Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Gaze sharpening, Leaf Dao-Denier said, “Are you in or out? If it’s the latter, Eldest Brother Secundus will just leave. If you’re in, we can get to work right away. By the way, I'm a Fortuned One and Eldest Brother Secundus is an Eternal One. Those are two of the rarest constitutions in heaven and earth, and what's more, we’ve combined our blood to make our cultivation bases even more powerful. It will be a simple task for us to deal with that beast king corpse.”

Having fully fused their two special constitutions, they were both Eternal Fortuned Ones, making them boundlessly powerful.

Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven snorted coldly, killing intent stirring within him. “Bold words, boy. Are you trying to scare us or something? I don’t care what you’ve done with your blood, you’re still not a match for us. Do you really want to give up your spot as True Raja Dao-Denier?”

“Touch him, and I’ll cut you down where you stand,” Eldest Brother Secundus said, taking a step forward, his aura savage to the extreme.

In response, Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven held his tongue, aware that he was in the weaker position.

As for Eldest Brother Secundus, he was actually very pleased by how Leaf Dao-Denier had handled the situation up to this point, and was happier than ever that he had taken him in as a disciple.

“Look, we can work all of this out,” Grand Emperor Myriadmagic Heavenspan said. He was the craftiest of the four Grand Emperors, and seeing that things had become very awkward he decided to take over the conversation. “We’ll do things your way, alright? Fifty-fifty. There’s no need to have a falling out over minor matters. Besides, even if we split things fifty-fifty between our two groups, we four will still be stronger than you two, so that's fine. Enough blathering. Let’s all swear oaths not to fight amongst ourselves until after Yang Qi is dead.”

Leaf Dao-Denier laughed. “Fine. I’ve been at odds with Yang Qi for long enough to know how dangerous he is. If we aren’t united, we’ll just be making it easier for him to kill us.”

With that, all of them swore oaths and then set to work.

As they sat down, Leaf Dao-Denier thought, ‘My cultivation base is currently far too low to deal with Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven and the others. But once we’re finished with this beast king, I’ll become vastly stronger! Ah, Yang Qi, I refuse to believe that you’ll survive against so many people. Eldest Brother Secundus. Me. The Four Emperors of the Heavenly Court. And four suzerains of hell. With ten of us working together, joined by a host of beast king clones, you’ll definitely meet your end. Now all I need to do is figure out a way to come out on top. I have to get your God Legion Seal. It belongs to me, and no one else. I'm eventually going to kill all of these other supposed allies and become the ruler of the Dao Defense League!’

As the group of six harvested the power from the beast king’s corpse, Leaf Dao-Denier’s cultivation base slowly climbed higher and higher. At a certain point, heavenly tribulation appeared, but Eldest Brother Secundus easily dispelled it, transforming it into beneficial power. Leaf Dao-Denier’s level was rising like a rocket. Within moments he was climbing from one stair on the Deathless Heavenly Stairway to the next.

The Stair of Valor. The Stair of Wisdom. He ascended them easily. He wasn’t like Yang Qi, so he only had to deal with ordinary tribulation from the dao of heaven. And that meant that Eldest Brother Secundus had no problem helping him.

**

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was working on his own cultivation in the Sage Monarch Heaven, which proceeded in a very different fashion.

A passageway to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart hovered above his head, and King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans were absorbing immortal energy and turning it into Heaven-Devouring True Energy. That in turn became śarīras, which he poured into his God Legion Paradise.

He was also drawing on the powers of the Aeonic God Destroyer and the Engine of the One God, probing into their secrets. He was now much more able to use the Aeonic God Destroyer to absorb primal-chaos and universal power.

To Yang Qi, it felt almost like he was connected to some mighty world that abounded with power. He suddenly saw the Ancient Road to the Gods, stretching on and on until it reached that mighty world, which existed outside of the river of time itself. Whether one stepped onto the Ancient Road to the Gods in the past, the present, or the future, it was the same.

The chiliocosm of worlds in the universe could transform. The dao of heaven could live or die. But that had nothing to do with the god world. The god world was eternally unchangeable. Slowly, but surely, Yang Qi was gaining profound levels of enlightenment and coming to understand some of the secrets of that world.

At a certain point, he burst out laughing. “The power of the god world! Aeon Portal!”

The Aeon Portal appeared and power began flowing through it from the Ancient Road to the Gods, filled with deathless godliness.

[Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep.]

The photonic computers in the Cruiser of Civilization began going wild. At the same time, Yang Qi felt as though his heart was starting to resemble the heart of Brahma. Power surged through him, and the Engine of the One God began filling up at the same time.

Thanks to his profound enlightenment, he was now starting to combine the Aeonic God Destroyer, the Cruiser of Civilization, the Engine of the One God, King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans, the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, and King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions with the power of his God Legion Seal. After all, the God Legion Seal could absorb all kinds of godliness, even that which was deathless.

With the Engine of the One God powering up, Yang Qi felt as though he had the strength to pierce through even a thirty-third ranked immortal world with hardly any effort. If he could fully utilize the Aeon Portal, he wouldn’t have to worry about the power drain any longer. He could tap into the Ancient Road to the Gods and gain access to power reserves of the highest level, which were perfect for the engine.

At that point, he wouldn’t need to worry about running out of power in the middle of a fight, which would make it a lot easier to deal with the emperors and the suzerains of hell.

Unfortunately, as a mere Measureless God, Yang Qi still wasn’t able to fully utilize the Aeon Portal. He would need to further his cultivation before he could use it to fully power the Engine of the One God.

He could only imagine what he would be capable of if his cultivation base were at the level of Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven. At that point, not even Lesser Gods would be able to do anything to him.

Yang Qi took a deep breath, then burst into hearty laughter as heavenly tribulation formed above him. He was becoming an eighth division Buddha God! He quickly stepped into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, and the tribulation followed him.

The fury of the gods poured onto him, but it was really just a blessing. All of a sudden, he gained further insight into the god world, although there were still plenty of questions to be answered. Why did the god world surpass time itself and exist eternally? Why did the god world end up in ruins? Why was it almost destroyed? What did ‘after the nirvanic rebirth of the gods, a new civilization would be born’ mean?

Yang Qi knew that, eventually, he would go to the god world to seek answers to such questions and learn of the profundities of the Sovereign Lord. Unfortunately, reaching the Deathless Throne and the level of the legion of gods was not an easy task.

BOOM!

With a decisive fist strike, he vanquished the wrath of the gods and stepped into the Buddha God level. At that point, the power flow finally filled the Engine of the One God to the level of one percent.