Sage Monarch

'Those magical flags are powering the formation,' he thought. 'They're definitely not the handiwork of mortals. They must have been made by a Demolisher. But what level, I wonder? The Demolishing level is broken up into nine stages, but I haven't found what those stages are, yet. In any case, I'm going to take this spell formation!'

The true-empyrean Thunder-Lightning Void-Shattering Immortal Formation was made up of over a thousand flags that, when powered by cultivators, unleashed protomagnetic power and deadly lightning. It could even function to absorb the power of heavenly tribulations.

An immortal formation like this could be a big boost to the Sage Monarch planetary system, so there was no way he would just pass it up.

Considering how many spell formation eyes there were, Yang Qi had no idea how long it would take him to wrest control of it. Therefore, he held nothing back and resorted immediately to his most deadly trump cards.

"Hell Portals!"

One Hell Portal after another popped into being, seething with armies of fiend-devils that immediately began pouring out into the open.

Seventh and eighth order fiend-devils instantly swarmed the spell formation. As they moved along, they ripped out the banners that had been stabbed into the void.

A moment later, the spell formation began to collapse and the lightning that had filled such a large area began to fizzle.

"Kill everyone," Yang Qi said, waving his hand to send the fiend-devils into the shape of an enormous devil-ghost head that consumed every enemy student in sight.

Yang Qi had no idea how many points he was earning from all this, but in the Plane of Initiation, his name shone with blinding light, with all the other names being dark in comparison. That formation had been powered by three or four thousand students, and all of them had been wiped out.

Suddenly, a violet conglomeration of light appeared in Yang Qi's palm, within which was a host of roughly a thousand flags. All of them were immortal items which contained dazzling lightning fays.

"Junior Brother," Sword Seventeen said, "those things contained sealed lightning spirits from an immortal world. That set of flags is a precious treasure the likes of which you hardly ever see in the mortal world! Lightning spirits like that can't even be born outside of the immortal world!"

"The lightning in the immortal world surpasses that from the mortal world by hundreds of millions of times." Yang Qi shook his head. "This spell formation will be great for the defenses of the Sage Monarch planetary system. These pieces of trash had no idea how to even unlock its full potential. But I'm different. Let my myriad of devils power the banners!"

RUUUUUUMBLE!

The host of fiend-devils he had summoned all roared as they took control of the banners and activated the spell formation. Instantly, pillars of lightning shot up and a host of entities appeared, including lightning spirits, dragons, snakes, horses, birds, and immortals.

It was obvious that the spell formation was already far more powerful than it had been before.

As Yang Qi studied the spell formation, his God Legion Seal suddenly stirred. 'Hmm. Someone's following me. That aura seems familiar.'

Tightening the focus of the God Legion Seal, he saw an image of the yellow-garbed young man with the buzz cut, with three legacy medallions on his person.

'It's him again.' Yang Qi's eyes flashed. 'Three legacy medallions from King Immortal-Slayer. That means he must have found the Crown Prince's medallion, and his cultivation base has improved. It might be hard to kill him now, but not necessarily impossible.'

"Let's get out of here, Elder Brother," Yang Qi said. Retracting the spell formation, he pulled Sword Seventeen into the God Legion Paradise and vanished.

A short while later, the young man in yellow appeared, along with Liege Beast. "He's gone already. He killed all those students and even took the spell formation. He's getting stronger every moment."

"Based on the aura, this must have been the true-empyrean Thunder-Lightning Void-Shattering Immortal Formation from the Great Metropolis Collegium. And he defeated it. Of course, that means the Lightning Society from the Great Metropolis Collegium is going to be furious with him. Their society chief is Lei Jiuzhou, who I'm familiar with. He's been a top expert since before my time, and is half a step into the Demolishing level. I wouldn't be surprised if he's here in the Immortal Army Battlefield as well. The Great Metropolis Collegium has always been at odds with us, so there's no way that Lei Jiuzhou won't retaliate for the deaths of so many of his disciples. Let's wait and see what happens."

"Is that so?" the young man said with a mysterious smile. "Alright, let's keep following him."

The terrain in the depths of the Immortal Army Battlefield was extremely rugged. Here and there, dazzling light would shine up as armies of students clashed. Spell formations were at play, unleashing devastation between the various forces. Students with all sorts of uniforms charged across the battlefield with bloodshot eyes as they rained carnage on each other.

The overall terrain was varied. There were plains, seas, mountains, deserts, and also numerous hidden planes of existence. The entire place seemed profoundly ancient.

In a certain location known to be particularly dangerous, tens of thousands of students were gathered in front of a winding mountain range of immense height. The mountains seemed to connect to the sky itself and ran on without end, glittering with colorful light that caused the space-time around them to twist and distort. Shockingly, these mountains were not made of soil or rock, but rather, protomagnetic true stone. This was a naturally-formed part of the Immortal Army Battlefield, not a spell formation.

