Sage Monarch

Yang Qi had entered into one of the most profound levels of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth; eternal hell-crushing.

His body transformed into innumerable cells and particles that entered into all the hells, which were as numerous as the eternal sands of the universe. They became like primal embryos which joined the essence of those hells, making them like their rulers. Not even the suzerains of those hells detected what was happening.

The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was the most ultimate martial path or energy art possible, and because of it, Yang Qi was fundamentally the sovereign of all hells.

"Return!"

Eventually, his will issued a cold call into the various essences and martial paths and all of the primal embryos came back, releasing the various hells. However, he had acquired boundless power from them, as well as a deep understanding of their essences.

At this point, Yang Qi uttered a single word. "Die."

In the depths of countless hells, devil-gods howled at the tops of their lungs as they were suddenly slaughtered by Yang Qi's will. Billions upon billions of them instantly died, and their souls appeared behind Yang Qi in the form of a Soul-Summoning Banner. Within the banner were numerous fiend-devils, accompanied by millions upon millions of hells, still and unmoving. However, with the slightest wave of that flag, those myriads of worlds would collapse and a world of devils would appear among men.

"Question Heaven; Summon Souls!"

Yang Qi had unlocked another aspect of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, which was the Heaven-Questioning Soul-Summoning Banner.

Call upon all life to question the great heaven. Summon the souls of the great heaven to inspect the foundations of the earth!

It was a consummate and unparalleled technique. With the Heaven-Questioning Soul-Summoning Banner flying behind him, the pressure that roiled out would be enough to cover and crush an entire immortal world.

"In the name of all the living things in the many heavens, I hereby query the great heaven; the souls of the great heaven are the foundation of the earth; return ye souls, dappled by the evening clouds that obscure the sun and moon; darkness and light invert, and the taiji proliferates; heaven and earth intertwine; the two symbols are perennial; the four divisions combine; the eight wilds flow…." Yang Qi drew on his true energy, causing streams of black light to fill the area, which poured into the Heaven-Questioning Soul-Summoning Banner—and the devils therein—where they formed the souls of the great heaven. Those black streams of light came from the hells that numbered as many as the eternal sands.

Yang Qi was connected to those countless hells, and he could absorb their vital energy with the slightest inhalation.

Having summoned the Heaven-Questioning Soul-Summoning Banner, Yang Qi's cultivation base rose another level. He could now break through the fetters of numerous hells, accessing their power to make himself many times stronger than before.

CRACK!

Three lineaments appeared on his fateless dao fruit, deep striations that made it seem like the thing might crack apart at any moment. He had a dao heart that was virtually impossible to demolish, yet he already had three lineaments on it. He was now strong enough that he felt at least confident enough to face Young Master Leaf in combat.

Another heavenly tribulation descended, but to Yang Qi it was a joke. Using the Heaven-Questioning Soul-Summoning Banner, he simply absorbed it.

"Future power!"

The primal-chaos elder-snake appeared, which immediately began belching the power of the future world. Although it couldn't produce god crystals, it was enough to replenish the Cruiser of Civilization.

He had handed over two hundred of the talismans, which had been placed in the region of the passageway to the future world. Because of that, he could draw on the power of the future at any time he wished. And that ability had increased with the aid of the Heaven-Questioning Soul-Summoning Banner. In fact, as of now, he could use the talismans to establish something of a connection to Brahma's heart.

"Excellent. All I need to do now is continue getting stronger, and then we'll see what Young Master Leaf is really capable of a month from now. How will he deal with me then?"

Having three lineaments was a far cry from having nine. He was still far, far away from being able to reach the Godmyth level. But as long as he could reach the requisite enlightenment, he could push toward the peak, and at the same time, build up power. When the time came, he should be able to achieve his breakthrough.

**

Back in the Immortal-Slayer's Sect, Young Master Leaf was once again meeting with Confucian Daoless.

"What? You're telling me that Dragon Proudheaven cultivates the legendary Nine Deaths Profound Art? He can die nine times, and each time he dies he gets stronger?" Young Master Leaf's face flickered with shock. "According to what I've heard, the Nine Deaths Profound Art originated in primeval times, and was created by some boundless infernal deity who had a deep understanding of the dao of life and death. It really can be used to turn the darkest of fortune into good luck. Unfortunately, it's just too heaven-defying. And eventually, the deity who created it ended up dying nine times, whereupon the Nine Deaths Profound Art vanished into the dust of history. But now it's back. How, though? The only way to get it would be to travel back into primeval times."

