Sage Monarch

By pouring all of the godmammoth true energy he could muster into the imperial snakecharm, Yang Qi had provoked a most startling transformation. The will of the ancient King Heaven-Devourer was fully tapped into, and all of the twenty-eight talismans released their ultimate level of power.

As a result, the talismans transformed into the Twenty-Eight Mansions of the immortal world and Grand Emperor Rich-Lush and King Langya were caught within their power. However, the two Demi-Immortals attacked back with everything they could muster and the formation was broken.

Primal-chaos raged, destroying countless planes in the world junction.

Screams rang out as both Grand Emperor Rich-Lush and King Langya were severely injured and pushed to the point of near-death.

'It's go time!' Yang Qi thought. Having recovered some of his energy, he knew that now was the perfect time to sweep in and make his move.

"Hand of the One God: Worldly Capturing!"

RUMBLE!

This was the Nature stance, and as soon as it was unleashed, all of the twenty-eight talismans, which had just been hit with a devastating attack, began to rush toward him.

By means of his one talisman, Yang Qi was able to capture and control all of the others.

It was made easier by the fact that the other twenty-seven talismans were unprecedentedly weak at the moment. As soon as he had the talismans, Yang Qi began refining them for his own use with the Blood of the One God.

The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was particularly effective against these talismans, therefore it only took a moment to connect them to his nascent divinity. He also sent some of their vital energy into the primeval godworm.

Yang Qi was familiar with the talismans' general structure after the research he had just performed, and he knew that this moment of weakness was the perfect opportunity to take full control of them.

They contained the will of King Heaven-Devourer, and if that will wasn't suppressed they would easily be able to consume power from the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart to recover. If that happened, they would be difficult to control and potentially deadly.

'This is incredible! I have all twenty-eight of the talismans. If Grand Emperor Rich-Lush and King Langya hadn't been fighting this whole time, it would never have happened. Thanks to what I've learned, and the nature of my energy arts, I can tap into their profound secrets even better than a Demi-Immortal.'

Once the twenty-eight talismans were in his God Legion Paradise, he found, to his surprise, that they began forming back into the Twenty-Eight Mansions!

As a result, his previously depleted true energy began to recover, and in fact, became even more refined than before.

At the same time, a primal-chaos elder-snake began crystalizing within the magical laws of space in his God Legion Paradise. The godworm cried out in delight, and even Sword Seventeen could sense the mighty power.

"I can't believe that King Heaven-Devourer's talismans are so powerful!" Sword Seventeen said. "Just twenty-eight of them are that miraculous? What would it be like if you collected all three thousand?"

Sword Seventeen had sword bones inside of him, and as the aura of the primal-chaos elder-snake touched them he grew more flexible and agile.

Of course, Yang Qi benefited even more. A hundred million particles suddenly stirred within him as if they might awaken at any moment.

"Junior Brother," Sword Seventeen said, "with those twenty-eight talismans, your true energy is sufficient to fight sixth order Demi-Immortals, or maybe even seventh order. Considering that Grand Emperor Rich-Lush and King Langya are really worn down right now, it would be the perfect time to take them out!" Eyes glinting maliciously, he continued, "We could take their treasures, and you could even feed their corpses to your godworm to fuel its growth!"

The same thought had already occurred to Yang Qi, and that was especially true considering that Grand Emperor Rich-Lush's essence would be particularly helpful in turning the Sage Monarch Continent into a planet. Considering how he had just attempted to kill them, it was obvious he was not a kind and merciful person, so Yang Qi felt no compassion for him whatsoever.

Without the slightest hesitation, he waved his hand and sent a stream of true energy into the twenty-eight talismans he had just acquired.

The talismans greedily gobbled the energy up, then flew out to form the spell formation of the Twenty-Eight Mansions yet again.

As the power of the spell formation shot toward Grand Emperor Rich-Lush and King Langya, Yang Qi began singing the Eternal Heavenly Aria again. At the same time, he unleashed all five moves of the Hand of the One God, aiming his attack at King Langya.

Whack!

King Langya had no time to react and the fist smashed into his chest, sending destructive vibrations throughout his fleshly body and causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood.

