Sage Monarch

Although Yang Qi had subdued the bloodsea heaven-devil, it would take time to assimilate it.

Not even King Heaven-Devourer's talismans could help in that regard. The virtual godhood of Tempered God heaven-devils was just too tough, and Yang Qi's overall level was too low. In fact, without his God Legion Seal, he would never have been able to defeat an opponent like this.

Therefore, spending any further time in this castle wouldn't do him any good. However, he had promised Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit to help her search for those seven swords, which were apparently one level down. That third level was nothing to underestimate.

The sealed fiend-devils in there were all at the third division of the Godmyth level, making them Incarnated Gods. If even one of them got free, it would be a disaster of epic proportions. It was said that bloommortal worlds beneath the tenth rank couldn't even produce Incarnated Gods. One had to go to higher heavenly worlds just to encounter them.

In other words, places like the Brahman Immortal World or Regal Event Heaven, or even seventh ranked immortal worlds like the Sage Sword Heaven, would never have any third division Godmyths. At most, they might have second division Tempered Gods. And when Tempered Gods reached a certain level of cultivation, they would leave their immortal world and search for a higher place to achieve their breakthrough. Because of that Tempered Gods were somewhat of a rarity in lower immortal worlds.

Yang Qi rose to his feet. "Let's go. I have this bloodsea heaven-devil under control for now, so it won't cause any problems. Let's go down and see what these Incarnated God heaven-devils are like."

"Seriously? You're really going to go down there?" Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit clearly had some misgivings. "Those Incarnated Gods might not be able to break free from their seals, but their psychic power should still be able to assault intruders. It's going to be very dangerous down there. After all, the matriarch we're seeking was a Tempered God, and not even she could survive. In fact, the Sect Grandaunt we just found was definitely here trying to find those holy swords, only to be killed on the second level."

"We'll be fine. Psychic attacks and devil energy are nothing to me. I have a profound art that can turn devil energy into the very power I need to assimilate that bloodsea heaven-devil. Going down to the next level is exactly what I need to do." He swished his sleeve. "Unfortunately, your cultivation base is a bit low, so stick close to me. You never know, we might find something that could push you to the Tempered God level right here and now."

'Did he just say my cultivation base is low?' She smiled wryly. She was an extremely powerful and important matriarch from a seventh ranked immortal world, the subject of reverence and adoration of millions upon millions of people. Never had anyone told her she had a weak cultivation base. But in the end, she had no comeback. After all, the current foray into Castle Heaven-Devil was almost one hundred percent Yang Qi's work and had little to do with her.

Considering the danger they were about to face, she had every intention of sticking close to Yang Qi.

WHOOSH!

Speeding past the various altars, Yang Qi led the way deeper into the castle. The devil energy grew more intense, and soon it was possible to see the air twisting and distorting into what appeared to be the gaping mouths of devil-ghosts, just sitting there waiting for unsuspecting prey to devour.

Devil will formed vicious smiles and terrifying, cackling laughter could be heard. The boundless divine will of these fiend-devils could slip past the sealing marks that held them and gather devil energy that, over the course of thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, could be used to create out-of-body incarnations.

It was almost too much for Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit to take, but Yang Qi didn't seem worried at all. A primal-chaos vortex popped up around him and began to suck in the devil energy and turn it into vital energy. At the same time, a projection of the Eight Tribes Heaven appeared above him, giving him dragon gods as dharmic guards.

"Ghost-god!" Yang Qi breathed, causing a magical sealing mark to appear on his hand. At the same time, one of the gaping mouths hidden in the darkness and gloom transformed into a śarīra which dropped into his palm.

"A heaven-devil śarīra!" Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit said.

They were very close to the third level now.

Three days and three nights passed, until a new scene eventually met their eyes. Stretching out in front of them was a boundless starry sky, filled with countless devil planets.

The planets were all enormous tombs, with greyspaces of their own, pulsing with devil energy that wished to consume heaven and earth and cause all suns and moons to rot. Each of those tombs contained multiple sealed devils. Even one of those creatures could wipe Yang Qi out of existence with ease.

