Sage Monarch

Thanks to the godhood stars, the immortal-slaying clone grew rapidly stronger, reaching a power index of over a thousand. That made his energy arts even more capable of sensing the depths of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart and understanding the profound secrets of the stars overhead, making it possible for him to draw on their quintessence energy to bolster himself.

Unfortunately, only he could benefit in this way. There were warding spells protecting the godhood stars to ensure that fact. It wasn't even possible for him to redirect their power to another person, or even the Engine of the One God.

King Immortal-Slayer had prepared well, ensuring that if his legacy were to be passed on that it would ultimately go to only one successor.

Thankfully, as the immortal-slaying clone's energy arts advanced, he had unlocked the powers and spell formations of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

"Be expelled!" the clone said in a ringing voice, and it sent a ripple out through the entire Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, seeking out the countless cultivators who had taken up residence in the crooks and crannies of the place. There were experts who had been there since ancient times, but now they were expelled, ensuring that the chart was only for the use of the immortal-slaying clone and Yang Qi's direct subordinates in his virtual god world.

No one knew just how many states the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart had in total.

In the past, it had opened every ten thousand years, during which time people from the mortal world could enter it. That included people from the Primeval and Future Ages. Such individuals had spread through the chart, searching for magical treasure, god items, and the like.

Now all of those people were being forced to leave by the immortal-slaying clone.

The clone wasn't exactly sure how the process worked, as his cultivation base wasn't strong enough to truly fill the entire chart. He just had a vague idea of how to do it. However, it left him feeling very content.

"Virtual god world, be strengthened!"

Using the power he had thanks to the godhood stars, he opened the virtual god world and caused mountain peaks to rise up, flowers and plants to blossom, water to flow, and clouds to proliferate. Soon, it was a place that, in terms of cultivation potential, had surpassed the immortal worlds in every way.

In the blink of an eye, the virtual god world glowed brighter than ever.

The billion god formations were all active and releasing immense power, and at the same time, there were spell formations that were part of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart which were doing the same thing. Creaking and crunching sounds could be heard as the immortal-slaying clone gathered that power and sent it through a portal to his true self.

As of now, the eight legacy medallions were unlocked and active in a way that vastly surpassed anything from before. When combined with his true self's energy arts, it meant the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart could unleash much greater attack power than before.

"Myriad Worlds Power; Monarch of Myriad Monarchs!" Power that surpassed anything from the Engine of the One God coursed into his true self's sea of energy, where it began churning and roiling. If it were unleashed, it could smash mountains, drain seas, destroy moons, crush stars, and shatter immortal worlds.

At long last, thanks to improving the attack power of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, Yang Qi's true self was now in a position to be able to fight Empress Joyflower.

Of course, all of these developments occurred in only one short moment.

The immortal-slaying clone could obviously control the flow of time in the virtual god world. If he couldn't, then how could it be called a god world?

Without all the preparations King Immortal-Slayer had made, and the way the immortal-slaying clone had benefited from them, it was likely that Yang Qi would have been completely destroyed by Empress Joyflower.

But now, that was not a foregone conclusion.

Victory was still up for grabs.

Gong!

All of a sudden, a dramatic transformation occurred within his sea of energy as the consummate arts of the seventy-two monarchs all reached their complete and ultimate level.

RUMBLE!

Behind him, the Seventy-Two Monarchs Energy Art produced a projection of a monarch whose every palm strike, fist strike, or leg attack could unleash the ultimate level of power.

It was a might that could pierce the dome of heaven, sweep through the aeons of history, and topple three thousand chiliocosms of worlds.

Of course, Yang Qi wasn't going to reveal that he had just experienced a massive transformation to his energy arts. He would wait for just the right moment to spring it on Empress Joyflower and leave her completely flabbergasted.

"You're offering to work with me?" she said. "Hold on, you're trying to buy time, aren't you? But for what? You just threw Leaf Dao-Denier into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, presumably to use his Eternal blood to stimulate King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions. But even if you succeed, will you be able to use them? You can't rely on a mere magical treasure to beat an opponent as strong as me. In this world, you need to rely on your own power, not on power from treasures. Just look at Proud Heaven. If he weren't so heaven-defying, then how could he be conquering everything in his path?"

