Sage Monarch

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Yang Qi really was impossible to predict. With no warning whatsoever, he launched an attack at the altar with its surging devil energy. As soon as his palm touched the altar, the devil energy went wild, making it seem like the entire area had become a sea of corpses and blood.

He was using the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, which was the bane of any hell-born fiend-devils, even those at the level of gods. Of course, it was a feint to the east to be followed by an attack from the west; this was all a trick!

Zilin's face fell as he realized what Yang Qi was doing, and saw the wretch energy on the altar reacting to him. If Yang Qi actually unsealed the altar, the godhood would erupt out, and everyone present would begin fighting to take it. And if Yang Qi took it, he would easily be able to escape into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. All of a sudden, Zilin was in a very bad position.

"Don't let him undo that seal!" he shouted, simultaneously wondering how his energy arts were affecting the sealing mark in such a way. At the same time, he snapped open his fan and launched an attack at Yang Qi.

"Crane Cries to the Nine Heavens!" Zilin blurred into motion, like an elegant crane that shot forth with claws bared. At the same time, the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting on his fan stirred, causing immense killing power to begin building up in it. Yin and yang intermixed, part freezing cold and part scorching hot, creating an intense mix of polarities.

However, in that very moment, Yang Qi's other hand shot out and slammed onto the fan itself. Zilin grinned as he prepared to unleash the killing power of the fan, only to suddenly realize that Yang Qi was channeling the devil energy from the altar into the fan.

Instantly, the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting began working to suppress that devil energy.

'This is bad!' Zilin thought. 'I fell right into his trap. He attacked the sealing mark, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to handle the devil energy. Instead, he tricked me into using my God-King Devil-Quelling Painting to neutralize the energy, simultaneously making it impossible for me to do anything!'

Yang Qi had one hand on the altar and the other on the fan, making himself a sort of conduit that sent massive amounts of devil energy into the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting.

Zilin had lost control of the situation, and although he quickly realized what was going on, it was too late to change anything. The altar and the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting were now linked, like two enormous mountains, and even when Zilin sent his own true energy into the fan, he couldn't do anything to break the connection. Worse, the clash of power between the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting and the altar was causing a backlash that slowly headed toward Zilin himself.

'This villain really is a profound schemer. Who could possibly predict what he's going to do?!' Shouting, Zilin drew on all of his true energy, summoning a host of millions upon millions of butterflies that surrounded him, then exploded.

As he flew away from the fan, he looked at Yang Qi, who was standing there being assailed by the devil energy and the power of the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting.

"Capture him!" he cried, fully aware that if Yang Qi successfully opened the seal, he would definitely get the godhood. And the consequences of that would be too horrible to contemplate.

Zilin's energy suddenly transformed, creating a brightly shining sword in his hand that he thrust toward Yang Qi's forehead, backed by the full power of his cultivation base.

"Ālayavijñāna Sword!" It was impossible to say where this sword originated, but any who sensed it would feel that it would succeed in any endeavor. [1]

A sword technique this incredible was something that Yang Qi obviously couldn't block. However, even as the sword closed in, he chuckled. "Fooled you, consort!"

BOOM!

Yang Qi suddenly exploded, causing a blast containing two opposing powers that ripped the entire chamber to shreds. Even the Exquisite Cathedral as a whole was violently shaken.

With the exception of Zilin, all of the consorts present were hit by the force and screamed as their defensive empyrean energy, magical treasures, and armor were destroyed, and their flesh, blood, meridians, nascent divinities, and seas of consciousness were completely wiped out of existence.

Yang Qi had allowed the power of the altar and the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting to detonate, simultaneously planting a power double on the scene while he himself slipped into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. It was a deception that, for the moment, had completely fooled Zilin.

Of course, the force of the explosion sent Zilin tumbling backward, his sword crumbling into ashes and his mind filling with a sensation of deadly crisis. It was only because he was an elite expert that he managed to send out a bright stream of magical symbols that formed a powerful defensive shield to block most of the detonation from reaching him.

He was using a legendary god talisman known as the God-King's Asylum, and the energy field it created could defend against the most deadly forces. It had been personally created by a god-king from the god world, and considering that Zilin only had one of them, it went to show just how deadly the situation was.

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of the talisman was that he was rendered completely immobile. He was safe, but couldn't do a single thing other than drift along with whatever forces touched the shield.

Meanwhile, the violent force of the explosion devastated the chamber and the altar, and actually opened the sealing mark.

As the God-King Devil-Quelling Painting and the power of the seal faded away, something like a bright moon appeared in the depths of the altar. As it rose up, its light suppressed all the fluctuations in the area until nothing remained but a bright, shining glow.

"The godhood! The true godhood has appeared!" A smile broke out on Zilin's face. The God-King's Asylum was already beginning to crumble, allowing him to move. Without any hesitation, he performed a double-handed incantation gesture, sending out streams of magical symbols that formed a net, which he sent toward the moon-like godhood. This was a divine ability of his called the Megaplexus Tusita True-Pagoda God-Net, which was a combination of true energy, god items, godliness, magical treasure, and energy arts.

Unfortunately for Zilin, Yang Qi was faster. A vortex popped into being, which immediately began gobbling up the moon of godhood.

"No!" Zilin shouted as he sensed the aura of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Obviously, once Yang Qi took the godhood into the chart, it would be gone forever.

In that very moment, however, a rift opened and a stooped old man appeared, pulsing with sinister energy. The man extended his hand and a stream of energy shot out, wrapped around the godhood, and pushed it out of Yang Qi's grasp.

'Who's this?!' Yang Qi thought, having been caught completely by surprise. After all of his plotting and scheming, he was just about to take the godhood, only to have it snatched away.

The stooped figure moved so quickly that not even Yang Qi's Lord's Eye could track him, making it impossible to see his features. Then an attack suddenly hit Yang Qi like a rain of needles, piercing through his defensive true energy and entering his meridians, filling him with indescribable pain.

"Dammit!" he roared.

He placed his palms together and drew on the Hand of the One God. Spinning rapidly, he sent out tens upon tens of thousands of palm attacks, filled with such hellish power that they seemed capable of bringing hell to the world of men.

Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.

Numerous explosions could be heard as Yang Qi exchanged countless blows with the newcomer, until he finally grunted and tumbled off to the side, completely empty-handed. All he could do was look up at the moon-like godhood shining with bright light.

A moment later, the stooped figure dropped down next to Zilin. Now, it was possible to see that he was a eunuch, so old that he seemed to be on the verge of dropping dead. In fact, anyone who looked at him would scarcely be able to believe that he had just prevented Yang Qi from taking the godhood.

"You arrived just at the right time, Eunuch Sunflower," Zilin said. Breathing a sigh of relief, he said, "I understand that talented individuals abound, especially on the Ancient Road to the Gods. But even I feel ignorant and ill-informed to have run into an opponent like this."

"Nor could I have guessed that things would play out in this way," Eunuch Sunflower replied. "Thankfully, I sensed the vital energy fluctuations coming from the Exquisite Desert and hurried over as quickly as possible. It was a big drain on my life force and quintessence-blood, but it seems it was all worth it. If I hadn't come, the godhood would have fallen into the wrong hands."

He looked up at the moonlike godhood and the light shining down onto Yang Qi, his gaze as sharp as a needle.

If Zilin was a slab of perfect jade, this old eunuch was definitely a silver needle.

1. Ālayavijñāna is a type of consciousness from the tradition of the Yogācāra school of Mahayana Buddhism. I'm not even going to attempt to describe what it's all about. For more info, check here. And as usual, I'm pretty sure the 'real-life' meaning of the word isn't relevant.