Sage Monarch

The enraged Great Sages couldn't believe that anyone would have the audacity to just snatch the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment right from under their noses.

The fragment was immeasurably precious, and they had just worked themselves nearly to death to get it, damaging their meridians, sea of energy, sage motes, and even their longevity in the process.

Great Sages had immense lifespans, and could live tens of thousands of years. However, each of this group of nine had just lost about ten thousand years. If they had succeeded, the cultivation base advancement they would have made would have balanced out the loss. After all, the Quake-Dawn Cathedral would have rewarded them greatly. But in the end, it was a matter of trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice you used to lure it. Worse, they would now suffer the wrath of the Quake-Dawn Cathedral upon returning.

“After him! Even if we have to chase him to the ends of the earth, we’re going to catch him and chop him to pieces!”

“Yeah! Hold nothing back. If we don't accomplish this mission, then we’ll be punished so badly upon returning that we’ll only wish we could die.”

“Kill him! Whoever steals from us will die and receive no burial! We’ll unleash carnage on the entire Rich-Lush Continent if we have to.”

“Who exactly did it? He grabbed it from us before we even noticed, and seemed extremely familiar with the primal-chaos vital energy spell formation. But how come that spell formation didn't stir when he arrived?”

“We have to cut him down. Where is he? How come we can’t sense his location, or the presence of the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment?”

“After him! He’s definitely out in the primal-chaos vital energy somewhere. Kill him!”

Yang Qi was actually hidden within the primal-chaos vital energy, and was able to watch as the Great Sages went mad. ‘Crazy fools,’ he thought. ‘Go ahead and start running around in the primal-chaos vital energy. There are plenty of spell formations in there for you to fall prey to.’

He was actually standing atop a beautifully designed spell formation, which, as it rotated, caused the space around him to twist and distort, and made it impossible to see him.

It was an ancient immortal formation, and it was thanks to it that he was completely safe.

As of now, the primal-chaos vital energy around him was actually protecting him.

It was almost as if this place were his own home. In fact, it was the perfect place to practice cultivation, to use the power of the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment to unleash the boundless potential within him.

A moment later, a shadow appeared near him, moving here and there as though searching for a path through the twisting and distorting layers of space. Slowly but surely, it got closer to Yang Qi.

It was none other than Ghost Emperor Yama. “This ancient immortal formation is strong, that's for sure. The only way I can follow you is by using my Roving Ghost Shadow Body Technique. It’s hard to believe that you can just enter the formation and use it so easily. There’s no way those nine dolts will be able to track you down here. This thing is frightening even to me.”

Yang Qi smiled. Considering he was in the middle of all this primal-chaos vital energy, and especially this formation, he wasn’t afraid at all of Ghost Emperor Yama. If a fight broke out, it was entirely likely that Ghost Emperor Yama would end up dead.

Furthermore, none of the formations in here were threatening at all to Yang Qi.

Sitting there cross-legged, he pulled out the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, which now had a burning collection of bright red light atop it, almost like a sun.

The sight of the Yore-Wilds Heart fragment struck fear into the heart of Ghost Emperor Yama, and when Yang Qi entered the pagoda, he stayed back.

“You’ve clearly lost this bet, Ghost Emperor Yama. I think you need to admit defeat and hand over those sage motes. I bet you never could have guessed that I would get the heart fragment so easily.”

“Not so fast,” Ghost Emperor Yama said stubbornly. “Maybe you have the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment, but there’s no way you can use it to reach the sixth Legendary transformation any time soon. Each breakthrough with a godly-class energy art is incredibly difficult. And that will apply especially to the Personal Domain Transformation. You think you can do it in less than a hundred days? I'd say that's impossible.”

“Alright, fine. Watch and learn.”

“I will.” Ghost Emperor Yama sat down cross-legged within the immortal formation, not daring to move too quickly lest he provoke some disaster.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi focused his thoughts on the heart fragment. At first nothing happened, but then, red color began to spread out on him, and the yin and yang energies within him began to circulate at high speed.

The twin dragons that made up the taiji symbol appeared again, and as they swirled about, they resembled both fish and dragons, both wind and clouds. In fact, they seemed capable of unleashing the most primal and paramount truths of heaven and earth.

It was a state that not even the top geniuses of ancient times could reach. Only immortals from the highest of planes could hope to experience what Yang Qi was currently experiencing.

