Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘Astounding. This guy is single-handedly absorbing this entire kingdom of fire. He's even taking the fiery godpower and using it to make a ring. And that ring is clearly a god item many times more powerful than any ordinary god item. Well, I can’t sit around doing nothing here. Profound-Netherworld Ultimate-Yin Palm!’

Holy Daughter Joyflower sent out streams of frigid energy that resembled a frigid dragon, which parted the flames and allowed her to proceed deeper into the fire.

RIP!

The dragon-shaped palm suddenly slammed into something very large within the flames, causing a roar of rage to echo out.

“Who are you? Who dares to awaken a god soul!? Who dares to profane a sleeping monarch!? Who dares to attack the legion of gods?”

An enormous, fiery devil-god appeared, fully three thousand meters tall, seated on a throne of fire. The wave of his hand sent out millions upon millions of fire dragons which smashed into Holy Daughter Joyflower’s frigid dragon, shattering it and transforming it into nothing but water vapor.

Holy Daughter Joyflower’s cultivation base was far above Yang Qi’s. She had long since traveled the Ancient Road to the Gods, and cultivated the Grand-Frigid Profound-Netherworld Ultimate-Yin God Energy. Even a casual exhalation of hers could freeze an entire thirty-third ranked immortal world or transform primal-chaos into a kingdom of frigid ice. In fact, she could draw on her essence to directly create a thirty-third ranked immortal world if she wanted.

But this fiery giant had destroyed her frigid dragon with a single move, which begged the question of what kind of cultivation base it had.

“Puny mortal! I might have perished, but I'm the spirit and soul of a god! How dare you awaken me from my slumber! How dare you interrupt my thoughts! You should both die a thousand deaths, and be thrown into hell to suffer endless torment and punishment!”

The enormous giant shrank down until he was the size of an ordinary person, a crown of fiery thorns on his head. In his fury, he looked like someone whose rage was like a fire that could broil the heavens. Obviously, this giant was vastly more powerful than Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven had ever been.

“Chaotic Dance of the Fire God!”

Furious at how Yang Qi was absorbing the power of the fire, the giant lunged forward in an attack, sending corridors of flame rushing forward. They were corridors that originated in the kingdom of gods, and moved so quickly that not even Yang Qi’s Freedom Wings could match them in terms of speed.

POP!

Before Yang Qi could react, he was struck and sent flying back to the path outside, wreathed in flames. His skin sizzled and his hair was scorched away, turning into smoke that drifted around him. He had just been struck with a blow that was nearly strong enough to rip him to pieces, leaving his meridians filled with intense flames that threatened to quickly burn him to nothing but a husk.

In the briefest of moments, he was pushed to the very brink of death.

‘Damn. Genetic systems, heal me!’ He immediately drew on the power of the Cruiser of Civilization, which sent a burst of power into him that healed him and restored his meridians. His skin turned crystalline and translucent as his hair regrew, becoming like a black waterfall behind him.

“Er, what?” the fiery god soul murmured. He had just been preparing to attack Holy Daughter Joyflower when, to his complete surprise, Yang Qi rose back to his feet, his aura completely intact. Despite the stunning blow he had just sustained, he was still thrumming with life force.

“You’re not dead, blasphemer? But I hit you with my Chaotic Dance of the Fire God! How could you have escaped death?” The god soul couldn't believe it, and once again blurred into motion. He moved so quickly that nothing could match its speed, extending his hand to summon a fiery net that encompassed all heaven and earth as it bore down on Yang Qi.

“Raging Flames fill the Vast Sky!”

It was a palm attack that could turn primal-chaos into raging flame, and was strong enough to devastate twentieth ranked immortal worlds in the blink of an eye. In fact, it was only because they were fighting in the Great Necropolis that he could utilize this palm technique. Outside, it would create a catastrophic reaction within primal-chaos, transforming everything into dust.

Unfazed, Yang Qi drew on the Engine of the One God and the massive amount of power he had built up inside. Then he thrust his hand out, drawing on an energy art from one of the seventy-two monarchs, King Hell-Freezer, whose profoundly powerful yin and frigid arts could freeze hells.

