Sage Monarch

"We'll follow your orders, Lord Blood River," the mahātmā said, exchanging a glance with the other two fiend-devils. All of them were in agreement. Their original plan had been to use Lord Blood River to deal with the deadly Executors of the Ancient Road, so as long as their end goal would be met, they were fine with this change of plans. After all, Lord Blood River had fought the executors' most senior experts and come out alive. In the end, he would be a great leader.

Lord Blood River cackled. "Well, you certainly changed your minds quickly. But that's good. A wise man submits to the circumstances. With Terrifying will, the three of you are elites among elites, so it would be a shame to destroy you. What a pity that the talisman sealing me was taken by Proud Heaven, along with all the remaining godhood."

"There could be no more powerful enemy than Proud Heaven," the mahātmā said. "He controls the future world, and stirs up trouble wherever he goes. He has a God Legion Seal, and even declared war on the Primeval Age. No one knows exactly how he got this strong. It's going to be difficult to fight him."

"He led a reign of terror on the Ancient Road to the Gods years ago," Lord Blood River said, looking very serious. "Not even the executors could really do anything about him. His ultimate goal was to reach the god world, but he was always foiled. Now that he's back, he's surely more dangerous than ever."

Not even Lord Blood River, in all his might, was confident in being able to fight Proud Heaven.

"We definitely have to get that sheepskin scroll back," the mahātmā said. "It's the legacy of the most powerful leader from the Hell of Sages and Mahātmās, and contains secrets that will allow the devil world to devastate the god world."

"We'll get the sheepskin scroll back eventually," Lord Blood River said. "After all, I still have to cultivate the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body.... For now, we need to leave this place before the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect shows up and causes trouble. Although, I doubt they would dare to openly fight me. The only people who could have any hope of killing me would be gods!"

WHOOSH!

He became a streak of blood-colored light and shot off into the distance, followed by the three fiend-devils.

Although the Land of God Extermination prevented anyone under the Terrifying level from flying, for those in that level, it was an easy task.

As they left, their energy fluctuations were noticed by some of the old-timers in the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, and a dozen or so streams of powerful will immediately shot out to intercept them. When they reached the blood-colored streak of light, Lord Blood River's will spoke. "Experts from the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, I am Lord Blood River, and I have earned my freedom today. Do not cause any problems for me. I have no desire to fight you, lest we both end up injured."

"Fear not," replied one of the old-timers. "There are other, more important matters. For righteous and evil cultivators alike, the greatest mutual enemies are the Executors of the Ancient Road...."

Lord Blood River sped off, and the divine will projections from the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect returned to where they came from. Obviously, a fight between Lord Blood River and the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect would have led to massive amounts of destruction.

Just like that, a potentially massive conflict died down.

Of course, the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect had no idea how much Yang Qi had profited during the incident. The events that played out in the temple had been obscured from the beginning by the powers of the three fiend-devils.

Back in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, Yang Qi clutched the sheepskin scroll in his hands and laughed heartily.

He had profited greatly.

'This sheepskin scroll truly is a great treasure. The mysteries it contains are unfathomable right now. Although I've read through the entire thing, I obviously haven't gained full enlightenment. I doubt even perusing it a thousand, or even ten thousand times will be enough.' Already, the sheepskin scroll had become something of utmost importance to Yang Qi. Truth be told, although it appeared to be made from sheepskin, it was actually impossible to tell what kind of skin it was.

For all Yang Qi knew, it might even have come from the skin of a mahātmā fiend-devil.

And then there was the godhood. He had acquired thirty-two pieces, and although they were all weak and drained, they were still godhood.

With that much godhood to power the Engine of the One God, he had been able to expel the fiend-devils and Lord Blood River. That taste of the true power of the Engine of the One God was obviously just a tantalizing preview of what it would be like if it were fully powered. It would likely be strong enough to kill a god.

'This godhood is vastly stronger than the devil vitality, and will definitely be a big help in furthering my cultivation of the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. But I don't want to get ahead of myself. For one thing, I'm not going to just abandon the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth and cultivate this new technique. The best plan would be to advance them both at the same time.'

Sitting down cross-legged, he circulated his true energy and summoned the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth into himself yet again.

Almost immediately, it clashed with the Unspoiled Body and caused a massive explosion of true energy.

Frowning, Yang Qi sealed the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth to prevent any conflicts. After things had settled down, he sent out the tiniest flow of energy from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and very carefully connected it to the Unspoiled Body.

Then he paid close attention to the results. From what he could tell, the two energy arts really were mutually opposed, similar to water and fire. Of course, while water could extinguish fire, fire could also evaporate water.

It was similar to the mysterious flow of yin and yang.

With that, he focused more on the enlightenment aspects. He had already read the full text of the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body, and thus had plenty of knowledge-devils in his mind. That alone was a big threat to his nascent divinity.

After some contemplation, Yang Qi suddenly came to the realization that he needed a third type of power to achieve a balance.

"Great Necropolis godpower!"

Drawing on the devil embryo, he extracted some of the godpower from Profound Valor and sent it streaming toward the other two powers.

The Great Necropolis was a relic of the god world, left behind by some unknown entity. But one thing was for sure: it was an item similar to the God Legion Seal, and it vastly surpassed the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. The Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart obviously couldn't spew out countless brand new immortal worlds to completely change an era.

The godpower of the Great Necropolis was one of its most mysterious aspects. Soon, the will of the Great Necropolis in his nascent divinity was growing larger, and before long, it began pushing away the wills of the two opposing energy arts.

Eventually, a three-way balance of power was created.

Yang Qi nodded. Masking the presence of his nascent divinity, he provided more godpower, allowing the three separate wills to begin competing with each other.

Then, he drew on the godhood again.

He sent five pieces into the imperial-heaven pre-beginning systems of the Engine of the One God, allowing a massive force to flow into his sea of consciousness.

All of a sudden, he felt like his mind was about to be torn apart. Blood began oozing out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and he was wracked with pain.

Despite that, he smiled, as he could sense the will of the Great Necropolis crumbling. A moment later, his nascent divinity was back in its previous state, rotating in place and absorbing all of the various types of power. The blood on his face evaporated, transforming into beautiful, porcelain fire.

His sea of consciousness was now empty of everything; even the God Legion Seal was gone.

At the same time, his sea of energy now had two flows of energy that were like a yin-yang taiji symbol.

Yang Qi knew that his energy arts had progressed once again. As of now, he could either use the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body, or the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, any time he wished. Although he hadn't completely fused the two, at least they weren't in open conflict.

'What a pity I still haven't reached the Terrifying level. Obviously, it's much more difficult for me to do that than the average person.' He sighed.

He stood, causing cracking sounds to ring out. Then he thrust one palm out to release the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and the other palm out with the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. The combination was amazingly powerful.

'Now, the time has come to be sealed again, God Legion Seal, Engine of the One God. I don't need you. I rely on myself for cultivation, and only use tools like you when necessary....'

With that, he sealed them up tightly again.