Sage Monarch

"You'll die."

The atmosphere immediately became very tense.

This was an Inspiring One, a leader in the tenth ranked Martial Blood Heaven. Even more relevant, he was a third division Incarnated God, a person of immense power who could look down on virtually any expert from any lower-ranked immortal world.

Yet not only did Yang Qi refuse his offer, he also threatened to kill him. Yang Qi was completely and utterly throwing caution to the wind. Truth be told, he wasn't just defying this Inspiring One's powers, he actually aimed to assimilate him. He was already acutely aware of how powerful Inspiring Ones were; their abilities to affect people on a mental level would be a big help during a fight.

Right now, Yang Qi had the powers of a Fateless One, a Future One, and a Reincarnated One, and had just devoured a Slashing One. Furthermore, he had risen to the level of an immortal paragon, and was poised to continue on to become an immortal ancestor and even an immortal emperor.

Truth be told, the level of the ninth stage Dao-Demolisher was not out of the question, at which time he would be a sovereign of heaven.

Considering his cultivation base and power reserves, he was essentially the strongest person in existence under the Godmyth level. If he could take the power of an Incarnated God, who was also an Inspiring One, he would then have four special constitutions and would be able to take on hundreds of Tempered Gods at the same time and defeat them as easily as a boulder crushing a drinking glass.

Furthermore, during the course of a fight like that, he would be able to use King Heaven-Devourer's talismans to devour his enemies' true energy. For all intents and purposes, he would be unbeatable.

That wasn't to mention the benefits such a fight would bring to his Blood of the One God.

Right now, that blood had reached the level of fifty percent and was closing in on another breakthrough. At the moment, he was at the level that an Incarnated God wouldn't find it an easy task to defeat and kill him.

Ultimately, Yang Qi was itching to get the power of an Inspiring One. Once he got it, he could head into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart and use it on the fiend-devil Jade-in-Stone. If he could assimilate Jade-in-Stone's deathless devil will, he would definitely have no trouble breaking into the Godmyth level.

"What? You want to kill me? You're crazy, aren't you?" Even the most even-keeled person would react with anger to Yang Qi's words, much less an Incarnated God and Inspiring One. Now that it was abundantly clear to the Inspiring One that his powers wouldn't work on Yang Qi, his expression flickered and he prepared to crush him using cultivation base alone.

The truth was that his offer to cooperate with Yang Qi had been as false as Yang Qi guessed. He had been planning to ultimately kill him and absorb his constitution. That was actually the same thing he had been planning to do to Traceless Slasher. Inspiring Ones were always duplicitous schemers, and they were never good people.

He waved his sleeve and a burst of Martial Dao True Energy rolled out, pulsing with an aura of steel and blood.

"Steel Blood Universal Cosmos!"

The weeping of ghosts and wailing of gods echoed out as a world of steel and blood spread, covering everything and causing it to tremble. Vengeful souls flitted here and there, which were apparently the remains of all the people who had been killed throughout the years by this attack.

Instantly, immense pressure weighed down on Yang Qi as the devastating attack approached.

Yang Qi chopped his hands out in front of him, then swirled them to create what looked like a black hole, but was really the mouth of a primal-chaos elder-snake.

"You think you can use a primal-chaos elder-snake to devour my vital energy? You're really naive. Your cultivation level is so pitifully weak that no amount of magical treasures or special techniques will help you. Not even your special constitution will help you. Who do you think I am, some piece of trash like Traceless Slasher? I could have killed him with the flick of a finger. You simply don't comprehend the vast difference between an Incarnated God and a Tempered God, do you? A Tempered God could never possibly surpass an Incarnated God. Understand?"

POP!

Yang Qi's palm attack met the sleeve swipe of the Inspiring One, and the vital energy of steel and blood poured into Yang Qi.

Instantly, Yang Qi was thrown backward, tumbling through the air and coughing up blood like mad. It looked like he had been seriously injured by only one simple move on the part of his opponent.

However, even as he tumbled through the air, he took the energy inside him and sent it into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. The truth was that he hadn't been hurt. It was all an act. As his cultivation base grew, it became easier to reach into his sea of energy and open the passage to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. And when he did that, it was easy to channel the power of incoming attacks there.

