Sage Monarch

"What? Inheritors of the Great Necropolis? Who are they?" Empress Joyflower had been in seclusion recently and had no idea of this development.

"Some dramatic events unfolded in the Great Necropolis," Leaf Dao-Denier said. "Profound Valor from the Profound Killing Dao Sect experienced a dramatic improvement in energy arts. He even fought a big battle with people from the future world and our Joyflower Palace."

He went on to explain all the details.

"The immortal worlds changed that dramatically?" She silently drew on her nascent divinity as if to observe certain matters, then said, "I see. Everything is changing. What exactly is this Great Necropolis doing? Despite hundreds of millions of years of research, I had no idea something like this would happen. I do know that some of the superpower sects have gone extremely deep into the Great Necropolis and acquired certain benefits. Perhaps they unlocked something. And perhaps I need to go kill the leaders of those sects."

"Empress, you are invincible and shall succeed in everything you do. You'll definitely achieve Terrifying will and dominate everything under heaven."

"Leaf Dao-Denier, do you know why I picked you as my favored consort?" she asked. "Because you're sensible. You might be ambitious, but you can see the bigger picture. You know that I'll always be stronger than you, and that it would be foolish to rebel against me. Of course, I know about your minor plots and schemes to gain power, but I can tolerate such things."

"Empress, all I want to do is get a bit stronger. And I don't hate anyone in life more than I hate Yang Qi. I used to have some of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, but he stole them from me. I also had a fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization, but he robbed me of that as well. There are other things he took from me, too. He's my archenemy, and that's something I'll never be able to forget. I won't rest until I personally kill him!"

"I understand. Very well, let's see what this Yang Qi placed inside of you." She waved her hand, causing Leaf Dao-Denier to fly over and land on the palm of her hand. Then she sent immense force pouring into him, which immediately locked onto the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. In the blink of an eye, she extracted it, causing it to transform into the shape of a godmammoth that was standing on a roiling black cloud of hells.

"So, this is the top technique of the god world," she said with a smile. "The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. Ah, Proud Heaven. I can only imagine how much true energy you wasted giving this to your son. Is he really that important to you? I'm curious to see what he looks like."

With that, her eyes flashed and she continued probing Leaf Dao-Denier.

A moment later, her expression became serious, and something else flew out of Leaf Dao-Denier, which emitted a piercing shriek as soon as it was in the open.

Leaf Dao-Denier's jaw dropped, as he had been completely unaware there was anything else in him.

Looking over, he saw the empress holding what looked like a fist-sized, unborn child. Half of it was pitch black, the other half was glowing with light, as if it were a cross between a heaven-god and a fiend-devil. Of course, it was none other than Yang Qi's Heaven-God Hell-Exterminating Devil Embryo.

"Is this some sort of devil embryo? Does it have the energy of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth? No, it doesn't seem so...." The empress frowned. "Proud Heaven explained the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth to me once, including all of its various energy arts states, and I don't remember anything like this. Don't tell me he finally succeeded in defeating the successor in the Primeval Age. Could he possibly have acquired a second God Legion Seal? Did he finally acquire more of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth? What a terrifying thought."

Meanwhile, Leaf Dao-Denier clenched his hands into fists and shouted, "Arrrgh! How? How did he put something like that in me? And how could I not have been aware of it? What is it? A devil embryo? I can't believe he put a devil embryo inside me! Disgusting!"

"Yes, it's a devil embryo. And it was put in you without your knowledge. It allowed him to absorb any energy arts you used while it was in you, and also spy on your every word and action. Thankfully, you told me the truth, otherwise he could have used this to exercise complete control over you for the rest of your life. Later, when you ceased being valuable, he could activate the full power of the thing to devour your soul, quintessence energy, flesh, and blood. You would have become part of Yang Qi. Very powerful. This kid gets more and more interesting the more I learn about him."

**

'Not good!' Yang Qi thought.

He was just now getting the sense of what was happening. Thankfully, he had recently conquered over nine hundred million knowledge-devils, pushing his nascent divinity to a much higher level. "She knows about my devil embryo. Thankfully, I still have a way to reach out to it! Devil Embryo Connection; Eternal Path!"

RUMBLE!

He flicked his sleeve, gathering up all of the sect leaders. "We have a problem, everyone. Leaf Dao-Denier has betrayed us. We're all in grave danger, but as you know, rewards come only with risk. I've created a new spatial nexus that we can go through right now. Let's launch the attack on Empress Joyflower immediately!"

