Sage Monarch

"Who is it? What bastard Incarnated God is helping this brat attack me!? Once I get out of here I'm going to sever your tendons and skin you alive! You're dead, you bastard!" Jade-in-Stone was virtually frothing at the mouth, yet sadly, there was nothing he could do. In fact, the attacks were getting more severe. And if he knew that Yang Qi was actually redirecting the attacks of an Inspiring One onto him, he would have passed out from rage.

Sadly, both of Yang Qi's opponents were completely in the dark and had no idea what was happening.

'This is great!' Yang Qi thought. 'I'm letting the devils handle the devils, while I just sit off to the side. Once Jade-in-Stone loses enough of his vital energy, I'll assimilate his deathless devil will and my energy arts will improve even more. I should be able to kill this Inspiring One at that point. In fact, I bet I would even be able to handle Proud Heaven. Then I could go back to the Brahman Immortal World and uncover all of its secrets on my own. Maybe I can just go right to the future world to look for my mother and the other God Legion Seal fragments.'

As Yang Qi planned and schemed, he continued with his act. Both of his opponents were still completely unaware of what was really going on. Jade-in-Stone thought Yang Qi was working with a powerful ally to attack him, and the Inspiring One was sure that he was just about to kill Yang Qi and assimilate him.

Eventually, though, the Inspiring One started to get a strange feeling. 'Hmph. There's more to this little brat than meets the eye, isn't there?'

He was now fairly certain that Yang Qi was actually absorbing the power of his attacks. And he could clearly sense the backlash attacks from Jade-in-Stone, which he needed to use vital energy to negate. Those backlash attacks seemed to contain power from someone who had cultivated the dao of devils all the way to the Incarnated God level.

'Don't tell me this brat's cultivation base has some of the power of an Incarnated God!? That must be it. His cultivation base is just too low. There's no way he's accomplished everything he has on his own. He obviously has some almighty entity backing him. If I kill him, that almighty being will probably show up. Well, there's no need to get nervous. I'm backed by the Martial Blood Heaven, so what do I have to be afraid of? After I get his vital energy and treasures, I'll go into secluded cultivation. There's a good chance I can reach another breakthrough and become a fourth division Shattered God.'

Shattered Gods had to shatter their virtual godhood, then form it back into something more true and real than before.

It was a level that Incarnated Gods couldn't possibly compare to.

POP!

He unleashed another round of attacks.

"Steel Blood Hundred Transformations!"

"Steel Blood Completely Invincible!"

"Steel Blood Snatches Gods!"

"Steel Blood True Void!"

"Steel Blood Loyal Heart!"

One attack after another flooded out, forming flames of steel and blood that engulfed Yang Qi. However, he funneled them all into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, causing Jade-in-Stone to scream and howl with murderous rage.

"What Incarnated God got tricked into working for that brat? Don't you realize that you're wasting your vital energy!? You're hurting both of us! You couldn't possibly be that selfless!" Jade-in-Stone was truly confused. Even if Yang Qi had somehow convinced an Incarnated God to help him, that person shouldn't have gone to such outrageous lengths, to the extent of treating Jade-in-Stone like the most deadly of enemies.

Incarnated Gods like that didn't even exist, did they? He just didn't understand.

Little did he know that it wasn't a case of someone trying to help Yang Qi, but rather someone going all out to kill him.

"Fine!" Jade-in-Stone growled. "I guess I need to put everything on the line, too. Eighty-Eight Profound-Jade Devil Art: Origin-Returning Grand Energy Skill!"

RUMBLE!

Heaven-destroying, earth-extinguishing devil energy rushed out, the type that could topple universes.

A devil hand stretched out from Yang Qi's sea of energy, flying directly toward the Inspiring One.

Whack!

Never could the Inspiring One have surmised that Yang Qi had such invincible power within him. He instantly realized that he had been tricked, but before he could react the devil hand had already smashed his defensive empyrean energy and battered his virtual godhood. Blood sprayed out of his mouth as he suffered a grievous injury.

"You!" he blurted. Then he bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood that turned into a streaking arrow and shot into Yang Qi. "I never imagined you would be hiding something like that! You were hiding a paper talisman, weren't you? You're backed by an almighty Incarnated God who gave you some animadestiny quintessence energy in talisman form that you could unleash in an unexpected attack! Sadly for you, although your trick worked, I just hit you with my Steel-Blood Vital-Energy God-Slaying Arrow! You won't live for much longer now!"

