Sage Monarch

In the depths of the Great Necropolis, the pathways were filled with enormous immortal worlds. In fact, stretching out ahead, it was possible to see some that were ranked three hundred, four hundred, and five hundred. Even thousandth ranked worlds existed.

The pathways of the Great Necropolis were like a universe of their own. In fact, only people from there who reached the Grand Emperor level would ever have any clue that the universe in which they lived was actually a huge, endless necropolis filled with countless divine abilities, god items, and treasure troves.

The four executors and the junior superintendent had landed on a hundred and twentieth ranked immortal world, a place that abounded with sects and nations. Of course, there was constant struggle and friction between the various forces on the world. Most of the sects were first- or second-tier, with the largest being no smaller than the Profound Killing Dao Sect.

The sectlords of such places were consummate experts with power indexes of over two thousand, but of course they couldn't come close to comparing to the junior superintendent and the executors. To the executors, this place was just a rest stop. They didn't even bother going to any of the sects, but just rested on a mountaintop and looked out at the scenery.

A world this large had all sorts of terrain features, and even spatial variances, which would make exploring it fully a rather troublesome task.

But the junior superintendent and the other executors weren't here for anything like that. The affairs of this world were of little note to them. It was like how humans who rested beneath a tree on a journey might encounter some ants. If they were in a good mood, they might watch them go about their work, or if they were in a bad mood, they might trample them.

Little did the people of this world know that their lives were now in the hands of some mighty entities who had just arrived. Such was the sorrowful plight of puny humans like them. They wouldn't even know if truly powerful entities came along and took their lives.

Yang Qi saw the people of this world and couldn't help but sigh. Although they were virtually ants, couldn't he be considered the same thing?

There were definitely powerful beings out there with such immense power that they could end his life with hardly a thought.

The only thing he could do about it was to get stronger and more powerful. To make sure that he controlled the life and death of others, not the other way around. To gain control of the dao of heaven and magical laws, and make himself invincible.

That was the only proper path.

The sun shone down on the mountaintop, far beneath which was a sprawling grassy plain. It was beautiful scenery to be sure, and definitely resembled a realm of immortals.

However, the junior superintendent was in no mood to enjoy the scenery.

Grabbing the sealed Yang Qi from the other executors, he inspected him to make sure he was tightly locked down. Sure enough, he couldn't use any of his true energy, which left the junior superintendent feeling a bit more at ease. "I bet you never guessed you would fall into my hands, did you, brat?"

"Well, I never guessed that you executors would be so shameless and despicable," Yang Qi replied, as calm as could be. It was almost as if he didn't fear this junior superintendent at all. "I beat you fair and square, and you used a dirty trick to grab me. What exactly do you want?"

"I don't want anything. Just the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. Hand it over. I searched you thoroughly, but didn't see any trace of the sheepskin scroll. Where are you hiding it? Tell me! Don't force me to use a soulsearching grand magic to force my way into your sea of consciousness! That would cause irreparable damage to your nascent divinity, preventing you from ever reaching the Terrifying level."

Eyes flashing, Yang Qi said, "You couldn't even cultivate the technique if you had it. So why do you want it?"

"You think I couldn't cultivate it?" the junior superintendent hissed. "Who do you think the Executors of the Ancient Road are? Impoverished beggars? I'll have you know that our storehouse just so happens to have the Three Lives Stone. Well, a small part of it. But there's definitely enough to cultivate an Unspoiled Body. With that technique, plus Wretch-God Ultimate's Obsidian Flame, I'll be invincible! Everything in all creation would be mine for the taking. And I would kill everyone else who dares vie for the spot of emperor of the executors. I'll kill them all, do you hear me! All of them!"

"You think cultivating the technique is that easy?" Yang Qi laughed. "If it was, that would just be one more reason not to give you the sheepskin scroll."

"Is that so? Fine. Prepare to experience a method of torture that will leave you incapable of pleading for life, and unable to plead for death!" The junior superintendent tapped Yang Qi's forehead, sending black energy swirling into him. "This is only one of my torture methods. It's called the Heart-Eroding Finger. Once it's inside you, it will slowly eat away at your heart, wracking you with intense pain that will make you wish you weren't alive!"

The junior superintendent stabbed his finger into one of Yang Qi's acupoints after another, sending the energy of the Heart-Eroding Finger surging into him. Then he stood back and waited for Yang Qi's face to start contorting with pain.

