Sage Monarch

“Such is the power of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda,” Yang Qi said coolly. However, as he looked around at his sworn siblings, he couldn’t help but shake his head in disappointment. As it turned out, not a single one of them had become a Legendary. It was actually somewhat of a letdown.

He had hoped that at least one of them would achieve it. However, the Legendary level was fundamentally different from the Lifeseizing level. Lifeseizers were respected by all, but Legendaries were treated like patriarchs.

Flame Clearspring had always been the strongest among them all, a Nonary Lifeseizer. Although he had succeeded with his Tyrannical Form of the Flame Emperor, and had improved his true energy, he was still not quite ready to break through to the next level. It wouldn’t have helped even if Yang Qi directly used his own energy arts to assist.

If Flame Clearspring had succeeded, it would have been a big encouragement to the group. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to rely just on raw power to achieve that breakthrough. Something else was required, something special.

“Brother Yang Qi, why didn’t you reach the Legendary level?” Flame Clearspring asked. “I failed because of some flaws in my animadestiny. However, now that I’ve fixed them, it should only take a bit of enlightenment to succeed. But you're far, far stronger than me. You even defeated my eldest brother already. We’re all waiting for you to take the next step.”

“It will be hundreds or even thousands of times harder for me to reach the Legendary level than the rest of you,” Yang Qi said with the shake of his head. “However, when I succeed, the transformations will be completely dramatic. I cultivate a very unique technique, a divine ability that comes from the ancient void. To achieve the next breakthrough, I have to completely and utterly control the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. At the moment, I can only control it with difficulty. For example, I’ll eventually be able to use the pagoda to pierce through space and reach alternate dimensions. And according to the ancient records in the Demi-Immortal Institute, some of the alternate dimensions near the Rich-Lush Continent have Nine-Yang Immortal Energy, Clear Heaven True Energy, Great Void True Energy, Thousand Illusions Immortal Energy, and other fundamental powers of the universe.”

“You’re right,” Hua Fengfeng said. “Not even all of us working together could unleash the full powers of the pagoda. And working on our cultivation in it now wouldn’t be of much help. We need even more resources to break through our current bottlenecks.”

“All of us have reached bottlenecks that require deadly combat to surpass,” Flame Clearspring said. “That’s our only hope of becoming Legendaries. To reach that level, my brother entered the Realm of the Flame Emperor, deep in the Mountain of Flames. I'm not sure what secrets he came across there, but he gained enlightenment of the Legendary level, and succeeded in his breakthrough. I guess the next thing for me to do will be to follow his footsteps and seek similar enlightenment.”

“I see,” Yang Qi said. “Well, Brother, you should hurry on your way.”

“I need to leave as well,” Hua Fengfeng said. “Now that I'm in Nonary Lifeseizing, I need to request a Legendary level technique from the institute. The Sun Moon Institute always focuses a lot of attention on grooming Nonary Lifeseizers. They have a technique just for them.”

‘It’s true,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘If you don’t have the right body-tempering technique, you won’t have any idea how to achieve the breakthrough to the Legendary level.’ Clearly, his sworn siblings needed to return to their various organizations to acquire the secret methods they needed to become Legendaries. Flame Clearspring’s Tyrannical Form of the Flame Emperor was a Legendary technique, but he still needed to return to his organization for further training.

“Alright, brothers and sisters. We part ways here, and meet again as Legendaries.”

“Very well,” Flame Clearspring said, “let’s all exchange talismans so that we can meet up again as quickly as possible when necessary.” Everyone reached out to put their hands on top of each other’s, and then threw their hands up over their heads. 

“Sworn siblings for as long as we live! Together forever, be it in life or death.”

“Together forever, be it in life or death!” Yang Qi said solemnly along with everyone else. “Sworn siblings for as long as we live!”

Whoooooooosh….

Everyone flew up into the air and then vanished.

Life began to return to normal in Yanhaven. Yang Qi knew that when his sworn siblings returned to their homes, it would cause a big stir. The fact that they had all reached Nonary Lifeseizing so quickly would cause a commotion in the Rich-Lush Continent at large.

Nonary Lifeseizers were Legendaries in the making, and were of utmost importance to any organization.

One of his sworn brothers, Su Ximing, had become a powerful rogue cultivator after acquiring the Eight Polarities Divine Anthology, an amazing imperial-class energy art. However, he had long since joined the Sun Moon Institute, and taken Hua Fengfeng’s father, Hua Tianxiong, as his master. Therefore, he also went to the Sun Moon Institute to work on his next breakthrough.

Looking at Yang Zhan, Yang Qi said, “Father, your recent breakthrough is going to cause a huge stir in Yanhaven. As for me, I'm going to prepare the roof before the storm, so to speak. It’s time to put the top enemies of Yanhaven to death. During that session of cultivation, I sensed some toxic energy in the area, which was likely from experts of the House of Shadowblight. The time has come to root out those wretch-devils once and for all, and cleanse the earth of their poison.”

“Excellent idea, Qi’er. You’ve really grown up, you know. It's only been two years. Two short years. Once you’re a Legendary, I’ll truly be able to rest at ease. And you’ll finally be able to go to the Hanging Mountain to look for your mother.” Yang Zhan looked at his son for a very long moment, and his eyes seemed to turn particularly solemn. “Son, I think the time has come to tell you the truth about your past.”

