Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘It’s an entire kingdom of demon-immortals,’ he thought, standing on the enormous asteroid and looking at the black greyspace of the Hanging Heaven. The demon energy roiled in a sinister and mysterious fashion, seemingly the opposite of the warmth and liveliness of humanity.

As for the asteroid, it was covered with teleportation portals and wormholes of all sorts, some of them leading to the Titan Emperor Heaven, others to the Hanging Heaven. In essence, this asteroid was a travel hub that had to be passed through to get from the Titan Emperor Heaven to the Hanging Heaven. As such, it was a strategically vital location.

Whoever controlled it could prevent armies from using it to go back and forth. After all, without using a hub, and the portals and wormholes attached to it, one would have to brave the spatial tempests that existed between immortal worlds. Forgetting the fact that an army would likely be wiped out of existence by those storms, there was also the fact that it would simply take too long. Even Yang Qi, with his incredible speed, would need years to go from one immortal world to another.

As soon as Princess Jadefall’s armies stepped onto the asteroid, demonic winds sprang up, filled with demon energy.

The asteroid was massive, too large for any single person to explore alone, and was apparently the remnants of something created by some ancient god.

The truth was that it was a godrelic.

Looking down, Yang Qi tapped his foot on the ground and found that it was metallic in nature. Even stomping his foot down with incredible force didn’t leave the slightest mark. It was obviously very tough. Taking control of it with a branding mark also wouldn’t be possible.

“Marquis,” Yuan Kuohai said, “according to the stories, this asteroid was created by an ancient god to facilitate travel between the Titan Emperor Heaven and the Hanging Heaven. Both immortal worlds branded it with their mark, making it impossible for even a sovereign of heaven to take control of it. Only Godmyths could possibly attempt something like that. Whenever fighting breaks out between the Hanging Heaven and us, it usually happens right here. Hopefully, this time we can actually continue on and strike at the heart of the Hanging Heaven. Remember, the Hanging Heaven is occupied by Demonfolk immortals, so when you kill them you can harvest both demon cores and immortal pellets. Not only will they count toward your service record, they can also be used to make immortal pills or magical treasures. Of course, the Demonfolk immortals want to kill us to get our nascent divinities to make their demon items and demon pills. In the end, our two forces are diametrically opposed and will stop at nothing to kill each other.”

Yang Qi nodded. “I see.”

At the moment, a fiendslave battalion was arrayed in front of the main army, facing the Demonfolk forces on the other end of the asteroid, who also had a fiendslave battalion out in front. As the two sides advanced, they began fighting, causing both demon light and immortal light to rise up.

Yang Qi opened his Lord's Eye to look closer at the situation. Instantly, he could see that most of the soldiers from the enemy’s fiendslave battalion had fused their demon cores with various magical treasures, flags, banners, gourds, and the like. And whenever they killed one of their immortal counterparts, that person’s nascent divinity would be absorbed by the demon core.

The Hanging Heaven’s fiendslave battalion was populated with savage, barbaric fighters who were clearly veterans of many battles. Some resembled tigers, others snakes. Some were like leopards, and there were even some that were fish-like. All of them seemed like fierce beasts of yore. Although they all bore humanoid shape, sometimes they would revert to their original form, which made it easier for them to manipulate vital energy and would also boost their fighting prowess.

‘Incredible. Their fiendslave battalion is actually far superior to the Titan Emperor Heaven’s. Our side can hardly stand up to them!’

The two forces were so mismatched that every demon soldier who fell took ten immortal soldiers with it. As the fighting wore on, the battle lines on the Titan Emperor Heaven’s side began crumbling.

Suddenly, the color of gold and jade appeared as Princess Jadefall emerged from a teleportation portal, surrounded by elite troops. Immediately, the pounding of drums could be heard as she raised her voice and said, “All divisions, support the fiendslave battalion! Push those demon soldiers back!”

