Sage Monarch

Yang Qi was absorbing the very same energy that had been absorbed by an ancient god. And as the deathless godliness flowed into him, his Blood of the One God grew stronger. Titan had been particularly powerful among the ancient legion of gods and was known for raw power.

Because of that, as Yang Qi went through his breathing exercises, his internal pellet grew stronger.

'What a mysterious place,' he thought. 'It's so full of killing intent!' Not even he was able to fully cast his divine will into the godrelic. But he could sense that there were many areas protected by deadly immortal formations that could kill any expert who tried to break into them.

The location he was currently in was one of relative calm and peace. However, moving outside of that area would be very dangerous.

'Mechas? Battleships?'

All of a sudden, Yang Qi's divine will encountered an area where numerous treasured items were stored. There were even mechas immersed in what seemed like the liquefied aura of Titan, which was being used to strengthen them. Apparently, this place also served as a storehouse for the imperial dynasty.

This godrelic was obviously one of the most important locations for the Titan Emperor Heaven.

Originally, Yang Qi had hoped to pass his tribulation in here, but now he realized that probably wasn't a good idea.

What if the tribulation actually destroyed the godrelic or the things in it? Furthermore, what if he somehow provoked an unexpected, dangerous reaction? Therefore, he decided to spend the seven days of cultivation here perfecting his internal pellet, which would make it much easier to pass his tribulation when the time came.

'What's this?'

After looking at some of the locations packed with treasure, he sent his divine will deeper into the Kingdom of Titan and found a place where the Titan energy grew so strong it began to liquefy.

There, within the depths of the ancient godrelic, was a planet-sized sphere floating within the energy flows. It appeared to be made of liquid, a manifestation of some strange sort of power that radiated the aura of Titan.

It also pulsed with immense deathless godliness.

'That's the blood of a god! I can't believe they have a drop of Titan's blood in here. Eternal deathlessness the size of a planet, and no one has ever assimilated it. Ah, what a pity. And what a waste for this clan to have such an incredible treasure. If I had that blood, I could truly use it in heaven-defying fashion. Apparently, not even the emperor has what it takes to assimilate it. Someone who did would definitely break into the Godmyth level. After all, even the effects of that jade blood mother got in the Hell of Gloom and Darkness were indescribable.'

This was the true foundation of the godrelic, and the foundation of the Titan Emperor Heaven itself.

Yang Qi could sense that the blood had the immortal world's essence locked down. Without the blood to restrict its flow, it would be much easier for certain almighty entities to leech off the essence.

'I can't get the full essence of this immortal world right now,' he thought. 'Titan's blood has it locked down. Without assimilating that blood, trying to take the essence would be as effective as throwing a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood. Although I can get a bit with my imperial snakecharms, it's not enough to truly shake the foundation of this immortal world. Time to make some more Heaven-Devouring śarīras!'

Drawing on the power of King Heaven-Devourer's talismans, he summoned a primal-chaos elder-snake, which he then fused with. Then, numerous black holes sprang up inside him, which began madly devouring the Titan energy in the area.

The power levels were immense, and the flows were so strong that he actually felt the immortal world essence stirring deep in the godrelic. Here, he was able to make Heaven-Devouring śarīras much, much faster than he could in the outside world!

WHIZZZ!

A fist-sized Heaven-Devouring śarīra appeared within his sea of energy, glittering brightly.

Then another, and another, like numerous suns.

At the same time, he used the essence of the Hell of Mahānata, Hell of Gloom and Darkness, and Tusita Heaven to temper his internal pellet.

Gradually, he was able to form the Heaven-Devouring śarīras into a Heaven-Devouring Grand Formation. It was something he had picked up from the one-fourth of the Heaven-Devouring Good-Fortune Non-Existent-Gods Dao energy art he had acquired.

The more śarīras he made, the stronger that formation would be.

Later, when he faced his breakthrough tribulation, he could situate himself within that Heaven-Devouring Grand Formation, and any who sought to disturb him by entering it would find their cultivation base weakening until they dropped dead.

Time passed, although he wasn't sure how much.

Thanks to his hard work, he soon had a total of three hundred and sixty śarīras in his internal pellet, which could be used to make a very powerful Heaven-Devouring Grand Formation.

Even more amazing, his Blood of the One God had grown stronger, being at the level of eleven ten-thousandths.

His eyes sparkled brightly at the realization that he had made some major advancement, even with his Glad Tidings of the Lord.

This session of cultivation had been very beneficial.

Eventually, everything began to spin and distort as he was slowly extracted from the Kingdom of Titan and relocated to the outside world. Seven days had passed and he was automatically teleported out of the godrelic.

As for his target destination, it was somewhere in Princess Jadefall's mansion.