"Bastard!" he shouted. "It was you who killed my Six Langya Fiends! Now you're ambushing me?! How audacious!" Looking like a cornered beast, he interlocked his fingers into a dhāraṇī incantation and thrust his hands out. "Langya True Heaven; Great Dao Blessed Land; Eighty-One Paragons!"

The projection of an entire immortal world sprang out of his hand, followed by an army of heavenly soldiers and officers. He was like an immortal emperor, summoning his army to decimate the consummate demon-devil that was Yang Qi.

"Idiot! You're so weak right now you can't even unleash a hundredth of your normal strength, and I have twenty-eight imperial snakecharms on my side. I'll crush you as easily as crushing an egg with a rock!" Yang Qi let loose another stream of true energy into the twenty-eight talismans, which transformed into a primal-chaos elder-snake again. Instantly, the snake began consuming King Langya's heavenly troops.

Then Yang Qi closed in and smashed King Langya's chest with another fist strike. The power of the primal-chaos elder-snake entered King Langya, and, as a result, he began withering away as his magical laws were absorbed.

In the blink of an eye, King Langya dropped to one thousandth of his original cultivation base level.

An agonized shriek rang out as he was dragged into Yang Qi's God Legion Paradise and bound with shackles. No longer was King Langya a mighty and fiendish figure; instead, he screamed as he was slowly drained of power and killed.

Turning, Yang Qi said, "Don't even think of running, Grand Emperor Rich-Lush. You're too weak to escape these twenty-eight imperial snakecharms!"

With a wave of his hand, he sent the talismans into the same formation as before, trapping Grand Emperor Rich-Lush.

Grand Emperor Rich-Lush actually had no intention of running. Instead, he pulled out a fist-sized medicinal pill to deal with his loss of energy and his wounds. Unfortunately, his minor world was badly damaged, so his sea of energy couldn't possibly recover in a short period of time.

Glaring at Yang Qi and the Twenty-Eight Mansions formation, he said, "Not bad, boy. I really can't think of any way you could be controlling those twenty-eight talismans. You really put King Langya and me in a bad situation. However, you're running low on energy yourself. In your current state, I could kill you a hundred times over. You're making a mistake here. I'm Grand Emperor Rich-Lush, conqueror of worlds! How could I possibly die at the hands of a nobody like you? Let me go immediately, and I'll think about sparing your life."

"You're wrong, Grand Emperor Rich-Lush," Sword Seventeen said. "My Junior Brother isn't a nobody. He's the eighteenth disciple of the Invincible Society in the Titan Emperor Collegium. I'm the seventeenth. You've probably heard of our master, the Invincible Dugu, and you know how vastly superior he is to you."

"The Invincible Dugu?!" Grand Emperor Rich-Lush said, visibly taken aback. "So, you're his disciples? Back in the days of the Yore-Wilds planetary system, he and I were friends, of sorts, in the Titan Emperor Collegium. How about we turn weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk? Trust me, it won't be as easy as you think for the two of you to take me out. I just consumed a Life-Death Dragon-Revolution Pill. I'm definitely strong enough to deal with those talismans, and you two are far weaker than them."

"Oh really?" Yang Qi said. He had been paying close attention to Grand Emperor Rich-Lush's state and knew that he was in a state of recovery. Although the process would take years to complete, it was possible that the man could still unleash deadly attacks.

Worse, taking out King Langya had drained Yang Qi of enough true energy that he wasn't completely confident in his ability to handle Grand Emperor Rich-Lush. Therefore, he needed to buy a bit of time to build up energy. Hopefully, he could power up enough to unleash a massive attack with the twenty-eight talismans, an attack that would hopefully kill Grand Emperor Rich-Lush.

"Turn weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk? That's funny, Grand Emperor Rich-Lush. You literally just threatened to kill us. And back when we first met, you tried to cut us down in cold blood. Luckily I was fast enough to dodge that attack, otherwise I'd be a vengeful soul right now. That said, we do have our connections. After all, I'm from the Rich-Lush Continent, and I acquired the actual Grand Emperor's Pagoda there."

1. Yang Qi integrated the Grand Emperor's Pagoda into the Rich-Lush Continent back in . The pagoda stayed there since; he doesn't take it around with him anymore.