For all intents and purposes, attacking Yang Qi was like attacking the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. And the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was something that couldn't be destroyed by the most elite experts, even members of the legion of gods. At the most, such entities might be able to shake it slightly. As for this Incarnated God Inspiring One, his attack disappeared into the chart like a stone dropping into the ocean.

That said, the vital energy didn't just vanish. Instead, it was wrapped up and sent hurtling toward the deathless devil will of Jade-in-Stone.

In other words, Yang Qi was taking the Inspiring One's attack and using it on Jade-in-Stone.

"Aaaiiiieee!"

Jade-in-Stone was completely imprisoned and incapable of moving, and unfortunately Yang Qi wasn't strong enough to truly harm him. But now things were different. Instantly, an opening appeared in the warding magics binding Jade-in-Stone and he was hit with a direct blow.

The aura of steel and blood seemed to contain the cosmos itself and instantly inflicted a big injury on Jade-in-Stone's vital energy.

"Just what exactly is going on here?" he blurted. "How could this be happening? Is that the fabled Steel-Blood Universal-Cosmos Nine-Profundities True Art?! That's a godly-class energy art, and it can definitely hurt me. But you have to be an Incarnated God before you can cultivate it. Damnation! How did that brat get the help of an Incarnated God to help assimilate me? This is really, really bad! I refuse to go along with this! I'm going to defy heaven and turn all of this around!"

He began sending furious attacks at the passageway connecting to Yang Qi, but Yang Qi merely redirected them outward.

"So, brat, you're finally trying to fight back!" Flying up into the air, the Inspiring One launched a trump card attack at Yang Qi. "Steel-Blood Universal-Cosmos Nine-Profundities True Art! Second Stance: Steel Blood Dominates All!"

A domineering energy poured out into the world, seemingly capable of attacking everything that existed in the Sage Sword Heaven and destroying it all.

All of the nearby experts were fleeing at top speed, fearful of getting caught up in the crossfire.

Even Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit was trembling in fear, aware that if Yang Qi lost this fight, he would be killed, and she—and everyone else—would likely meet the same fate.

POP!

The second stance hit Yang Qi, smashing into his chest and sending him flying backward, more blood spraying out of his mouth.

"Third Stance: Steel Blood Without Limit!"

The next move was a palm strike that multiplied into hundreds of billions of palms that slammed into Yang Qi, bashing him left and right like a rubber ball and sending massive amounts of power into him that should have squashed him into a meat pancake.

Those watching the fight were shivering in terror at the horrific sight and knew full well that if they were in Yang Qi's position, they would be dead already.

But the truth was that although Yang Qi was coughing up blood, he wasn't actually hurt. It was all an act to get the Inspiring One to continue attacking him.

"You're tough, brat. Whatever your constitution is, it makes you strong enough to stand up to three moves from an Incarnated God. You might not be dead, but you're badly injured and the best thing you could accomplish now would be to escape alive. It must be because of King Heaven-Devourer's talismans. That's the only explanation for how you've held out so long. Unfortunately, you're not the actual King Heaven-Devourer and there's no way you can handle all of the true energy I'm pumping into you with these attacks. Fine. I'm going to use all of the rest of the stances from the Steel-Blood Universal-Cosmos Nine-Profundities True Art. I'll devastate those imperial snakecharms and take them for my own. Then no one will be a match for me!"

Obviously, there was no way the Inspiring One would pass on a rare chance to get some of King Heaven-Devourer's talismans.

"Steel Blood Destroys Worlds!"

"Steel Blood Nirvanic Reincarnation!"

"Steel Blood God Forging!"

"Steel Blood Eight Polarities!"

"Steel Blood Nine Transmigrations!"

RUUUUUUUUMBLE!

Five moves slammed into Yang Qi, who flipped and tumbled, blood spraying out of his mouth. And yet he wasn't destroyed.

"Aaaiiiieee! Daaammit!"

Within the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, Jade-in-Stone twitched and writhed under the force of the attacks, simultaneously cursing Yang Qi to death.