Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

With a decisiveness that could sever nails and chop iron, the King of Godmammoths said, “Proud Heaven has to die.” And it caused wide smiles to appear on the face of Yang Voidprime and the High Priestess.

“Yes, the vile and repulsive Proud Heaven must die,” the High Priestess echoed.

“It doesn’t matter whether or not he’s vile and repulsive,” the King of Godmammoths said. “He has the Great Necropolis and the support of the essence of the god world. And that means he needs to be dead. The god world is our greatest enemy. It will continue to grow and grow until it reaches its limit. Eventually, it will explode, allowing primal-chaos paleo-energy to rush inside, destroying all living beings. We half-Annulled experts will be the first to go.

“Years ago, the Sovereign Lord perished because of the god world, and the other old-timers like us were hoodwinked. Tricked by the god world. But that’s not going to happen again. The downside is that, over the billions of years since then, the essence of the god world has grown stronger.”

“So what do we do?” the High Priestess asked. “And what do we do about the additional enemy, Yang Qi? He’s created a second version of the god world.”

“I'm aware of him. He’s half of a Fateless One, and he has the God Legion Seal. On his journey from the impure lands to here, he's always defied fate, and has been impossible to keep tabs on. He even assimilated the Halls of Heaven. However, he can be dealt with. Since you’ve brought the other half-Fateless One here, I can help turn him into a half-Annulled expert. And I can teach him an incredibly powerful energy art. Then, all he has to do is forcefully summon away the rest of the fateless energy from Yang Qi, and he can become whole. At that point, he’ll be a full Fateless One, and Yang Qi will be nothing but an ordinary person.”

“Summon it away?” Yang Voidprime said, visibly pleased.

Of course, he knew it would come at a very high price. The King of Godmammoths, the Demon Master, and the High Priestess weren’t going to make him a half-Annulled expert for free. And it begged the question of what they would want in return.

Chuckling, the High Priestess said, “You’re as frank and straightforward as ever, King of Godmammoths. And I agree. You expressed my views perfectly. Here I thought I was going to have to go into a big speech to explain things. Instead, you planned everything out and were just waiting for me to come along and agree.”

“Yes. So let's get going. There’s no need to waste any more time.” The King of Godmammoths made a grasping gesture, and before Yang Voidprime could do anything, he was grabbed and taken into the depths of the Demonfolk Empire. Yang Voidprime was strong, but compared to the King of Godmammoths, he was like nothing. Only now did he realize why the King of Godmammoths had been considered the most powerful person in ancient times. Not even the Sovereign Lord had been on par with him.

In the depths of the Demonfolk Empire, Yang Voidprime and the High Priestess were shocked to see countless golden giants leading the Demonfolk in prayer. The Demonfolk were changing as a result, gradually becoming less chaotic. They were literally turning into a new form of life.

“This...” the High Priestess said. “You're really transforming the Demonfolk on a fundamental level. This is going to be a monumental undertaking.”

“No, it’s going to be a snowball effect,” the King of Godmammoths said with a smile. “I have Yang Qi to thank for this. I'm just copying his sage monarch magistrates. They were all the inspiration I needed to gain the new enlightenment I needed to create my kings of order. They’re even better than the sage monarch magistrates. After all, Yang Qi is only able to use the dao of the Lord of Civilization.

“I know far more about ancient civilizations than Yang Qi could ever know. Furthermore, I'm a half-Annulled expert. So how could his creations possibly measure up to my kings of order? His version of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth is crap. I created that technique to begin with, and I didn’t need it to be linked to the God Legion Seal. So in the end, I'm not worried at all about Yang Qi. I just want him for his fateless energy.”

“You really live up to your reputation, King of Godmammoths.” The High Priestess sighed admiringly. “Impressive. Very, very impressive. You’ve obviously surpassed me, and I can do nothing about it but offer you praise.”

“There’s no need to be unduly humble, High Priestess,” someone said. All of a sudden, a middle-aged man appeared who had the bearing of a sage or mahātmā. In the darkness created by the Demonfolk, he was a mass of shining radiance and light, and seemed to radiate a sense of order. He was none other than the Demon Master.

“Demon Master!” the High Priestess exclaimed.

