Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘So, these blood swamps are where monsters are born. This alternate dimension is so mysterious! I definitely can’t go too deep inside. I’ll just stay near the entrance and look for clues about life force springwater. It’s too bad information about this place is strictly controlled back at the institute. You can't even get it with a lot of merit points.’

He looked out at the swamps and the monsters being born from within the popping bubbles. Then he stared out into the misty distance, and wondered what lay within the true depths of this place.

The Heavencorpse Dimension was quite famous as being a place of incredible danger.

The Demi-Immortal Institute had thoroughly investigated it, but its secrets were tied together with the life force springwater itself, and were kept under tight control.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh…!

Almost as soon as Yang Qi emerged from the dimensional passageway, numerous devil-ghosts in the area apparently could sense his blood, and were drawn to him like moths to the flame.

‘Hell Vortex. Sagefire Crucible!’

Yang Qi didn’t hold back at all, summoning a vortex of true energy that sucked the devil-ghosts up and converted them into life force quintessence. Sadly, these devil-ghosts were so weak that they did him little good in terms of pushing him toward a breakthrough. He needed devil-ghosts in the Lifeseizing level, with spirit bodies. Only they would help him press toward a higher level of enlightenment.

As he began to travel through the blood swamps, he eradicated any devil-ghosts he found, and absorbed them.

Considering he cultivated the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, this Heavencorpse Dimension was better for him than his energy formation of the dao of monarchs or Nine-Yang Immortal Energy.

As for his sea of energy, considering that he was pulling in tens of thousands of devil-ghosts into it, it truly was becoming like hell.

The ever-burning platinum sagefire was really hell for ghosts, causing them to scream and howl as they struggled in vain to escape.

His sagefire even caused the blood of the nearby swamps to congeal and dry up.

After a bit of time wreaking havoc on the lesser enemies, he suddenly heard a cry of rage as an enormous devil-ghost reared its head off in the distance.

It had a spirit body, but not the type made of emerald green flame. Instead, the fire which made it up was as red as blood. In the blink of an eye, the gigantic thing shrank down until it resembled a man with parchment-like skin. Glaring at Yang Qi, he said, “Where are you from, cultivator? You’ve got some real guts to invade the Heavencorpse Dimension and slaughter devil-ghosts. Aren’t you worried about being captured and sacrificed?”

Yang Qi eyed the blood-colored devil-ghost and said, “And you are…?”

“King Bloodcorpse Devil of the Heavencorpse Kingdom,” the creature replied. He looked at Yang Qi closely, then glanced at the so-called Deathly Devil-Eye off in the distance. “I've been bored out of my mind guarding the Deathly Devil-Eye to the Blackcorpse Mountains for the past several hundred years. Who would have thought that someone would come in this way? Usually people come from the Fiendcorpse Mountains, which borders the Demi-Immortal Institute. The monsters over there get more than their fair share of fresh blood and succulent flesh. It seems I've struck it lucky today.”

From the way this King Bloodcorpse Devil looked at him, it seemed he was getting ready for a feast.

Suddenly, he attacked, summoning a long, blood-colored whip that he struck at Yang Qi with. This was a blood demon energy art that Yang Qi had seen before, the Bloodshadow Godwhip.

Blood-type energy arts all came from the imperial-class canon, the Devil Sutra of the Blood Emperor. The experts from the vampire brigands had used the Bloodshadow Godwhip, although their version was not very powerful. In contrast, this King Bloodcorpse Devil was using a version that was very powerful. The blood-colored whip was like a crimson dragon surrounded by a raging sea of blood.

Obviously, this opponent was far more powerful than the devil-ghost from earlier. He was likely as strong as a Septenary Lifeseizer from the Demi-Immortal Institute, one of the powerful conclave students.

It made sense; only an extremely powerful guard would be stationed here to prevent experts from entering the Heavencorpse Dimension.

“Be destroyed!” Yang Qi growled, stabbing out with his flaming spear. At the same time, he used White Corona Pierces the Sun to attack King Bloodcorpse Devil’s head.

However, King Bloodcorpse Devil was no easy foe; he was deceptively agile, and incredibly powerful, making him difficult to hit.

“Blood Drenches the Human World!” he said, shocked at Yang Qi’s performance. After all, he was only a Quaternary Lifeseizer, which was like nothing compared to the Septenary Lifeseizing level.

No matter what blood-type energy art King Bloodcorpse Devil used, it seemed that Yang Qi’s platinum spear could vanquish it with ease.

