Sage Monarch

Profound Valor immediately unleashed a move onto Yang Qi that seemed completely impossible to evade.

Of course, Yang Qi had no intention of trying to evade it. Throwing his own hands out, he met the incoming attack with full force.

"Such arrogance!"

Explosive power erupted from the mysterious Vajra Māyādevī of the god world, a mighty will that Yang Qi directed straight toward Profound Valor and his attack.

Of course, Profound Valor knew how powerful Yang Qi's moves were, and having been hit directly once, there was no way he would allow for a second time. He was a master of martial disciplines and energy arts, a top fighter and domineering figure of the age. Thus, he was prepared for the interchange. As their palms met, energy fluctuations spread out across him that sought to counter the attack of the voice.

Explosive rumbling sounds echoed out as the incoming will shattered.

However, Yang Qi took advantage of that moment to spin in place and strike out toward the cage, hoping to break it open and free his power double. If he succeeded, the two of them should be able to easily escape the situation.

"Trying to break open that cage? You think I'd let you do that? I went to all the trouble of luring your true self here, trust me, I'm going to bury both you and your power double!"

Having negated the most recent attack, Profound Valor went back on the offensive.

He moved as stealthily as a ghost, suddenly appearing right behind Yang Qi and unleashing an explosive attack.

Thrusting his fingers out into knifehands, he let loose a chopping attack that could cut through space itself. It was filled with such terrifying power and blade light that Yang Qi could tell it would cut him in half if it landed.

RUMBLE!

Yang Qi spun, and he looked like a devil-god from hell, or the boundless Sovereign Lord. A golden magical symbol appeared on his forehead, which turned into a golden imp. And when the imp spoke, its voice boomed like a bell, causing all of the surrounding primal-chaos to turn golden.

A massive tempest of destruction instantly sprang up.

In that moment, all of Yang Qi's will was converged around the God Legion Seal. As he drew on the seal, he backed it with the Blood of the One God, rapidly draining his power but allowing him to unleash the most powerful attack he could manage.

SNICK!

He punched out with his fist, and although it wasn't a special move, when it hit Profound Valor's knifehand, it stopped it in its tracks.

Then a shock wave of power swept out through the primal-chaos.

Whack!

Yang Qi and Profound Valor flew away from each other, both of them injured and coughing up blood. The latter was worse off; he never could possibly have guessed that Yang Qi would have something as wildly powerful as a God Legion Seal. Plus, the will of the Vajra Māyādevī ensured that even when he was nearly destroyed, he could quickly and easily heal himself.

Even more relevant, his speed at assimilating godhood had increased, which further improved his healing abilities. In a single breath of time, Yang Qi recovered back to his peak state. Then he unleashed another punch, shattering the cage. A whooshing sound was then heard as his power double flew back into his true self.

Meanwhile, Profound Valor's eyes glittered with peculiar light as he realized how marvelous Yang Qi's God Legion Seal was. He also realized that Yang Qi was the type of enemy who, if he wasn't destroyed now, would prove to be extremely troublesome later. After all, a major enmity had been sown today. Furthermore, Yang Qi had some spectacular treasures that Profound Valor was now dying to get his hands on.

"I can't believe you have treasures like that. So that explains why you're so important to the Immortal Dao Age. I'm not going to let you go, you know. Get on your knees and hand over your treasures!"

With a wave of his hand, he healed his own injuries and sent palm projections out in every direction, giving Yang Qi no avenue of escape.

"Six-Directions Heaven-Dao Paragon-Operation Azure-Dome Secret Magic!"

His technique surrounded Yang Qi so effectively that he couldn't even escape to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. [1]

Eyes flashing, Yang Qi drew on the godhood within him, forcing out a hundred drops of liquid that he sent into the Engine of the One God. He was now drawing on an extremely powerful, last-resort killing move, filled with an explosive power that defied imagination.

As the Engine of the One God used the godhood to power up, his effective power index rose, causing explosive cracking sounds to fill him. From seven hundred, it rose to a thousand. Two thousand. Two thousand five hundred. Three thousand!

His power index now surpassed Profound Valor's!

C-C-CRACK!

Profound Valor and Yang Qi exchanged another round of palm strikes, and this time Profound Valor's face fell, turning as ashen as death as the godhood-backed Engine of the One God sent power coursing into him that shattered the meridians it passed through. This was a power that completely surpassed his level.

