Sage Monarch

With Yang Qi's protection, it was now possible for Sword Seventeen to further his cultivation in the midst of Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit's Tempered God tribulation.

This level of tribulation was so intense that it could easily destroy a first ranked immortal world. The magical laws of tribulations varied depending on the enlightenment of the person involved. For instance, this particular tribulation contained countless deadly flying swords, some of which crackled with lightning. It wasn't lightning formed from protomagnetic energy, but rather from the raw magical laws of heaven and earth. This was an expression of the fury of the dao of heaven.

The Godmyth level was all about challenging the dao of heaven, whose natural laws wouldn't permit such entities to emerge. The reason for that was because after the Godmyth level was the Deathless Throne.

That was the level of the ancient legion of gods, and it surpassed any great dao. Great daos couldn't do anything to the legion of gods. In fact, the gods created new great daos from within primal-chaos itself. Since great daos couldn't do anything to the legion of gods, it was obvious that they wouldn't want other entities to rise to the level of gods. And Godmyths were candidates to join the legion of gods.

The natural laws of the dao of heaven would send tribulation to destroy such cultivators, and would show them no mercy in the process. It was no exaggeration to say that Godmyth cultivators were in staunch opposition to the dao of heaven, and only by gaining victory after victory against it could they establish a right to reach the Deathless Throne.

Crack!

The tribulation grew more and more intense, until millions upon millions of swords fell like a destructive rain. Each sword was strong enough to pierce the greyspace of an immortal world and was filled with the most deadly power imaginable.

Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit threw her own sword up to defend herself, until it finally snapped under the force.

Of course, she had been prepared for something like that, and didn't lose her composure. She exhaled, and fifty-six of King Life-Killer's swords flew out with the lethal force to destroy anything and everything. The descending swords were destroyed, and Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit absorbed all of their sword energy.

The magical laws of the dao of heaven then transformed; they would not rest until she was dead. A godly eye opened up above, larger than countless immortal worlds put together. As it opened, dazzling light shot down to illuminate all creation and purify it.

"Heaven-Eye God-Destroying Tribulation!"

"What is that tribulation doing here?" A grave expression appeared on Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit's face as she sent her true energy out to cover King Life-Killer's swords, causing them to converge into a sword world.

WOOOOSH!

The light from the eye could burn even the void into nonexistence, and according to the rumors, could even be damaging to gods.

While she faced the bitter challenge, Sword Seventeen practiced his own sword technique. Thanks to the true energy defenses Yang Qi had given him, he was safe; without them, he would have died many times over. At a certain point, he threw his head back and howled as his cultivation base unexpectedly rose to the World-Demolishing level.

Suddenly, a burning sphere of sword light appeared above Sword Seventeen, which coalesced into a tiny, dazzling sun. Apparently, the tribulation he was to face was going to be much easier than Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit's.

The truth was that the dao of heaven was too furious with Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit to pay much attention to him. Compared to her, Sword Seventeen was like a child playing off to the side.

'Spectacular,' Yang Qi thought. 'The dao of heaven truly is furious. Of course, measly tribulation like this couldn't hurt me. I could just fuse with my primal-chaos elder-snake and devour it!' He called on his Wheel of Fate, and confirmed that, as far as he was concerned, the fury of the dao of heaven was weak. Perhaps it was because of weakness on the part of Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit, or perhaps it was because she was doomed to fail in her attempt to reach the Deathless Throne. In fact, it seemed likely to Yang Qi that she wouldn't be able to progress from the Tempered God level to the Incarnated God level.

It made him think about how, when he tried to reach the Tempered God level, the dao of heaven would surely note his potential. He could hardly imagine how furiously it would oppose his path to the Deathless Throne. After all, people with unique constitutions received special attention from the dao of heaven, especially those in the Godmyth level. Their tribulations would be thousands of times as difficult as ordinary individuals.

That said, when they passed the tribulations, they reached incredibly advanced levels of strength.

After observing for a bit longer, Yang Qi came to a conclusion. 'Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit clearly doesn't have a unique constitution! Not many people can actually reach the Godmyth level, and of those who do, few befriend me. Most could spend a lifetime unable to reach the Tempered God level. Well, since I'm here, I might as well help her get through this tribulation more quickly. That will save precious time for me as well.'

