Sage Monarch

A chill, evil wind swept through the area, like sharp blades that slashed against Yang Qi’s defensive true energy, causing sparks to fly. This was a wind that was so deadly it could kill even Great Sages, something that seemed to spring directly from the nine serenities.

There was a devil-ghost in the wind, and it could sense Yang Qi. It had two long horns, like that of an ox, except twisted and bifurcated at the ends. Its eyes were blood-red, and it had a devil-eye on its forehead, which was the source of the underworldly wind that surrounded it.

A Nine Serenities Devil-Eye.

This was none other than a hell-born ox-devil, and it was in the Great Sage level.

Yang Qi had inadvertently stumbled into its territory, and as soon as it noticed, it roared, the mere sound of which shredded the air in the area. The devilish wind picked up speed, and the ox-devil began to charge, throwing its hoof-like hands wide to summon masses of primal-chaos devil energy.

“Ox-Devil Majestic Force Fist!” it growled in the ancient language of the ox-devils. It was a deadly martial discipline from hell.

As the ox-devil spoke, its words contained pulses of nirvanic resurrection, indicating that it was in the second step, making it a Nirvanic Resurrection Sage.

As its hoof-like hand descended, the true energy around Yang Qi roiled violently, and yet, he didn’t even pay attention to the incoming enemy.

He reached out with the Hand of the One God, causing a soft, lustrous glow to fill the area. That glow represented the One God of the legion of gods, and caused the aura of the Sovereign Lord to abound. The trumpeting of megamammoths could be heard, with the ox-devil at the center. Instantly, the land for fifty kilometers in all directions collapsed, something that not even Great Sages could defend against. Without any warning, the ox-devil collapsed into fragments, without even a scrap of its life force remaining behind.

‘So, this place is a mountain range!’ Yang Qi thought, looking around. Sure enough, he was in an endless stretch of dark mountains, and from his vantage point, he could see other ox-devils in the area. And the fact that he had just crushed one of their number out of existence was drawing their attention.

They were all smaller, and only in the Legendary level, indicating that they were the offspring of the Great Sage ox-devil he had just killed.

Although Legendary fiend-devils didn't count for much, he wasn't going to let them off the hook. Bursting into motion, he summoned the Hellfire Crucible, and used it to call down sagefire, turning the mountains and valleys into a sea of flames. In the blink of an eye, all of the ox-devils were destroyed.

As that happened, he felt his connection to the immortal ranking list stirring, and all of a sudden, the list itself appeared in his mind.

Already, the names on the list were in motion, with certain names rising to the top, and others falling. Even this early in the competition, there were people high on the list with thousands of points, people who had clearly begun to slaughter multiple Great Sage fiend-devils. That said, he wasn’t doing bad himself, with his name being in the top one hundred.

‘The people in the top spots are definitely Planet God Sages. If I want to keep up, I’ll have to really slaughter some enemies!’

With that, he opened his Lord's Eye to peer out into the mists, allowing him to see much further. And yet, the Hell of Mahānata was so large that even the vast area he could see was a drop in the ocean.

That said, he was able to spot a location several tens of thousands of kilometers away, a mountainous region that had quite a few greater fiend-devils in it.

Not wasting any time, he headed in that direction.

RUMBLE!

More than ten Great Sage fiend-devils immediately flew forth to fight him. There were horned goat-devils, giant snake-devils, bronze-blaze fiend-devils, hyper-toxic paleo-devils, slash-devils, and more….

And they were just the ones taking the lead; following them were swarms of Legendaries.

‘Perfect timing!’

Yang Qi summoned the God Legion Paradise, and rushed forth to meet the enemy.

Smack!

The first to die was the horned goat-devil, and after it, the giant snake-devil, both of which exploded into clouds of blood and gore.

At this early stage, Yang Qi was simply resorting to mundane fighting techniques. Next in line was the hyper-toxic paleo-devil, which he hit with a roundhouse kick that exploded it.

Crack! Snap!

The bronzeblaze fiend-devil snapped at him with razor-sharp teeth, only to explode into a ball of fire a moment later.

In a very short time, more than ten low-level Great Sage fiend-devils were cut down.

Yang Qi didn’t hesitate to suck their sage motes into his Hellfire Crucible, to be melted and refined, and added to his God Legion Paradise. With every moment that passed, his connection to the Hell of Mahānata grew stronger.

After the scrap was over, he continued deeper and deeper into the Hell of Mahānata. He knew that his current location contained weak fiend-devils, who were like minnows or shrimp in a much larger ocean. The depths of the Hell of Mahānata contained Demi-Immortal fiend-devils, and even beings that surpassed that, the Demolishers. For all Yang Qi knew, there might be Godmyths as well. The kings of the devils and the suzerains of hell were like immortals, and some of them even qualified to challenge the legion of gods, which was a terrifying thought.