However, he was left somewhat disappointed, as nothing happened. Yang Qi even laughed and said, "That's all? Your Heart-Eroding finger is a bit disappointing, I have to say. What a pity. If you think forcing things out of me is going to be that easy, you're definitely mentally insane."

"What's going on?" the junior superintendent blurted, astonishment written on his face. Even just with his naked eye, he could tell that his Heart-Eroding Finger was having some very harmful effects on Yang Qi. In fact, it was slowly but surely causing his heart to melt.

Yet Yang Qi was just smiling at him, almost as if this wasn't his body at all, and he were watching the torture being inflicted on someone else.

"I've already cultivated an Unspoiled Body," he said coolly, "a process that involves being tempered by myriad tribulations. This torture of yours is just another tribulation that is actually helping my true energy improve."

"Hmph! You like to talk big, don't you? Alright, in that case, I'll show you my powerful soulsearching technique. I'll just drag the information right out of your nascent divinity!"

RUMBLE!

A powerful divine will erupted from the junior superintendent and dove into Yang Qi's sea of consciousness. However, that was when the junior superintendent suddenly realized that Yang Qi's sea of consciousness was completely empty! It had nothing in it!

It was almost impossible to say how much of a shock it was, and it caused a profoundly strange expression to appear on the face of the junior superintendent.

"What is it, Junior Superintendent?" one of the other executors said.

"This is weird. His sea of consciousness doesn't have a nascent divinity! It's empty. It's almost like he's a corpse!" The junior superintendent was a vicious fellow, full of crafty and malicious plots. But in the face of this unexpected development, he couldn't help but be flabbergasted.

"Let me try," one of the other executors said, striding forward. He locked his hand onto Yang Qi's head and poured his Terrifying will into him. However, as soon as it reached Yang Qi's sea of consciousness, he saw the same thing; it was completely and utterly empty.

"If you don't reveal your nascent divinity, boy," the executor said, "I'm going to detonate your sea of consciousness!"

However, he received no reply, almost as if Yang Qi wasn't even present in his body.

BOOM!

Losing patience, the executor attacked Yang Qi's sea of consciousness with his Terrifying will. Still, there was no reaction at all. No matter how the executor attacked it, it wouldn't detonate. Logically speaking, it was like an ant resisting the crushing force of a boulder.

"What strangeness is this?" the executor murmured. Looking over, he said, "Junior Superintendent, why don't you use your Sword of Reincarnation to chop this brat's arm off? Let's see what that does."

"Okay."

The junior superintendent summoned the sword and chopped it down with full force.

Gong!

The Sword of Reincarnation landed on Yang Qi and made a booming sound as if it had hit metal. There were even sparks that flew out. However, Yang Qi wasn't harmed.

"What's going on?" the junior superintendent said. "How could the Sword of Reincarnation possibly fail to cut through him?"

"Let me have a go, Junior Superintendent," another of the executors said. "I'll draw on all my godpower and give this brat a good thrashing!"

Grabbing Yang Qi, he threw him up into the air, then, as he dropped back down, punched him with all his might. It was like a lightning bolt slamming into Yang Qi with the obvious intention of smashing him into a pulp. However, when the blows struck home, it sounded like metal hitting metal.

Ding. Dong. Clang.

With each blow, he added more Terrifying power, yet nothing seemed to happen to Yang Qi. And Yang Qi wasn't reacting at all, to the point where the executor was raining punches and kicks onto him, yet he just lay there on the ground.

"Beyond strange!" another of the executors said, frowning. "Is this the might of the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body?"

"Try attacking his internal organs," the junior superintendent ordered. "Just now, my Heart-Eroding Finger didn't do anything to his meridians and heart. The Unspoiled Body only provides external strength, so the insides should still be weak. He's only cultivated a few of the characters from the scroll, so there's no way the technique has seeped down into his meridians and sea of energy!"

"Alright!" the executor said, then used an energy art specifically designed to inflict internal injuries. His energy was like a needle that stabbed into Yang Qi, piercing his meridians, sea of energy, and five viscera and six bowels.

That was when something very strange happened. As soon as the true energy reached those locations, they encountered something that just sucked it away. Earlier, Yang Qi had tricked the junior superintendent into believing that his Heart-Eroding Finger had begun to hurt his heart. The truth was that he had absorbed it.

And the beatings from moments ago had only served to further temper his body. It was the same with the piercing true energy attack.

Yang Qi was growing tougher by the moment.