It was an art that contained the ultimate meaning of frigid yin, and to cultivate it required a scorching hot counterpart to be able to reach the highest levels of enlightenment. It was only by drawing on the ultimate yang true energy that one could produce the ultimate yin true energy.

“Freeze and Seal the Macrocosms!”

Yin and yang slammed into each other, and Yang Qi continued drawing on the might of the Engine of the One God, filling every blow with the power of the ancient Lord of Civilization, who was a paramount king among the hosts of gods. It was the Sovereign Lord himself who was the origin of this heart, and that was how he was capable of imitating the One God.

The Blood of the One God and the Engine of the One God worked perfectly in unison, and in the blink of an eye, the attack of the fiery god soul was halted in its tracks.

Flames raged around Yang Qi, yet he suppressed them and prevented the god soul from pressing the attack.

“Holy Daughter Joyflower,” he shouted, “this thing is really strong! If you have anything you're holding back, now's the time to use it. Otherwise, my true energy is going to run out and our plan will fail.” He was convinced that Holy Daughter Joyflower wouldn’t have agreed to this venture if she didn’t have some trump cards to rely on.

‘This guy is incredible! I can’t believe he’s able to exchange blows with the god soul like that. If he went all out, he would probably surpass me, wouldn’t he?’ Gritting her teeth, she produced a hexagramic ice crystal roughly the size of a hand. It was essentially a beautiful snowflake that pulsed with endless frigid energy, within which was the projection of a snow-white young woman surrounded by gentle snow flurries.

Yang Qi’s teeth began chattering and a tremor ran through him as he was surrounded by frigid energy.

‘What’s that?’ he thought, shocked as he saw his limbs suddenly slowing down significantly. Thankfully, the effects were worse for the fiery god soul. No matter how he flailed or moved about, the frigid ice continued building up on him, stabbing into him and slowly sealing his deathless godliness.

‘This guy is resisting the sealing?!’ Holy Daughter Joyflower thought in shock. The magical treasure she had just used was something she picked up on the Ancient Road to the Gods, a fragment of quintessence vitality from the ancient Profound-Netherworld Ultimate-Yin Goddess. The snowflake didn't contain godhood, but it was close to that level. And the temporary burst of frigid energy it could release was enough to seal the fiery god soul. However, she had to act quickly, and seal the god soul before it realized what was happening. If she failed, the results could be fatal.

Yang Qi’s clash with the god soul was the perfect opportunity for her to act, which was exactly what she did. Her plan was to seal Yang Qi along with the god soul, only to find that, to her utter confusion, he was staving off the effects.

Swish!

As the effects of the snowflake froze and sealed the god soul, Yang Qi flicked his sleeve and sucked the soul inside. In the blink of an eye, it was nowhere to be seen.

The god soul had been completely suppressed.

He looked over at Holy Daughter Joyflower.

“What are you doing?!” she exclaimed. “You’re taking it all for yourself?! Listen, that quintessence vitality from the Profound-Netherworld Ultimate-Yin Goddess can only suppress the fiery god soul for a few hours. Once the effects run out, the god soul will break free and burn everything it encounters. Trying to control it on your own is very dangerous. Not even King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans are enough to deal with it, especially considering your low cultivation base. Not even Lesser Gods could fully utilize those talismans.”

“I can suppress the will of King Heaven-Devourer,” Yang Qi said, a grim expression flickering in his eyes. “Do you really think I couldn’t handle a puny god soul like this? When you used the quintessence vitality just now, were you really trying to seal me along with the god soul? Trying to stab me in the back? It seems to me that you have some killing intent lurking in your heart. I agreed to cooperate with you in good faith, but now it seems you had ill intentions all along, and hoped to seal and assimilate me. Steal my magical treasures.”

“Er….” Holy Daughter Joyflower suddenly looked very awkward.

Before she could say anything in response, lewd, cackling laughter filled the area. “So, this is where you're hiding, Holy Daughter Joyflower! Trying to subjugate that god soul? What, you think assimilating it would let you combine yin and yang, and thus advance your energy arts? Is that your plan to escape from me? From the first time I saw you on the Ancient Road to the Gods, I knew that I would make you mine one day.”