Sage Monarch

It was impossible to say who in history had named the swordbreaker, but it didn’t matter. It was enormously powerful, and thus, when it struck Yang Qi, he had had no choice other than to use the powers of redirection that were inherent to his godly-class energy art to send the force of the blow into the Space Portal.

If he had let it truly enter his body, he would have been done for.

Although the Grand Emperor's Pagoda might have been able to soften the blow, he still would have suffered massive damage to his meridians.

The swordbreaker was filled with the burning power of metal, like molten gold. Therefore, as its power flowed through it, it shone brilliantly, causing all heaven and earth to turn into a sea of gold.

‘What a wonderful treasure. I was just thinking that I don’t have any good weapon to fight the Crown Prince with, and this swordbreaker seems incredible. If I unleash its full potential, I think it would hurt even him. Maybe I could even blow his brains out with it.’ With that, he sent some of his own power into the swordbreaker to try to make it his own.

“Stay your hand!” someone suddenly shouted. “The Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker belongs to the Spirit Origin Association! It was forged by a Great Sage in the distant past, and is a signature weapon of our sect. Anyone who steals it will suffer the wrath of heaven!”

A powerful aura accompanied the voice, which belonged to a middle-aged man, clad in blood-stained armor. Considering how he reeked of fiend-devils, he must have just returned from the fierce fighting above.

Rushing forward, he picked up Jin Zhenyun and poured true energy into him to try to heal him. Looking up at Yang Qi, he said, “Why are you sowing discord in Spirit Origin Association territory? Hand over the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker immediately, and come to our headquarters to beg for forgiveness. If you do, we might let you off the hook.”

Yang Qi recognized the man’s aura immediately. ‘Half Sage!’

Half Sages such as this man and the Crown Prince were halfway to becoming Great Sages. They were in the Never-Dying Transformation, but far more powerful than that level. A single motion on their part could burn the sky and evaporate the sea, and they were easily able to manipulate magical laws.

“I was fighting the fiend-devils up there and happened to fall into this area,” Yang Qi explained in a cool voice. “I subsequently borrowed some vital energy from your territory to achieve a breakthrough. Even after I provided handsome compensation, this fellow didn’t hesitate to try to kill me.” 

“Elder Brother, this is what happened….” The other disciples in the area went on to provide an explanation to the Half Sage.

“What?” the man said, visibly taken aback. “You’re saying that he just reached the third Legendary transformation, and yet was still able to hurt Jin Zhenyun this badly? And he even forcibly took the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker away?”

“That’s right, Elder Brother,” Lan Tianbo said. “We suspect that this guy has an important background. He might even be from a higher plane. We tried to get Jin Zhenyun to hold back, but he attacked him anyway.”

“Well if that’s how it played out, then I guess we should talk things over,” the man said. Looking back at Yang Qi, he said, “Listen friend, you need to return the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker. It's a very valuable treasure, the kind that the Spirit Origin Association would stop at nothing to retrieve. Even the Great Sage prime elders would participate in the chase if you tried to take it. Besides, there’s no way you can take control of the weapon. It's protected by the will of a Great Sage that you could never possibly neutralize. If you try to forcibly take control of it, the backlash would be catastrophic for you.”

Yang Qi sucked the golden sea of light back into the swordbreaker. “So, is this how your Spirit Origin Association does things? You people nearly killed me, even after I offered plenty of compensation. Then, instead of offering an apology, you want to take back the swordbreaker I won fair and square?”

“How impudent!” Jin Zhenyun shouted. Suddenly, golden true energy swirled out of him, as if he were preparing to try to call the swordbreaker back to him.

Unfortunately for him, now that Yang Qi had the swordbreaker, it didn't even twitch.

“How dare you, hellion! Give back the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker! Otherwise, you’re dead!” Jin Zhenyun’s eyes flashed like those of a wolf or tiger. Obviously, he just suffered a big humiliation at Yang Qi’s hands, and it was made worse by the open looks of derision on the faces of his fellow disciples.

He was a mighty Never-Dying Legendary, and Yang Qi was merely a Space-Void Legendary. They were fully six levels apart, and yet, Jin Zhenyun had been absolutely crushed. He hadn’t even been able to fight back. The entire fight had been like a joke.

Instead of responding to Jin Zhenyun, Yang Qi simply waited for the Half Sage to say something.

If the response was unsatisfactory, he would just leave. Considering the current level of his cultivation base, not even a Great Sage would be able to kill him, and in fact, might die in the process.

After all, Yang Qi merely needed to head out into the space-time tempests and find a hell monsoon.

