Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi infused his will into the skulls, using a variety of daoist techniques to cleanse and purify them. The wills of Consummate Gods erupted from the skulls, but he kept them in check with the Purrfect God Art.

Soon, the skulls were emitting mournful howls.

Unfortunately, they had undying wills from almighty beings of ancient times, and were not the type that could be easily subdued. They fought fiercely, refusing to become puppets under Yang Qi’s control. In fact, they were filled with defiant emotions.

They would defy heaven, defy earth, defy men, defy gods, and defy buddhas.

They wanted to poison all living beings to death and turn all creation into a world of toxicity.

Yang Qi pushed harder with his will in an attempt to crush them, but they only fought back with increasing ferocity. So far, not a single one had come under his control.

“Very tenacious,” he murmured. Even after three days and three nights had passed, he made no progress. In fact, the skulls were emitting a toxic gas that filled the area and would have melted the palace if Yang Qi didn’t keep it in check.

This place wasn’t nearly as tough as the Chaos Forge God-Shrine, so poison like this would destroy it in short order.

These skulls had the power of Consummate Gods, thus they couldn’t be easily converted into puppets. Given Yang Qi’s strength, all he could really do was seal them. It was similar to the relationship between an emperor and the common people. The common people could generally accept a tax, but if the emperor’s forces went around pillaging and murdering, then the common people wouldn’t tolerate it and would rise up in revolt.

The skulls could tolerate being sealed, but in terms of being assimilated, they would instinctively resist it.

The skulls howled as Yang Qi tried to devour them with his godpower.

“Heaven-Devouring Grand Magic!” A primal-chaos elder-snake flew out into the open to devour the skulls. However, the skulls simply opened their mouths and emitted a powerful gravitational force in an attempt to devour the snake. Instantly, they began to fight back and forth fiercely.

Yang Qi was going all out, but so far he wasn’t making any progress at all in turning the skulls into puppets.

If he failed, then the instant they managed to break free, they would try to devour him.

“Mahākaruṇā of Heaven and Earth; Reincarnation Dao of Gods; Transformations of Yin and Yang; Chiliocosmic Chain Reaction; Many Heavens God Seal; Be Suppressed!”

The Many Heavens God Seal appeared and he shoved it out violently toward the skulls.

At the same time, he exhaled a burst of sagefire that surrounded the skulls, emitting crackling sounds the entire time. Creating sagefire of this level was a big drain on his godpower. In fact, even normal Consummate Gods wouldn't be able to sustain the drainage. Thankfully, Yang Qi had the God Legion Seal.

Specifically, this sagefire was the Flame of Hope, which could fill the void and bring hope to countless living beings in the universe.

The purrling looked on, licking its paws as if in derision, as if the wastage of energy was childish.

Jadefall was very familiar with the purrling after dealing with it for all these years, and knew how it worked. “Purrling, Yang Qi has been trying for three days and three nights, and has wasted a lot of godpower. Why don’t you help out?”

“Purr, purr....” It made two purring sounds that seemed to mean: “Helping Yang Qi would be a big waste. If he does it himself, he’ll benefit a lot. Subduing those skulls will provide a big tempering effect to his godpower.”

In the end, it was a contest of wills.

Seven days and nights passed, and Yang Qi’s vital energy was getting stronger. His cultivation base was being pushed to the limit, and as a result, he was actually making good progress. At a certain point, he pushed with explosive force, causing sparks to shower down into the skulls, filling their eyes with the Flame of Hope and causing their auras to weaken.

Yang Qi was finally gaining control.

Those seven days and nights had been a torment for Yang Qi, and had involved wasting an indeterminable amount of godpower. Even if a thousand Consummate Gods joined forces to try to do the same thing, they would fail.

Yet he still hadn’t succeeded in dealing with the skulls.

What was worse, Yang Qi could tell that if the right expert came along, someone much stronger than him, that person could take the skulls away from him very easily.

