Sage Monarch

Yang Qi had won a complete and thorough victory.

Once he took the power of the young man in yellow, it would only be a matter of time before he was in a position to defeat Proud Heaven. And with the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, he would have an even more stable position. No longer would he need to fear someone coming along and besieging his friends and family.

Although the Sage Monarch planetary system was a powerful force in the mortal world and was conquering everything in its path, there were always immense powers in the universe that could cause problems for it. And if an immortal world stepped in, the entire planetary system could easily be turned into dust.

But the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was a game changer. In ancient times, not even the legion of gods has been able to destroy it. To be able to casually enter something created by King Immortal-Slayer and his host of sworn siblings would put Yang Qi's forces in a very stable position.

With all of his enemies restrained, Yang Qi walked further into the maze-like mansion grotto. "Hu Latu, this mansion grotto of yours is quite impressive. What are those power channels I see deep inside?"

In the depths of the grotto, there were streams of power that converged in natural preheaven spell formations.

Not even Yang Qi would be capable of creating or destroying something like it; anyone who ventured too deeply inside would likely be lost for all time and would eventually die of natural causes.

"This place was originally put together by some almighty entity in ancient times," Hu Latu explained, "back when the two nearby immortal worlds were first created. Milord, I only added a bit onto what had already been created, and have never been into the true depths of the place. Considering how strong you are, it shouldn't be hard for you to turn this lair into an even more formidable place."

"True. This does seem like a very safe place to work on cultivation."

He explored the area a bit until he found one particular channel that was stable and surrounded by numerous natural spell formations that formed a larger, greater spell formation.

Yang Qi sat down in the formation, and Princess Jadefall sat down in front of him.

Hu Latu and the others waited outside to stand guard.

There was a flash of yellow, and the young man and Chancellor Demi-Immortal both appeared, right between Yang Qi and Princess Jadefall. They were both bedraggled, and didn't look even the least bit strong or impressive, like they had in the past.

"Alright, buzz cut kid. We were rivals for a long time, but sadly that's about to end."

As for the young man, he knew that he had reached the end of the line, yet he refused to give in, and his eyes overflowed with venom.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Yang Qi chuckled. "You have no reason to hate me. Back when we first met in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, I was minding my own business when you attacked me. Later, I even offered to work with you, except you refused. This whole time you've been treating me like some archenemy, and to be honest I don't know why. Is it because you're egotistical and want to crush everyone underfoot? Or were you worried that I would be a threat, so you decided to take me out? Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I've beaten you, and you have no hope of turning the tables."

"Is that so? Don't be so quick to rejoice, Yang Qi. I'm a Future One, which means you can't kill me. My original form still exists in the future and can always come back here again. Kill me, and you succeed in this one specific hyperdimension. But since I don't come from this aspect of space-time, if I die here my overall fate will be adjusted to see out its intended course. You see, I'm only part of me here."

Yang Qi burst out laughing. "You really are crazy, aren't you? Sure, Future Ones who cease to exist in this part of space-time will have their fate adjusted. In other words, they'll be automatically sent back to the future, where they originally started. Sadly, being killed by me changes things. Thanks to my understanding of the legion of gods, I know about the limits of space-time. I'll make sure your fate is locked down, thus, when I kill you, you'll cease to exist even in the future."

"You…." A look of panic appeared on the young man's face. He knew that Yang Qi was right, and that everything he had just said was true. Yang Qi had the God Legion Seal, and understood many of its profundities. It was a key that could unlock the secrets of the Sovereign Lord and reveal the most true and boundless dao.

"The time has come. Prepare to die." Yang Qi extended his hand toward the young man and a brightly burning flame appeared.

"Hold on!" the young man blurted. "If you spare me, I'll give you a really important clue, a clue that will help you contend with the legion of gods. Just don't kill me."

"A clue?" Yang Qi said coldly. "What clue? Why don't I just assimilate you and get the information from your memories and soul? Frankly speaking, you're in no position to negotiate."

