Sage Monarch

Inspiring Ones possessed one of the three thousand special constitution types that existed, but they were completely different from Slashing Ones. Slashing Ones were completely and utterly focused on fighting and combat. Their cultivation level would usually rise to incredible heights, and they were essentially natural-born war machines.

But Inspiring One were often strategists, tacticians, or advisors, and were skilled at inspiring the masses. They were exceptionally smooth talkers who could win people over with their words, and were sometimes even preachers or diplomats. Truth be told, they were terrifying, as they could essentially control large groups of people, even people stronger and more powerful than themselves.

Traceless Slasher obviously had the power of a Slashing One, yet when he spoke he revealed bits of the power of an Inspiring One. Yang Qi had originally guessed that he had assimilated an Inspiring One to acquire the power of an additional constitution type.

However, one blow devastated Traceless Slasher, and after analyzing his remains Yang Qi found no vital energy from an Inspiring One. That seemed to indicate that Traceless Slasher had not assimilated such a person, but was instead backed by one. Perhaps that was where he got the idea to destroy countless immortal worlds as a sacrifice to push the Sage Sword Heaven to become a tenth ranked immortal world.

Ordinary, sane individuals would never try to do something outrageous like that. But it was definitely something an Inspiring One would aim to accomplish.

Yang Qi knew that, within the three thousand types of constitutions, there were some that were not focused on fighting, yet were far more terrifying than those which did. The Inspiring Ones were like that. They would infiltrate an immortal world and inspire its people to do dramatic things. That immortal world would eventually degenerate into chaos, and ultimately be destroyed. Of course, the Inspiring One would benefit by that, and could bypass countless years of bitter cultivation that were usually required to make progress.

Right now, Yang Qi had incredible fighting prowess, but wasn't necessarily adept at inspiring people. However, if he could assimilate the constitution of an Inspiring One, the benefits would be incredible and would actually be superior to increasing his cultivation base by several levels.

Unfortunately, he had no idea who the Inspiring One was, and he had no clues to follow.

'Inspiring Ones. Leading Ones. Administrating Ones. Shadowy Ones. Those constitution types would be perfect for me, if only I could find them.'

Waving his hand, he pulled Traceless Slasher's vital energy toward himself and began devouring it.

"No! Nooo!" Traceless Slasher no longer was the silver-clad young man who seemed like a razor-sharp sword. Instead, he was a sniveling and screaming worm. "Don't assimilate me! I have a special constitution! I was supposed to reach the Deathless Throne, you can't do this to me! I surrender. I'll acknowledge allegiance to you. You can have the Sage Sword Heaven. I'll even give you the God-Slashing Sword Sect, alright? I know a lot of secrets. If you spare me, it'll be worth your while!"

"Spare you? To learn some secrets? I couldn't care less about secrets. I'm going to assimilate you and add another constitution type to my collection." As the power of a Slashing One entered Yang Qi, he felt his Blood of the One God undergoing incredible transformations.

"Help! HELP!" howled Traceless slasher. "Oh paramount benefactor, save me! You're from a tenth ranked immortal world, so you can definitely save me! I bore your will! I was about to conquer all of the immortal worlds in the face of the impending catastrophe. But someone stopped me at the last moment! You can't just watch me die. I refuse to accept this!"

He continued to scream in this fashion, until finally…

RUMBLE!

All of a sudden, immense force began to weigh down, focusing on Yang Qi. A mighty figure parted the greyspace above and began to descend. It emanated an energy that wasn't even close to being that of a Tempered God. No, it vastly surpassed that; this was the power of a third division Incarnated God.

"Traceless Slasher, you might be a Slashing One but you're completely useless," the figure said in a deep, manly voice. "I gave you so much help in your quest to improve your immortal world and face the impending catastrophe, but in the end, one of your own subordinates defeated you. Look, you're almost dead already! What use are you to me now? That said, you have been working for me for a long time now. And if you cursed me, it could add a level of difficulty to my upcoming devil tribulation. I wouldn't want karma like that." Addressing Yang Qi, he said, "Let him go, boy. He's a Slashing One. You can't just blithely assimilate someone like that."