"Legacy of the Great Necropolis: Godpower Seed! Burial Ground of the Legions of Gods!" He drew mighty godpower out from his sea of energy, then exhaled it in the same way the Great Necropolis exhaled immortal worlds, causing everything to shake violently.

'So did this guy get some godpower seed that turned out to be the legacy of the Great Necropolis?' Yang Qi thought. 'What's going on here? I need to find out more about this!' As his opponent unleashed another mighty attack, Yang Qi borrowed the momentum to fly backward, where he vanished into a vortex.

Although he had used the might of the Engine of the One God to be able to temporarily fight Profound Valor, he knew that he had to escape before he ran out of momentum.

And once he was gone, there was no way Profound Valor would be able to follow him.

When Profound Valor's hand clamped down onto nothing but air, he retracted his power, then coughed up another huge mouthful of blood. He had just been injured by Yang Qi's God Legion Seal, then drawn deeply on the godpower seed that he had as an Inheritor. It wouldn't be possible for him to recover quickly. Even though Yang Qi only had a third of the full God Legion Seal, it wasn't any weaker than the godpower seed that Profound Valor had as an Inheritor of the Great Necropolis. If Yang Qi had all three pieces combined, he definitely would have been able to kill Profound Valor.

'I can't believe the brat has something like that,' Profound Valor thought, settling down cross-legged to once again begin the process of healing and recovery. Within the depths of his sea of energy, there was a shadowy image that resembled the Great Necropolis in every way. That was the seed that gave him access to the essence of the Great Necropolis, and it was also what he used to heal himself.

'God-Burying Monarch-Entombing Energy....' After the energy flowed through him and healed him, he rose to his feet, fully recovered and with his energy arts even a bit better than they were before.

'How amazing to be an Inheritor of the Great Necropolis. By tapping into that seed, I can draw on the mysterious power of the necropolis and cultivate the God-Burying Monarch-Entombing Energy Art. Once I fully master it, no one will be a match for me. Unfortunately, to do so, I have to kill all of the other Inheritors and take their godpower seeds. That's the only way to gain the true legacy.'

Becoming the true Inheritor of the Great Necropolis was the path to true invincibility.

'I also need to get my hands on that Yang Qi and take all of his treasures.' With that, he blurred into motion and vanished.

**

A short time later, a beam of light appeared, which resolved into the form of Leaf Dao-Denier. After examining the residual energy traces, he said, 'I can't believe someone as strong as him has appeared. Sectlord of the Profound Killing Dao Sect. Profound Valor. He used to be just an ordinary native of the Great Necropolis, but after getting a godpower seed, he actually managed to thrash that swine Yang Qi. How come I didn't get one of those godpower seeds when the Great Necropolis erupted? I'm the true Son of Heaven, the destined ruler of the Great Necropolis. I can't let the situation go on like this. I'm going to report the matter to Empress Joyflower. She'll definitely be able to kill this Profound Valor and get that godpower seed for me. Yes. Lend someone a knife and have them do my dirty work. Then I'll betray Yang Qi and the others to the empress and have her kill them. As for that cursed oath I took, who cares about it. As long as I get strong enough, not even the dao of heaven will be able to oppose me. Eventually, I'll conquer it!'

Flying up, Leaf Dao-Denier headed back toward the Joyflower Palace.

**

'That was incredible,' Yang Qi's true self thought as he settled down in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart to focus on recovering from the fight. He had lost a lot of godhood liquid, and in the end he hadn't even won the fight. That said, he was fairly sure he had enough godhood left to push his power index past a thousand.

His constitution made him different from other people. Others might be able to use the same amount of godhood to reach the level of three thousand. Unfortunately, his requirements were much higher. Such were the limitations placed on him, with regular power, and with godhood.

Thanks to the fight with Profound Valor, Yang Qi now understood more about the profound changes that were taking place to this age. Obviously, things were much more dangerous, and he couldn't just rely on his God Legion Seal for protection anymore. If he wasn't careful, someone might take it from him, killing him in the process. After all, even when the seal had been whole, there was still some almighty entity who destroyed its owner, broke it up into three pieces, and scattered them in the past, present, and future.

1. The description of this technique literally describes it as surrounding Yang Qi "like a yurt". A yurt is a round tent. Sorry, I just couldn't make that sound good in English so I left that specific simile out.