That spear slaughtered everything that got in its way, cutting down all forms of evil, and easily dispelling King Bloodcorpse Devil’s true energy.

Suddenly, a fiendish beam of blood-colored light shot out from King Bloodcorpse Devil’s forehead, rising into the sky, where it then exploded. The surrounding blood swamps began to boil and rise up, creating a huge blood sphere that surrounded Yang Qi.

“Nine Blood Gods; Boundless Blood Sea!” King Bloodcorpse Devil suddenly split into nine separate versions of himself that sped to nine specific locations throughout the blood sphere. Unleashing various hand signs, they caused the blood sphere to then burst into flames.

It was a massive spell formation that drew upon the power of the blood swamps in the area to trap a person, and also strengthen the one controlling the formation.

Yang Qi could already sense massive pressure weighing down on him.

‘It’s a good thing I took the time to power up before entering. If I had come here as a Tertiary Lifeseizer, this blood formation would have been very, very difficult to deal with.’

The towering blood flames which bore down on him were already pushing his sagefire to the limits. Obviously, he had to be very careful, otherwise he would end up dead and buried in this place.

Of course, what he was doing was actually terrifying to the extreme.

If word got out to the Demi-Immortal Institute, it would cause a massive uproar.

The Heavencorpse Dimension was a restricted area as far as the Demi-Immortal Institute was concerned, and was generally entered only by teams of conclave students.

Not even elite students were allowed to go in. It was simply too dangerous for them. As for conclave students, they were experts in the use of various battle formations, and thus qualified to kill the devils and demons in this place, and take the precious materials of heaven and earth that existed here.

And yet, despite that, here was Yang Qi, an elite student, fighting King Bloodcorpse Devil. It was simply miraculous.

If this King Bloodcorpse Devil somehow escaped into the Rich-Lush Continent, it would be a disaster of monumental proportions. Legendaries would have been dispatched to defeat him.

And yet, Yang Qi was fighting him all on his own.

If the chancellor of the institute learned of the matter, he would definitely launch an investigation. But Yang Qi was still keeping a low profile. He had no desire to become famous, but rather, preferred to do amazing things in secret.

There he hovered in the midst of dazzling blood flames, keeping his power restrained, like a dragon that had slept too long and become a loach. He was waiting. Building up his energy to unleash a devastating attack in the manner of the dao of the quick strike.

Laughing maniacally, King Bloodcorpse Devil said, “Alright, punk. I have to admit that you’re strong. You actually forced me to use my Blood Drenches the Human World. The blood hellfire in that formation will really bring out the flavor in your bones. All I have to do now is wait for you to finish melting.”

With that, King Bloodcorpse Devil pushed the formation even harder, trying to defeat Yang Qi as quickly as possible.

‘Now’s my chance!’

In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi unleashed the energy he had been holding back, causing him to erupt with platinum, holy light.

Sagefire flames danced around him, not elegantly, but with vicious ferocity.

WHIZZZ!

A white stream of light shot toward the blood flames, slicing the nine projections of King Bloodcorpse Devil in half.

“What energy art is that?” he blurted, stunned and terrified. That platinum sagefire seemed to be just on the verge of slashing into his spirit body, causing his soul to pulse with intense pain.

“Blood-Devil Dispellation! Manifold Vital Energy!”

His projections returned together, flickering with blood-colored light as they fought back against the platinum sagefire.

However, there was no way Yang Qi would just let him seize the initiative. Blurring into motion, he appeared suddenly above King Bloodcorpse Devil, where he unleashed the power of seventy-two ancient megamammoths. His true energy formed into the Hellfire Crucible, which dropped down, alive with inescapable sagefire.

“You want to use blood flames to kill me? Unfortunately for you, I'm not afraid of devil arts. The energy art I cultivate is the bane of all wretch-devils. And now, I’ll give you a chance to see what it’s really like. It comes from heaven, and represents the glory of the legion of gods, with sagefire that can purify anything and everything!”

He held nothing back as he waved his hand to summon blazing sagefire, which swept out to cover an area even larger than the blood flame spell formation.

King Bloodcorpse Devil was caught up in the middle of it, and before he could even unleash his next attack, sizzling sounds could be heard as his blood-type energy art was vanquished by the attack. It was almost like a rat facing a cat, with no hope whatsoever of coming out on top.

“How can you possibly be so strong?” King Bloodcorpse Devil shouted in rage. “You’re only a Quaternary Lifeseizer! I'm King Bloodcorpse Devil! I've been famous for hundreds of years! My name alone is enough to cause the Rich-Lush Continent to tremble in fear! Who exactly are you?!”