Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The true energy of countless Heaven-Devil God-Exterminating Greatbows was blocked by the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, and then sucked inside to be refined in Yang Qi’s Hellfire Crucible. With every arrow that was vanquished, Yang Qi’s aura grew more powerful.

True energy fluctuations rolled out as a godmammoth appeared above Yang Qi, an enormous bow in its hand, over a thousand meters from end to end, seemingly constructed from the remains of countless fallen devils.

TWANG!

A thunderous boom could be heard as an arrow was launched. As it shot forth, it destroyed every fiend-devil it passed, crushing their bones, and extracting their demon cores. It was like a shooting star of dazzling glory that could not be stopped.

As rank upon rank of fiend-devil was mowed down, the Hell Portal opened wide to suck in their remains, to become more fuel.

The power of the spore-devil was growing constantly, and the Hell Portal grew larger with every moment that passed. By now, it didn't look like it was made from true energy, but rather, a corporeal object from ancient times, risen up from the depths of the netherworld.

At the same time, Yang Qi himself was being tempered. His soul was experiencing a major baptism, and his psychic tempest was growing stronger and stronger.

Pop!

He opened his eyes, and a fiend-devil count, one of the leaders, was crushed by his psychic tempest. How could a mere Spirit-Soul fiend-devil possibly be a match for him? He was like a wolf or a tiger unleashed on a flock of sheep, slaughtering fiend-devils left and right, giving rise to a haze of blood and a sea of gore. Some of the Lifeseizer fiend-devils never saw him before they were crushed and burned.

For some of the wretch-devils, Yang Qi merely had to look at them to ignite their wretch energy and turn them into humanoid torches.

He really was like the incarnation of an invincible executioner from hell.

Soon, even the counts were fleeing in terror. Whoosshhhh! Yang Qi’s spear impaled a Space-Void fiend-devil count, who could do nothing but struggle weakly as his blood gushed out.

Hundreds upon hundreds of fiend-devils died and became fuel for the Hellfire Crucible. As the flames burned, a glorious song echoed out, an epic saga recounting the glory of the hosts of gods.

Hours passed, and eventually, the entire army was vanquished.

BOOOOM!

The Hell Portal now seemed incredibly ancient, spattered with blood, and carved with the script of the legion of gods. The text described the vanquishing of evil, and recollections of the ancient civilization of the god-spirits.

The spore-devil was now complete, emerged from its chrysalis, almost like a second Yang Qi.

It had dragons and snakes at its feet, and held a long spear in its hand. It was also equipped with a bow and arrows, a shield, a sword, and a pitchfork. It had three heads and six arms, and as it stood there in the Hell Portal, it seemed both godly and devilish at the same time, with an aura that could force numerous fiend-devils to submit to its might.

At long last, Yang Qi had succeeded in creating his spore-devil, which could guard the entrances to hell, and summon armies.

In some ancient stories, the final representation of the spore-devil would have ten thousand heads and ten thousand arms. But right now, it only had three heads and six arms. In this initial stage, it could be considered weak, and yet, on a deep level, it still had the power to control numerous fiend-devils.

Yang Qi now brimmed with so much power, and his soul and fleshly body were so strong, that it seemed like he could easily pierce through the void and break through to the third Legendary transformation, the Space-Void Transformation.

However, he knew that the feeling was an illusion to some extent. He had just reached the second transformation, and thus, tearing space right now was nothing he could accomplish easily.

That said, the training he was experiencing surpassed imagination. For too long, he had been holed up in the Demi-Immortal Institute working on his cultivation. At the rate he had been going, it would have taken years to reach the level he needed to. The Crown Prince would definitely have come out of seclusion before that, and crushed him.

Perhaps the God Legion Seal would have saved him, but that power was not his own, and he knew that it was risky to rely on it alone. He needed to get power of his own, power that he could trust.

Suddenly, a voice echoed out that seemed capable of strangling all of the other fiend-devils he had seen so far.

“You have killed many fiend-devils, mortal. And now you've disturbed me. I will sacrifice your blood to my offspring!”

All existence trembled as this new fiend-devil appeared. Rivers swirled around it, formed from baleful energy and ghost-gods, pulsing with a power that could force all living things to acknowledge allegiance to it.

