Sage Monarch

All it took was a single flick of August Patriarch Sword-Burier's finger to vanquish Patriarch Great Darkness' sword attack.

It was immediately obvious how vast their separation was in terms of levels. But Patriarch Great Darkness couldn't just accept such a huge loss of face. Without hesitation, he drew on another sword technique to launch an even stronger attack on August Patriarch Sword-Burier.

"The Abyss Debuts!"

An abyss of darkness appeared, streaking toward August Patriarch Sword-Burier like a black dragon. It moved with lightning-like speed and contained numerous variations, to the point where many of the patriarchs present could hardly even see it. From the look of shocks that appeared on their faces, it was obvious that if they'd faced an attack like that it would be difficult to survive it.

August Patriarch Sword-Burier immediately backed up.

"Falling back, huh? Then take some more of my Abyssal Chain Reaction Slaughter!

"Second stance: Sins of the King!

"Third stance: Original Sin Cometh!

"Fourth stance: Source of All Evils!

"Fifth stance: Sword Will of All Darkness and Gloom!"

Each of the five stances were deadly and seemed to pulse like evil abysses. Clearly, the Abyssal Sword was something a wretch-god had once used, or it had been blessed by the godpower of one, at the very least.

The sword was inscribed with a variety of sword techniques, all of them evil and from the path of sin, the kind of techniques that could invert magical laws. Each move of the sword seemed capable of dragging the target into an abyss of wickedness, a place from which they could never return to righteousness.

As the flurry of sword blows surrounded August Patriarch Sword-Burier, he eventually disappeared into a swath of absolute darkness. Patriarch Great Darkness was left standing there alone, looking around with a vicious, triumphant grin.

"Dead already, August Patriarch Sword-Burier?" he said with a cruel chuckle. "Once you get caught up in the darkness of my Abyssal Sword, the only thing left for you is despair."

A moment later, August Patriarch Sword-Burier's voice echoed out from the darkness. "Is that so? Considering you use a wicked and evil technique, I suppose I'll have to use the righteous dao of the great heaven to cut you down!"

Suddenly, boundless golden light appeared, awe-inspiring and righteous like a convergence of magical laws that could lead to prosperity and peace.

Swish!

A sword appeared and knocked the Abyssal Sword down to the ground!

Then August Patriarch Sword-Burier appeared, stepping forward and smashing his palm onto Patriarch Great Darkness' chest.

Patriarch Great Darkness shrieked as he was flung backward, blood spraying out of his mouth before he slammed onto the ground, completely unconscious.

"Piece of trash," August Patriarch Sword-Burier said. "Considering that the Abyssal Sword is a god item, I suppose I'll keep it in my sword crypt as a keepsake. Obviously, Patriarch Great Darkness has lost any qualification to be the league-lord." August Patriarch Sword-Burier sent a streak of sword energy into Patriarch Great Darkness and woke him up.

After looking around and realizing he'd lost, his face turned as ashen as death. "I admit I've been beaten. Fine. I'm leaving the Dao Defense League! I'll go back and work on my cultivation until I'm good enough to get revenge for today. Farewell!"

With that, he turned to leave.

Before he could, nine streams of true energy appeared as nine old-timers joined forces to prevent him from leaving.

"Patriarch Great Darkness," said Daoist Great Void, "you need to accept your defeat. If the members of the Dao Defense League could renounce membership just because of losing a fight, we'd be a laughingstock and people would end up quitting in droves. Anyone who loses a fight today will be removed from consideration for office, but no more. Did you really think the competition for the position of league-lord would be fun and games?"

"That's right," another patriarch said, nodding. "Anyone who loses must definitely endorse the new league-lord. Whoever doesn't will be executed!"

"People need to learn to accept defeat. Otherwise our Dao Defense League is never going to be united."

Almost immediately, there were cold snorts of disagreement from some of the other patriarchs.

"I come and go as I please," Patriarch Great Darkness said. "You really think you can forbid us from quitting the Dao Defense League? Even in an imperial dynasty in the mortal world, it's possible to resign from an official position. So why is the Dao Defense League being so restrictive? Seems to me this is no alliance, but a tool for people to gain power! We're supposed to be fighting the future world, not fueling personal ambition. Sorry, I'm not on board with that sort of thing. I'm leaving, and I'd love to see who would dare to stop me!"

Even as the words left his mouth, he began to fly up into the air.

Before he could get very far, though, nine shadowy figures blurred out and blocked his path, resolving into nine figures wearing yellow clothing and masks.

Quite a few people recognized them right away. They were none other than the Nine Uncanny Eccentrics.

They'd been famous as a group for a hundred million years and were usually in a godrelic in primal-chaos, working on their cultivation. Patriarchs from various sects would sometimes visit them to pay respects and ask for advice. All nine of them were very close to reaching the Deathless Throne. And because of their strange personalities, they were completely unpredictable.

Now, all nine of them were standing together to oppose Patriarch Great Darkness.

"You come and go as you please?" one of the masked figures said. "What do you think this is, a marketplace? We Nine Uncanny Eccentrics have been entrusted with maintaining order in this meeting today, and that's exactly what we're going to do!"

Another of the Nine Uncanny Eccentrics said, "The nine of us act as one, and despite being on the path to the Deathless Throne, not even we qualify to be the league-lord. But that doesn't mean we'll let people cause a scene here. Now here you are, Patriarch Great Darkness, saying bad things about the league just because you lost a fight."

