless sage motes that formed a Go board. On the intersecting points of the board were a host of Go pieces, which were formed from her life essence spirit.

"Northstar Transmigration. Sage Invincibility!"

Grabbing the Infernal Deity Spear with both hands, she wrenched it out of her chest, resulting in a hundreds-meter long spray of blood.

"Hand of the One God!"

Not waiting for her to launch a counter attack, Yang Qi thrust his hands out in front of him, powering it with the Blood of the One God. Instantly, winds screamed and he was surrounded by faint, shadowy figures. He looked like a giant god from ancient times, out to destroy the world, a deathless and everlasting deity that would be written about in the histories of time.

POP!

His blow hit the Northstar Sage Domain and the entire thing burst into raging flames then shattered.

A huge mushroom cloud billowed up, accompanied by an agonized shriek from Northstar Jade as she was transformed into nothing but ash.

In the blink of an eye, a ninth step Epic Saga Sage was evaporated into nothing.

This was the deadly nature of the Hand of the One God.

WHIZZZ!

After she died, all of her quintessence energy, sage motes, power, and even her martial abilities, were sucked into Yang Qi and thrown into his Hellfire Crucible.

Sonorous rumbling filled him as he received rapid enlightenment from the influx of resources. All of a sudden, he understood the fundamental nature of the universe better, and his nascent divinity trembled as he glimpsed the boundless heavenly workings visible out in the void.

The instant his enlightenment rose from the fifth step into the sixth, his immortal child experienced a cultivation base breakthrough. The four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind raged, and Space-Void Godlightning crashed, pushing the Sage Monarch Continent to even greater heights.

In the blink of an eye, the continent grew larger, stronger, and more mysterious. The spirit energy grew more powerful, and the element of lightning grew more profuse.

As the lightning crashed into the mountains of the continent, new life appeared.

Among all of the elements, lightning was the most powerful—especially tribulation lightning. And when such lightning struck land, it would provide abundant life force.

Thus, the immortal child's tribulation benefited the Sage Monarch Continent significantly.

Even as Yang Qi gained enlightenment of the Heavenly Workings Step, Northstar Myth stared at him in shock. A long moment passed before he regained his composure, whereupon he shouted, "You…. Northstar Jade is dead? You killed her? You've doomed yourself! Nobody in all creation can save you now, you despicable savage."

Then he spun to flee.

Of course, there was no way that Yang Qi would let him simply run away.

He reached out with a mysterious aspect of the Hand of the One God, a move filled with a thousand variations, and as bold as a mammoth.

Smack!

The hand landed on Northstar Myth, and his sage domain exploded, causing his face to distort with pain and anger. He tried to curse, but before he could, he exploded just as Northstar Jade had, transforming into nothing but ash, his quintessence-blood and vital energy flowing smoothly into the Hellfire Crucible.

In ten short breaths of time, two Epic Saga Sages had come to nothing.

Yang Qi had taken out eighth step Without Limit Sages in the past, but this was his first time killing people in the ninth step.

The Epic Saga Step was so named because after one came to understand heavenly workings, they had to experience things the likes of which would be recounted for ages to come. At the same time, their quintessence-blood and vital energy gained information the likes of which would be recorded in ancient, epic sagas.

Obviously, the epic sagas contained within such blood could be of extreme help to lower-level Great Sages. In fact, Yang Qi already felt like he was gaining understanding of the seventh Planet God Step.

"Northstar Jade and Northstar Myth are dead. They were killed in the blink of an eye." The deaths of the two Epic Saga Sages was causing quite a stir back in the Northstar Fleet. Although ninth step Great Sages were numerous in the clan, for them to be killed was still quite a provocation.

The experts of the Northstar Clan viewed the people of the Yore-Wilds as weaklings and savages, and therefore would never tolerate them killing people with noble blood in them.

"Attack!"

"Slaughter these savages and bring me their leaders!"

RUMBLE!

Massive energy fluctuations rolled out as a Demi-Immortal elder appeared, a man named Northstar Sea, who was a bloodline senior of Northstar Jade and Northstar Myth.

Although the entire fleet belonged to the Northstar Clan, clans like this were immense and would have many bloodline factions that would struggle for dominance. For Northstar Jade and Northstar Myth to have been killed was a big loss of face for their bloodline, which forced the Demi-Immortal expert of that bloodline to take action.

After all, even a Lesser Demi-Immortal would be a hundred times as powerful as an Epic Saga Sage. Sages were still considered mortals and couldn't possibly compare to immortals.

Northstar Sea shot out from the fleet like a god of death and headed toward the Sage Monarch Continent. In fact, before he could even approach the mere fluctuations of his energy threatened to shatter the lands below.

"Activate the spell formations in the greyspace!" Yang Qi ordered, and down below, countless cultivation experts sank into the primal-chaos paleo-energy beneath the continent to do just that.

"You killed my relatives, you evil creatures. You'll die for that. All of you!"

Even as Northstar Sea descended, he unleashed a palm strike that filled the sky, turning everything black as it wrapped around the entire Sage Monarch Continent.

"Hand of the One God! Creation!"

Yang Qi unleashed a profound martial discipline, and as he did, the Blood of the One God in his forehead stirred violently. The golden imp trembled and profound truths of the martial path filled his head. It was time to call upon all of the most deadly moves of the Hand of the One God.

By now, the Hand of the One God was no mere energy art. It was a martial discipline that had been refined by the Blood of the One God and blessed by the golden imp. As such, Yang Qi's mind was now filled with the various moves and stances that made up the technique.

The Hand of the One God was befitting of the legion of gods and the paramount Lord. It was something that could end the heavens, crush the earth, and bring about the destruction of worlds.

RUMBLE!

When Northstar Sea's fist met Creation, Yang Qi staggered backward, cracks spreading out on his skin. And then, Northstar Sea slowly finished his descent.

Eyes glittering, he said, "Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, that was excellent. A second step Great Sage actually managed to meet the strike of a Demi-Immortal like me, with little more than surface wounds. I've never encountered another Great Sage who could do such a thing."