It was an ancient fiend-devil clad in a blood-red garment embroidered with the script of devil-ghosts. The thing wasn’t large, only about the size of an ordinary human, and it even looked like a middle-aged man. However, there was nothing human about his eyes, which were evil to the extreme. His large hands featured razor-sharp claws, and he radiated nothing but wickedness and the desire to conquer.

‘Seventh Legendary transformation!’ Yang Qi thought, his face falling. ‘A Ghost-God Legendary!’

That level was simply too high for him. Although he had just taken out a corpse king in the sixth transformation, the difference between the sixth and seventh transformations was like the difference between the sky and the land.

The Ghost-God Transformation was sometimes called the Empyrean-Baleful Transformation. During that transformation, one absorbed baleful earthly powers to create personal quintessence. In other words, one had the power of minor worlds, and with the flip of a hand, could raze entire lands flat.

Experts such as this were rare even in the four institutes.

So-called Ghost-God Legendaries used the strength of the ghosts and gods of heaven and earth to reach a terrifying level of power.

“You puny energy warrior! Considering history as a whole, humans only just realized how to refine energy. You think learning a bit about magical law makes you qualified to challenge me? You think you can repair this sealing mark? You’re just delivering yourself up to die!” It was almost as if the mere glance of this Ghost-God Legendary fiend-devil could force Yang Qi into cultivation deviation and then death.

Yang Qi didn’t mince words.

“DIE!” he shouted, lunging forward with his spear. He was like a divine dragon piercing through the hell monsoon, like a bolt of lightning slashing forth to kill this fiend-devil.

Bam!

In response, the fiend-devil reached out and grabbed the spear, stopping its path. No matter what Yang Qi did, there was no way he could budge the spear now.

All of a sudden, he felt like he had been sucked into some ancient heaven and earth, a place from which he could not free himself. Not even the might of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda could get him out.

“Detonate!” he shouted, and the Infernal Deity Spear exploded, wreathing the fiend-devil’s hands in flames, causing black smoke to erupt out.

The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was the bane of fiend-devils, and this one was no exception.

The pain caused the ancient wretch-devil’s rage to burn. Calling on all its true energy, it severed its own arm, then punched Yang Qi so hard that he was sent flying backward.

To Yang Qi, it felt like his entire body was shattering. Thankfully, he had gone in prepared, and had used the Grand Emperor's Pagoda to defend himself. Even still, the power that smashed into him was so intense that it took several breaths of time to neutralize it.

But then, only a moment later, another massive fist shot in his direction, seemingly powerful enough to shatter the most ancient of mountains.

There was no time for contemplation; Yang Qi dropped into the depths of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

Bam!

The ancient fiend-devil’s fist smashed into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, causing fluctuations to roll out that twisted and distorted everything in the area.

Meanwhile, the fiend-devil’s energy surged out, causing an out-of-body incarnation to appear behind it, a devil-god that reached out to grab the pagoda.

“What treasure is this? I can’t believe it's strong enough to block me. Hm, it has the aura of an ancient Great Sage on it. With that sage's will, I could communicate with the stars in the universe, and reach the eighth Legendary transformation. I could become an Astral-Star Legendary!”

The fiend-devil’s out-of-body incarnation unleashed a torrent of devilfire from its mouth, enveloping the pagoda, attacking its warding magics, and even causing Yang Qi to burst into flames. Clearly, it wanted to take the pagoda for its own.

“Heaven-Devil Domain!”

Suddenly, an enormous personal domain sprang into being, covering the pagoda, and fueling the devilfire to refine it. A vertical eye appeared on the fiend-devil’s forehead, a Heaven-Devil Eye that could absorb the souls of any living creature it encountered.

Off in the distance, the Young Lady saw what was happening, and shook her head. ‘A Ghost-God Legendary fiend-devil. So strong. Yang Qi can fight the Personal-Domain Transformation, but not this. And I can’t help him. I need to wait and see what happens. Will this supposed Great Sage backer of his come and save him? If not… then he’ll die. What a pity. That said, I’ll at least have to take the Grand Emperor's Pagoda back. If I refine it for my own use, the Crown Prince might as well forget about getting it for himself.’

As was to be expected, the Young Lady was quite full of schemes.

However, little did she know that, there in the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, surrounded by devilfire, Yang Qi was actually quite excited.