The Half Sage thought about the situation for a moment, then said, “How about you just return the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker, and we call things even? Then you can just be on your way.”

“I’ll remind you one last time that this Jin Zhenyun took advantage of a critical moment in my breakthrough to try to kill me. You’re asking me to just forget that?”

“Well, what do you expect? Our Spirit Origin Association is one of the three thousand great daoist sects of the Quake-Dawn Continent. Our history goes back to the Yore-Wilds of old! Can’t you give us a bit of face in this? What, you think we're going to apologize or something? Who do you think you are? A Great Sage? An overlord from ancient times? Wait, hold on. You’re just looking for an excuse to keep the swordbreaker, aren’t you?”

Yang Qi couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Ladies and gentlemen from the Spirit Origin Association, I'm leaving, and I'm taking this swordbreaker with me. Take care, all of you. And don’t even think of trying to get this thing back. Farewell and good luck ever finding me again.”

WHOOSH!

With that, he flew up into the air.

“You’re not going anywhere!” the Half Sage said. Waving his hand, he caused the sound of a military march to explode, filling the area. At the same time, it was like an entire army appeared, a host of souls who rapidly formed into the shape of a cage.

“War-Dao Battle-Fist! Warrior Soul Body Refinement!”

The Half Sage ripped open space, then stepped through it to appear next to Yang Qi, where he unleashed a fist strike.

The energy of war and death swept forth, momentum that could slaughter gods and leave behind swaths of blood in its wake.

“Perfect timing!” Yang Qi said. He had been thinking about testing out his newfound strength against a powerful opponent. This man was a Half Sage, and the Crown Prince was a Half Sage. Therefore, a fight like this would give him a good idea of what a deadly fight with the Crown Prince would be like.

BOOOOM! 

The Infernal Deity Spear appeared in Yang Qi’s hand, which he thrust out at an angle that perfectly conformed with the workings of heaven. Instantly, it pierced through the energy of war and death, and headed toward the Half Sage’s palm.

“I don’t care how strong your true energy is!” the Half Sage said. “Even if it were stronger than it is, it would still be too weak. Watch and learn what the true dao of heaven and earth is like! Recruit!”

The Half Sage waved his hand through the air to summon a character formed from true energy, which began to rumble toward the Infernal Deity Spear.

It was none other than the character for ‘recruit’, in the ancient script of immortals. Its mere presence forced the vital energy of heaven and earth in the area to become like a recruit in the army.

‘What energy art is this?’ Yang Qi’s spear instantly slowed down. However, it was a martial discipline with infinite variations, so he quickly shifted angle, causing everything in the area to tremble.

“Army!” the Half Sage said with a cold smile, summoning a true energy character that read ‘army’. Instantly, rifts opened up in the surrounding space, and deadly formations poured out like an army.

“You will fall this day, boy!” the Half Sage said, thrusting both of his hands forward, causing mountain-like projections of true energy to shoot forward. He had forced all vital energy in the area to become an army under his control, which he could use to trample anything that got in his way.

His energy arts and cultivation base were clearly just shy of being a Great Sage.

“Very bombastic!” Yang Qi said, sweeping his Infernal Deity Spear back and forth to slash at the streams of vital energy. Then, he threw his head back and shouted, causing countless white holes to suddenly appear around him. Space-Void Godlightning erupted out, a river of it, sweeping over the Half Sage before he could react.

“You can control Space-Void Godlightning?! Only Great Sages should be able to do that!” The Half Sage immediately defended himself, summoning a huge, brightly-shining halo. Then he splayed his five fingers to attack again, sending the ‘recruit’ and ‘army’ characters out, which combined instantly. “Sadly for you, I'm a Half Sage, and thus, this lightning can't do anything to me! Now, get over here!”

It was a powerful attack that the Half Sage clearly intended to rip Yang Qi to shreds.

Yang Qi’s eyes widened, and his heart began to pound. Then, sagelight poured off him, and his Angel Wings unfurled.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished.

The Half Sage’s attack hit nothing but air, and a moment later, he realized that he couldn’t even lock down onto his opponent’s soul fluctuations.

“Not good!” Looking around, he forced the halo surrounding him to shrink, bolstering his defenses. However, it was in that moment that a spear suddenly appeared right behind him.

Crick. Crack! Pop!!! 

The spear suddenly stabbed through the barrier and into his body.

“Power Field Distortion!” he shouted, shocked and angered that Yang Qi could possibly do something like this. Instantly, the defensive energy surrounding him transformed into a personal domain.

“Warfare Domain!”

In the blink of an eye, the man was surrounded by war banners, war drums, and a vast army….