'These sealed tombs are so sturdy!' Yang Qi thought. 'They must have been created by the legion of gods!' Because of the memories that were locked deep within the God Legion Seal, he knew that the Incarnated God devils sealed here were definitely extremely powerful.

The numerous planetary tombs in this devil world drifted about in accord to some profound orbital arrangement. But Yang Qi, with his Lord's Eye, could analyze all of it. As for Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit, all she saw was boundless devil energy and inky blackness. In fact, the devil energy was so dense it was almost liquid, and it immediately began to corrode her defensive true energy.

"Crap, what kind of place is this? The devil energy is incredible!" The liquefied devil energy was so strong that it formed into devil hands that grasped and scraped at her defenses, prompting her to draw her sword and slash away at it.

She severed a devil hand, only to have it transform into a host of snakes that wrapped around her sword, hissing violently. If any of that devil energy pierced all the way through her defenses, she would be in horrific danger.

POP!

Seeing what was happening, Yang Qi exhaled and flames burst out to cleanse the devil energy. Then he made a grasping motion, gathering the energy into his hand where it formed another heaven-devil śarīra.

"Primal-chaos elder-snake!"

His imperial snakecharms flew out, causing intense rumbling sounds as it devoured any devil energy it encountered.

After a few hours, even Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit was able to gain a glimpse of the devil world around them, including the starry sky and the enormous tombs.

"Heaven Sword Surge: King Life-Killer!" Drawing on a profound art, she spat out a mouthful of blood that took the shape of a geomantic compass. The compass needle spun wildly as it looked for the signature swords she sought.

After a moment, the compass needle stopped moving and she said, "The swords are over there!"

Yang Qi looked over and involuntarily gasped.

The compass was pointing to a glittering tomb that had so much devil energy it was pitch black, but at the same time, jade-like in appearance. In fact, there was something about it that reminded Yang Qi of the Jade-Emperor Profound-Welkin Exalted-Celestial God-Dao. And obviously, the devilishness here was many times stronger than average devil energy.

Whatever was sealed here, it was no ordinary monster, but rather something like a devil emperor. A devil among devils.

The closer he got to the tomb, the more dangerous it felt.

It was surrounded by countless withered corpses, as well as scattered clothing and magical treasures. It seemed that, throughout the years, many experts had explored this area, only to die in front of the jade-like tomb.

"That's where the seven swords of King Life-Killer are!" Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit said. There was one particular corpse that had seven swords stacked up next to it, as well as a sword case that radiated even more energy.

"There are more than just these seven!" Yang Qi said. "Obviously, this matriarch of yours wasn't here to kill monsters, but rather to collect King Life-Killer's swords. King Life-Killer originally created seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven swords, and every group of seven that you collect gives you deeper insight into the true meaning of the Seven Killings and an incredible increase in power. Come on, let's go get the seven swords, then see if we can collect some of the others."

"Alright!" Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit very nearly rushed over to the swords, but held back out of fear. "That tomb is very creepy. It's made of jade? Considering the matriarch died here, could there be traps? I have the feeling that whatever monster is sealed inside that jade tomb is incredibly dangerous. What if…."

"You're absolutely right," Yang Qi said, nodding. "There's a devil ancestor in that tomb that has reached the level of cultivation of being both a devil and a god. I doubt even I could handle it. That said, we still need to go in and look around. Maybe we can communicate with whatever monster is in the tomb. Besides, if I can manage to assimilate the bloodsea heaven-devil, then it's entirely possible that I could handle the situation. If not, then we just flee."

After all, if absolutely necessary, Yang Qi could escape to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart at any time. And once he was inside, not even the legion of gods could break in to chase him.

1. When you search for "sword case" in Chinese, almost all of the results are from Chinese fantasy games (wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan). Here is , and .

2. The "Seven Killings" referring to one of the 14 major stars from , a real-life method of fortune-telling in China.