Sage Monarch

Fusing with the primeval godworm caused Sword Seventeen's cultivation base to improve dramatically.

Most impressive of all to Yang Qi was the Prodigious Proto-Epoch, Invincible War-Steppe, which was actually a godly-class energy art. All of a sudden, it made sense why the Invincible Dugu was so powerful.

So far, the only godly-class energy art he had seen, other than his own Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, was his mother's Jade-Emperor Profound-Welkin Exalted-Celestial God-Dao. This Prodigious Proto-Epoch, Invincible War-Steppe was the third.

In the mortal world, heavenly-class arts were generally perceived to be the highest possible arts to cultivate. Sometimes, multiple heavenly-class energy arts would be combined to create what were called immortal skills, and even they were rare. That went to show what godly-class energy arts were like. Even lesser godly-class arts were the type that most people could never even see.

Of course, Yang Qi wasn't impressed with such lower arts and, at best, would give them to his clone to cultivate.

"None of us in the Invincible Society have cultivated the full Prodigious Proto-Epoch, Invincible War-Steppe. We only have half of it. To truly cultivate it, you have to produce an Invincible Heart, which is an actual heart made from true energy that functions like an eternal furnace. Once we get out of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, I'm sure Master will pass the technique on to you."

Even as Sword Seventeen explained these things to Yang Qi, he used his godly-class energy art to absorb the memories of the godworm larva.

'I guess I'll give it to my clone,' Yang Qi thought. 'He has the Jade-Emperor Profound-Welkin Exalted-Celestial God-Dao from my mother, so if he masters this Prodigious Proto-Epoch, Invincible War-Steppe he'll become even more formidable.'

After some time passed, he turned his attention to the God Legion Paradise, which contained the godworm nest and the mother godworm. The latter was still struggling, just like a centipede that would not stop wriggling even after being stomped on.

Obviously, primeval godworms couldn't be killed easily. Cut one in two and it could still recover. And this mother godworm was in the seventh stage, with life force that was shocking even to Yang Qi.

'If I fuse with this thing and make it part of my God Legion Paradise, my command over space will increase tenfold.' Yang Qi quickly summoned the Hellfire Crucible and tossed the chunks of the godworm into it, along with some of his Blood of the One God. Instantly, the chunks began wriggling, then psychic sealing marks suddenly began to shine on it.

The light turned into a human shape. It was a beautiful, middle-aged woman who stared at Yang Qi with murderous eyes. "How dare you try to refine me, cultivator. Do you know who I am? I'm nobility among godworms! A single psychic fluctuation from me will cause this world junction to explode and kill everything in it, including you."

'Hm. The godworm's psychic seal manifests itself as a female cultivator. Unfortunately for her, she's completely mistaken.' Ignoring her threat, he exhaled vital energy and called upon the Eternal Heavenly Aria. Instantly, numerous halos sprang up around the projected woman.

They were all nightmarish manifestations of primeval god skills. The Light of Weakness, the Light of Balefiends, the Light of Devilization, the Light of Disorder, the Light of Nirvanic Extermination, the Light of Enfeeblement…

The projected image of the woman immediately grew blurry.

One of the halos was the Light of Nightmares, which would cause the target to descend into a state of never-ending mental horror from which they could never escape. As of this moment, the godworm was completely under Yang Qi's control.

"Psychic Seed: Nascent Divinity Branding…."

Yang Qi began singing the Eternal Heavenly Aria once again, and the godworm began stitching itself back together. Soon, it took up a position in the God Legion Paradise opposite of Yang Qi's original godworm, one in the north, the other in the south.

His original godworm was in the third stage, but this mother godworm was in the seventh, which was a level of power equivalent to a Revered Demi-Immortal. The two godworms were so far apart in level that it was impossible to put into words.

Whizz!

The mother godworm's psychic seal shattered and she fused with Yang Qi, becoming part of the essence of the God Legion Paradise. As the process occurred, memories flooded into his sea of consciousness. Part of it was a complete picture of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

There were so many world junctions that they were like the stars in the night sky. It was a beautiful image, filled with power, magical laws, treasure troves, and countless other secrets.

Obviously, the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was not just some magical treasure. It was like a hell, or heavenly world. Or even a chiliocosm of worlds. In any case, it definitely surpassed the level of an immortal item.

Only someone with energy arts like those of the legion of gods would possibly be able to make something like it.

Yang Qi's original idea had been to find the spirit automaton that controlled the monarch chart, kill it, and take over the thing as his own. But from the information he was getting from the mother godworm, he could see that such an idea was ridiculous. It was like an ant trying to shake a tree.