He exhaled some godpower onto the skulls, and five more days and nights passed. The skulls were now a pure golden color instead of pitch black. They were still filled with toxins, but those toxins were being converted into something that belonged to the legion of gods.

Next, he sent some of the energy of the Unspoiled Body into the golden skulls, filling them with countless tribulations and making them stronger and tougher than ever.

He flicked his finger, and a host of tiny, golden godmammoths flew into the skulls, filling them with the immense power of the King of Godmammoths.

The thirteen skulls had been impressive to begin with, but had been slightly lacking in raw power. But now Yang Qi was imbuing them with such immense force that they would truly be invincible going forward.

But Yang Qi wasn’t done yet. He began inscribing the skulls with spell formations that were filled with his knowledge of the dao of heaven and enlightenment of the chiliocosm of worlds. Yang Qi was expending blood, sweat, and tears to turn these skulls into a powerful magical treasure.

In fact, it was the first time in the god world that he was forging a treasure.

Magical treasures needed the right materials, and these thirteen skulls had formed naturally, and were a fusion of the wills of almighty experts and spatial toxins. They were like uncut jade, and Yang Qi was like a sculptor.

Purr. Purr....

Yang Qi next used the Purrfect God Art to create thirteen bubbles around the thirteen skulls. Then an image of the Great Necropolis appeared, into which he interred them.

The Great Necropolis God Art could bury the legion of gods. The Purrfect God Art was mysteriously unfathomable.

Now they had been combined into this magical treasure.

As the process continued, Yang Qi realized that, within the depths of the thirteen skulls, there was some unidentifiable object forming.

Around this time, it seemed the purrling finally wanted to join in, and it spat out a series of bubbles that wrapped up the thirteen skulls.

Yang Qi watched as the skulls shrank down until they were the size of dust, impossible to see with the naked eye, but thousands of times stronger than before.

‘So strong. Too strong!” Yang Qi looked over at the purrling, still having no idea what it was. In fact, if someone had said it was the King of Godmammoths, he would have been happy to believe it.

That said, there was no way the King of Godmammoths looked like a little pink piglet.

“Got it!”

The purrling had just made the skulls vastly stronger, saving Yang Qi upwards of a thousand years of hard work.

Normally, that’s how long it would have taken him to properly refine them into the treasure he wanted them to be.

Now, the skulls landed on his hand, transforming into a string of golden prayer beads.

With the flick of his wrist, he sent the skulls shooting out, which then grew bodies and limbs until they were golden skeletons, bursting with immense power. Their faces seemed filled with fury, grief, sorrow, and joy, all at the same time. They were like devil-gods with no godhood, who would kill enemies instinctively.

And they were comparable to Consummate Gods.

Yang Qi had created a true magical treasure.

“Incredible,” he murmured. At his direction, the golden devil-gods ripped at the space around them, creating a black vortex that swept out in all directions.

“It worked,” Jadefall said. “Those golden skeletons are about as strong as my Master. You really found some amazing materials to work with.”

Yang Qi nodded. “They can be used for self-defense, but not cultivation. My Sage Monarch Consortium needs something just like this.”

“Your consortium has been growing,” Jadefall said, “and I've been supporting it from behind the scenes while you’ve been gone.” She watched Yang Qi pull the skeletons back into skull form, then said, “You don’t need something like that?”

He laughed. “No, I don’t. And neither do you. With the purrling on your side, no one will be able to harm you. I’ll give these prayer beads to Doom, the Shepherd, and my father. They can use them to defend against Consummate Gods, and accomplish dangerous missions for the sect. Within a few dozen years, a hundred at most, we’ll be able to form a Sage Monarch Society within the House of God Ordainment.”

“I’d say you’re strong enough to do that right now,” Jadefall said.

“I could, but what's the point of forming a tiny society?” He shook his head. “I want something big. Oh, by the way, I heard the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty has a piece of the Mahātmā Jade.”