The drums boomed like thunder, each beat boosting morale a bit and causing the troops’ blood to surge through their veins.

Looking over at Yang Qi, she said, “Titan Dragonguard, your ten divisions will be the vanguard. Lead the charge and stab your way into the enemy forces. Destroy their momentum! If you succeed, I’ll reward you handsomely!”

“Yes ma’am!” Yang Qi replied. In some ways, this was a unique opportunity. Here were plenty of Demonfolk soldiers, all immortals, and he could slaughter them without restraint. Their demon cores would allow him to start collecting the essence of the Hanging Heaven. He had to be careful absorbing the essence of the Titan Emperor Heaven; if he went too far, it could attract the wrong kind of attention. But when dealing with the Hanging Heaven he had no such scruples.

Since this was an outright battle, he could even use his Heaven-Devouring Grand Formation to mow down more Demonfolk. Of the quintessence-blood and vital energy he harvested, he would keep some for the improvement of his internal pellet and send the rest down to the lower world.

RUUUUUUUUMBLE!

Without any hesitation, he turned into a long stream of bright light that shot right into the fighting.

In the blink of an eye, he was on the other end of the asteroid, surrounded by enemies.

Right in front of him were a bunch of Demonfolk immortals with human bodies, the heads of eagles, and majestic wings. They were Eaglefolk, all of them vicious fighters with eyes that glowed with malicious, blood-colored light. Their razor-sharp claws could easily slice an opponent into pieces with no effort at all.

When they saw Yang Qi flying toward them, one of them shouted, “A powerful enemy! Get in formation. Eagle Strikes from the Sky!”

In response, over a thousand of the Eaglefolk threw out their demon cores, causing black energy to roil in all directions and create the projection of an enormous, gigantic eagle that lunged forward with bared claws.

Yang Qi completely ignored it. In fact, he sped up, blasting through the formation. Before any of the Eaglefolk could even react, they were dead.

“Devour!”

Yang Qi opened his mouth and sucked in all of the corpses with a single breath.

Then he exhaled, and a composite demon core appeared.

Although it was only the size of a hand, it contained the quintessence-blood and vital energy of over a thousand Eaglefolk demons. Considering that each of those demons had been terrifying figures who could destroy virtually any prey they went after in the universe, it was obvious that this demon core was a magical treasure. By imbuing it with true energy and throwing it out, it would transform into an enormous eagle, the same type that had just appeared within the spell formation.

In the shortest of moments, Yang Qi had pierced through enemy lines and inflicted a grievous blow on their forces.

“Stop him! He’s an expert from the Titan Emperor Heaven! Kill him, and the demon emperor will reward you!”

Psychic fluctuations surged out in waves, causing Yang Qi to look around for their origin. The Demonfolk army around him was so vast it made it seem like he was in a sea of ants.

HISSSSSSSSSSSSS!

An expert suddenly lunged out at him, a creature with a human body and the head of a snake, with a long sword in his hand that was bifurcated like a serpent's tongue. He was an expert from the Snakefolk, and it was without hesitation that he slashed his sword out with the force to devastate universes.

This expert was not from the fiendslave battalion. He was an elite warrior whose sword was a product of his own cultivation. He was actually a world-class assassin who was used to leaving behind seas of blood wherever he went.

WHIZZZ!

Yang Qi didn’t even move. He simply reached out with his hand, causing a sound that resembled metal grating against metal. In the blink of an eye, the deadly sword snapped in half. Then Yang Qi’s hand was at the Snakefolk demon-immortal’s throat. He squeezed and it exploded, revealing its demon core, which he took.

Then he blurred into motion, slaughtering a group of several hundred more Snakefolk and collecting all of their demon cores.

They were far more powerful than the Eaglefolk, and the mere flick of their tongue could destroy countless enemies. But Yang Qi was slaughtering them left and right.

“These Snakefolk cores are incredible. They’ll be very useful later. Bring it on, Demonfolk. The more of you the better!”