Sage Monarch

“Aaaiiiieee!”

A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering scream erupted from Blightking Blisscarnage as his head left his body, and intense pain struck deep into his sea of consciousness.

“My head! My body!”

Without any hesitation, he drew on all of his energy arts in an attempt to break free. Not even removing the head of a Nonary Lifeseizer would kill them, much less prevent them from speaking. After all, such people could normally live two or three thousand years.

“Still trying to fight back?” Yang Qi said. Gripping Blightking Blisscarnage’s head, he sent a burst of true energy into his body, causing it to transform into nothing but ash. At the same time, three demon cores flew out of his corpse and into Yang Qi’s hand.

“The Myriad Consortium actually gave these to you people? What a pity that I leave true energy seals on everything that I own. And a person like you couldn’t discover and remove it. First things first. Take care of you people. Then I’ll head back and wipe out the Myriad Consortium.” With that, he turned to face Blightczar Skyfiend and the other experts from the House of Shadowblight.

‘What just happened?’ Blightczar Skyfiend thought, his heart starting to pound as he stared at Yang Qi. Never in his wildest dreams could he have guessed that, with almost no effort, Yang Qi would rip Blightking Blisscarnage’s head off, and then destroy his body.

It happened too fast. After all, even if Blightczar Skyfiend had tried to kill Blightking Blisscarnage, it would have taken at least four or five moves.

In fact, if Blightczar Skyfiend hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he might not have believed it.

“Kill him! Surround him with the toxic formation. Don’t let him escape!” Suddenly, true energy swirled out to form a devil-ghost behind Blightczar Skyfiend, bursting with wretch energy, and clad in a suit of armor. It had three heads and six arms, green skin and long fangs, a long, poisoned spear, and a mouthful of venom.

Then, Blightczar Skyfiend thrust his palm out, causing an enormous palm to appear, whose mere presence sent cracks snaking out through the mountain below.

“Blight Legion Megapalm!”

This heaven-rending, earth-crushing palm seemed powerful enough to transform any area into a world of toxins and poison.

At the same time, the other experts from the House of Shadowblight scattered, producing magical treasures in the form of flags, each of which was embroidered with the sigil of some venomous creature. There were centipedes, scorpions, vipers, venomous dragons, wasps, and more. As they waved their flags, they transformed into thousands of streams of black energy, which interlocked to form a toxic web that locked down the whole mountain.

Instantly, viscous, toxic ooze began to bubble up everywhere.

This was a spell formation unique to the House of Shadowblight, the Bloodmelting Grand Spell Formation. Normally speaking, anyone caught within it would be melted into nothing but blood.

However, even as the enormous spell formation took shape, Yang Qi dodged Blightczar Skyfiend’s attack, and then made a ripping gesture with both hands.

In unison with the motion of his hands, two gigantic hands of true energy appeared, almost as if some powerful emperor from ancient times had arrived to inflict punishment on the guilty.

Pop. Pop. Pop! POP!!! 

The countless streams of toxic energy from the flags were ripped to shreds, and the House of Shadowblight experts who had created the formation all began to cough up blood.

“What level of power is this?” one of the Octonary Lifeseizers blurted in terror.

Before he could do anything else, an eye opened up on Yang Qi’s forehead, and a sonorous voice could be heard speaking Godtongue. 

“You have forsaken the light of the Lord, degenerates!”

The Lord's Eye sent blinding, purifying light spilling out. This was light that surpassed even the most mysterious legion of gods, glorious light that represented the will of the Lord.

Godly might filled it, as though it was an expression of ultimate judgement, punishment carried out by the legion of gods. In the blink of an eye, the eye pierced through the Octonary Lifeseizers.

Each and every one burst into flames, becoming screaming human torches that briefly illuminated the sky before transforming into nothing but ash.

‘What’s happening?’ That is what the other experts from the House of Shadowblight were thinking as they contemplated how to flee. However, the Lord's Eye would not permit them to do so. Next, that sonorous voice rang out in their very souls.

“The Lord’s judgement is omnipresent. If you sink into evil, then your punishment will come….”

The rest of the experts’ souls ignited, turning them into writhing torches that quickly burned away into ash.

In only ten breaths of time, more than ten Lifeseizers from the House of Shadowblight had perished.

Now, the only one left was the Legendary.

“Your turn, Blightczar Skyfiend,” Yang Qi said. “I knew this fishing expedition of mine would hook some fish, but I could never have guessed that one of them would be a Legendary. Tell me where your headquarters is. What cultivation base does the houselord have? You’re the ninth vice-houselord? What are the other eight like?”

