Sage Monarch

Cipher Rite-Heaven, young lord of the Cipher-Devil Sword Sect, a consummate expert whose power index surpassed one hundred, had been brought to the brink of death by Yang Qi.

Not only was Yang Qi's Light of Faith incredibly domineering, but he had also gained enlightenment of some of the profound mysteries of the Sovereign Lord. He knew how to weaken someone's mind, then slip into their soul and force them to exercise faith in him.

However, Cipher Rite-Heaven was still holding strong under the lashing of the Hell Scourge. "The Cipher-Devil Sword Sect won't let you get away with this!"

"The Cipher-Devil Sword Sect won't know what's happened," Yang Qi replied. "It doesn't matter what you say they'll do, we're in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart right now and they have no way to find us. Not even a true god could do such a thing." Now that Yang Qi had seven of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, not even the most powerful experts on the Ancient Road to the Gods would be able to get into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

It was an iron-clad truth.

"Stop struggling, alright? The more you fight, the more it will hurt. Just acknowledge allegiance. Give me your faith, and enter a state of profound bliss!" Yang Qi's voice boomed louder and louder, and the power of the Hell Scourge continued growing in intensity.

Eventually, Cipher Rite-Heaven was twitching and writhing in such a state that he wasn't even sure if he was alive or dead. Normally speaking, it would be difficult to do this to someone as mighty as him. He could have kept a tight guard on his consciousness, possibly even casting it out of his body, leaving behind nothing but an empty husk. But after his sea of consciousness was damaged by the sword will of God-Noble Goldensword, everything had changed.

Yang Qi's Light of Faith pierced into him, and a moment later, his eyes went wide and he began shining with holy light. He rose to his feet and his injuries faded away. Then he knelt. "Oh, omnipotent Lord, I Cipher Rite-Heaven shall henceforth be your pious follower. Please accept my sincere and heartfelt respects."

"Dear god!" Holy Daughter Joyflower exclaimed. "Y-you… you actually turned him into a believer!? True, that faith power will improve your cultivation base beyond comprehension, but don't you know that it also involves accepting his karma? And that will bring profound trouble in the future. That's why cultivators can't use faith directly, but usually imbue it into magical treasures or god items. Accepting it directly into your body is very dangerous!"

"I'll be fine," Yang Qi replied. "There's a reason why I did this. Using warding spells or sealing magics wouldn't let me truly control him."

"But the higher the cultivation base, the greater the karma. People say that the god world's most paramount monarch, the king of myriads of gods, the god of deities, the Sovereign Lord himself, accepted the faith of the gods, and thus their karma, which led to his disappearance. Some people even say he perished. Gods can bring forth countless living beings, so their karma is immense. Following this line of reasoning, you can see how vastly powerful Cipher Rite-Heaven's karma is. It's definitely enough to kill you."

"An impure mind is easier to sully," Yang Qi said. "I understand that. Look, let's stop debating the matter. As far as I'm concerned, the stronger the karma, the better." Yang Qi wanted to take the strongest people possible, force them to submit, then activate their karma, all in preparation to defeat King Immortal-Slayer when his will returned.

His current stockpile definitely wouldn't be enough. He needed a lot more karma, possibly even from the faith of gods. After all, King Immortal-Slayer was no ordinary individual; he had been second only to the Sovereign Lord himself.

'I'll force all of these captives to become my followers. Then I can use them to create a grand spell formation to assimilate the god soul of God-Noble Goldensword. That will definitely help me reach a higher level of enlightenment.'

Waving his finger, he sent sword energy into all of them to wake them up. As they opened their eyes, they realized that they had been sealed tight, and Yang Qi was there smiling at them.

"We're elders from the Gåma Basilica!" said one of them. "Who are you? And how dare you imprison us here. Don't tell me you're not afraid of the Gåma Basilica wiping out your entire clan!"

Yang Qi didn't reply. He simply took out the Hell Scourge, walked over, and inflicted endless torment on them before finally sending his Light of Faith into their minds and souls.

One by one, he used these domineering tactics to force all of them to become believers.

It took around two hours.

After it was all over, they knelt in front of him, a whole host of powerful Grand Emperors who were now faithful believers in him.

"Oh mighty Lord, what orders do you have, sir?"

Cipher Rite-Heaven acted as their leader, and the massive influx of destiny from them caused Yang Qi's true energy to burn like fire. In fact, it was almost enough for him to rise one more stair on the Deathless Heavenly Stairway. However, he refrained from taking that step and continued stabilizing his cultivation base instead.

Only when he had unlocked the full potential of his current stair would he attempt to rise to the next. In some ways, it was a blessing to have cultivation levels to progress through. Eventually, one would reach the point of not being able to make any progress at all. That was the position Holy Daughter Joyflower was in now. All she could do was continue building up power in the hopes that, one day, she would have the opportunity to reach godly ascension.

"The time has come to set up a grand spell formation. With you and my Army of Holy Sages to power it, I'll assimilate God-Noble Goldensword!" He waved his hand, opening up a passage that the Army of Holy Sages marched through, then began getting in formation.

With Cipher Rite-Heaven and the other Grand Emperors, there was a combined power index of roughly six or seven hundred. With the added strength of the Army of Radiance and Light, and the fact that they were in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, Yang Qi was fairly certain it would be enough to deal with God-Noble Goldensword.

As he was working on his cultivation in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, his immortal-slaying clone was deep in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple, approaching another breakthrough. It was nothing to take lightly, as countless tribulations were forming around him.

And the boundless flows of faith left Patriarch Annalist and the others present feeling like they were suffocating.

Everyone looked over at the clone seated on the league-lord's throne, their faces masks of terror. "How could this be happening?"

"What immensely powerful faith! That's more than the faith of the entire Dao Defense League combined!"

"That must be the faith of a group of Grand Emperors! But where is it coming from?"

"Compared to faith like that, we're like fireflies in front of the full moon!"

The combined strength of fifty Grand Emperors, with a power index of roughly seven hundred, was more than enough to shake the entire Dao Defense League. In fact, it could probably wipe out the hundred trillion immortal worlds that made it up.

It was hard to imagine the kind of faith they could provide.

All of the faith provided to Yang Qi from the Dao Defense League came from immortals; there were few Godmyths. After all, the old-timers may have followed Yang Qi's orders, but didn't give him faith.

Obviously, the faith of fifty Grand Emperors was beyond anything the immortals of the Dao Defense League could provide.

Cracking and popping sounds echoed out from inside the clone as the seven legacy medallions swirled out. Then, tiny motes flowed out from the medallions, like god worlds that entered the clone. It was as if the will of King Immortal-Slayer himself was blessing the clone.

As power surged through the clone, he burst through numerous barriers until he finally reached the level of Grand Emperor.

Whirr. Whirrrr.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was working with an enormous spell formation in the depths of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, but he took a moment to open a passage and look down to inspect his clone.

"That power," he murmured. The power he could sense defied imagination, and apparently, was a stockpile that King Immortal-Slayer had created to be accessed only when someone with his legacy medallions reached a certain level of strength. Now it was forming into something that resembled viscous blood, except filled with lightning.

"That's firmament-blood lightning-origin from the god world!" Holy Daughter Joyflower exclaimed. "I can't believe you have firmament-blood lightning-origin! On the Ancient Road to the Gods, countless experts would fight to the death to get even a drop of that!"

"What is it?" Yang Qi asked, surprised.

"It's a type of vital energy from the god world. According to rumor, it's a type of blood that randomly occurs in god lightning. A single drop can lead to spectacular advancement, and it's vital for Grand Emperors who are aiming for the Deathless Throne."