Sage Monarch

"To people like me, you Fateless Ones are completely terrifying. You exist outside of the bounds of fate, making it impossible to predict anything about you. We Future Ones exist within fate, and, in fact, the whole reason I came here is to change what happens to me. But you have no fate. Our daos are different, thus we can never be on the same side."

"That's a pretty preposterous reason to refuse me," Yang Qi said. He chuckled. "Fate? Complete nonsense. Seizing the moment is the only way to live. If you and I fight each other to the death, we'll lose out and others will benefit. Don't you think that would be a bit ironic?"

"It would be," replied the young man in yellow. "Since you understand that truth, allow me to explain further. I'm not stupid. Even if I killed Chancellor Demi-Immortal and Liege Beast, I know that you would turn on me the instant it served your purposes. I know you, Yang Qi. For example, that Elder Brother of yours. What's his name? Sword Seventeen, right? You want him to get all of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, and have already conspired with him to achieve that very end. You think I didn't know? I would never, ever trust you. Working with you would be like asking a tiger for its skin. I'm interested in staying alive, in case you didn't realize. Work with you? No, that's only asking to get killed."

Yang Qi's eyes narrowed into slits. "I see. Well, if you refuse to do things the easy way, we'll do them the hard way. I'm done being polite. The time has come to kill all of you!"

With that, he drew on his energy arts and unleashed a sudden attack.

It was a combination of the Hand of the One God and the Infernal Deity Spear, an attack that shot like a meteor shower to encompass all three of his opponents. Of course, Chancellor Demi-Immortal had the weakest energy arts, making him a prime target.

"Who do you think you are, Yang Qi?" Liege Beast shouted in fury. "You think you can kill me, just like that? Give me your imperial snakecharms immediately! If you beg for your life, I'll only cripple your energy arts!"

As far as he was concerned, Yang Qi was from the junior generation and wasn't worth even worrying about. Liege Beast was a mighty society chief, making him as important as the initiators. Furthermore, he had been famous since ancient times. To have a person—essentially a child—threatening him made him so angry he was about ready to explode.

"Back me up, you two. I'm going to kill this dirty little swine! Just make sure we don't get ambushed while I do. This is the Immortal Army Battlefield, so you never know what devils might attack at any moment." Liege Beast exhaled, causing primal-chaos paleo-energy to turn into the shape of a snake that quickly destroyed Yang Qi's attacks.

Then forty-nine imperial snakecharms appeared, transforming into a primal-chaos elder-snake that vastly surpassed Yang Qi's. It was the kind of thing that could devour heaven and earth and destroy all types of vital energy.

"Get ready to face my godly-class energy art, Yang Qi. Wild-Beast Void-Devouring Fiend-God Grand True Energy!"

AAAAOOOWWWW!

Ten thousand howling beasts appeared behind him, each one of them fiendish and ancient in appearance. Looking like the most terrifying of killers, they lunged at Yang Qi.

At this point, the yellow-garbed young man waved his sleeve and pulled Chancellor Demi-Immortal to his side.

"Don't be alarmed," he said to Chancellor Demi-Immortal. "Your fate is already set, and it's not one of death. You'll definitely ascend and become an immortal, after which you'll come across immense good fortune. In the future, you'll be very influential. Eventually, you'll become a Godmyth who leads an entire immortal world. One of the reasons I'm helping you is because of your future destiny as a powerful expert. In any case, you really don't need to worry. Just watch Liege Beast and Yang Qi fight. Liege Beast is a half-Demolisher, so with his Wild-Beast Void-Devouring Fiend-God Grand True Energy, he's like a tiger that has grown wings. Yang Qi won't find it easy to kill him. Besides, if I have the chance, I'll take those twenty-eight imperial snakecharms of his, which will weaken him severely!"

"Hold on," Chancellor Demi-Immortal said, ignoring most of what the young man had just said, and focusing on the part that related to him. "That's my fate? I'm really going to rule an immortal world?"

"Yes, exactly. If you didn't have a good fate, why would I work with you? Of course, you need to ascend to an immortal world first. Then I can help you find the good fortune you need. Thankfully for you, now that you have me on your side you won't even need to reach the Demolishing level to do that. We can go to the immortal worlds above via the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Again, don't worry. Let's focus on weakening Yang Qi to the point where he'll have trouble ever recovering. Then we can go search for that good fortune of yours. I know exactly where it is."

"Alright, but isn't my fate tangled up with Yang Qi now?" Chancellor Demi-Immortal asked. "Couldn't it change? Should I really follow the same path now?"

"It's hard to say for sure," the young man replied casually. "That's why you need to stick with me. After all, your ultimate fate is actually a dismal one. Even though you become the ruler of an immortal world, you eventually end up getting killed. And not by a random person, but by Yang Qi's father. He kills you with his own hands."

"What? Yang Qi's father?"