The man reached toward Yang Qi, who felt like he was about to be dragged up into the air as a result. Immediately, Yang Qi realized that this Incarnated God was not one to take lightly.

However, he just snorted coldly. "You think I'm worried about an Incarnated God? The fiend-devil Jade-in-Stone was a peak Incarnated God, and I crushed him. You're just an ordinary Incarnated God, and you dare to act crazy in front of me? Do you really think that everyone beneath a tenth ranked immortal world is an ant or piece of trash?

Yang Qi exhaled and a gale force wind sprang up, filled with destructive energy that slammed into the Incarnated God's palm attack and completely negated its effects.

Chuckling lightly, Yang Qi continued assimilating Traceless Slasher's Slashing One energy.

Considering he had King Heaven-Devourer's talismans and the virtual godhood of hundreds of Tempered Gods, as well as his Sagely Sacrifice, it only took a moment before nothing was left of Traceless Slasher.

'Time for some tribulation. Sixth division Abstrusity-Demolishing! Make me an immortal paragon!' Heavenly tribulation popped into being above Yang Qi, the rage of the dao of heaven. Yet he simply devoured it. In fact, it happened so quickly that most people present didn't notice what had just occurred. The magical laws of the dao of heaven seemed to weep with grief, as if they knew that this person was foreordained to join the legion of gods, then ultimately destroy them.

In the shortest of moments, Yang Qi became a sixth stage Abstrusity-Demolisher, and yet again, his energy arts transformed.

That said, most observers didn't realize anything had happened. They saw Yang Qi twitch and assumed that he had used some sort of taboo technique the dao of heaven despised. But then some energy flared that forced the rage of the dao of heaven to dissipate.

Only at this point did the descending figure come fully into view. He looked like a middle-aged man who seemed to have a third eye on his forehead, which was locked onto Yang Qi. He wore a long, voluminous robe, the color of which was that of primal-chaos. In fact, there didn't seem to be any marks of stitching or fabrication, as though the garment had actually been created directly out of primal-chaos itself.

"Not bad," he said. "So, you're quite the genius too. Who would have thought that someone like you would appear in the lower worlds? Excellent. As a mere sixth stage Abstrusity-Demolisher, you can slaughter Godmyths, and even defeated a Tempered God Slashing One. Sadly, catastrophe is coming and people like you are doomed to be the first to die."

"Who are you, and what tenth ranked immortal world do you come from?" Yang Qi asked, maintaining full vigilance. "And why are you down here manipulating a seventh ranked immortal world?"

At this point, Yang Qi realized that he had been a bit reckless. In all his calculations, he had never considered that the behind-the-scenes opponent in this affair would be an Incarnated God from a tenth ranked immortal world.

The man in the primal-chaos robe laughed. "This seventh ranked world reports to me, so what's so strange about me manipulating it? What about you? Are you from an immortal world that I control? It's rare to find a person like you anywhere lower than a tenth ranked immortal world. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to you. You're worth a lot more than that piece of trash Slashing One. It's only to be expected that you would assimilate someone like him. That said, if you don't join me, you're going to bring a major catastrophe down on your head—something you can't handle."

Yang Qi burst out laughing. "Catastrophe? What catastrophe? I'm not even afraid of the dao of heaven. Catastrophes and tribulations can't do anything to me. You saw the dao of heaven weeping just now, didn't you?"

"The ignorant are often fearless," the man said with another chuckle. "You know what catastrophe I'm talking about. It comes from the future. Armies from there will soon invade our immortal worlds, and eventually, the god legion plane. In the future, it's possible to open up the aeonic time tunnels and travel to the present. Even ordinary people can make that trip. The subsequent baptism by natural law will turn such people into Future Ones with unique constitutions. Do you really think you can deal with people like that? Stick with me, and we might have a chance to hold back the impending catastrophe."

"What?" Although most people might find the man's words to be preposterous and completely beyond belief, to Yang Qi they were like a lightning strike to the brain.

He knew how strong Future Ones were, and the thought of an entire army of them was terrifying. And most likely, the real reason for the invasion was to find his God Legion Seal.