Sage Monarch

Yang Qi's sea of consciousness had transformed into a shocking battlefield, upon which heaven-shaking, earth-toppling events were playing out. Thankfully, he had cultivated the first line of the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body, making him tougher than ever. And every time destruction loomed, tribulation energy would roll out and protect his sea of consciousness and fleshly body.

Were it not for that, to have the wills of four Terrifying experts battling within him would have caused his mind to explode and his body to collapse into dust.

With massive amounts of devil vitality flowing into him, he was able to fully cultivate the first sixteen characters of the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body.

One could only imagine the dramatic changes to his constitution if he cultivated the entire thing. As of this moment, the structure of his body conformed to kalpas and tribulations, and every single particle within him was like a tribulation.

Unfortunately, the dramatic changes were also something of an attack on his nascent divinity, which was slowly being pushed to the boundaries of his sea of consciousness. It was like a rowboat in the middle of a huge storm, just on the verge of sinking.

However, Yang Qi was only putting on a front of being very anxious and nervous about the situation. It was all a sham, and he was simply waiting for the right opportunity to come along. The opportunity to ensnare these Terrifying experts.

Given the level of his cultivation base, he obviously wasn't a match for Terrifying opponents. Perhaps, if he used a host of magical treasures, he might have a chance. Right now, he needed to get his hands on the sheepskin scroll and further cultivate the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. It was the perfect match for the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and would put him in a position where he could face Terrifying opponents while he himself was still in the Destabilizing level.

That said, he could still take advantage of the situation if he found the right opportunity. The fighting going on was fierce, and he could sense the psychic power of the four opponents slowly draining away. Therefore, all he had to do was launch an attack at the right time.

Oftentimes, victory didn't go to the strongest, but the most patient.

As the battle raged, his nascent divinity drifted on the edges of his sea of consciousness. Lord Blood River was by no means at a disadvantage against the three fiend-devils, which just went to show how powerful he was. In fact, Yang Qi wondered what his psychic scale was, and exactly who he was.

The battle went on.

All of a sudden, more blood energy erupted from the seal below, as if the battle itself were unraveling it even faster.

Apparently, Lord Blood River was about to emerge.

"Boy, hurry up and assimilate the seal!" the mahātmā urged. "Absorb it into your Unspoiled Body. That's the only way to keep Lord Blood River in check and suppress his psychic power!"

Trying to sound as weak as possible, Yang Qi said, "But Mahātmā, that Lord Blood River just absorbed part of my nascent divinity! I can't even control my own body!"

Of course, it was a complete fabrication.

However, the mahātmā had no reason to doubt him. He knew how powerful Lord Blood River was, and it only made sense that Yang Qi's nascent divinity might have been damaged just now.

"It's fine, I'll help you!"

Despite everything that was going on, the mahātmā sent out some will into Yang Qi's nascent divinity, causing it to swell and grow. Yang Qi couldn't have been more delighted to have fooled the mahātmā, and used it to strengthen himself.

In order to make sure the mahātmā had no idea of the truth, he quickly drew on a secret magic.

'God Flame!'

He quickly sent flames to engulf his nascent divinity, making it seem like there was blood energy inside of it that was being burned away.

Yang Qi sent the flames coursing through his meridians, then rose to his feet. Reaching down, he ripped open the sealing mark on the altar, causing a host of egg-sized motes of light to rise up into the air, shining like dazzling pearls.

It was none other than godhood!

Beneath the sealing mark, Yang Qi saw a circular basin that had obviously once contained hundreds of pieces of godhood. However, over the years, they had been slowly worn away by the process of keeping Lord Blood River sealed. Now there were only a few left.

"Come on out, Lord Blood River!" Yang Qi said. "I'm taking this godhood!" He waved his hand, sucking in all of the godhood, which instantly caused his nascent divinity to surge with power. "Now, get the hell out of my sea of consciousness!"

A vortex appeared within his dantian region, and the Engine of the One God flew out of it and landed in his heart. Without any hesitation, he threw the godhood into the engine.

Crick. Crack.

Almost immediately, the cold voice of the Engine of the One God's photonic computers spoke.

[Activating imperial-heaven pre-beginning systems, stage one. Activating stage two. Activating stage three. Activating stage four. Activating stage five. Activating stage six.]

It stopped at the seventh stage, and the process caused boundless and majestic power to surge from his heart and fill his body.

Before, he wouldn't have been able to sustain it, but with an Unspoiled Body he could.

Instantly, the blood energy within him was shaken violently. Meanwhile, another vortex opened behind him, out of which flew his God Legion Seal.

Crack! Snap!

His power index began to climb until it was at the level of six or even seven thousand. The God Legion Seal flickered within his mind, and before anyone else realized what was happening, their wills were ejected from within Yang Qi.

Even Lord Blood River was forcibly removed.

Yang Qi suddenly burst out into odd, maniacal laughter. "Good riddance, fools! Did you really think you could fight me, Proud Heaven? How could I possibly let that happen? This pawn of mine was under my control the entire time! Now, I'll be taking this sheepskin scroll, and if you want revenge for it, come and find me in the future world!"

Then Yang Qi simply flew up into the sky like a bird.

Grabbing the sheepskin scroll, he vanished into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, making it completely impossible for anyone to do anything to him. Obviously, his major powerup had finally allowed him to access the chart.

He had laid a very clever trap, declaring that he was Proud Heaven in an attempt to shift focus away from himself. And it obviously wouldn't hurt to create some powerful adversaries for Proud Heaven.

"What?"

The sudden developments were completely beyond anything the mahātmā fiend-devil had predicted or planned for.

"This is bad..." the mahātmā blurted. He wanted to give chase, but quickly realized that there was no quarry to pursue. Meanwhile, an old man in a blood-colored robe was floating up into the middle of the temple. It was none other than Lord Blood River.

All three of the fiend-devils were visibly stunned.

"Run!" the mahātmā said.

"To where?" Lord Blood River said, sending out a wall of brilliant light that blocked their path. Cackling viciously, he said, "You're going to pay a high price for your cunning. You really got played by Proud Heaven. He has a lot of pawns, you know. They're everywhere."

"We were all fooled by Proud Heaven," the mahātmā said, "even you, Lord Blood River. What's the point in making things hard for us now? You're strong, but not necessarily strong enough to take all three of us out at the same time. We all have Terrifying will, you know."

"That's right, Lord Blood River," the scholarly fiend-devil said. "In the end, we did nothing to actually hurt you. It would be pointless to get involved in a fight that would hurt all of us. If the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect found out, they would send an army in here to capture us."

Lord Blood River chuckled. "Fine, I won't kill you. From now on, you work for me. We're going to make the most invincible devil sect that's ever existed!"

1. There are a couple passages of really complex wordplay that I'm leaving out, likening Yang Qi himself to the name of the technique and talking about how awesome he is. Frankly, none of it is actually relevant, it's just fancy- sounding without containing any substance.

2. I'm leaving out a rather lengthy passage that literally just re-lists everything that happened in the fight scene, and most specifically, the resolution of the fight.