Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“Yang Qi! Y-you’re… you’re really assimilating me?! You’re going to meet a horrible end for this!”

The young man’s cries were spine-tingling, filled with venom, hatred, defiance, and a rancorous energy that could form the most powerful of curses.

Even Princess Jadefall was deeply shaken by them.

Yet Yang Qi didn’t seem fazed at all. “There’s no need for such animosity, Future One. In conflicts like ours, the winner is deemed righteous, and the loser is always in the wrong. Besides, you tried to kill me over and over again. As you know, he who tries to kill others will always be killed. It’s a simple fact. So why not just compose yourself and die with dignity. The only other option is increased torment.” [1]

“No! I refuse to accept this! I'm going to turn defeat into victory!”

He continued struggling, but the Wheel of Fate was too strong and prevented him from accessing any of his divine abilities. In fact, he had completely lost control of his body. He had truly been defeated by Yang Qi.

As he continued to melt, magical symbols poured out and Yang Qi took them.

“Jadefall, you take some of the symbols too. They contain the power and constitution of a Future One. Normally speaking, Future Ones should be the most powerful individuals in whatever part of space-time they exist in. We’ve taken down someone with invincible destiny like this only because of the power of the legion of gods. We can’t let this chance slip by.”

“Alright!” Princess Jadefall said. Shivering, she reached out to absorb some of the magical symbols rising up from the young man in yellow.

Before long, the young man’s quintessence energy was completely drained, to the point where his facial features were starting to distort. He really did look like a melting candle.

Gurgle. Plop.

After watching the horrifying scene, Chancellor Demi-Immortal and Proud Warpatience wished they could commit suicide to avoid the pain that they knew would be coming for them soon. Unfortunately, they were so thoroughly locked down that they couldn’t die, even though they wanted to. No magical power or daoist technique could possibly break through the bounds of the Devil-God Seal.

‘This power is incredible, and is perfectly suited for me. Henceforth, I'm not just a Fateless One. I also have the constitution of a Reincarnated One and a Future One.’ Yang Qi felt his energy growing stronger and his Blood of the One God pushing from the level of two percent to three. Then four and five, causing his entire body to glow with boundless sagelight.

Furthermore, as he absorbed the power of a Future One his sea of consciousness filled with information directly from the future.

In the future, there were boundless planes of existence and a vast void in the universe. There were enormous battleships, some of them the size of multiple planets put together, which cruised from plane to plane within the universe. Obviously, such battleships were the product of a mechanical civilization.

Apparently that ancient mechanical civilization had once again risen to prominence in the future.

As the information poured in, Yang Qi slowly came to understand the future that the yellow-garbed young man had come from.

In the future age, gods, devils, immortals, and mortals all coexisted. In fact, there were so many mortals that they were like the eternal sands of the universe. They formed the foundation of society, with rank upon rank of nobility and officialdom rising up in something like a pyramid. At the top of that pyramid was a supremely powerful entity who ruled over everyone.

It was a different power structure than in the present.

In the future age, the mortal world, the immortal worlds, and even the kingdom of the gods were not separated from each other. They had all been combined into one enormous universe. Humanity united everything, and eventually the original gods ceased to exist. And in the end, that supreme entity at the top of the pyramid ruled over all humanity.

‘After the gods experience nirvanic rebirth, a new civilization would once again rise? Don’t tell me that this is that new civilization? I find it hard to believe that such an abnormal civilization could exist.’ As Yang Qi digested the scattered bits of information, he came to the conclusion that the future world was a bitter and cruel place, a world without hope that was filled with despair.

The young man in yellow had come from one of the lowest levels of nobility. Although he wasn't a commoner, he was still nothing special by any stretch of the imagination. Somehow, he came across some good fortune, that being one of King Immortal-Slayer’s legacy medallions. Eventually, he pierced through space-time to arrive during the golden age of the immortal dao civilization. But in the end, he had perished at Yang Qi’s hands.

After absorbing enough of the power of the Future One and combining it with the two aspects of his constitution, a pulse of space-time godpower erupted out, becoming a magical symbol that resembled written script that Yang Qi didn’t recognize. It was the script of the future.

After absorbing it, he noticed that his mental image of the future included a mysterious aura that reminded him of his God Legion Seal. He instantly realized what it was: the one third of the God Legion Seal that existed in the future.

