Sage Monarch

In almost the same moment that Leaf Dao-Denier spoke, someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He was lanky and muscular, young in appearance, and the kind of person who fairly radiated a sensation of valor, intensity, and invincible fighting spirit.

'He has the aura of a warrior,' Yang Qi thought, 'and incredible fighting prowess. It's almost like he was born to go to battle. And his power index is over two thousand. He's definitely the top expert here.' Even more telling, Yang Qi had no idea how he had approached undetected.

"I'm right here, aren't I, Leaf Dao-Denier?" the young man said, and though his words were spoken softly, they caused everything in the area to tremble. Although there were several arrogant and despotic sectlords present, not a single one of them uttered a peep in response. Instead, they simply stood there looking nervous.

This newcomer had a special constitution; he was a Warrior One.

Warrior Ones were among the most powerful of constitutions, ranking just below Fateless, Eternal, and Fortuned Ones. The top three were related to enlightenment of the dao of heaven, and came with a profound understanding of fate. But Warrior Ones were killing machines who excelled at fighting and battle.

They were born for combat, and inherently understood everything related to it. In their hands, even the most common energy art could be turned into something completely extraordinary.

This was Battle Resister, the houselord of the Profound House of Battle Energy, and there was something very unique about him, although Yang Qi couldn't quite put his finger on what that was.

Chuckling, Leaf Dao-Denier said, "As long as you're here, Houselord Battle Resister, that's all that matters. With you on our side, the plan to deal with Empress Joyflower is already halfway to success."

"The Joyflower Palace put a lot of pressure on my Profound House of Battle Energy. In fact, if we hadn't retreated at the right time, we would've been completely wiped out of existence. Back before Empress Joyflower acquired that godhood, her energy arts were only slightly above mine. But then, she suddenly acquired destiny from the lower worlds, and was able to unleash a divine ability of a very deadly nature. It was some secret magic from the legion of gods, and although I'm unsure of where she acquired it, I'm fairly certain that it's one of the most powerful techniques of the ancient gods, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

"That energy art is something that humans cannot fully cultivate. Only gods can. But even with only half of a move from it, one could collect the universal fortune of heaven and earth, and use it in an extremely lethal fashion. When I fought her, I was forced to fall back over and over again, lest I be killed."

'The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth?!' Yang Qi thought, shocked. 'Can Empress Joyflower really use the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth? It makes sense. The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth should provide the ability to command universal fortune. Unfortunately, that ability isn't in the part of the technique that I possess, and therefore, I can't do that. It must have come from Proud Heaven. That means it's going to be even more difficult to deal with Empress Joyflower than I had originally estimated.'

He wasn't exactly sure what the other two fragments of the God Legion Seal contained, but he knew that they would be different from what he had, and extremely profound at the same time.

He had to be completely on his guard.

Meanwhile, upon hearing the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth mentioned, Leaf Dao-Denier glanced at Yang Qi, his eyes glittering but his expression completely unreadable.

"Your cultivation level is improving rapidly, Leaf Dao-Denier," said Battle Resister. "You've already risen from the Stupendous level to the early Destabilizing level, and still have the potential to improve. Furthermore, your vital energy stirs with explosive force. Not bad. Not bad at all. You've really benefited a lot from Empress Joyflower, haven't you? Considering she gave you the Taiji Indestructible Chaos-Magic World-Terrorizing Profound Art, could it be possible that you're actually on her side and just setting up a big trap to get all of us here killed?"

"How could you even think that!?" Leaf Dao-Denier said loudly. Inside, he was furious that Battle Resister had just openly revealed that he had Destabilizing will. He had been planning to keep that secret, then use it as a surprise move on Yang Qi.

Now, any element of surprise had been ruined.

Looking around, Leaf Dao-Denier could see many of the experts eyeing him, so he continued, "I can swear an oath to heaven: my hatred for Empress Joyflower runs so deep that it can never be removed. I vow to take her life, and if I don't, may I be sent to the deepest hell to experience eternal retribution, and never be reincarnated. Furthermore...."

He went on to utter all sorts of hair-raising oaths, to the point where even someone who completely distrusted him in general would believe what he was saying. After all, he was uttering promises that would connect his spirit to karma, ensuring he would suffer a grisly fate if he didn't live up to them.

The higher one's cultivation base, the more profoundly karma would affect an oath.