Slowly but surely, the Grand Emperor's Pagoda was transforming, and in a much more dramatic fashion than Yang Qi. The pagoda had been crafted by Grand Emperor Rich-Lush with his own heart-blood. Back in those days, his main regret had been that he never managed to fuse it with the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment. By that time in history, the sage spirits in the Planar Pearl had already fallen into despair, and the Yore-Wilds’ Heart had been suffering from the same taint that infected the pearl. Furthermore, its immense weight made it virtually impossible to drag into the open, not even using powerful spell formations.

Although Grand Emperor Rich-Lush had been a powerful emperor, just on the verge of reaching the Demi-Immortal level, he actually couldn't compare to Yang Qi at all. After all, the noble spirits had not approved of him. But those same spirits recognized that Yang Qi had the aura of the legion of gods, and gave him approval, allowing him to succeed where no one else had.

Not even nine Great Sages working together had been able to suppress the power of the heart fragment, and that was even with the help of a divine ability from the Ninja God.

Now that the fragment was in the pagoda, the aura of the legion of gods was forcing the two of them to fuse.

As a result, the pagoda began to glow in unprecedented fashion, even more brightly than it ever had in the presence of Grand Emperor Rich-Lush. As its substructure changed, noble spirits suddenly began to appear in the various levels of the pagoda, countless ancient, godlike beings of immense power.

Yang Qi could even sense that, within the primal-chaos vital energy, multiple immortal formations were adhering to the pagoda, and helping the emperor embryo inside of it to grow.

The pagoda was growing far stronger than it ever had been when in the possession of Grand Emperor Rich-Lush. New warding magics appeared left and right, and it even gained a very elementary control over time.

‘So, the true power of the treasure is finally manifesting,’ Ghost Emperor Yama thought. ‘Grand Emperor Rich-Lush knew that it was incomplete, and hoped that whoever inherited it would eventually acquire the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment, and complete it. If I could get it, I would be able to use it the way it's truly meant to. I would instantly be many times more powerful than before. It's a real waste for Yang Qi to have it, considering he can't even use its full power. He has enough true energy, but his cultivation level is too low.’

As Yang Qi observed the transformations, he felt more particles stirring within him.

‘Perfect, with the power of the Yore-Wilds’ Heart, I can finally catalyze the life force motherspring seed, and transform my sea of energy into the true image of the Yore-Wilds. I just need more life force in my sea of energy!’

With every moment that passed, Yang Qi was gaining enlightenment of new cultivation methods. Furthermore, considering that he was already in the Five-Phases Transformation, and had great control over the spatial dimensions in his body, it was an easy thing to transfer the heart fragment there.

Howling, he opened the Lord’s Eye, causing brilliant light to shoot out and touch the fragment. In the blink of an eye, the will of that eye caused the heart to rise into the air and fly toward him.

The immense pressure radiating out from the fragment forced Ghost Emperor Yama to back up, and eventually duck into an alternate dimension to stay safe.

In contrast, Yang Qi was completely unfazed; opening his sea of energy, he deposited the heart fragment inside.

RUUUUUMBLE!

Instantly, brilliant red light began to shine out of every pore on Yang Qi’s body, making him look like a mighty god-spirit who could illuminate all heaven and earth.

‘Such incredible power!’ he thought. ‘It's too bad I can’t use it all. I can only tap into it temporarily. Even if I was a Great Sage, it would probably take me ten thousand years to fully drain this thing.’

As the bright red light flowed through him, he found that the spatial magical symbols in his flesh, blood, and meridians were growing stronger and more durable.

And then, he also placed the motherspring seed into his sea of energy.

He howled as the seed exploded, transforming his sea of energy into a massive conglomeration of life force that merged with the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment, and the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

Soon, an image appeared within his sea of energy, an image that depicted the Yore-Wilds.

It was filled with life force and ancient forests. There were megamammoths, demonlings, dragon-snakes, qilins, phoenixes, rocs, and other creatures. As Yang Qi’s life force conformed to this image, his battle spirit skyrocketed, and the desire to control these Yore-Wilds filled him.

This was none other than the Yore-Wilds Battle Mural, which contained the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment, and was like a burning sun that dominated all the lands.

“Yore-Wilds Battle Mural; Invincibly Control the World. Life Force Fountainhead; Ancient and Eternal. This is power!” He shot to his feet as tens upon tens of thousands of particles exploded to life within him.