“Y-you….” Blightczar Skyfiend was literally at a loss for words, and wondered if he was dreaming. He was a Legendary, and yet had never seen anything like this. A spell formation ripped to shreds? Enemies burned to death in an instant? And this was only a Lifeseizer, not a Legendary.

“I’m a Legendary, and you're a puny Lifeseizer! I don’t care what special technique you cultivate, you can’t bridge the gap between levels! Get ready to die! Skyfiend Blightpalm. First stance. Hook the Soul. Snatch the Life!”

Howling, he thrust two palms out at Yang Qi with mountain-toppling, sea-draining force.

Yang Qi merely stood in place, a cold gleam in his eye as he drew upon his true energy to create a defensive barrier. A moment later, a huge boom rang out as the attack was rebuffed.

“Second stance. Break the Legs, Sever the Arms!

“Third stance. Mountain of Corpses, Sea of blood!

“Fourth Stance. Defeat the Armies, Slaughter the Hordes!

“Fifth stance. Descent of the Toxic God!”

Blightczar Skyfiend looked like a tornado as he fueled his top martial disciplines with all of the true energy he could muster. Toxic energy filled the area as his attacks slammed into Yang Qi’s defensive true energy. However, Yang Qi was like a reef in the tide, hovering there in the air, unmovable no matter what was thrown against him.

It was only after Blightczar Skyfiend unleashed his ultimate stance that Yang Qi finally made his move, reaching his hand out through his true energy shield.

What did his hand look like?

It was only flesh and blood, but it looked perfect in every aspect. The finest jade in the world couldn’t compare to it, not even the Nine Heavens godjade that the Chiliocosm Mirror was made from. Considering how he glowed with holy light, he didn’t even look human, an effect which was made even more prominent by the holy thrum which surrounded him.

Virtually anyone who saw him in this state would feel the urge to drop down and worship him.

It was a hand that seemed to be filled with compassion for the living things in the world, the type that might tousle the hair of a child. But at the same time, it looked like the most powerful Sovereign Lord of the legion of gods, someone who could shower all creation with blessings.

This hand was the hand of the Lord, come to punish the wicked and bring both destruction and rebirth to the world.

Blightczar Skyfiend’s eyes went wide as, before he could even see what was happening, all of his moves were vanquished.

RUMBLE!

The hand latched onto his head, and his true energy was sealed tight in his dantian region.

Then he found himself hanging in the air, held aloft by Yang Qi.

It almost felt like his head was a watermelon that Yang Qi could squash at any moment.

“Talk. Where is the House of Shadowblight’s headquarters? Where? Tell me now!” Although he spoke in a warm tone, his words seemed like a death sentence to Blightczar Skyfiend. 

Lips trembling, he said, “Who are you?”

“Yang Qi.” At this point he allowed his features to return to their true form. “You've heard of me, right? You know who I am.”

“You’re the champion of the Inter-Institutional Martial Arts Competition! The genius, Yang Qi! B-but… but how can you fight a Legendary like me? What energy art do you cultivate? You were only in Senary Lifeseizing during that competition, but now you’re a Nonary Lifeseizer?”

“You don't qualify to be asking the questions here. Tell me what I want to know.”

Calming down a bit, Blightczar Skyfiend said, “If I tell you, will you let me go?” 

Swish!

One of his arms was severed, and blood sprayed everywhere. 

“My god, the pain!” he screamed.

“If you don't want to tell me, fine. The Myriad Consortium will. Last chance. Are you going to talk?”

“Wait! Hold on!” Blightczar Skyfiend shouted, sweat dripping down his face. Of course, he was only trying to buy time.

RUMBLE!

Suddenly, his other arm burst into flames, causing hissing and popping sounds to fill the air as his flesh and blood were burned away. He couldn’t hold back from twitching as he watched the arm slowly transforming into ash.

Without reaching the Never-Dying Transformation, it wouldn’t be possible to recover those arms, which meant that from now on, he would be an armless cripple.

Furthermore, considering that he was already a Blood-Form Legendary, it meant that he had remolded his body, and couldn’t accept grafted body parts from other individuals. Such things would be rejected by his own body, and would wither away almost immediately.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!!!” he shrieked. Not daring to try to buy time any longer, he said, “The headquarters of the House of Shadowblight is on a mobile island out in the western sea! It’s never in the same place, and it's surrounded by mirages that make it impossible to spot with the naked eye. But I have a spirit talisman that you can use to locate it.”