Some distance away on a wide-open plain was a tribe of fiend-devils whose encampment featured tents that dripped with blood. 

‘That’s a tribe of yamas!’

They were the same type of fiend-devil as Ghost Emperor Yama, and were a powerful, vicious, brutal, and bloodthirsty lot.

There were Great Sages amongst them, and some of them had already locked onto him with their divine will.

And yet, Yang Qi simply charged toward them.

Then, right there in the middle of the yama's encampment, he suddenly threw his head back and roared.

Roar!

Destructive shockwaves spread out from him, and at the same time, the energy of the Hell of Mahānata connected to his fleshly body. The shockwaves caused lightning-like nebulas to spread out, transforming the nearby yamas into nothing but ash.

Shockingly, Yang Qi was stepping into the ninth Legendary transformation right here and now.

Back when he broke into the sixth, seventh, and eighth transformations, he had faced things like the Jambudvīpa Deluge and the Night Queen Flame. Now, as he reached the ninth transformation, an explosive energy built up around him, along with what appeared to be yellow clouds. Instantly, those yellow clouds descended with mountain-like force that reduced all fiend-devils it touched into pools of blood.

It was an Amber Avalanche tribulation, something that surpassed a Jambudvīpa Deluge or Night Queen Flame by many times.

Screams rang out as a fourth step Eternal Sands yama was wrapped up by the Amber Avalanche. As the yellow energy surged through it, it began to expand until it was like a yellow-tinged, blood-red sphere. 

“An Amber Avalanche!” it said in Helltongue. “Is someone stepping into the seventh step of the Great Sage level?”

Smack!

Yang Qi hit it, and the yama exploded.

This tribulation avalanche would overwhelm anyone in its path, and yet, Yang Qi hardly felt any pressure from it at all. In fact, he simply began to absorb its power and add it to the God Legion Paradise. Right now, it was possible to see something like a wriggling cocoon in the depths of his personal domain.

Step by step, he was getting closer to the Great Sage level.

The Amber Avalanche was slaughtering everything for thousands of kilometers, without a single fiend-devil being able to escape.

And of course, it caused his score to skyrocket.

In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he rose into the top ten, surpassing even Mammoth Force.

Outside, countless experts had gathered around Mount Sumeru, and were closely watching the immortal list. Sometimes, names would leap up, and sometimes, they would vanish, which would result in cries of lamentation at the loss of a Great Sage.

Considering that the competition was taking place in the Hell of Mahānata, it was a given that there would be casualties.

“Look, that Yang Qi is the Holy Mother’s son. See how quickly his score is increasing? It just jumped right to the top! He's already in ninth place! He’s ahead of Mammoth Force, who’s a Light King Sage!”

The chiefs of the Lionfolk, Sharkfolk, and Apefolk all looked on, visibly frustrated.

“Damnation!” growled the chief of the Lionfolk. “How could that Yang Qi still be alive? And how could his score keep going up? How is he doing it? Is he really killing entire armies of Great Sage fiend-devils? He’s that strong?”

Looking at the ranking list, Yan Wubing said, “The young master is doing incredible! I can sense his energy increasing. I wonder if he’s broken through yet. What do you think, Father Leviathan? Did you see how he just jumped up in the rankings? The young master must have killed a fourth step Eternal Sands fiend-devil. It seems to me he's going to reach the Great Sage level very soon. At that point, people will definitely think twice before making a move against him.” 

Leviathan Truesoaring’s jaw was hanging open so wide it seemed like he might want to eat the immortal ranking list, and was literally at a loss for words. 

‘Freak!’ That was what virtually all of the gathered experts were thinking as they watched Yang Qi jump into the top ten. There were too many competitors to count, with a huge number of them being in the fifth step of the Great Sage level or higher.

And yet despite that, Yang Qi only continued to climb higher.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep in Mount Sumeru, the invincible August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven was observing the change in rankings with various leaders of the Mammothfolk. And right now, his brow was deeply furrowed. The other Megamammoth elders were all Epic Saga Sages, and they were frowning just as deeply.

At one point, one of them rose to his feet and said, “August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven, what’s going on with this Yang Qi? How could he be so strong, sir? Is it possible that the Holy Mother gave him some sort of powerful weapon or ability in violation of the rules?”

August Patriarch Mammoth Heaven shook his head. “The immortal world enforces the rules too strictly. There’s no way that the Holy Mother is helping him. However, there’s something about him that reminds me of our most ancient ancestors….”