Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Hell-Breaking Church was a huge devil church from the other side of the ocean. They had people with very powerful cultivation bases and boundlessly profound ghost-god techniques. Their disciples could use a variety of devil techniques, and their ranks were filled with wretch-gods and devil-gods, including everything from Lesser Gods to Common Gods to Greater Gods.

They offered support to wretch-gods in all parts of the god world, helping them carry out gory acts of terror.

And now the Bloodcorpse God was working with the Hell-Breaking Church in an attempt to destroy the Lightningbolt Continent. Although the Lightningbolt Continent might be considered an insignificant place in the god world as a whole, it still had a huge population, which made it an enticing source of food for wretch-gods.

All of a sudden, Yang Qi realized it made sense that the endless numbers of fiend-devils of hell were so dead-set on eventually coming to the god world.

The common people in the god world had mid Terrifying cultivation bases, so if fiend-devils consumed them, it was a given that their own cultivation bases would skyrocket.

Upon hearing Wang Juan’s exclamation, Yang Qi smiled and said, “Run? I’d say these Hell-Breaking Church disciples showed up at just the right time. Since they like sacrificing people and killing captives, we don’t need to show them the slightest mercy. That’s the cycle of karma: let justice be served.”

The Proud Clan disciples didn’t turn and run. Seeing how confident Yang Qi was acting, they were too embarrassed to flee. Besides, their mission to destroy the altars hadn’t been completed yet, and without the wretch-god weakened, the destruction of the Lightningbolt Continent was all but assured.

RUMBLE!

Ghostfire swirled, resolving into numerous figures who initially didn’t seem at all like people from a devil church. They wore beautiful clothing, had lofty demeanors, and seemed to be looking at the invaders like they were cattle about to be slaughtered.

One of the disciples stepped forward and said, “Are you from the so-called aristocratic clans that rule the Lightningbolt Continent? Sadly for you, to people like us from the Hell-Breaking Church, you’re nothing but trash.” He was tall and well-built, and looked to be only about twenty-six or -seven years old. However, emerald flames flickered deep in his eyes, making it seem like he was made from ghostfire inside and out.

“Who are you?” asked a disciple standing behind Proud Radiance. “The Hell-Breaking Church has a lot of guts to call us trash. Do you really dare to insult the Proud Clan like that?”

“Proud Clan?” The Hell-Breaking Church disciple glanced over the group from the Proud Clan. “Oh, I see. You’re from the Proud Clan, a very large organization. Unfortunately, people from the Proud Clan are split up into all sorts of grades and ranks. How much actual Proud Clan blood do you have? I doubt you have what it takes to compare to even the weakest auxiliary bloodline.”

“Who exactly are you?” Proud Radiance barked. “Tell us your name! Then we’ll see if the Proud Clan is willing to tolerate talk like this.”

“I'm Ghost Infernis,” the disciple replied. “And no, the Hell-Breaking Church isn’t scared of the Proud Clan. In fact, I highly doubt the Proud Clan would even notice if we slaughter the lot of you. And if they did cause problems for us, it would be the perfect excuse for the Thirteen Devil Churches Alliance to declare outright war!”

A female disciple from the Hell-Breaking Church then spoke up. “Eldest Brother Ghost Infernis, why waste your breath on them? The Bloodcorpse God’s plan is about to come to fruition. We’ll soon have complete control of the Lightningbolt Continent, and then we can sacrifice everyone there to unseal the Hammer of the Lightning God, the animadestiny god item of the original creator of the continent, the Lightning God. So let’s just enjoy ourselves by stomping these fools out of existence.”

“That’s fine,” said Ghost Infernis. “Just wipe them out. Attack!”

Swish. Rustle.

The robes of the Hell-Breaking Church disciples flapped as they lunged forward and started fighting. Ghost Infernis joined in, launching a casual palm strike that caused the wailing of ghosts and weeping of gods to echo, and surrounded him with flickering stars of ghostfire that seemed to come from the depths of hell.

When that ghostfire hit the disciples of the Wang, Lightning, and Proud Clans, they screamed as their flesh burned. And quite a few of them just directly dropped dead.

“This is bad!” Wang Juan shouted. “He’s using the Ghostfire Strike of the Devil-King! That’s a toxic energy art unique to the Hell-Breaking Church! They extract ghostfire from the corpses of fallen gods, then catalyze it with the will of a devil-king. If you get hit by those ghostfire stars, you’ll die no matter what!”

“Very observant, girl!” Ghost Infernis chuckled. “You recognized my Ghostfire Strike of the Devil-King!” He struck out again, sending stars flying and forcing numerous disciples to scatter in every direction trying to get out of the way.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi blurred forward, interposing himself between Wang Juan and Ghost Infernis, where he launched his own palm toward the incoming stars of ghostfire.

“No!” Wang Juan blurted in alarm. “Don’t let it touch you! The Ghostfire Strike of the Devil-King will burn even the bravest warrior to death!”

