Sage Monarch

An immortal paragon. A sixth stage Abstrusity-Demolisher, a virtually invincible figure.

Yang Qi quickly reined in the fluctuations of his magical power. He knew that he was incredibly strong, but in the end he was still only a ninth order Demi-Immortal, a mere half-Demolisher. He was far, far from the true Demolishing level. And he was currently seven levels away from immortal paragons.

There was a huge gap between the levels of mortals and immortals. And the difference between each level for immortals was like the difference between a first level Energy Artist and a ninth order Demi-Immortal.

Could a mortal who had just stepped into Energy Absorption possibly fight a high-level Demi-Immortal?

That gap was roughly the same gap Yang Qi faced in this immortal paragon.

In this moment, he was walking on thin ice and had to exercise utmost caution. But in the end, he simply couldn't resist the sight of that primal-chaos elder-snake, and the six hundred and sixty-six imperial snakecharms that made it up.

If the current ruler of the Titan Emperor Heaven was the same one who had created the immortal world, he would definitely have realized that its essence was being devoured. But that was not the case. This place was a very ancient immortal world. It had been ruled by different dynasties throughout the years, much like the Rich-Lush Continent had started out being ruled by the Rich-Lush Dynasty, then gone through other dynasties until the Sage Ancestor Dynasty held sway. Because of that, the ruler of this particular immortal world didn't hold absolute control over every aspect of the lands. It was very similar to emperors in the mortal world.

'What a miserable waste for this thing to have fallen into the hands of the Heaven's Net Consortium,' Yang Qi thought. 'If I could get it, I could unlock its true potential. With the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth powering those snakecharms, they would be even stronger than if King Heaven-Devourer himself used them.'

A cinnabar-garbed individual suddenly rushed in.

"Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra, we have new information. After the altar in the Endless Forest was destroyed, our lord told us to look into the matter. Unfortunately, we don't have much to work with. The lord is furious, and will definitely come down soon to exact punishment. Please, we need your help! Since you're adept with preheaven god skills, can you perform a divination to identify the culprit?"

Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra opened his eyes and said, "Fine. General Goldrhino had an average cultivation base, yet he dared to take responsibility for the altar in the Endless Forest. He deserved to die. That said, we can't afford to fail in this mission assigned by the lord. I've already used the essence of the immortal world around us to form nine heaven-devouring śarīras filled with Heaven-Devouring True Energy. They should provide more than enough power to divine the identity of the culprit."

Nine popping sounds rang out as nine huge śarīras appeared, which flew out into a formation that resembled the character 品. Then they began rotating as the divination process began.

Shaken, Yang Qi summoned his Wheel of Fate and quickly located the power that was seeking to divine his identity.

'Clever bastard,' he thought. 'He's using a preheaven god skill to try to locate me. Luckily, I have just the technique to deal with that. Perhaps confusing him will give me the opportunity I need to grab those six hundred and sixty-six snakecharms. I need those things to truly establish my position in this immortal world.'

With that, he began sending out divination power of his own. 'Wheel of Fate Confuses and Blurs; Boundless Red Dust Disturbs the Heart.'

"Hmm?" Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra frowned as an image slowly took shape within the śarīra formation. It showed a place at the edge of the immortal world, where a devilish specter existed in the depths of the earth, pulsing with the aura of the Protomammoth Flag and the Chartreuse Sovereign God Armor.

Of course, it was a complete fabrication created by Yang Qi's ability to alter fate, designed to fool the immortal paragon into believing that a monster lurked somewhere on the edges of the immortal world.

"Excellent. So it was some monster from hell. And it has the aura of a god item. Ordinary people would never be able to divine the location of a being like that, but thankfully I've been working with this Heaven-Devouring True Energy long enough to expel all impurities from within me. With a mind as pure as fresh snow, how could this thing possibly hide from me?" Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra flew up into the air. "I'll go capture this monster, you people guard the altar."

"Yes sir! You're invincible and divine, Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra, you'll definitely succeed!"

WHOOSH!

Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra opened a wormhole, stepped in, and was gone.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi kept the illusion going with the Wheel of Fate, ensuring that the workings of heaven were in chaos. He waited for a full two hours just to make sure that Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra was truly gone.

As of this moment, the altar had no powerful guardian.

It was the perfect moment.

Yang Qi suddenly blurred into motion.

"Primal-chaos elder-snake. King Heaven-Devourer!"

In the blink of an eye, a resonance sprang up between his one hundred and eighty-five talismans and the six hundred and sixty-six talismans on the altar. Without hesitation, Yang Qi's talismans shot toward the altar.

WHIZZZ!

As the one hundred and eighty-five talismans approached, the six hundred and sixty-six immediately attempted to devour them. Of course, Yang Qi's primal-chaos elder-snake wouldn't just allow that to happen and the two snakes began fighting each other.

'What powerful energy, and what a strong will. Sadly for it, this is the imperial city, and wills from beyond the heavens are suppressed here. The will of those six hundred and sixty-six snakecharms simply can't stand up to me. The God Legion Seal can break all boundaries, touch all things with the power of the gods, and draw on the great dao of the azure heavens!'

RUMBLE!

Boundless power rose up in Yang Qi as he used the God Legion Seal to activate his Blood of the One God. Golden light flared as he suddenly transformed into an enormous sun-like entity made of pure gold.

Crack! Snap!

The immense will shattered and the primal-chaos elder-snake exploded, transforming into six hundred and sixty-six individual talismans that scattered in all directions.

'Defracted Projection Gathering!' Yang Qi reached out and the talismans flowed into his hand.

'Excellent, I got all six hundred and sixty-six. Now I just need to assimilate them, and I'll be unstoppable. In ancient times, King Heaven-Devourer was an invincible figure, and now I have a quarter of his talismans. Reaching the Demolishing level shouldn't be hard for me at all.'

With this new influx, Yang Qi now had eight hundred and fifty-one imperial snakecharms, although he still had to fully fuse with the new ones. Next, he needed to find a safe place to make them part of his nascent divinity so that no one could ever take them away.

'Time to get out of here!' Before anyone could react to the sudden development, he transformed back into a dust mote and vanished.

Only then did the people guarding the altar realize what had happened, and a huge commotion broke out.

"Are you feeling suicidal or something?" someone howled. It was none other than Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra, who finally realized he had been duped and was rushing back, filled with fury.

Obviously, if he lost all of the imperial snakecharms he would be executed by his lord.

Yang Qi was already out of the imperial city, but unfortunately for him the immortal paragon had already locked onto his aura.

'Immortal paragons are so strong!' he thought, transforming back to his normal size. He could sense Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra's will locked onto him, and knew that he couldn't shake it at the moment. After all, Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra had worked with the snakecharms for so long that they were linked to his quintessence-blood and vital energy. Until Yang Qi fully fused with them, he would be able to sense them wherever they were.

That said, Yang Qi wasn't worried about it. Summoning his Angel Wings, he shot off at top speed.

WHOOSH!

WOOOOSH!

He blurred into motion, instantly reaching speeds unheard of in the Titan Emperor Heaven. Moments after he vanished, a wormhole popped open behind him and Immortal Paragon Night-Kṣetra's aura erupted out of it.

"Even if you flee to the ends of the earth, I'll track you down and kill you! How dare you steal those imperial snakecharms! That primal-chaos elder-snake has my heart-blood in it, and the will of my lord. Do you think you can break them? You've committed a crime worthy of ten thousand deaths! Nine Profound Heavenly Transformations! Eternal Kṣaṇa! Travel the Unknown!"

RUMBLE!

Immense power erupted out of him as he shot through the air in pursuit of Yang Qi.

It only took moments before both of them were far from the imperial city, deep into the immortal world.

'This immortal paragon really is no joke,' Yang Qi thought as he flew along, rising higher and higher into the sky of the immortal world where the empyrean energy grew stronger and stronger. The sky of the Titan Emperor Heaven was so high that it would actually be impossible for Yang Qi to fly to the top of it. After all, the higher one went, the more dangerous the empyrean energy grew, creating immortal lightning and other forces of destruction.