"Yep. He's a very enigmatic and powerful person, and his true identity is cloaked in mystery. I would guess that he's a Future One like me. You see, in the future, he has no son named Yang Qi. The fact that Yang Qi popped up is a potential catastrophe of epic proportions. Obviously, his father realized that he was a Fateless One, which is why he tried to kill him. The only question is how Yang Qi managed to escape with his life. Alright, enough of this topic. Let's watch the fight playing out." Raising his voice, he said, "Don't show me any of your weaknesses, Yang Qi. Otherwise you're dead!"

Booms and explosions were ringing out nonstop as Yang Qi and Liege Beast fought. Liege Beast had profound techniques, and was indeed halfway into the Demolishing level. And ever since the young man in yellow gave him a godly-class energy art, his imperial snakecharms had become even more formidable.

The primal-chaos elder-snake harried Yang Qi relentlessly, and countless other beasts popped up to attack him, as though the Immortal Army Battlefield were filled with primordial chaos that could give birth to the most primeval creatures.

"This is all you can do, Yang Qi? And you dared to kill an elder king? Unfortunately, it's too late to repent after the fact! Prepare to die!"

Liege Beast leaped up, preparing to crush Yang Qi with an enormous, mountain-like fist strike.

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" Yang Qi said, smiling derisively. Reaching out with the Hand of the One God, he quickly identified the weaknesses in Liege Beast's cultivation base. At the same time, he unfurled his Angel Wings and shot forward, dodging back and forth between the gaps in the attack until he was right behind Liege Beast. "Haven't you heard the expression, you could have strolled your way to heaven, but instead, you had to barge into hell!?"

RUMBLE!

The halls of heaven appeared in his left hand, surrounded by dazzling sagelight. At the same time, the inky blackness of hell appeared in his right hand.

Heaven and hell combined into an unprecedented manifestation of his godfist, which slammed into Liege Beast's defensive true energy.

"Aaaiiiieee!" Liege Beast screamed. His true energy shattered and cracks spread out across his body. That one fist strike had damaged his minor world and severely injured his meridians.

He looked like a cornered wild beast, yet he wasn't ready to give up.

"Ancient Imperial Snake; King Heaven-Devourer!" he shouted, unleashing another fist strike. Heaven and earth violently trembled as forty-nine imperial snakecharms merged with Liege Beast, transforming him into an enormous scaled creature with the head of a human and a body of a serpent.

It was almost as if he had transformed into King Heaven-Devourer himself, healing his wounds in the process. Glaring at Yang Qi, he said, "Give me your imperial snakecharms. Now! Will of the Heaven-Devourer!"

WHIZZZ!

Shockingly, Yang Qi's twenty-eight imperial snakecharms suddenly twitched within the God Legion Paradise, as if they might fly toward Liege Beast of their own volition.

The yellow-garbed young man burst out laughing. "I used my legacy medallion to reforge Liege Beast's imperial snakecharms, Yang Qi! Now he can unlock even more of their secrets! Those twenty-eight imperial snakecharms won't be yours for much longer!"

Suddenly, he sent out a burst of energy, trying to lock Yang Qi in place on the battlefield. It seemed the young man in yellow was about to make a move!

"Be suppressed!" Yang Qi said, and he began glowing with a bright light that suppressed the power of the imperial snakecharms. Face completely expressionless, he said, "It's a bit too early for you to try to take my imperial snakecharms."

"Wrong. Now's the perfect time!" The yellow-garbed young man extended his hand with a flourish and the Immortal-Slayer's War-Halberd appeared. He swept it through the air, causing a crescent-moon-shaped beam of light to shoot out with enough power to split worlds in half. He powered the attack with his cultivation base and King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, clearly hoping to cleave apart the God Legion Paradise and kill Yang Qi where he stood.

Gong!

Yang Qi thrust the Infernal Deity Spear out to meet the Immortal-Slayer's War-Halberd.

"Nightfall Symphony!" Instantly, music poured out of the spear.

"That's not going to work!" Liege Beast shouted. "You can't suppress the will of King Heaven-Devourer! I hereby sacrifice my life force to King Heaven-Devourer! Prepare for the true power of the imperial snakecharms!"

As Liege Beast burned his life force to unleash a primeval secret magic, a new will sprang up within Yang Qi's imperial snakecharms, the will of some enormous snake from ancient times, something that represented the dao of heaven itself.

BOOM!

The twenty-eight imperial snakecharms suddenly broke free of the fetters of the God Legion Paradise and began flying toward Liege Beast.

Liege Beast burst out into maniacal laughter. "Another twenty-eight imperial snakecharms are mine! I'm going to be as strong as a heaven-immortal! I'll be able to crush Demolishers! So, Yang Qi, you're a so-called Fateless One? Now that you're facing me, all you're going to do is tremble and die! I'm going to absorb these snakecharms, then carry on the will of King Heaven-Devourer!"

Just as the imperial snakecharms were about to reach Liege Beast, Yang Qi smiled.

"That's some deadly recklessness, my friend."

1. I'm leaving out a short passage here which likens the snake's movemen to the character for "dao". It has absolutely no relevance to anything.