And it was in the hands of someone very strong and powerful.

In the future, the mechanical civilization advanced more rapidly than ever, vastly surpassing anything the Mechfolk could achieve. The battleships of the future could easily rip Godmyths to shreds.

‘So the buzz cut kid wasn’t lying. There really are three pieces to the God Legion Seal. I have one, and someone in the future has one. So does that mean that the third one lies in the past? Because they exist in three different ages, it's impossible for the God Legion Seal to become complete by natural means. That said, it still contains the power of the legion of gods. Well, one day I’ll break through the fetters of space-time and combine them all. Then I’ll change the face of the universe itself and stabilize history and the passing of time.”

Yang Qi finally understood everything.

Thanks to the memories of the young man in yellow, and the details he acquired about the future, he now knew much about the creations of the mechanical civilization.

In fact, the information he now had would be extremely valuable to the Mechfolk, who would likely go crazy if he told them the details. Truth be told, the Mechfolk were extremely powerful in the immortal worlds, and their mechanical inventions put them on a similar level as the Brahman Society. But in the end, their abilities were limited.

‘So, I finally beat the kid in yellow and took his power and memories….’ Yang Qi breathed a sigh of relief. That said, he could still sense the rancorous energy of the young man and knew that his curse would not simply fade away.

‘Such a powerful curse,’ he thought. ‘Seems his rancor was truly formidable. Fine. I’ll use the ancient dao of devils to create a Rancorous Emperor śarīra. That should be useful in the future.’

He waved his finger and a bright light appeared, which gathered all of the rancorous energy and enfolded it into a śarīra.

At long last, every little bit of the young man in yellow was gone, completely and utterly faded into nothing. Neither the present nor the future contained even the slightest evidence of his existence. A mortal malady had been expunged.

‘After I consolidate all of this power, I should be able to rise to third stage Thought-Demolishing. Perhaps even the fourth stage. But I need to combine all three of these constitutions first.’ Closing his eyes, he inspected his Blood of the One God and saw that it was at the shocking level of ten percent.

As it turned out, absorbing these special constitution types was the best type of cultivation. It completely surpassed the effectiveness of the power of faith and the devouring of god items.

No wonder Proud Heaven was so intent on getting Princess Jadefall.

Now Yang Qi realized the truth. He needed to devour other constitution types, such as those from Eternal Ones, Past Ones, Heaven Moving Ones, and so on. By doing so, he would advance by leaps and bounds, and enter the Godmyth level much sooner than expected.

Afterward, the next step would be the Deathless Throne, the level of the legion of gods.

At that time, he would be able to call on the ultimate might of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth and the God Legion Seal, not just the scattered bits he had access to now.

‘Once I purify all of this energy and pass my tribulation, I’ll be an immortal general. At that time, I’ll be able to summon fiend-devils who are eighth stage immortal emperors. With armies like that, I’ll be able to conquer any low-level immortal world I want. Very well, the time has come to deal with Proud Warpatience.’

Opening his eyes, he saw that Princess Jadefall was still working on her own cultivation with the godpower of the Future One.

“Alright, Proud Warpatience. Are you going to tell me Proud Heaven’s secrets now?” He flicked his finger and a spark flew over to Proud Warpatience, causing him to burst into flames. Instantly, a scream escaped his lips, yet he refused to say anything.

Shaking his head, Yang Qi said, “Oh? Feeling stubborn, are we? If I have to, I’ll soulsearch you and drag your memories out by force. I actually didn’t want to kill you, and had even planned to help you reach the Godmyth level. Having you join me would have been a big blow to Proud Heaven. Or at least it might have been enough to lure him into a trap. But since you insist on being pigheaded, I’ll find someone else to help me do that.”

However, before Proud Warpatience could respond, Chancellor Demi-Immortal butted in. “Yang Qi, are you really going to kill me? You started out in the Demi-Immortal Institute, and back when you were at odds with the Crown Prince I made sure to keep you safe. You killed my daughter, but if you let me go I'm willing to call things even. What do you say?”

1. The quote here is actually a twist on a real quote from the philosopher Mengzi. This version replaces the verb “love” with “kill”. So the original quote says “he who loves others is constantly loved by them”.