The arrow of blood entered Yang Qi's sea of energy, and promptly entered the passageway to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. When it stabbed into Jade-in-Stone's devil will, he trembled as the fire of steel and blood enveloped him. 'My god! He's actually going all out! He just hit me with an animadestiny god arrow? I'm down to eighty percent of my vital energy!' His devil will was flickering unstably; he had obviously sustained such terrible injuries that he was no longer the fierce and domineering devil he had been before.

To the Inspiring One's surprise, Yang Qi began laughing and erupted with sagelight. As of this moment, he looked more energetic and dangerous than ever. Even as he floated up into the air, the sagelight swept over his body and erased all of the blood and supposed wounds he had 'suffered'.

"Many thanks to you. I know you thought you were hurting me just now, but you were gravely mistaken." Yang Qi was like a god from heaven that had descended into the mortal world. He wasn't hurt at all, but had instead reached an unprecedented level of strength. It was as if he were the kind of person who could contend with heaven-gods.

"You see, I have an invincible monster sealed inside me, a monster that really has it out for me. I've been redirecting your power to attack him instead of me. Before long, his vital energy will run out and I'll assimilate him. Did you really think I would normally just stand around like an idiot and let someone hit me over and over again?

"It took a lot out of you to shoot that blood arrow at me, didn't it? And now you've been injured by the very same monster I've been using you against. So. Where are you going to run to now? Why not be a good boy and let me assimilate you? I assimilated your pawn, Traceless Slasher, and now I'm going to assimilate you. The constitution of an Inspiring One is going to be a big help."

Yang Qi thrust his hand out in a series of attacks that contained countless variations. Each attack was like the strike of heavenly lightning, causing deafening booms to ring out everywhere. He drew on all the power he could muster, even the natural laws of the great dao. It was something no one could possibly stand up to.

WHOOSH!

He became a streak that moved millions upon millions of times faster than the speed of light as he attacked the Inspiring One.

The Inspiring One immediately called on his robe of primal-chaos to defend himself, but it did him no good. His robe was shredded to pieces as Yang Qi's blow landed square on his chest, then pierced into his body toward his heart.

"Aaaiiiieee!"

The Inspiring One jerked to the side, just managing to avoid the fate of having his heart ripped out. Unfortunately, he received a grisly wound that burned with an intense fire.

Of the thirty-six stratagems of war, retreat is often the best option.

He was fully aware of that axiom, and realized that he was no match for Yang Qi. Here he was, about to lose to someone from a low-ranking immortal world, someone far younger than him, and over a very inconsequential matter. Obviously, that was unacceptable.

Suddenly, he flared with light the color of steel and blood, and simultaneously began shrinking down. In the blink of an eye, he became a flickering mote that shot upward and vanished.

Yang Qi rushed forward, reached out, and grabbed something. Even as he did, a voice echoed into his ears. "I'm going to remember you, boy. Things aren't going to go good for you. You think you control the Sage Sword Heaven now? You're delusional. Everything here is controlled by the Martial Blood Heaven, and this rebellion isn't going to go unnoticed. When I return, I'm not going to be a mere Incarnated God. Once I'm back, you're dead!"

Ignoring the voice, Yang Qi looked down at his palm, where he held a tiny, wriggling clump of flesh and blood. It was the last remaining bit of the enemy he had just fought, and although it struggled to free itself and fly away, Yang Qi had it completely under his control.

'This is some nice flesh and blood, and it contains some of the aura of an Inspiring One. If I assimilate it, I'll have a fraction of the power of an Inspiring One. Although I won't have all of the aspects of the constitution type, it will still be better than nothing." Without hesitation, he consumed its quintessence.

The battle was over.

No one could ever have guessed how things would play out. Yang Qi had cut down Traceless Slasher and assimilated him with ease, then, when an Inspiring One showed up and everyone assumed Yang Qi would die, he turned the tables and ended the fight in a completely unexpected way.

Those who were present and observed the fight stared around with gaping mouths.

That was especially true of the people from the God-Slashing Sword Sect, who felt like they were dreaming. Only after a long moment had passed did they finally start to recover.

Their sectlord was dead, and without someone to lead them they had no idea of what to do next.