For anyone other than a Demolisher to think of wresting away control from it was wishful thinking.

That didn't mean he was weak, though. He had control of a seventh stage godworm that was as strong as a Revered Demi-Immortal. Now, as a mere second step Great Sage, he was actually strong enough to trounce fifth order Demi-Immortals, and perhaps survive in a fight against one in the sixth order. And that wasn't even mentioning what would happen when he reached the Hell of Mahānata.

"Alright, mother godworm. I know now that godworms love to hoard treasure, and you have a treasure trove hidden inside you. Spit it out." The godworm complied, and a moment later a mass of treasure appeared in the God Legion Paradise in the form of an entire palace.

Sword Seventeen's eyes went wide. "That's… that's a famous immortal item from primeval times! It's the legendary Mourn-Parting Heaven-Palace, created by an immortal from a very high plane of existence, the Mourn-Parting Heaven. Although, it looks like only a corner of the entire palace, perhaps a single hall. According to the stories, there were nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine halls that made up the Mourn-Parting Heaven-Palace. Who would have thought that this mother godworm would have an immortal item like this!"

"Mourn-Parting Heaven-Palace, huh?" Yang Qi said, looking it over. It appeared to be made from bronze, and was obviously not the work of mortal hands. It was filled with all sorts of weapons, magical treasures, medicinal pills, bottle gourds, and even immortal stones.

Godworms loved to collect treasures, and would never use them, not even immortal items. And this mother godworm had kept her collection in the tiny hall of the Mourn-Parting Heaven-Palace.

Even that tiny hall was still a shocking thing. For example, if someone as low as a Legendary used it as a weapon, they could destroy an entire planet, although the process would probably kill them.

In the hands of a Great Sage, it would be even more powerful.

In fact, Yang Qi could tell that this palace was just as strong as an imperial snakecharm.

"It was made by King Mourn-Parting," Sword Seventeen went on to say, "who was just as famous as King Heaven-Devourer. Both of them worked with King Immortal-Slayer, and considered him their leader. They fought against the legion of gods and, in their efforts, created the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, which they used to safeguard all of their treasures. Of course, over the millions and millions of years which followed, the monarch chart would appear every so often and many of those treasures were taken away. I wonder if King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallion was originally stored in here?"

"Oh really? King Mourn-Parting. King Heaven-Devourer…." Right now, Yang Qi had twenty-eight of the three thousand imperial snakecharms created by King Heaven-Devourer. And of the nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine halls of King Mourn-Parting's heavenly palace, he had one.

It was in this moment that a new voice reached their ears.

"That's right. King Mourn-Parting created the Mourn-Parting Heaven-Palace, and now you have one of its halls. It seems the two of you are very lucky. But your luck is going to end now that you've run into me."

Startled, Yang Qi and Sword Seventeen looked over at the source of the voice.

At the same time, Yang Qi reined in all of the power of his various techniques, shrinking the God Legion Paradise down to a sixty-square-meter area.

There within the labyrinth of space-time, a person had just appeared.

He was young and wore tight-fitting yellow clothing. He had a buzz cut, which was unusual among cultivators, who usually grew their hair long and kept it bound in a topknot. It was almost as if this newcomer came from a different time period.

Yang Qi and Sword Seventeen were in a complicated part of space-time that not even seventh order Revered Demi-Immortals would enter, yet this yellow-garbed young man was approaching with complete ease. The most shocking thing of all was that Yang Qi could clearly see the level of his cultivation base, and he wasn't even a Demi-Immortal! He was a mere Great Sage.

From the look of it, he was in the third step, making him an Eternal Sands Sage.

Outside, that might be impressive, but in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, that would make him like an ant. This yellow-garbed young man with the buzz cut had a terrifying aura, giving him much the same feeling Yang Qi had experienced when he first encountered the Crown Prince back in the Demi-Immortal Institute.

1. The "Mourn-Parting Heaven" is an actual heaven from Chinese mythology/cosmology, although its "real-life" story and meaning aren't really important here.

2. In Chinese, this young man's hairstyle is literally "one-inch hair" and can refer to a variety of styles, including crew cuts, butch cuts, or styles that are short on the sides and slightly longer on top. However, a later description points out that this guy's hairstyle is reminiscent of a monk. Buddhist monks completely shave their head and often allow it to grow out a bit before cutting it again. That's why I'm going with buzz cut, as it's clear it should look .