All of a sudden, Yang Qi had a very strange feeling. “Truth about my past? What do you mean?”

“Qi’er, the truth is that you’re not my son.”

“What?!” Yang Qi said, trembling. Although his emotions were instantly riled, the fact that he cultivated a godly-class energy art gave him unique self-control, and he quickly calmed his heart. “What’s that supposed to mean, Father? Tell me the whole story!”

“Considering the level of your cultivation base, you've likely learned a bit about the Hanging Mountain already, correct?” Hardly able to contain the bitterness in his voice, Yang Zhan said, “It's a holy land to the Demonfolk, not any place connected to the Rich-Lush Continent. They rule over countless demon-devils, and your mother Greensura is a holy daughter among them. I suppose you've wondered why someone like her would end up married to a bum like me.”

“Hold on,” Yang Qi blurted, “as far as I’m concerned, you—”

“Calm down. Just let me finish explaining.” Eyes going a bit blank as he thought back to the past, Yang Zhan said, “I was young when your mother fell from the sky, spattered with blood. I thought she was an immortal goddess descending into the mortal world, so of course, the first thing I did was help her. Later, she told me that, because of matters of destiny, she had to marry me, and live an ordinary life. Some time passed in which I did my best to care for her. The entire time, I thought of her as an immortal, and didn’t dare to do anything to sully her honor. Eventually, she bore a son. You.”

Yang Qi felt like he could hardly speak. “Are you saying… that I'm not your son?”

“Correct.” Yang Zhan sighed. “You are not my son. You are the offspring of Greensura and some other man. One thing I do know is that, because of you, she barely escaped the Hanging Mountain with her life. Later, after you were born, she left this place, and returned home. I must have sounded like a complete fool to her when I asked if she would come back. That's when she said that if I ever ruled the entire continent, I might have the chance to see her again. Ai. You've grown up, Qi’er, and you’re stronger than I could ever have possibly imagined. That’s why you deserve to know the truth about your past. I hope that after you become a Legendary, you can go to the Hanging Mountain and find your mother. Then maybe you can learn even more about yourself.”

Without any warning, Yang Qi dropped to his knees in front of Yang Zhan.

“Qi’er, what are you doing?” Yang Zhan said, visibly taken aback.

Yang Qi smacked his head into the ground as he kowtowed. “You raised me, in just the right way. I have only one father, sir. You. Yang Zhan. I don’t care about anything else, and I don't care what happens later on. You're my father. You’re right, I’ve grown up now, so I'm going to keep you safe, and the Yang Clan as well. That’s my responsibility. I’ll take care of everyone, because I'm part of this clan too, no matter my background!”

Yang Zhan quickly pulled him to his feet, his eyes glistening with tears. “Son, I couldn’t be more proud of you. Right now, my final important goal in life is to reunite with your mother.”

“I'm going to make that happen, Father.” Although Yang Qi’s mind and heart were in chaos, he knew that now was not the time to sit around talking. Time was of the essence. “For now, you take care of matters here in the clan. I’ll clear out the surroundings of the city. I’ll also use the pagoda to set up a spell formation to protect the area, with the main hub being the royal city. Once it’s in place, not even a Legendary would be able to break through in any short time. At the very least, I would have time to come back.”

Yang Qi shot up into the air, followed by the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. Soon, streams of energy shot out from the pagoda, burying themselves deep into the earth around the city. Numerous true energy shields sprang up, which then faded away as enormous magical symbols appeared around the palace. Each of those symbols extended into Yang Zhan’s personal study.

There, they converged together into a Rich-Lush Eye that could control the entire formation. Yang Qi had used the power of five hundred megamammoths, along with the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, to create a powerful defensive mechanism for the city. 

The Superlative Defense.

With almost no effort, Yang Zhan could activate the formation to protect the city. On top of that, thanks to the six months of inundation by the vital energy of heaven and earth, the entire city was strengthened on a fundamental level.

After three days and three nights, Yang Qi had finished preparing the defenses of Yanhaven, down to the most remote corners of the city.

His sealing marks were everywhere.

He had even used occasional drops of his own blood. If any crisis ever rose up in Yanhaven, those drops of blood could converge, creating a clone of himself that could fight back against any enemies.

One drop of Flame Midheaven’s blood was enough to evaporate a huge lake. But Yang Qi already had the Physique of the Sovereign Lord, and was far, far stronger than Flame Midheaven. The blood he had left behind was so strong that it could likely kill even invading deities or bodhisattvas.

When Yang Qi was pleased with the setup, he vanished, to reappear in a private chamber in the royal palace, where he extracted a wriggling mass of flesh and blood from the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

A fragment of the remains of the Never-Dying asura.

That flesh and blood was even more powerful than Yang Qi’s, and right now, he slapped it with his palm to imbed a sealing mark into it. Then, he used the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth to suppress it.

After putting it in place in the spell formation, it meant that if Yang Zhan needed, he could summon a minor replica of an asura, which would be like a nightmare to any invader of Yanhaven.

As of this moment, Yang Qi was confident that his clan was safe. He had repaired the roof before the storm.