"Don't waste words on her, Brother Yang Qi!" Battle Resister said. "Just kill her!" With that, he hefted his enormous cudgel, causing shockwaves of battle energy to roll out. Battle energy was the manifestation of an energy art that was unique to the Profound House of Battle Energy. Supposedly, the ancient Battle God had been a domineering warrior whose every move could destroy the heavens and crush the earth. His energy arts were different from other energy arts. He used strength to defeat strength, and weakness to defeat weakness. When battle energy was unleashed, it could destroy any other energy arts in its path.

"If you want to die, Battle Resister, I'll accommodate you!" Her eyes remaining locked on Yang Qi, she moved her hand in a movement as graceful as a dream of flowers and leaves, thrusting it directly toward Battle Resister.

Suddenly, a host of palm projections appeared, within which were numerous energy rings that resembled dragon pearls. It was a consummate technique from the Joyflower Palace, the Rings of Desperation. They actually resembled hearts filled with despondency and devoid of passion, and they looked strong enough to crush even energy arts much stronger than they were.

Pop. Pop. Pop!

Battle Resister's cudgel swept back and forth and up and down, bolstered with incredible momentum as it smashed the rings to bits.

Then he continued on with an attack on Empress Joyflower, his cudgel whirling like a top.

"Vast Sky of Battle Killing!

"Star-Shifting Constellation-Swapping!

"Astral Redirection!

"Let the Battle God Cometh!

"Battle Without Cease!

"Zen Dragon Battles to the Death!" [1]

Battle Resister unleashed a host of consummate techniques, making him seem like a consummate hero that had come to save all humanity, and was surrounded by the living beings who he viewed with mercy. [2]

"Empress Joyflower! In order to deal with you, I've created a world of mercy. Brother Yang Qi and I are the bane of your passionless, merciless moves. Do you really think you have what it takes to stand up to us?" In the blink of an eye, Battle Resister's killing moves grew even stronger.

"You're an ant trying to shake a tree, and you've bitten off a bit more than you can chew!" Blurring into motion, Empress Joyflower twitched her fingers like she was playing a zither. Her movements were sometimes slow and sometimes quick, as though she played to a rhythm that conformed to heaven and earth, and at the same time, gave rise to the most austere of atmospheres.

Ding! Deng! Dong! Ding!

Twangs rang out as she sent blasts of wind toward Battle Resister's cudgel, negating all of his energy arts and quickly proving who was in the superior position.

SNICK!

As the final blast landed on the cudgel, Empress Joyflower's eyes blazed with killing intent and she reached out with fingers splayed into a claw. In the blink of an eye, a whole string of the Rings of Desperation appeared, then immediately latched on to the cudgel.

RIP!

The cudgel shivered, then shattered, becoming countless motes of dust that drifted away on the wind. Just like that, a god item had been completely and utterly destroyed.

Battle Resister staggered backward, coughing up blood the entire time.

"Die!" Empress Joyflower growled, reaching forward again, the energy of her claw locking down every avenue of escape for Battle Resister and ensuring that he had no way to flee, but could only close his eyes and die.

However, that was when Yang Qi made his move. He took three steps forward, and as he did, he unleashed three palm strikes. First, the Hand of the One God. Second, the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic. And third, the Seventy-Two Monarchs Energy Art.

Each of them contained mountain-toppling, sea-draining force, yet Empress Joyflower hardly paid any attention to them. She sent her own palm out to meet them, blocking the first and second strike and completely destroying them.

But then the third palm was blasted apart, and it was like the divine dragon hiding in a pool of eels. In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi's energy soared to the highest heavens!

"Monarch among Monarchs!"

King Immortal-Slayer appeared, tall and mighty, emanating the power of a monarch who ruled all other monarchs. He thrummed with such intense godpower that everything shook violently, even places outside in the Great Necropolis.

'Not good!' Empress Joyflower thought, suddenly aware that she was in a very bad position that she could never have predicted. That third fist strike was so savage and powerful that the power of her own attack was completely dismantled.

1. You might notice that there are several references to stars and astral phenomena in his series of moves. That's because the character I'm translating as "battle" is also a common character used in things like the Big Dipper and other astronomical terms. Yet again, this is a type of double-wordplay that I can't achieve in English.

2. There is a contrast here between "mercy" and the Joyflower Palace who are based on the "passionless" or "merciless" flower.