“Since when?” Yang Qi said, and his palm made contact with the ghostfire.

“Looking to die, boy?” Ghost Infernis said, smiling cruelly. He poured more power into his ability, causing what sounded like the language of ghosts to surround him with howls and screams. More ghostfire erupted from inside of him, ghostfire that originated in the corpses of gods, which then bored directly into Yang Qi’s meridians, wreathing him in flames.

But then Yang Qi took a deep breath, causing him to physically expand as a vortex of godpower sprang up inside him. Then he clenched his fist and let loose an explosive blow of mountain-toppling, sea-draining force.

“Aaaiiiieee!” screamed Ghost Infernis, jerking backward but moving too slowly. The explosive force slammed into him, making it seem like the water of an entire ocean was suddenly filling his abdomen. Before he could do anything else, a bang rang out as he exploded!

BOOOM!

Blood and gore rained down. A single clash with Yang Qi had turned a top expert into nothing but a cloud of mangled flesh and body parts!

“W-what...?” Wang Juan stammered, backing up with an expression of disbelief on her face.

Yang Qi didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he flew straight toward Egret Island, where he subsequently vanished without a trace as he began searching for the main altar.

In the moment he had dispatched Ghost Infernis, Yang Qi had sensed a mysterious surge of power on the island and knew that he had to find it before that power erupted with a catastrophic effect.

Even as Yang Qi left, the Shepherd, Doom, the immortal-slaying clone, Yang Zhan, Patriarch Annalist, and Yang Qi’s other people all attacked the disciples of the Hell-Breaking Church with full force. Although the disciples were powerful, and were roughly on the same level as the experts from the Proud, Wang, and Lightning Clans, they simply weren’t a match for Yang Qi’s people. As soon as the fighting began, miserable screams began ringing out.

The disciples of the Hell-Breaking Church were crushed like ice cubes that had been hit with a hammer.

Wang Juan, Proud Radiance, and Lightning Dragonriser looked on in shock as the Hell-Breaking Church disciples fell one after another, most after only a single blow!

“I...” said Proud Radiance, gripping his weapon tightly, “I'm supposedly the top fucking fighter in this continent?! Yeah right! I’m a frog in a well! A real frog in a well! This guy could kill me without even trying. He could slaughter me a hundred times over! How could a freak like this even exist? Our Lightningbolt Continent is too small of a place for a big fish like this. We need them gone! Sooner rather than later!”

By this point, Proud Radiance didn’t harbor even the tiniest inclination to fight Yang Qi. It was more than obvious that Yang Qi was far too strong.

After all, Ghost Infernis had been powerful, but he hadn’t even been able to stand up to a single blow before being ripped to shreds.

‘It was the right move to recruit these people!’ Lightning Dragonriser thought rejoicingly. ‘This is going to benefit me immensely in the House of God Ordainment....’

Yang Qi was already on Egret Island, and whatever experts got in his way, he crushed out of existence.

Not a single one could stand up to him.

Before long, he reached the middle of the island, where an enormous altar had been set up in what appeared to be a lake of blood, filled with corpses and bones. The altar was made of stone, begging the question of how many Quasi-Gods it must have taken to move it here. And the entire thing was simmering with power.

“Lord's Eye!”

Examining the altar, Yang Qi spotted streams of blood-colored true energy swirling toward the area beneath the altar, where there was what appeared to be a blood-colored infant. It was only the size of a hand, but it was constantly growing and had a wretched energy that seemed connected to some distant location.

“A blood infant?” Yang Qi murmured. “Amazing. This wretch-god must have gone through countless trials and tribulations, and sacrificed innumerable living beings to create this thing. It would be a real windfall if I could take it. The power that exists in it can't be underestimated. In fact, if I assimilated it with King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans and the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, it would probably give some of my people the full strength of gods!”

Yang Qi flew forward and chopped his hand out toward the altar.

Instantly, the weeping of ghosts and wailing of gods echoed out from the altar as blood-colored shadows lunged to intercept him.

“Screw off, foolish monsters. How dare you get in my way!” Dazzling golden light shone off of Yang Qi, dispelling the shadows.

Then he reached out with splayed fingers and pushed his hand down into the lake of blood, his godpower thrumming. “Godly Telekinesis!”

RUUUUMBLE!

The gigantic altar began to rise up into the air, causing some of the experts from the Hell-Breaking Church off in the distance to nearly pass out from shock.

“Dear lord!” one of them blurted. “It took thousands of us Quasi-Gods to bring that altar here, and we needed a huge spell formation! But this guy is lifting it single-handedly? Is he a god?”

“A god is here? Everybody, run!”

Terrified, the disciples from the Hell-Breaking Church turned to flee.

Then Yang Qi simply swept his arm through the air, hurling the enormous altar far out into the ocean.

At this point, he was finally showing the true extent of his godpower.

Shockingly, in the depths of the lake, the blood infant’s eyes had opened and it was looking at Yang Qi.