Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

When Empress Joyflower unleashed her Terrifying will, Yang Qi and his allies were completely incapable of standing up to her. With a will convergence that powerful, she could crush any lower level of will. Nothing could survive, not even people at the peak of the Destabilizing level.

These sect leaders were all invincible entities who had roamed the Ancient Road to the Gods for hundreds of millions of years. Yet in the face of Empress Joyflower’s assault, they exploded one after the next, becoming nothing more than drifting ash.

Their magical powers, wills, god items, and magical treasures were all destroyed and absorbed by the empress.

Soon, only Yang Qi and Battle Resister were left. Looking coolly at Yang Qi, the empress said, “You can't do anything to stop me. Not even the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart will help you now. So surrender. Let go of all your energy and techniques, submit to me, and become my consort. I’ll bless you with invincible divine abilities to help you slaughter Proud Heaven. As you can see, my will skyrocketed to the Terrifying level, and I can teach you the secret magic that let me do it.”

Swish!

She retracted her secret magic, but her will convergence continued shaking everything in the area, making it obvious that resistance was pointless.

Yang Qi could even sense that the devil embryos he had infected the sect leaders with had been destroyed and absorbed by her.

“You can surrender as well, Battle Resister,” the empress continued. “You’re no match for me now, and I could kill you along with Yang Qi with a single blow. Except, I've taken a liking to you and can accept you as a consort too. Remember, working with Yang Qi is like asking a tiger for its skin. He’ll definitely plot against you. Did you notice that all the sect leaders I just killed had been infected with devil embryos? I’d say it's highly likely you have one inside you as well.”

Snorting coldly, Yang Qi smiled and said, “The reason I put devil embryos in them was because they were all plotting against me. My Brother Battle Resister is straightforward and upright, and harbored no such thoughts. By the way, I know that your Terrifying will convergence won’t last for very long. Soon enough, your cultivation base will drop, maybe even to a lower point than before. At that point, we’ll have a chance to turn defeat into victory.”

“Turn defeat into victory?” She laughed. “You’ll never get such an opportunity, not even if Proud Heaven suddenly showed up. Apparently you don’t truly understand what it means to have Terrifying will. Terrifying will is impossible to defeat, impossible to crush, and impossible to resist. The only thing you can do when faced with it is to acknowledge allegiance.”

“I think you need to die!” Yang Qi suddenly said, and a burst of power erupted from the depths of his heart as he burned two hundred drops of godpower to fuel a palm strike. His meridians popped and shattered as a result, but he simply endured the pain.

Earlier, he couldn’t have done this, but his cultivation base had transformed, and when his immortal-slaying clone had delivered power to him earlier, he acquired some of the Eternal Fortuned blood. And exchanging blows with Empress Joyflower had allowed him to absorb some of the quintessence vitality of the universe around him, which he used to fuse the three major types of blood within him: Fateless, Eternal, and Fortuned.

The result was a major power-up.

And it was exactly that major power-up that gave him the confidence to try to fight back against Empress Joyflower one last time.

KABOOM!

Waves of energy erupted from his palm. This time, he was unleashing an attack that was equivalent to a cultivator with a power index of four thousand, and it crushed everything in its path as it headed straight toward Empress Joyflower.

“You're really looking to get yourself killed,” she said with a faint, unconcerned smile. Casually extending her hand, she met Yang Qi’s palm and used her powerful will convergence to completely dismantle it.

However, Yang Qi followed up with another palm strike, then another, and each one was stronger than the previous. He was burning more and more godhood liquid to use all nine stances of the Hand of the One God, complete with infinite variations. At this point, he was unleashing strength equivalent to a power index of five thousand.

Empress Joyflower’s expression flickered. This was an attack delivered with a power index that surpassed anything she had predicted would happen. After reaching three thousand, every additional thousand provided exponentially greater power. It wasn’t a simple matter of a linear improvement to fighting prowess.

Yang Qi was coming at her with the explosive force of a power index of five thousand, plus a consummate palm technique birthed from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. The empress had no choice but to evade the blow.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump! Thump-thump!!

