Sage Monarch

Five palm strikes closed in on Yang Qi, detonating his defensive true energy and shattering his God Legion Paradise.

A moment later, the five palms slammed onto Yang Qi himself.

There was simply no way to dodge out of the way; it was taking all of his concentration just to keep the Engine of the One God in check, so there was no way he could spare attention for fighting.

POP!

The Five Great Lokapālas all landed palm strikes on Yang Qi.

It was a combined attack that would reduce just about anything to dust, even an actual god. However, even as the Five Great Lokapālas' attack struck the target, they felt as though they had struck nothing, as though their attacks were landing in a different world.

Yang Qi burst out laughing. "Many thanks to you, Five Great Lokapālas! I couldn't have activated the Engine of the One God without those five palm strikes of yours!"

Even as the words left his mouth, he vanished.

As he had done in the past, he diverted the power of the lokapālas' attack into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Although their move was devastating, when compared to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, it was like nothing. Not even five god-spirits could damage the chart.

Originally, he hadn't been able to fully suppress the engine after it was in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. But with the power of the lokapālas aiding him, it quickly went still.

Considering that the lokapālas were roughly as strong as Yang Qi, it was like having five additional versions of himself helping control the engine.

Having accomplished that, Yang Qi felt a lot more confident about the situation. In the blink of an eye, he flew out of the Eight Tribes Heaven and into the primal-chaos outside of it.

The last thing he wanted to do was get involved in a fight or a chase with the lokapālas.

"Who was that? Who dared to take our Engine of the One God!?"

"Dammit! That was our only way to open the passageway to the Primeval Age! Now what are we supposed to do? Who exactly was that?"

"Was it one of the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court?"

"Whose voice was it? I didn't recognize it."

As the eight chiefs of the Dragonfolk tribes howled in rage, the five lokapālas scrambled to leave the Eight Tribes Heaven and chase down Yang Qi. The five of them were capable of incredible speeds, and it didn't take long for them to lock down onto Yang Qi's aura and start after him.

The eight chiefs of the Dragonfolk were far inferior. Even working together, they quickly lost track of Yang Qi and the lokapālas.

All they could do now was return to their immortal world in fury. They had been thoroughly defeated. Having lost the Engine of the One God, there was no way for them to truly open a passageway to the Primeval Age. Their wild ambitions were burst as surely as a bubble.

"These Five Great Lokapālas are so fast!" Patriarch Annalist said. "Young Sir, what do you say we split up, and I try leading them away from you? I don't think these mindless dolts will be able to do anything to me."

"That's not necessary," Yang Qi replied coolly. "I'm going to lead them to the Ancient Road to the Gods. I doubt they'll chase me there. After I shake them, I can use the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart to return."

"That should work," Patriarch Annalist said. "Young Sir, have you thought of fighting with those lokapālas to test out your energy arts?"

"Great minds think alike!" Yang Qi said with a laugh. "They're about as strong as the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court, but they're nowhere near as smart. For the moment, I'm not strong enough to fully fuse with the Engine of the One God, but I might be able to borrow the force of their attacks to do just that.

At a certain point within the primal-chaos, Yang Qi stopped and waited for the five lokapālas behind him to catch up.

"Who are you, heretic?" one of the lokapālas said, speaking in a voice that ripped through the primal-chaos with enough force to kill Chaos Gods. "Hand over the Engine of the One God and convert to our religion. Otherwise, you can die!"

Yang Qi smiled faintly. "You must be very tired after your journey here from the Primeval Age. Why go to all the hard work of fusing with the Engine of the One God after that? You should really rest. Look, join my side. Give me your faith. I'll baptize you and free you from your religion. You'll be free!"

"You blaspheme against Vajrayāna, heretic! For that, you'll die!"

"We might have let you convert before, but not now. Your soul will be placed in fire for eternal torment!"

"Excise devils and defend traditional values! Unleash incomparable slaughter!"

Not wanting to waste any more words, the lokapālas unleashed five more palm strikes.

RIP!

Yang Qi didn't dodge the incoming attacks, nor did he try to use any energy arts to block them. These were attacks that could pierce through a thirty-third ranked immortal world, yet he let them strike him directly. Unfortunately for the Five Great Lokapālas, the effect was the same as before.