"Fine, Leaf Dao-Denier," Battle Resister said. "Considering you dare to utter oaths like that, I believe you. However, it seems to me this young friend of yours hasn't come with good intentions. Otherwise, why would he be attending the meeting with a power double? How do you know he won't just fade out of existence when we actually make our move against Empress Joyflower?"

Swish!

All eyes shifted to Yang Qi. As for Sectlord Cipher-Devil, he couldn't hide the shame in his expression. After all, he had exchanged blows with Yang Qi, and lost. But not only had he not been able to do anything to him, he hadn't even noticed that he was a power double.

"What? He's a power double? This is outrageous! How could none of us have noticed this! A mere power double stood up to Cipher Ever-Heaven's Netherworld Ghost-Dao Vortex Wind?! Just how strong is he?"

"A power double!? How could a power double that strong even exist? And none of us noticed? Preposterous! Is he even human?"

"I heard that it was only about a year ago that the Joyflower Palace captured the league-lord of the Dao Defense League down in the mortal world. Now he's here, out for revenge? There's no way he could've achieved progress like this so quickly, so how exactly did the Joyflower Palace manage to capture him to begin with?"

"Maybe he was trying to infiltrate the place."

Seeing the stunned reactions, Yang Qi chuckled and rose to his feet, causing a rushing wind to sweep through the area as everything trembled. "You have very sharp eyes, Houselord Battle Resister. I'm surprised you actually noticed that I'm just a power double. Apparently, I still have room for improvement in my cultivation. I've been operating in the Joyflower Palace for quite some time now, and nobody there has any clue that I'm a power double. I very much hope that you can keep the secret."

"Of course," Battle Resister replied, his eyes flashing. "Your true self must be in the middle of cultivating a very profound technique, requiring you to remain in seclusion. Therefore, you used some sort of god item with spatial powers to send this power double out to handle matters. In the end, that could be a big advantage for our cause."

"Enough chit-chat, Battle Resister," said Sectlord Cipher-Devil. "Let's get down to business. How are we going to deal with Empress Joyflower? We don't have any time to lose, here. She's assimilating that godhood, and, once she succeeds, her cultivation base will surpass ours so much that even if we combine our strength, she'll be able to destroy us as easily as blowing some dust off her shoulder. She'll surpass all of the superpower sects!"

"You're right," Battle Resister said. "We absolutely cannot let her assimilate all of that godhood. If she does, her energy arts will advance by leaps and bounds, and she'll be completely invincible. Leaf Dao-Denier, do you have any suggestions? This meeting was your idea, so you must have something in mind."

"It's simple," Leaf Dao-Denier said, a treacherous gleam in his eyes. "You see, we've been practicing dual cultivation together, all in the attempt to further a profound energy art she cultivates. She needs my Eternal and Fortuned constitutions to keep the godpower in her under control. If she loses control, she'll experience cultivation deviation. Her defenses will be at the lowest during dual cultivation, and furthermore, she won't suspect anything from me. Next time we're practicing dual cultivation, I'll notify all of you, and you can channel your power into me, which will instantaneously boost my energy arts. I'll use that boost to injure her, which is when you can make your move and destroy the Joyflower Palace."

In response, the gathered sect leaders pondered his words.

It definitely was a vicious plan, and it seemed like it could succeed.

After a moment, Battle Resister said, "If we join forces to boost your energy arts, you could definitely hurt her. But would you be able to withstand the influx of power without detonating?"

"I've been cultivating a secret technique that will make it possible. However, I need your help to complete it, which is another reason why I've called all of you here today. Perhaps you've heard of this technique. It's called the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic."

"What?" said Battle Resister, visibly stunned. "You... you actually cultivate that technique? How is that even possible? According to the stories, it's an ability created by one of the buddhist schools from the god world, and is more powerful than a paramount godly-class energy art. It actually borders on the level of the Sovereign Lord. Not even gods should be able to cultivate it, so how are you doing it? And what do you need our help for? Why don't you just go kill Empress Joyflower directly? After all, the ancient buddhist schools used those techniques to directly challenge the Sovereign Lord."

"Because my version of the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic is incomplete. And even the parts I have are very difficult to work with. That said, I recently gained enlightenment of an aspect that can safely and quickly increase my power capacity by thousands of times over. Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough to cultivate it personally, which is why I need your help."

Yang Qi had no idea where Leaf Dao-Denier had acquired something like this, and was now starting to wonder if he really had him under control.