WHOOSH!

He transformed into a primal-chaos elder-snake, which streaked through the air with gaping maw and devoured stream after stream of tribulation.

In the end, he even devoured the enormous eye.

After consuming the last of the tribulation, Yang Qi exhaled, sending out a stream of pure vital energy and Tempered God magical laws into Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit. As a result, she trembled and vibrated as she fully stepped into the Tempered God level!

"I finally did it! I'm going to be the most powerful expert in the Sage Sword Heaven! Once I return, I'm going to lead the Ice Spirit Sword Sect to new heights!" Already, Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit was planning her next ambitious move.

As for Sword Seventeen, he was off to the side, meditating.

"So you're confident you can seize leadership of the Sage Sword Heaven?" Yang Qi asked.

Her eyes shone with a piercing light, then she frowned. After biting her lip for a moment, she said, "In the Sage Sword Heaven, the dao of the swords is maintained by eighteen sects. No one is higher than the Tempered God level, but technically speaking, that level is usually broken up into nine subcategories. The strongest sect is the God-Slashing Sword Sect, led by Sectlord Traceless Slasher. There's no one stronger than him in the Sage Sword Heaven, and according to the rumors he has a unique constitution. They say that he's a Slashing One."

"Slashing One?" Yang Qi thought for a moment.

Based on the records of the Godmyth patriarchs in the Brahman Immortal World, there were three thousand unique constitutions, and he did remember the Slashing Ones being mentioned. Slashing Ones drew on the ultimate meaning of sharpness and could slash apart all heaven and earth. Although they couldn't compare to Fateless Ones, Fortuned Ones, or Eternal Ones, they were still nothing to take lightly.

And of course, when Slashing Ones cultivated the dao of the sword, they were particularly formidable.

Anyone with a special constitution who reached the Godmyth level was someone Yang Qi couldn't afford to take lightly.

It was true that he had killed the young man in yellow, but despite being a Future One, he wasn't even close to the Godmyth level. In other words, there were many special skills and abilities that he hadn't unlocked. If he had been a Godmyth when they fought, there was no question at all regarding who would have ended up dead: Yang Qi.

Only after reaching the Godmyth level could someone with a unique constitution unleash their potential and become true genius paragons. The ancient daoist texts Yang Qi had read made these points very clear.

"A Slashing One? Who cares!? I'll go with you to the Sage Sword Heaven and help you seize power. If this… what was his name? Traceless Slasher? If he doesn't back down, then I'll help you defeat him. If a measly Slashing One thinks he can cause problems for me, well, that's a joke if I've ever heard one!" After all of his gains, thanks to all the Tempered God fiend devils, and of course Jade-in-Stone, Yang Qi had gained a far higher level of fighting prowess. And with another year and a half of improvement, he would assimilate Jade-in-Stone and improve his cultivation level again.

He was now simply letting his power build as he prepared for his next breakthrough.

His soul enlightenment was already at the immortal paragon level, and soon it would rise higher, going from immortal ancestor, to immortal emperor, to sovereign of heaven, and ultimately to the Godmyth level.

"Let's go!" Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit said. She knew how strong Yang Qi was, and considering he was fully supporting her, she was supremely confident. Without any hesitation, they headed toward her headquarters in the Sage Sword Heaven.

As a seventh ranked immortal world, it was a flourishing place that felt very different from the ancient Brahman Immortal World.

As soon as they entered, Yang Qi saw countless cultivators flying about on swords. Obviously, they had impressive sword technique, a testament to how this sword dao civilization had developed without restraint.

As one of the eighteen leaders of the Sage Sword Heaven, Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit was very important; as soon as she entered the place, everyone got out of her way. Cultivators would drop to kowtow, and people soon noticed that her aura was different from before, indicating that she had recently achieved major progress.

"Up ahead is the foundation of our Sage Sword Heaven, an enormous sword nebula that's protected by warding magics only Godmyths can get through."

Without any fanfare, Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit led them toward the sword nebula.

At a single glance, Yang Qi could tell that it was no ordinary nebula. No, it was a cloud of sword energy created by the breathing exercises of countless experts in the dao of the sword.