Sage Monarch

Leaf Dao-Denier contained a combination of Fortuned and Eternal blood. However, each drop of his blood also resembled a taiji symbol. Fortune was Fortune; Eternal was Eternal. They were like a black fish and a white fish forever intertwined.

It was an expression of the Taiji Indestructible Chaos-Magic World-Terrorizing Profound Art, which Leaf Dao-Denier had used to rapidly advance his energy arts, making him capable of crushing even top-tier experts from the Ancient Road to the Gods.

Empress Joyflower had chosen to teach him that profound technique because of the effect it would have on his Fortuned and Eternal blood. It would make them clearly distinguishable, and at the same time, would make them complement each other even more.

No one had ever combined Eternal powers and Fortuned powers in imitation of the taiji, and it surpassed the original creator of the technique in terms of strength. The original creator had been a god-king, but all he had ever absorbed were yin and yang energies, not the blood of Eternal and Fortuned Ones.

Ultimately, Eternal power and Fortuned power were like yin and yang.

Eternal power was the yang, and Fortuned power was the yin.

Eternal power relied on what was strong and masculine to exist forever. Fortuned power relied on what was soft and feminine to create mountains and rivers within the eternal stream of time, using natural charm to create immortal worlds. [1]

Because of the yin-yang combination of Eternal and Fortuned power, Leaf Dao-Denier's energy arts had reached an unfathomable level. They could pierce the ancient past, crush macrocosms, and reach unheard-of peaks.

Unfortunately, none of that did much to help against the immortal-slaying clone.

Spurt-spurt. Spurt-spurt.

One drop of blood after another flew out into the clone's hand until he was holding a fist-sized conglomeration that looked like a taiji sphere of green and red.

"Assimilate the blood, and the power of a myriad of worlds will come to heaven and earth...." Streams of blood began flowing from the sphere into the immortal-slaying clone, who immediately began assimilating it.

RUMBLE!

Flames burst out all over the clone, expressions of pure immortal-slaying power that rose into the dome of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart's heaven. High above, something like an eye opened up and godly power descended, power left behind by King Immortal-Slayer himself that only an immortal-slaying clone with enough legacy medallions could use. Not even Yang Qi's true self would have been able to take it.

Outside, his true self began to glow with dazzling light, making him seem like someone in the midst of attaining dao enlightenment.

Leaf Dao-Denier howled with rage, and was fully prepared to put his life on the line to fight back against what was happening.

Unfortunately for him, as his Eternal and Fortuned blood was extracted, the immortal-slaying clone only grew stronger and stronger, making it even less possible for Leaf Dao-Denier to struggle. As the moments ticked by and he continued to be crushed by all the various powers, he grew weaker and weaker.

Meanwhile, the clone flew high into the sky like a divine dragon that was ready to part the heavens.

"Be opened, Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart! Let the eight medallions come!" Upon spattering his eight medallions with Eternal blood, they shone with bright light that caused something to open up in the sky above.

"Open!"

As power coursed through the clone, he felt like he was in the presence of multiple versions of King Immortal-Slayer. The clone was transforming. He no longer physically resembled Yang Qi, but instead seemed like an ancient statue with an expressionless face.

It was not the face of a beautiful man, but rather someone ancient and mighty, with chiseled features tinged with the vestiges of history.

If Zilin was jade, then this man was an ancient divine likeness from primeval times. His face reflected a long, hard life, weathered by age, his temples white in a way that made him seem particularly manly.

After all, without experiencing the hardships of life, how could one truly grow up?

He seemed like a person whose most casual movement could subvert the cosmos, who commanded ultimate authority, and who had won his position through deadly struggle.

This was the kind of person who truly looked mighty.

Compared to Yang Qi's immortal-slaying clone, Zilin would seem too delicate, almost like he wasn't a true man. In fact, if Empress Joyflower were to lay eyes on him, she would likely disdain any other man she saw from then on.

These were the facial features of King Immortal-Slayer himself.

