Sage Monarch

Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit was truly terrified. Numerous god-devil pillars all exploded simultaneously, and hundreds of sealed heaven-devils emerged. It was a force that could destroy anything up to a fifth ranked immortal world.

Her first instinct was to simply turn and flee.

"Calm down," Yang Qi said. "These devil-gods are about to become a lovely snack for me. Take a look at King Heaven-Devourer!"

An enormous primal-chaos elder-snake appeared, opening its mouth and creating a massive vortex of destruction. The Heaven-Devouring Grand Formation sprang up as well, filled with churning primal-chaos that returned the entire area back to the time before everything had been created.

Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop!

One devil-god after another was sealed, then exploded into powder. Howls rang out as they were sucked into the enormous snake, atop whose head Yang Qi stood, laughing heartily. Winds screamed as he opened a channel to the Eight Tribes Heaven, causing dragon energy to swirl down into him.

Without any hesitation, he drew on the powers of his special constitution. His identity was that of a Future One, a Fateless One, and a Reincarnated One, all together at the same time.

A mysterious image featuring numerous dragons suddenly appeared behind him, this time with an additional dragon!

Now he had the arts of the Heaven, True, God, Infernal, Bone, Netherworld and Devil Dragon Tribes.

The only one left was the most mysterious and powerful type of dragon there was, the type that rivaled the legion of gods: the buddha dragon.

Legend had it that the buddha dragons were the progenitors of all other dragons, their essence and origin. It was also said that the person who founded the buddhist schools in the ancient era had actually been a buddha dragon from the Dragonfolk.

RUMBLE!

"Let the buddha dragon come. Buddha is a dragon!" As Yang Qi floated up into the air, the remaining fiend-devils stuck in the Heaven-Devouring Grand Formation were drained of their power. Some tried to flee, but it was too late.

'My god,' Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit thought. 'How is this even possible? The first level of this castle has so many Godmyths! But he's killing them all like crushing chicken eggs! How strong is this guy?'

Over a hundred Godmyth heaven-devils were killed at the same time, causing devil energy and virtual godhood to flow toward Yang Qi. Godhood was the quintessence of the magical laws of the Godmyth level, something that most people could never have the chance to gather for cultivation purposes. It was also the perfect fuel for the Eight Tribes Godfist.

"Buddha Dragon: Form!" Yang Qi shouted. All of the remaining fiend-devils exploded, their virtual godhood rushing into Yang Qi like burning godfire.

As the godfire burned, the image of another dragon appeared.

Dragons roared and golden light raged as streams of vital energy formed together into the character 'dragon'. Yang Qi was blessed with power as he completed the perfect version of the Eight Tribes Godfist. He was the first person to have ever done it, even among the Dragonfolk!

'He actually completed the Eight Tribes Godfist?' Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit thought, feeling completely overwhelmed with shock. She had the feeling that this was only the first of many miracles to come from this 'Yellow Future'.

'Maybe he really is going to take me to find those seven swords.'

As Yang Qi reined in his abilities, his aura surged. Now that he had the perfect version of the Eight Tribes Godfist, he could fully connect to the Eight Tribes Heaven. And in combination with the perfect version of his five phases godly-class energy art, he would be virtually unbeatable in a fight.

Of course, the two techniques didn't match up to the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. But right now, using the Sagely Sacrifice was just too much of a drain on his true energy.

The first level of Castle Heaven-Devil had been cleared out, and didn't have even a scrap of devil energy left. All of the sealed devil-gods had been slaughtered. Throughout the entire history of the Sage Sword Heaven, no one had ever done something like this.

"And now for their treasures," he said. "Here are one hundred and thirty-eight animadestiny magical treasures that once belonged to Godmyth patriarchs. Many of them are god items, all of which I promised to you. And I always keep my word." He waved his hand, sending all of the magical treasures flying over to Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit.

"This…." Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit said hesitantly. If she took all of the magical treasures, it would probably make her the richest person in the Sage Sword Heaven.

The Sage Sword Heaven had eighteen powerful sectlords, and although they were generally united, there was always competition between them. And their subordinates, apprentices, and disciples were always fighting and plotting against each other. Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit's faction was neither the most powerful nor the weakest, but with this wealth she could definitely rise to the top.

'Hmph. I nearly lost my life at Castle Heaven-Devil this time. Sectlord Emptydeath, Sectlord Vile-Crusher, Sectlord Ghost-Banisher… I'm going to crush you all. You knew that the seals here were weakening and it would be a very dangerous situation. That's why you voted me into guard duty early, in the hopes that I would die—or at least be responsible for releasing some of the heaven-devils, whereupon you could condemn me publicly. I bet you never could have guessed that someone would help me to kill all the heaven-devils, and even recover our seven lost swords. When I get back, I'm definitely going to become a Tempered God and take full control of our immortal world!'

After some thought, she looked at Yang Qi and said, "I'm truly ashamed. You killed all of those heaven-devils, and I already got more than a dozen magical treasures. I think taking any more would be downright greedy. Brother Yellow, why don't you give these magical treasures to your own apprentices and disciples, or use them to benefit your cultivation base. Here."

"Fine," Yang Qi said. Obviously, Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit had a sense of propriety. Waving his hand, Yang Qi took the god items, crushed them, and absorbed their godliness.

Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit looked on mutely, never having seen anything like that happen.

"Come on, let's go," Yang Qi said. "The first level is clear and I've completed the Eight Tribes Godfist. Let's go to the second level and see how strong the devils are there." Up ahead was a pitch-black corridor that emitted powerful devil energy, which was none other than the passageway to the dangerous second level.

"The devil energy there is a hundred times stronger than the first level," Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit said. "There are second division Godmyths sealed there, Tempered Gods who I'm no match for. They could kill me as easily as drinking water. If we go there, we have to be extremely careful. You know, considering you cleared the first floor, it's going to be thousands of years before the seals have any chance of breaking. You've won a great victory for the Sage Sword Heaven here."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Tempered Gods are indescribably more powerful than Seer Gods, right? Considering I can kill so many of the former, I'm not worried about trying to take down a few of the latter. And we can stick to the weaker devil-gods. After I kill a few and absorb their virtual godhood, we can reassess the situation. By the way, I'm not sure that what you just said is correct. Clearing the first level might not necessarily buy you a few thousand years of breathing room. There are mysterious transformations brewing in Castle Heaven-Devil, and I wouldn't be surprised if, in only a few decades, this place explodes and all of the devil-gods inside are released. Your Sage Sword Heaven had better start preparing for that possibility now."

"What? That soon? I find it hard to believe it will only be in a few dozen years. If that happens, our immortal world is doomed to be destroyed. Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure. Come on, let's keep exploring this place. I'm curious to learn more secrets about devils and gods." Yang Qi wasn't just being an alarmist. After entering Castle Heaven-Devil, he had drawn on his Wheel of Fate and learned that there was definitely some impending catastrophe looming. And now he was determined to find more information.

The pitch-black passageway spiraled down into even stronger devil energy, although it didn't pose any threat to Yang Qi.

Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit followed along nervously.

After about two hours, they reached the enormous second floor. There were no god-devil pillars, but instead altars, each of which was fully five thousand kilometers from end to end. They were made from stone and drenched in blood. Atop them lay skeletons and dried-up corpses, and a sinister breeze wafted about, carrying the wails of ghosts.

Crack!

Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit took a wrong step and snapped a bone, freeing a black smoke that rose up in the shape of a vicious face.

Looking down, she realized that there were swords embroidered on the robe which hung on the skeleton she had just stepped on. "This skeleton. It's one of our matriarchs who died here a million years ago!"