Yang Qi would never trust anything Leaf Dao-Denier had laid his hands on, including the command medallion. Therefore, he was using the devil embryo as the nexus, and was drawing on the powers of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart to lock on to the empress' position.

There was no way Leaf Dao-Denier could have predicted that he would do this.

Even if Leaf Dao-Denier went all out, there was no way he could catch up to Yang Qi when it came to plots and schemes.

Although some of the sect leaders resisted, they all suddenly felt their vision grow dark for a moment. Then, they found themselves facing Leaf Dao-Denier and a young woman in bright red clothing.

Everyone knew who she was. Empress Joyflower. And the location they were in was the most secure dimension in the Joyflower Palace, a place she normally reserved for her private sessions of cultivation.

At that moment, the sect leaders realized that Yang Qi had not deceived them. Considering that all of them had been rivals of Empress Joyflower for hundreds of millions of years, they were all very familiar with her aura.

Thump. Swish. Rustle.

The sect leaders instantly unleashed the spell formations they had planned for this moment, which swept out to cover the empress and Leaf Dao-Denier.

At the same time, a weapon appeared in Battle Resister's hand, an enormous, pitch-black cudgel, covered with protrusions made from magical symbols.

"Heaven-Quaking God Cudgel!"

Moments before, Leaf Dao-Denier had been cursing Yang Qi and his devil embryo, and in his desire to kill him, he had been trying to convince Empress Joyflower to move against him.

But then the devil embryo had suddenly trembled and Yang Qi and all of his allies popped out into the open.

It was almost like a nightmare.

"You! Yang Qi! What are you doing here!? That medallion was supposed to trap you in a deadly dimension!" Although Leaf Dao-Denier was nearly hysterical, when he looked over and saw how calm Empress Joyflower was, he regained control of himself.

"So, you really did betray us, Leaf Dao-Denier," Battle Resister said. "In the end, you're nothing but a snitch. Aren't you worried about the ramifications of your oath?"

Leaf Dao-Denier burst into maniacal laughter. "That oath was a complete sham. I never swear oaths. By the way, it's good you're here. Empress Joyflower is going to slaughter all of you! I can't believe you infected me with a devil embryo, Yang Qi! How vicious and wicked!"

Ignoring Leaf Dao-Denier's ravings, Yang Qi looked at the empress in her bright red clothing that made her look like an evil ghost. Unexpectedly, she radiated the sorrowful aura of the Passionless God-King, making it seem like she was his reincarnation. "Greetings, Empress Joyflower. So, we meet at last. I'm quite impressed by your Joyflower Palace. You really dominate the Ancient Road to the Gods, winning victories at every turn as you seek to conquer all existence."

"You're Proud Heaven's son?" the empress said, her eyes as cold as ice. "Apparently you inherited some of his vicious nature. You'll stoop to anything to achieve your goals, won't you, you—"

"Shut it," Yang Qi interrupted. "I'm no son of Proud Heaven. He doesn't deserve to be my father. I'm a Fateless One, Empress Joyflower. Didn't you realize that? Proud Heaven is after me, hoping to get something that I possess. But in the end, I'm going to kill him."

"What?" Empress Joyflower blurted in fury. Then, a moment later, the term Fateless One registered and her expression slightly softened. Examining Yang Qi, she said, "So, you're a Fateless One. In that case, I suppose you actually aren't Proud Heaven's son. Fateless Ones have no true parents and reign supreme among the three thousand special constitutions. So does that mean... your 'energy arts' are yours alone? Do you have... that thing on you?"

She nearly spoke the words 'Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth' and 'God Legion Seal', but managed to hold her tongue. When she finished speaking, she looked at Yang Qi with glittering eyes. Clearly, she intended to take those things if he had them.

'Dammit!' Leaf Dao-Denier cursed inwardly. Unfortunately, the situation had already developed beyond his control. All he could do now was sit back and watch Empress Joyflower fight her enemies.

"For now, let's forget about what I have or don't have," Yang Qi said. From Empress Joyflower's tone of voice when she mentioned Proud Heaven's name, it was obvious that she deeply hated him. "We've come here today to kill you. Your people stole my Dao Defense League, and tricked me into becoming a mere prisoner. The time has come to settle accounts."