Sage Monarch

‘How could this little punk be so tough? After all this refining work, nothing's happening?’ The fiend-devil had already drawn upon roughly fifty percent of its cultivation base to power its Heaven-Devil Rageflame, which now completely and utterly covered the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

The bronze pagoda currently had magical symbols flowing across its surface, making it seem like it was weakening, and possibly even on the verge of melting.

But the truth was that there was no way the Grand Emperor's Pagoda could possibly be so weak. Its creator, Grand Emperor Rich-Lush, had been, at the minimum, a Great Sage, and possibly even beyond that level.

A magical treasure created by someone like that was the type of thing that could exist for all eternity.

Of course, the person actually controlling the pagoda was an important factor. After all, a knife in the hand of a child would not only be useless in terms of defense, it could actually hurt the child.

Therefore, this Ghost-God Legendary fiend-devil was still completely confident that it could kill Yang Qi and take the pagoda. But after three days and nights passed, it was starting to get impatient. Sending out a stream of true energy, it summoned a blood-colored river that was none other than quintessence-blood.

BOOOOM!

Bolstered by that blood, the Heaven-Devil Rageflame suddenly burned even more brightly than before. The wail of ghosts and weeping of gods could be heard as a wind kicked up that was filled with the aura of heaven-devils.

The flames were now so hot that they could destroy the void itself. In fact, that was exactly what was happening. The void in the area was melting into literal liquid, which was none other than primal-chaos vital energy.

Within the Heaven-Devil Rageflame, it was possible to see vicious skeletons, fiend-devils, and the like, dancing about madly.

Off in the distance, the Young Lady was visibly shocked by what she was seeing. ‘Heaven-Devil Rageflame fueled by a blood sacrifice. That’s the Fire Dance of the Heaven-Devil.’

She knew how powerful Heaven-Devil Rageflame was in general. And when a Ghost-God Legendary sacrificed its own blood to power it up, it would be even more terrifying.

Even other Ghost-God Legendaries who were trapped by the Fire Dance of the Heaven-Devil would find their own personal domain destroyed, after which the empyrean-baleful energy would eat them up and turn them into ashes. According to certain stories, the forebears of the heaven-devils would use this fire to kill Great Sages.

As the dance proceeded, the flames grew exponentially powerful. And then, moans of pain echoed out from inside the pagoda, as though Yang Qi were being immolated.

“Excellent,” the fiend-devil chuckled. “The brat is almost dead. I refuse to believe that he can hold out any longer against this power of mine.”

With that, he sent more of his blood into the flames.

Inside the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, Yang Qi was laughing up his sleeve. ‘This devil-ghost is a real fool. It’s just like the old saying about trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice you used to lure it.’

It didn’t matter how strong the Heaven-Devil Rageflame got, it was no threat to him. In fact, the way it destroyed the space around it and transformed it into liquid was actually helping him acquire spatial power to improve his Physique of the Sovereign Lord.

Yang Qi felt like he was his own heaven and earth, and right now, every part of him was brimming with strength. Even his five viscera and six bowels were like unique spatial dimensions.

Before, his sea of energy had been essentially illusory, but with the new spatial power that was seeping into him, it was turning into something true and real.

It was the same with his meridians, which were like massive rivers flowing without cease.

Casting his senses inward, Yang Qi could see that various dimensional barriers were beginning to appear in his meridians, creating something almost like his thumb-ring of holding. The same sort of power was now appearing inside of him, and would allow him to create vast reserves of true energy.

Theoretically, if someone chopped Yang Qi up into pieces, they could actually use his bones as holding dimensions.

The benefits Yang Qi was receiving from the Heaven-Devil Rageflame were incredible to say the least.

He was now in a level that most cultivators could only dream of, in which his fleshly body could count as its own heaven and earth.

Some entities who developed such abilities could inhale mountains or oceans with a single breath. In fact, there were some beings who could absorb continents, or even entire planets.

Of course, that was something only god-spirits could accomplish.

Legendary energy warriors who reached the Space-Void Transformation would be able to refine their meridians and sea of energy with spatial power, to begin the process. When the process was complete, the sea of energy would be far more stable, and also capable of storing much more true energy than before.