King Immortal-Slayer's mighty will could shake anything and everything. It was invincible in the dome of heaven, and was the kind of thing that would never acknowledge allegiance to anyone else. With the influx of new blood, the clone had unlocked another mysterious aspect of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

"Oh mighty chart, show me your mysterious power!" the clone said, throwing his hands up over his head.

An immense ripple descended from above, providing Leaf Dao-Denier with a sight the likes of which he would never possibly be able to forget.

The clouds parted, revealing stars in the black sky above. Countless, densely packed stars, similar to what people in the mortal world would see when they looked up and saw a river of silver above them.

Of course, they weren't literal stars, but motes of godhood!

They were remnants of gods that King Immortal-Slayer had slain, kept sealed in the deepest parts of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

"Look at all that godhood!" Leaf Dao-Denier breathed. "It's spectacular!" Considering the level of his cultivation base, it was only natural that he knew exactly what he was looking at. Never in his wildest fantasies could he have imagined acquiring a collection of godhood like this, yet here was Yang Qi doing it right in front of him.

The most precious thing stored within the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was none other than this collection.

'All of that is godhood...' the clone thought, deeply shaken. It begged the question of just how many gods King Immortal-Slayer had slain. What kind of havoc had someone as terrifying as him wrought on the god world?

And what level of power had been required to take their godhood and store it in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart? Whether it was the Joyflower Palace, the Primeval Age, the future world, or the experts from the Ancient Road to the Gods, they could all be dissolved into dust by a mere exhalation of King Immortal-Slayer.

Obviously, the war that had been fought in the god world had been a brutal one.

In the past, Yang Qi had relied on the god items he acquired, or smatterings of the knowledge of various gods, to try to get an idea of what the god world was like. But now he realized he was more clueless than ever.

Not even the gods could truly understand the god world. Even they were like frogs in a well, staring up at the sky.

For example, a human living on a planet wouldn't necessarily know everything about that planet. Likewise, not even the legion of gods could fully describe the god world.

The immortal-slaying clone extended his finger upward, and one of the 'stars' descended in a streak of light, shooting into him and causing his power index to climb.

Five hundred fifty. Five hundred sixty. Five hundred seventy.... Six hundred. Seven hundred.... Eight hundred. It was only at that point that the starlight faded away.

It was power that had descended from a 'star' of godhood. Unfortunately, given the level of the clone's cultivation base, he couldn't actually assimilate the star itself.

He simply wasn't strong enough to break through the barrier yet.That barrier could only be opened when the true successor of King Immortal-Slayer eventually reached the level of the gods.

Right now, the immortal-slaying clone was essentially like an ordinary energy warrior on a continent of mortals, who could sense the powers of the star above and absorb some of their power. However, it would be lunacy to think that he could pluck those stars down for himself.

That said, the clone's cultivation base was still advancing by leaps and bounds.

As he assimilated the power, he grew a bit taller. Then, numerous filthy impurities were extruded from his flesh and blood, and burned away by true flame, after which he shrank back down, stronger and mightier than ever.

He looked like translucent crystal, with his meridians, sea of energy, five viscera and six bowels all visible. Meanwhile, his power index climbed again, going from eight hundred to nine hundred, then finally, to a thousand.

Now that Yang Qi's clone had absorbed Leaf Dao-Denier's Eternal Fortuned blood, Leaf Dao-Denier looked shriveled and weak, like little more than a bag of bones. Ninety-nine percent of his quintessence had been taken away, and he was still tightly sealed.

"Why don't you kill me?" he growled. "Kill me! Quick and clean!"

"Nah, I'm not going to kill you," the clone replied. "I'll help you recover, and when you're back to normal I'll extract all of your blood again. Understand? My army of followers needs that blood, and although it will get weaker and weaker, it's still better than nothing. Only when I have absolutely no use left for you will I actually kill you. Now, give me the Taiji Indestructible Chaos-Magic World-Terrorizing Profound Art, as well as the rest of the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic."

1. Another reminder that, as I mentioned in the last chapter, the word for "fortune" can also refer to nature or creation. There's also wordplay for this constitution type that relates to the other definition(s) of the word pertaining to "good luck". Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with a single translation that conveyed all of the varying definitions together.