The host of students gathered here wore the uniforms of the Lightning Society from the Great Metropolis Collegium. They were from the same society as the students that Yang Qi had just massacred.

As for why they were gathered here, it was hard to say.

There were many hidden dragons and crouching tigers among this group of tens of thousands of students, figures of immense power and ability. However, the most notable among them was a burly man clad in a suit of armor that crackled with lightning. He held a spear in his hand that had been forged from lightning itself, and he stood ramrod straight in front of the host of students.

He was the society chief, Lei Jiuzhou.

Next to Lei Jiuzhou was a female disciple who said, "Master, these protomagnetic mountains are a natural stronghold, and one of the most dangerous locations in the Immortal Army Battlefield. Supposedly, they hold the legacy of an ancient immortal, named Truelord Polar Light. The śarīra of the Preheaven Magnetic King is also here, correct?"

Strangely, when this young woman spoke, she remained absolutely still, almost as if she were a mountain. Her forehead seemed to contain the brewing power of an entire minor world of lightning and she seemed to pulse with an aura that bordered on a Demolisher. It actually seemed that she might ascend to the immortal world at any moment. Just like Lei Jiuzhou, she was halfway into the Demolishing level.

"That's exactly right. The legacy of Truelord Polar Light isn't worth thinking about. However, the śarīra of the Preheaven Magnetic King is nothing to look down on. He suffered untold hardships to reach the level of cultivation that he did. The energy arts of our Lightning Society can be used to control primeval god lightning, and as we all know, lightning comes from explosions of protomagnetic power and the perfect intersection of yin and yang. That's why lightning cultivators first need to cultivate the powers of magnetism. And thus, the śarīra of the Preheaven Magnetic King, which abounds with primal-chaos magnetic power, is vastly superior to anything from Truelord Polar Light.

"There are many important legacies hidden in these mountains, thus we don't need to participate in the general slaughter. Once we get that śarīra, our cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds and we'll be able to easily hold our own against immortals. Incidentally, you might be the same level as me, halfway into the Demolishing level. But you absolutely, positively must not rush into your next breakthrough. Build up the energy you need before you try to ascend. If we ascend to the Great Metropolis Heaven as weaklings, we would be captured, enslaved, and end up working in the mines. Ascending with the proper reserves of power is the only way to succeed at becoming an immortal."

Lei Jiuzhou stood there with his hands clasped behind his back as he reveled in his knowledge of the mountains they were about to enter.

POP!

Suddenly, a loud sound could be heard from within the female disciple's robe. Expression flickering, she pulled out a mirror, which revealed the news about Yang Qi killing their fellow disciples and taking the spell formation.

"Master," she said through gritted teeth, "someone just slaughtered a group of our Lightning Society disciples, and took the Thunder-Lightning Void-Shattering Immortal Formation. Dammit. Who is that guy?"

"One person? Or a team?" Lei Jiuzhou asked, turning to look at her.

"One," she replied. "He actually summoned a whole army of fiend-devils who helped him win the battle. Then he disappeared with the formation. That formation was a reward from the immortal world! We can't let him just take it!"

"I know exactly who he is," Lei Jiuzhou said. "He's Yang Qi from the Titan Emperor Collegium. He caused a huge scene there not so long ago; he's only a first order Demi-Immortal, but slaughtered an elder king and decorated the gate of his society with his head. The news spread fast, so lots of the collegiums know about it. As we probably should have expected, he's putting on quite the show here in the Immortal Army Battlefield."

"Now that you mention it, I remember hearing about that." All of a sudden, the female disciple's eyes sparkled with interest. "Back when the Hell of Euphoria invaded the Titan Emperor Collegium, they lost a lot of geniuses, so it's somewhat of a surprise that a person like this appeared in the Yore-Wilds. Of course, the more you stick out, the more people want to kill you. Everyone likes a challenge!"

"You want to go kill him? I approve. In fact, I'm interested in killing him too. I imagine the experts from a lot of the collegiums feel the same. Send messages to tell everyone where he is. Let them try to handle him first. For the moment, we'll sit back and try to find the śarīra of the Preheaven Magnetic King. Once we get it, we can be a lot more confident in making a move. Not only will we be able to kill Yang Qi, but we'll also be able to take out a lot of the other geniuses."

1. Lei Jiuzhou: Lei is a surname that means "thunder/lightning". Jiuzhou means "the Nine Provinces/Prefectures" that I mentioned in a previous footnote. I considered translating this name, but it's close enough to a plausible name that I decided not to. Lei is an actual surname after all.

2. Since it's been a while, here's a reminder that in real life, a śarīra is a bead-like object that is supposedly the cremated ashes of a Buddhist spiritual master. In this novel, they are used similarly.