"I'm not sure, Master. But this information was so shocking that I had to come report it immediately." Confucian Daoless couldn't have been more loyal to Young Master Leaf and was reporting every bit of credible information he came across.

"Master, there is definitely more to this guy than meets the eye. Logically speaking, he must be an ordinary immortal in ninth stage Dao-Demolishing. He's definitely not a Godmyth. However, he's many times more knowledgeable and experienced than the average person. A lot of people assume that he's relying on the power of a talisman from the Dragonfolk to accomplish everything he does, but after following him all this time I'm fairly certain he's doing everything on his own. He's also hiding his true strength, and is no weaker than a fifth division Nirvanic God. That makes sense if you consider that he cultivates the Nine Deaths Profound Art."

Truth be told, Confucian Daoless's analysis was just making things more confusing for Young Master Leaf.

Young Master Leaf sat there thinking for a long moment, trying to decide how to deal with Yang Qi. He had to defeat him utterly and thoroughly, but at the same time, capture him alive to study him. He couldn't afford to miss this opportunity.

At a certain point, he looked up, a vicious smile on his face. "It doesn't matter. The Nine Deaths Profound Art isn't really that special. He gets stronger each time he dies, but that just means that as long as I don't kill him, I'll be fine. I'll capture him, then make him wish he could die. While he's working on his cultivation for the next month, I'll set up a big spell formation to trap him. Once I lure him in there, he won't even be able to die even if he tries to kill himself."

Confucian Daoless quickly kowtowed. "You're without equal, Master. Your majesty will survive throughout all the ages and you'll be eternally invincible in the world!"

"Go!" Young Master Leaf said, turning to start working on the spell formation.

Time seemed to pass very quickly. The fighting between the future world and the Dao Defense League was intense and bitter. Casualties were immense, with many future warriors falling in combat. But the future world was a massive place. It was impossible to say how many experts existed in the future world. Their warriors were like ants; kill one, and more would pop out in replacement. And every immortal world that was destroyed meant more resources for the future world's use.

On the other hand, more and more people were joining the Dao Defense League. Thus, the future world's forces were struggling to advance the front line. The fighting only continued growing more intense.

The month passed and Yang Qi emerged from seclusion, having sent all of the god crystals he possessed into the Cruiser of Civilization to fill its power reserves. It was now at the level of one ten-thousandth, which had pushed the genetic systems, weapons, power systems, and photonic computers to an even higher level. Although Yang Qi wasn't certain of what the difference was, once he was out of seclusion he felt as though he were being inundated by words of praise from gods and buddhas of all types.

"Confucian Daoless!" he said.

"I'm waiting right here for you, Master!" Of course, Confucian Daoless also sent a notification to Young Master Leaf in the Immortal-Slayer's Sect, informing him of the development. Kneeling in front of Yang Qi, he said, "Oh exalted Master, are we finally going to set out?"

Although he was the picture of respect and piety, in his mind he was cursing Yang Qi with ultimate venom. 'This is going to be your last day of freedom, you goon. Soon, you're going to be wishing for death. You'll be stripped of everything and turned into an ordinary person, living out your days in torment that will rival the worst of the hells.'

Yang Qi could sense the rancorous energy in him, but didn't react to it. "Yes, I'm finished cultivating that profound technique of mine. The time has come for the two of us to go to the Heaven Beyond Heaven. It's going to be a dangerous journey."

"Master, allow me to lead the way!" Confucian Daoless said quickly, hoping to use the opportunity to lead Yang Qi right into the spell formation trap that was waiting for him.

"There's no need to waste time on that," Yang Qi replied. "I happen to have a map created by the Dragonfolk elders, so we shouldn't have any problems getting there. And I can clear all obstacles along the way, plus avoid the primal-chaos pitfalls. There's no way that anyone from the Immortal-Slayer's Sect will be able to follow me! You see, it's a given than they'll try to catch me, but there's no way any of them could be fast enough."

Swish!

Suddenly, Yang Qi moved with the lightning-like speed of a goshawk grabbing a rabbit, taking Confucian Daoless and blurring into motion.

Confucian Daoless was grabbed so thoroughly that he couldn't move; he felt limp and numb as Yang Qi just dragged him along.

In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi disappeared into the spatial tempests of the universe, making it impossible for anyone to track his movements.

Some of the old-timers in the Nine Yangs God Sect sensed what was happening and sent some divine will to scan the area. But even they could hardly pick up traces of his passage.

All of them were shocked. "So fast! I can't believe anyone is even capable of such speed!"