Sage Monarch

The golden imp resembled Yang Qi's God Legion Seal in every way.

In fact, that was exactly what it was. A second God Legion Seal, finally appearing within the modern age. The God Legion Seal as a whole had three parts, one in the Future Age, one in the Immortal Dao Age, and one in the Primeval Age. The Future Age had traveled into the past to fight the Primeval Age for the seal that existed there.

Yet that seal from the Primeval Age had apparently traveled through time and emerged into the primal-chaos paleo-energy of the immortal dao civilization.

The ancient aura of the Primeval Age spread out, but not very far. Next to the golden imp was an individual wearing golden clothing. He looked like a young man, with sword-like eyebrows and a vortex swirling on his forehead.

The God Legion Seal flew into the vortex, and then the primeval aura and golden aura faded away, leaving the young man looking very ordinary in nature. That said, there was still something mighty about him, something domineering that seemed to suggest the dao of monarchs and the dao of sages. He seemed indomitable, but at the same time sentimental, like an amalgamation of war and peace. Anyone who caught sight of him would be able to tell that he was someone important.

As for his energy arts level, it was impossible to tell.

His golden garment was, in fact, a god item filled with incredible magical powers. Its name was the Yellow Gold Battle Robe, and it was very similar to Yang Qi's God Legion Battle Robe, being an energy art state from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

Obviously, this person was an expert who had traveled through time from the Primeval Age.

He commanded a God Legion Seal, and was clearly a preeminent and illustrious leader from the Primeval Age. And he had come to this age to walk the Ancient Road to the Gods. However, from his demeanor, it seemed he had come in a rush.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

The way he retracted his aura even suggested that he was worried about being noticed. Looking around at the primal-chaos paleo-energy, he nodded. 'Perfect. It's a good thing I ended up in this location, as opposed to another, otherwise, the fluctuations might've attracted notice.'

RUMBLE!

A host of individuals began popping out into the primal-chaos paleo-energy behind him, all of them clad in golden garments. They were his followers, and all of them were incredibly powerful.

In fact, their combined strength seemed like enough to topple the dao of heaven.

"Milord..." they murmured as they hurried over and kneeled.

One of them inched forward and said, "Oh mighty Lord, despite the disastrous losses we suffered in the Primeval Age, we've finally made it to the Immortal Dao Age. But why do I get the sensation that dramatic transformations are underway here? There seems to be some aura spreading that surpasses even our grand Primeval Age."

"Look there," said the young man, pointing. They sent their vision through the primal-chaos until they saw the Ancient Road to the Gods, except there was an enormous necropolis blocking its entrance.

If the Ancient Road to the Gods was blocked, it meant that no one stood a chance to reach godly ascension.

"The Ancient Road to the Gods! We've finally laid eyes on the Ancient Road to the Gods!" These people all had eyes brimming with tears of excitement. "The road vanished from the Primeval Age, but here it is in the Immortal Dao Age. But Milord, what's that huge necropolis blocking the entrance? My god, look at how big it is! It's definitely larger than a thirty-third ranked immortal world."

"Looks like it's higher than the hundredth rank," the young man said, sighing. "The Great Necropolis is a powerful and mysterious item from the god world, a place where gods are buried. I'm not sure of the details, as my God Legion Seal doesn't contain any further information about it. But one thing is certain: this age is changing, and is full of possibility. And now that we've escaped the future world, the God Legion Seal is safe."

"Oh mighty Lord," another of his attendants said, "I've heard that there's a God Legion Seal in this age as well. We should probably go into hiding and work on getting stronger. At the same time, we can search for information about whoever owns the other part of the God Legion Seal. Getting that third piece is the only way we'll be able to fight back against the future world."

"You're right. I have the feeling that whoever owns the God Legion Seal in this age hasn't grown to his full potential yet, which means we might have a chance to take him out! Yes, we need to get information. Thankfully, I don't think any of the sects from the Primeval Age exist in this time period. Therefore, when we make our debut, we can do so as representatives of a buddhist school. We can just say that we opened up a path from the Primeval Age and came here to spread our faith and religion. There were many buddhist schools, such as the Zen Sect, Vajrayāna Sect, Permeation Sect, Sūrya Sect, Vidyā Sect, Kā Sect, Question Sect, and so on. It shouldn't be hard for us to come up with our own version. You take charge, Eye. I'll remain behind the scenes!"

"Yes, Milord!" said the man named Eye.