“It's been a long time, High Priestess,” he said. “Back when I opposed the Sovereign Lord, you and I fought a few times. But it's been years, so let’s let bygones be bygones. For all we know, the Sovereign Lord might not be dead, and could be waiting to make a comeback. And if he does, he’ll be the number one figure in the god world. Right now, our main enemies are Proud Heaven and Yang Qi. However, there are others to worry about, such as the True Devil and the Wretch God.”

“So what do we do now?” the High Priestess asked. “Seeing all you old friends again really fills me with hope. That Proud Heaven and his Deathless Heaven Empire has made me so angry I feel like coughing up blood.”

“Our next move is obvious,” the Demon Master said. “We help Yang Voidprime achieve his breakthrough. No one else has the potential he does, not even my own daughter Ruo Chen.”

“After Yang Voidprime achieves his breakthrough,” said the King of Godmammoths, “we can work with him to cast the summoning spell that’ll take Yang Qi’s fateless energy away from him. We’ll all have a share of the spoils, boosting our cultivation bases to the point where crushing Proud Heaven will be as easy as turning over a hand. Without his status as a Fateless One, Yang Qi will never reach the half-Annulled level. We can then simply enslave him and take over his empire, benefitting from its incredible destiny.”

“Exactly,” the Demon Master said. “The final task will be to crush the essence of the god world. At some point along the way, the Sovereign Lord and the True Devil will come out of hiding, and we can devour them. Once the god world is truly ours, our day of transcendence will be at hand.”

“In that case,” the High Priestess said, “we should begin immediately. How do you plan to improve his cultivation base?”

“Simple,” the King of Godmammoths said. “We have to fully unlock the potential of his fateless energy. You see, the reason the Sovereign Lord was so worried about fateless energy in the past is that it could have been used to surpass his level of power. High Priestess, you used to work with fateless energy in the past, so you’re familiar with it. In other words, there’s no need to pretend you don't know these things. Begin!”

“As perceptive as ever, King of Godmammoths. Fine, I’ll drop the act.” Chuckling, the High Priestess reached out and put her hand on Yang Voidprime’s head.

At almost exactly the same time, the Demon Master and the King of Godmammoths did the same.

Three top experts were all working to stimulate the fateless power within him.

It was definitely a possibility that this could provoke a breakthrough to the half-Annulled level. Normally speaking, it wouldn’t work; not even on someone like the Patriarch of the Universe, who had been a peak expert for billions of years. It would be like three powerful individuals throwing someone up into the air. No matter how hard they threw, that person would still fall back down to the ground. But if those same three people tossed a bird up into the air, then obviously the bird wouldn’t fall. Yang Voidprime was like the bird. He was half of a Fateless One, and had long since been in the position to break through. In fact, if Yang Qi hadn’t forced him to use his Fate Seal, he probably would have already.

Most people would have to follow the flow of the river of fate, but obviously, Fateless Ones could go against it.

RUMBLE!

As the three experts poured power into Yang Voidprime, he felt like he was going to explode. Immense power filled him, trembling with ferocity, similar to how a sea of oil would ignite if a meteor fell into it.

“I'm breaking through!” he cried as his body was shredded to pieces, and his godhood collapsed. As he became like the void, his psyche reached a higher level. It was as if he had already died, and his soul had moved on to the most incomparably true and real world there was. In the blink of an eye, his view of everything changed, and he felt like he had previously been a tiny frog looking at the sky from the bottom of a well. But now he had leaped out of that well, and was on a mountain, looking around at the wide world around him.

In the moment that he exploded, the High Priestess, King of Godmammoths, and Demon Master watched with delight. As they saw the connection between the fateless energy and the half-Annulled level, they themselves were cleansed by the energy.

“Incredible!” the King of Godmammoths said. “Although we can’t absorb the fateless energy directly, just being in its presence affects our fate, and makes us freer from the god world. And our cultivation bases are increasing! This is going to be a huge help in reaching the Annulled level. Not even the Sovereign Lord could match this.”

“Yes, this is amazing!” the Demon Master said, laughing. “It seems all of our enlightenment over the years isn’t going to go to waste.”

“I never imagined that fateless energy would be this profound!” the High Priestess said. “Proud Heaven, I'm definitely going to make you regret everything you've done!”