Princess Jadefall was all smiles as she stood there, flanked by a few administrators from the Department of Internal Affairs. As soon as she laid eyes on Yang Qi, she said, "Titan Dragonguard, your commission has arrived. The sovereign of heaven has issued a decree!"

"Imperial clansman Titan Dragonguard, ready to accept my commission!" Yang Qi said, dropping to his knees and plastering a solemn expression onto his face.

One of the administrators stepped forward and said, "His Imperial Majesty has decreed that Titan Dragonguard, whose imperial blood runs strong and whose cultivation base is particularly high, has distinguished himself as a top expert and will henceforth serve as the Marquis of Military Security. In addition to the title, he will be given command of ten divisions and will accompany Princess Jadefall on a campaign to conquer the Hanging Heaven."

The administrator that had just spoken was none other than Titan Duelbringer, who had long since heard of the incredible show Yang Qi put on during the war games. More than ever, he was glad that he had chosen to stick with Yang Qi, as it was obviously benefiting himself as well.

"Congratulations, Titan Dragonguard," Princess Jadefall said. "You have your title, as well as ten divisions of troops. Henceforth, you will lead the following divisions from my armies: the Special Reconnaissance Division, Formation Dismantling Division, Covert Operations Division, Winged Immortals Division…." She went on to list all ten. "They're all under your command, and you have complete authority to direct them. The campaign begins in three days! The time has come to invade the Hanging Heaven!"

"Yes ma'am!" Yang Qi said, offering a crisp salute.

He finally had a place among the nobility in this immortal world, and it hadn't taken ten years like he had assumed it might. To people in immortal worlds, ten years was like nothing. They would often spend that time just in meditation. In fact, not even lengths of time like millions of years were considered lengthy to immortals.

He now had official power, and was also a trusted confidant of Princess Jadefall. In the coming days, he would associate with her further and learn more about her status as a Reincarnated One.

He had the feeling that she was no simpleton. Even though she hadn't revealed her powers to him, he was fairly convinced that Proud Heaven was after her, and that she was why he had become a sworn brother of this place's sovereign of heaven.

If Yang Qi made it his job to protect her, it would most likely mean that he would eventually butt heads with Proud Heaven.

Of course, he was nowhere near ready for a fight with Proud Heaven. But he would continue preparing. Hopefully, he would be able to get another piece of the God Legion Seal, or possibly even complete it, before he came into contact with Proud Heaven again. Unfortunately, he had no idea where to look for the other pieces, nor did he have any clues.

**

War was about to begin in the immortal world, and it was the same in the lower world.

Everyone in the Sage Monarch planetary system was united and ready, and white streams of dazzling light flowed constantly into the centrally-located Sage Monarch City.

That white light was the power of faith.

Yang Qi's immortal clone was constantly benefiting from the faith, improving his cultivation base and pushing closer to a breakthrough.

"Junior Brother!" said Eldest Brother, who had just called an urgent meeting. "My network uncovered evidence that the Misty Kingdom has allied with other holy lands to oppose us. The City of Twilight and the Swamp of Cosmic Primality are among the other members of the alliance. I need to take command of our armies and beat them to the punch. Strike like lightning, and destroy the Misty Kingdom to scare the others into submission. The only way to grow the power of faith at our disposal is to expand our borders. Right now we have the faith of a few thousand planetary systems, but that's not enough. It's impossible to calculate how many trillions of other planetary systems there are out there. What do you think, Junior Brother?"

"I agree, Eldest Brother," the clone said. "Increasing our inflow of faith would definitely be a good thing. Please take charge and handle things as you see fit. I'll give you a huge army of fiend-devils to work with. However, before you set off on the campaign, please call a meeting of all our core people. I have some new godly-class energy arts from the immortal world for you to use."

Yang Qi had acquired the Cardinal Grand Brahma Punishes the Fire God Energy Art, as well as the Heaven-Devouring Good-Fortune Non-Existent-Gods Dao and the Murky Cavern Never-Dying Sanctuary Energy Art.

Adding them to the Jade-Emperor Profound-Welkin Exalted-Celestial God-Dao, the Prodigious Proto-Epoch, Invincible War-Steppe, the Killing Fist of the Dao of Monarchs, the Void Mist Mountain and Sea Interstice, and the Asiryangguk Sauvastika Devil Grand Infernal Energy, he now had a total of eight godly-class energy arts.

Plus, Heaven-Devouring True Energy could be used to negate the effects of the heterogeneous true energy conflicts between them all. Best of all, the Murky Cavern Never-Dying Sanctuary Energy Art could be used to completely evade the effects of death.

1. I would like to point out that titles such as this were often doled out in ancient China. They are essentially invented titles that would sometimes be given only to a single person, although they would sometimes become long-standing titles within a given dynasty. It's not like there is some master list of titles that was drawn on. They would often be made up for use in a certain situation or time. For example, the famous historical general had titles such as Major of Separate Command and General Who Defeats Bandits.