"That's deserving of death!" one of the other eccentrics said.

"You're right. Killing him is the ethical thing to do!"

RUMBLE!

The Nine Uncanny Eccentrics unleashed streams of energy and created an enormous spell formation that froze Patriarch Great Darkness in place. He roared in rage, but was powerless to do anything and completely incapable of escaping. Yang Qi could tell that these nine eccentrics were extremely powerful, especially when working together. Yet they still claimed to lack the qualifications to be league-lord. They even said that they had been 'entrusted with' keeping the peace, which seemed to indicate that they were working for some other, vastly more powerful figure.

Whoever it was, he or she was no one to take lightly.

"Let me out of here!" Patriarch Great Darkness shouted. Shoving his palm out, he sent a black sun to try to destroy the spell formation around him. It was none other than the Great Black Sun Palm, one of his specialty moves.

Unfortunately, the Nine Uncanny Eccentrics shifted tactics, summoning their own Great Black Sun Palm that seemed like a duplicate of Patriarch Great Darkness' version.

RUMBLE!

It was almost as if Patriarch Great Darkness were being simultaneously attacked by nine of himself. In the blink of an eye, he was slashed into countless chunks of blood and gore.

A bloodcurdling scream rang out as the Nine Uncanny Eccentrics said, "Be absorbed!" They waved their hands and nine vortexes appeared, sucking up the blood and gore. "Free me!" Patriarch Great Darkness's voice echoed out. "I'll acknowledge allegiance to the new league-lord. Just don't kill me! I'll— AGGHHHH!"

His words trailed off into another agonized shriek.

Everyone looked on in shock as a domineering and boundless august patriarch died, just like that.

One of the Nine Uncanny Eccentrics said, "Now that this ambitious wolf is dead, we can continue. We nine won't be competing for the position of league-lord. That being said, we won't let things get out of order."

Virtually everyone present was trembling like cicadas in winter, and were wondering who it was that had invited the eccentrics to oversee the event. They looked over at Daoist Great Void and the other old-timers who were gathered near him, such as Heaven-King Sage-Hand, Old Man Mahākaruṇā, Squire Farcorners and the like. They all seemed to be working together, which begged the question of just who they were working for.

That said, there were other factions present besides them, including some who didn't seem inclined to go along with the crowd.

All of a sudden, a cold chuckle rang out. "Well played, Nine Uncanny Eccentrics. But who gave you the authority to execute anyone here today?"

Many jaws dropped. Who could ever have guessed that, right after the Nine Uncanny Eccentrics had put on such an impressive and threatening display, someone would still dare to stir up trouble? Even Yang Qi was curious about who it was that had just spoken. A moment later, it became obvious: Dragonfolk.

All of the Eight Tribes were present, apparently having come as a united group. They were clustered around a young man who seemed to have no aura whatsoever, as though he were empty inside. Yet it was possible to see destiny swirling about in the form of ten thousand dragons above his head. Clearly, this young man was a consummate expert.

The person who had just spoken was a patriarch from the God Dragon Tribe, who was standing right next to the young man, and from the words he spoke it was obvious that the Dragonfolk weren't afraid of the Nine Uncanny Eccentrics.

"No one gave us the authority," one of the eccentrics replied. "We're just trying to keep things orderly. If you Dragonfolk are interested in the position of league-lord, please step forward! All you have to do is accept challenges from any Fellow Daoist here today and prove that you're invincible. If you do, then we Nine Uncanny Eccentrics will follow your orders to the letter."

"Alright!" said a burly fellow who stood with the Buddha Dragon Tribe. "I'm curious to see who present could land an attack on me. August Patriarch Sword-Burier, your sword technique is middling at best. If you're not convinced, try it out on me."

"Who are you?"

"Dragon King Buddhiya!"

August Patriarch Sword-Burier chuckled. "The famous Dragon King Buddhiya from the Buddha Dragon Tribe? Fine. Step forward!"

RUMBLE!

Dragon King Buddhiya flew to the fighting platform and immediately launched a fist attack at August Patriarch Sword-Burier. The fist-wind contained the auras of numerous dragon tribes and pulsed with immense power. It was the Eight Tribes Godfist, and he had unexpectedly cultivated seven of the different aspects of the technique. He was only one step away from reaching the perfect level.

Bang. Bam. Boom!

August Patriarch Sword-Burier and Dragon King Buddhiya fought back and forth, fist and sword energy clashing. In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged thousands of moves. As they did, it became obvious that August Patriarch Sword-Burier was starting to run low on energy! Soon, a true energy projection of a cloudy sword crypt appeared above his head.

Meanwhile, blood clouds had formed above Dragon King Buddhiya's head as he burned his life force power. The two of them were drawing on the full power of their respective techniques, and if it weren't for the fact that the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple was specifically designed to withstand such force, entire immortal worlds would likely have been destroyed by the shockwaves.

In the end, Dragon King Buddhiya let out a shout and released a succession of complex moves that pierced through the defenses of his opponent.

But then, in an even more shocking twist, August Patriarch Sword-Burier suddenly vanished, to appear in the air above Dragon King Buddhiya, his sword pointed right at his head.

Dragon King Buddhiya was about to suffer a stunning defeat!