It was an incredibly simple name, only one word. In the Primeval age, it was common to only have one word for a name, as had been made clear by Eldest Brother Secundus.

"We'll start by changing our appearance," Eye said. "Take this secret magic I once acquired from one of the buddhist schools. It's as famous as the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic, called the Success-Steadiness Destruction-Void Myriad-Tribulations Doom-Law Hand Seal. We need to come up with a name for this new buddhist school as well. How about the Doom Sect? Yes. This is a period of doom to the law, so the Doom Sect is fitting. The time has come for us to end all of this chaos." [1]

With that, Eye began uttering some zen chants, causing a golden buddha to appear behind him. The buddha exploded after a moment, becoming countless golden magical symbols that rained down on everyone present and soaked into their bodies. Moments later, sauvastika symbols appeared on all of their foreheads and they vanished.

Left behind was only a voice. "I have come to the Immortal Dao Age and will soon make my move. As for the holder of the God Legion Seal, know that I used the prognostication techniques of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth to seek information about you. I know that you haven't yet reached your full potential, and are very weak. I will find you, and I will kill you. With the second part of the God Legion Seal, my cultivation base will advance by leaps and bounds, and I will be able to step into the god world. And once I get there, I will rip everything to shreds."

Another extremely powerful entity had arrived in the current age.

**

As Yang Qi flew along, he suddenly shivered.

"What's wrong?" Battle Resister asked. "Brother Yang Qi, could it be that your cultivation base hasn't fully recovered?"

"No, it's not that," Yang Qi replied. "I just got a strange sensation that leads me to believe something important is about to happen. Perhaps it's that something very, very important to me has suddenly appeared. Except I'm not sure what it is. I feel like there's a very heavy weight inside me now, so heavy it's almost painful."

"Oh?" Battle Resister said, a serious expression overtaking his face. "Brother Yang Qi, your cultivation base has reached a peak level, especially your spirit and will. Yet all of a sudden, you're feeling an ill premonition? What exactly happened? And what should we do about it? Perhaps we should hold back from taking action? Or perform some divinations?"

People who had reached the level of cultivation of Battle Resister and Yang Qi knew that when they were prompted by a sudden impulse, it often meant that something important was about to happen. Such feelings shouldn't be ignored. Oftentimes, they related to life-or-death matters.

Yang Qi shook his head. "Divinations won't help. I already have a divine ability that can instantly assess the river of fate and the dao of heaven. Just now, I sensed a ripple that vanished with an unnatural quickness. It seems to me that some powerful expert arrived and immediately went into hiding from the dao of heaven."

"What if this person does something unexpected?"

"I doubt they will, or at least, not yet," Yang Qi replied. "Let's take advantage of the time we have right now to get your Profound House of Battle Energy to safety. Then I can look for the location of the rest of the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic. Once my will convergence reaches the Terrifying level, we won't have so much to worry about."

If Yang Qi wanted to get stronger, he needed to get godhood to convert into power. But more important than that was his will convergence and nascent divinity. His fight with Empress Joyflower had fully impressed upon him exactly how powerful Terrifying will was, and he knew that he had to reach that level himself. It was hard to imagine what the result would be, otherwise.

Soon enough, he and Battle Resister reached the Profound House of Battle Energy in the Great Necropolis.

It was a sect of similar stature to the Joyflower Palace, and it had a similarly long history. In other words, it vastly surpassed the old Dao Defense League in terms of strength, although possibly not in overall numbers. Although the sect had recently experienced bad luck, many of its disciples were domineering figures, with the weakest among them being Grand Emperors.

"This is the Profound House of Battle Energy, Brother Yang Qi," Battle Resister said. "The front entrance is called the Gate of the Battle God, which was created by the Battle God himself, and forms the original foundation of the sect. The patriarchs and masters of the sect eventually left for the depths of the Ancient Road to the Gods, and apparently perished. That was when I accepted leadership of the sect and led them here in the Great Necropolis. We flourished at first, and acquired many god items. Unfortunately, we eventually attracted the attention of the Joyflower Palace and came out on the losing end of the conflict. Much of that had to do with Empress Joyflower, and the fact that she always seems to come across good fortune. Her cultivation base has only climbed higher and higher, to the point where she can be considered invincible even on the Ancient Road to the Gods."

1. The name of the sect makes reference to the last of the three major ages of cosmic history held in most Buddhist countries. It's the age of "latter law" or "the degeneration and extinction of the law (of Buddha)". As for why I'm going with "doom", it relates to some later wordplay, so stay tuned.