"I have a sealed memory pocket in me that I can destroy before you kill me. You'll never get access to that clue unless I give it to you. Without it, you'll end up facing a major catastrophe in the future, a catastrophe you'll never escape."

"I doubt it," Yang Qi said, completely unfazed. "I'm going to kill you, take your Future One power, then seize both King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions and the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Before long, I'm going to be the most powerful person in existence. What catastrophe could possibly befall me?"

"It's about the God Legion Seal," the young man said. "Victory or defeat, it all comes down to the seal. The dao begets one. One begets two. Two begets three. Three begets all things. You only have a fragment of the full God Legion Seal. Years ago, it was broken into three parts, and you have one of them. Those who possess the other two pieces are your greatest enemies, understand? Right now, you have no idea who they are, but I have a clue about one of them. What do you think? Spare me, and we can work together. I'll help you find that person with the God Legion Seal. Agreed? Without me to lead the way, you'll never succeed. That person's energy arts are far beyond yours. He's already reached the Deathless Throne, which means that he's a member of the legion of gods. Even if he's only a lowly Lesser God, you still stand no chance against him. In fact, if you faced him, your God Legion Seal would fly out and abandon you in the blink of an eye. You would be dead instantly."

"Oh?" Yang Qi was fully aware of how important a matter this was.

He had long since come to the knowledge that he only had a fragment of the full God Legion Seal, and he had no idea where the other fragments were. It definitely was a potential disaster.

The God Legion Seal was so powerful that not even he was sure about its limits. It was obvious that any other person who had a fragment would be similar to him, some sort of consummate, freakish genius.

"You need to think this through clearly," the young man said. "I'm telling you, the person I know about that has the God Legion Seal isn't from this time period. He's from the future. From the same age as me. His life has nothing to do with yours, so there's no way that you'll ever just run into him on your own. Understand?

"Without me, you'll never be able to pierce through space-time and go to the future. The only option you have is to work with me. I'll take you there to search for this person with the God Legion Seal fragment. We can kill him together, and you'll get another fragment. You'll have two parts out of three, and will be the most domineering figure in the world. You'll control the past, the present, and the future."

A thoughtful expression appeared on Yang Qi's face as he considered the offer.

As for Princess Jadefall, she just waited. She knew how important this matter was; it was more important than a hundred million of the Titan Emperor Heaven put together. It pertained to the creation and destruction of universes, of the workings of fate and the transformations of worlds. It related to the past, present, and future. To the god legion kingdom.

After a long moment of thought, Yang Qi smiled, then laughed.

"Nice one," he said. "I used to think I had a glib tongue, but it turns out you really take the cake. Did you really think I was going to let you go? Or were just trying to buy time in the hopes that someone stronger than me would come along and save you? Sorry, I'm not that easily fooled."

"What?!" the young man said, his face falling. "Think things through! This has to do with your own life and death. If you miss this chance, you'll regret it until your dying day."

"Oh really?" Yang Qi laughed again. "Go ahead and try to destroy that so-called memory pocket."

The young man tried to do so, but realized that his mind and thoughts were locked down. Looking up, he saw the Wheel of Fate above him, which had taken control of his thoughts and fate.

"You're really full of craft and cunning, aren't you? You Future Ones aren't easy to deal with, that's for sure. But your glib tongue isn't going to help you now. Die!" Yang Qi shoved a burning palm onto the young man, who began to melt like a candle, his flesh becoming a liquid that flowed down to the ground with magical symbols streaming up from it.

They were symbols that didn't belong to this aspect of space-time. No, they were from the future. Almost as soon as they appeared, they began fading away as they prepared to go back to the future. But before they could, Yang Qi drew on the powers of the God Legion Seal to seal space-time, locking them in place.

1. This quote is from the famous Daoist text a.k.a. . It is generally agreed that the numbers represent certain specific things. One represents nothingness, two represents yin and yang, three represents heaven, earth, and man. There are different theories about what exactly the original author meant by all of these things, but for the most part it seems to be about the creation of the world/universe.