Generally speaking, even Space-Void Legendaries would take upwards of three hundred years to reach that point. After all, it required much refinement of the sea of energy, the meridians, the flesh, blood, and bones. Some Legendaries spent a thousand years on the process.

One slight mistake, and the spatial power could stiffen one’s true energy and turn one into a zombie, or even a crystalline statue. [1]

Thanks to the help of this selfless fiend-devil, Yang Qi was now receiving benefits that would normally require enlightenment of the Space-Void Transformation.

In the blink of an eye, his true energy reserves skyrocketed.

If you likened Yang Qi’s body to a small pond with a bit of true energy, then after his sea of energy became a dimension of its own, it was like a huge lake.

Of course, his ability to withstand massive force far surpassed any ordinary individual. Another person who was inundated with the same amount of true energy would already have been reduced to a bloody pulp.

Thanks to the Physique of the Sovereign Lord, every part of him was a spatial dimension.

Once that body type was completed, he could absorb entire hells, and contain billions upon billions of planes of existence. At that point, he would be eternal and everlasting.

‘Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, awaken further!’

A sovereign-grade spirit stone appeared in his hand, which exploded, sending spirit power coursing through him. Combined with the Heaven-Devil Rageflame and the asura’s flesh and blood, it fully provoked the Sovereign Lord True Energy and universal power within him.

In the blink of an eye, immense power poured into the particles within him.

Pop, pop, pop, pop, POP! 

Another five thousand particles woke up, sending more true energy pouring into his sea of energy and meridians.

Despite how much true energy was being added, he didn’t fill up. Now that he had pushed his Physique of the Sovereign Lord to this point, his maximum reserve levels of true energy were far, far larger than before.

Before, the power of five thousand ancient megamammoths had been his limit; at that time, he couldn’t have added even the tiniest drop of power beyond that level.

But now, a quick assessment revealed that his maximum levels were ten times what they had been before.

At the moment, he only had the true energy of ten thousand megamammoths, but the upper limit was actually fifty thousand.

‘Darn it! I wish I understood the Space-Void Transformation….’ Although he was benefiting greatly, there were still aspects that were not ideal. ‘If I did, I could use my full level of true energy to combine my spirit, soul, flesh and blood. With that, I could break through to the Space-Void Transformation. At least I've improved my true energy levels. From here, it will take a few months or years to finally reach the point where I can break through.’

Although he was slightly disappointed, there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. He was continuing to grow stronger by the moment, and as long as this fiend-devil kept trying to refine him, the process would continue.

And he now had so much megamammoth power in him that he was definitely strong enough to fight experts in the sixth Legendary transformation.

Now, in order to achieve his next breakthrough, he needed to fill up with the true energy of fifty thousand megamammoths.

Of course, that would be no easy task. The higher one's cultivation level, the more difficult it became to build up true energy. After all, the magical laws of heaven and earth would resist such efforts. Cultivation was fundamentally a defiance of heaven, and the vital energy of heaven and earth would oppose individuals who tread that path.

While Yang Qi was reveling in his cultivation, the fiend-devil on the outside was getting very anxious. ‘What’s going on?’

He had already burned about ten percent of his quintessence-blood to fuel the Heaven-Devil Rageflame. And yet, it didn’t seem to be having any effect. Yang Qi’s aura seemed as stable inside the Grand Emperor's Pagoda as a rock in the middle of a fire.

‘Don’t tell me this brat has turned into a stone?’ The fiend-devil shook his head.

The Young Lady similarly shook her head, wondering why Yang Qi was simply doing nothing in the face of such grave danger. ‘What is this Yang Qi doing? Don’t tell me he fell asleep? He's been in this part of space-time for quite a while already. Being trapped like this isn’t something to be taken lightly.’

1. In Chinese, “zombie” is literally a “stiff corpse”. Traditionally, the term is used to describe Chinese-style zombies, which are sometimes referred to as hopping vampires, hopping corpses, hopping zombies, or just plain jiangshi. Later on, the term came to refer to western-style zombies as well. Nowadays, “Plants v. Zombies” is so popular in China that most kids think of the western version when they hear the word.