Yang Qi was attacking with devastating power, but Empress Joyflower was evading each and every move. Finally, she laughed and said, “I can hear your meridians shattering, Yang Qi. Are you forcibly using some sort of secret magic? There’s no way that your body can sustain the force of a power index of five thousand. Will you be able to keep it up after that set of moves? Or do you have more power stored in your meridians and sea of energy?”

Ignoring her, Yang Qi went into his last stance and shot toward her with complete abandon.

Obviously, the empress couldn’t simply accept the blow, so she dodged out of the way, putting as much distance as possible between herself and him.

However, at the very last moment, Yang Qi’s hand closed into a fist and he struck at the air in front of him, causing a vortex to pop open. Grabbing Battle Resister, he disappeared into the vortex. Then, before she could react, the vortex snapped shut and he was gone.

“Damn you!” she shouted, but she was too late. As it turned out, Yang Qi hadn’t been putting his life on the line to beat her in a fight, but rather, he was just building up power to open a way to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

She realized her mistake too late. Yang Qi’s final move had been ferocious, but considering she had Terrifying will, if she had met it, she would have been injured, but nothing worse. And if she had met the attack, Yang Qi would have run out of power. She would then have been able to take his God Legion Seal and other magical treasures.

Unfortunately, he had slipped into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart and she had no way to catch up to him.

“Very clever, you damned brat. I can’t believe you’re so crafty. Damn you!” She reached out with all her power, in the hopes of locating the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, but of course that was an impossibility.

After this encounter, it wouldn’t be easy for her to get her hands on Yang Qi. And although she had technically won this fight, for all intents and purposes Yang Qi had come out the victor. First of all, he had snatched Leaf Dao-Denier and taken his Eternal Fortuned blood, boosting his own power as a result.

Second, he had cleaned out her storehouse of treasure, which was a loss the empress wouldn’t easily be able to make up for.

Third, he had forced her to rely on a secret magic which, although it had temporarily pushed her to the Terrifying level, had resulted in serious injuries that would take quite some time to recover from.

Considering those three aspects, Yang Qi could definitely say that he came out victorious.

POP!

Yang Qi staggered out into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart with blood spraying out of his mouth, his face as ashen as death.

Battle Resister quickly placed his hands on Yang Qi’s back and used a secret magic of healing on him.

“Medical-Dao Spirit-Communication Recover-From-Death Grand Energy Art!”

True energy poured into Yang Qi and his injuries began to heal. Breathing raggedly, he opened his eyes and said, “Incredible.... That secret magic she used actually pushed her will convergence to the Terrifying level. If I could master that magic, my own fighting prowess would be incredible.”

“Brother Yang Qi,” Battle Resister said, “we escaped with our lives, but sadly, all of the other sect leaders died. Going forward, the Joyflower Palace will be the most powerful organization out there. And the two of us are in even less of a position to deal with the empress. I need to head back to the Profound House of Battle Energy and make preparations. She’ll definitely try exterminating us. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where I can take the sect to ensure its safety.”

Yang Qi thought for a moment. “I have a way. If you trust me, why not bring your Profound House of Battle Energy here into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart? If we join forces, I think we can accomplish a lot. Empress Joyflower is strong, but she can’t break into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. There are big changes going on out there, and they can’t be stopped. War is going to rage, but thankfully the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart will remain safe.”

Battle Resister considered his offer. “Alright. But the Profound House of Battle Energy is huge, and there are old-timers there who will need convincing. And for all I know, they might refuse to work with you.”

“That’s fine,” Yang Qi said, sitting down cross-legged. “For now, I’ll be focusing on recovery. I sustained severe damage to my meridians and vital energy. But don’t worry, I control the flow of time in here, so I can make sure we have plenty of time to go handle matters with your sect. Besides, Empress Joyflower is also injured, and will need time to recover.”

The truth was that Yang Qi’s injuries were very severe. He had been punched full of holes, and worse, the strength god systems of the Engine of the One God were now out of power. He had no way to power up using the engine unless he acquired some more godhood.

And unfortunately, godhood wasn’t exactly easy to get. Even though there was a huge amount in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, it wasn't within his capability to take it.