The power of their attacks just seemed to vanish, which was something the five of them had never experienced before. Almost instantly, they were driven into madness.

"Die!"

"Attack with full force! Devastate his body!"

"Heaven-Earth Frenzy; Lokapāla Vajrayāna Fist of Kings!"

The Five Great Lokapālas unleashed another devastatingly powerful attack, but it was like punching a sandbag. Yang Qi shivered a bit, but didn't even stumble back. He just accepted the blow.

The Five Great Lokapālas were just too simple-minded to realize what was happening. If the fight had been with the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court, things would have been much different. They would have quickly realized that something fishy was going on and set up a spell formation to lock the area down and make sure Yang Qi wasn't connected to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

Yang Qi was really pulling a cheap trick on the lokapālas.

As the blows continued raining down on him, the Engine of the One God absorbed the force. And seeing as it was suppressed, Yang Qi was able to begin fusing with it and combining it with the pieces of the Cruiser of Civilization.

Slowly but surely, he was using the photonic computers in the engine to find and remove the sealing marks that were placed there by the Dragonfolk and the Vajrayāna buddhist school.

Only by acquiring the approval of the photonic computers in the engine could the sealing marks be removed, and the power of the attacks the lokapālas were sending Yang Qi's way were helping him do just that.

Soon, the lokapālas attacked with even more force, and Yang Qi continued letting them hit him. Eventually, the Engine of the One God was shining with bright light, and its photonic computers were starting to turn on.

[Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep. Master recognized. Will identified. The successor of the legion of gods detected. Blood of the godmammoths. The glory of the Sovereign Lord….]

Thus, Yang Qi sent his will into the engine. He immediately saw that it resembled a beating heart and was filled with immense power. As it fused with the Cruiser of Civilization, it became part of Yang Qi, something he could control at any time.

A whirring sound was heard as the engine began powering up.

Yang Qi now had power at his disposal the likes of which only ancient gods could normally unleash. Without any hesitation, he struck out with the Hand of the One God, using five moves to deal with the five lokapālas.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The lokapālas staggered back, coughing up blood, and lacerations covered their porcelain-like flesh.

One attack had seriously injured all of them!

What kind of divine ability could do that?!

The lokapālas reacted with utter shock. "Impossible! Only a Lesser God could possibly force us into retreat! Nothing weaker could ever hurt us!"

Yang Qi burst out laughing. "My apologies, but I fear I have to depart. I think it was a mistake for you to come to this age. We don't need your religion here. You're only going to end up dead and buried. I suggest you leave as quickly as possible!"

With that, Yang Qi turned and sped off.

They chased him for some time, until they realized that up ahead of him was something that looked like an ancient road.

"He's going to the Ancient Road to the Gods! We can't follow him there. Who is this man? I can't believe he would dare step onto the Ancient Road to the Gods!"

All of them knew that, once one stepped onto the Ancient Road to the Gods, they couldn't turn back.

"Let's go!" one of the lokapālas said. "We can head back and establish communication with the buddha-lord. There has to be a way to open the passageway even without the Engine of the One God. We don't need that heretic!"

"Exactly!"

The lokapālas turned and vanished.

The truth of the matter was that Yang Qi actually hadn't stepped onto the Ancient Road to the Gods. He stopped right in front of it, and looked into its depths to see innumerable expressions of will, souls, ghost-gods, and all sorts of entities struggling and fighting. He also felt a power tugging at him, urging him not to look back, not to turn around, not to take a step backward. At that moment, he quickly opened the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart and stepped inside.

Moments later, he was back in the God Palace of Radiance and Light in the Dao Defense League, where the Sage Monarch Heaven was.

He was safe.

During the heist of the Engine of the One God, he had not revealed that he was the Emissary of Radiance and Light, thus the Dragonfolk had no way to identify him.

"You played the Five Great Lokapālas perfectly, Young Sir," Patriarch Annalist said. "But why didn't you just finish them off? They could end up being quite a disaster."

"I could've done it with the Engine of the One God," Yang Qi replied, "but it would've wasted too much power. The engine wastes power at a rate tens of thousands of times greater than the two fragments of the Cruiser of Civilization combined. I probably could only have squeezed off one shot. Right now, I need to continue powering it up to deal with the Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court!"