Sage Monarch

The Leo constellation reared up like the divine king of the highest heavens. At the same time, Lion Hightower’s golden mane shone with the brilliance of the brightest sun, capable of driving away all clouds from the sky.

This was a divine fist strike that could dispel all illusions, and was surrounded by the endless roaring of lions.

It could crush heaven and earth, and yet, Yang Qi’s fist easily surpassed it.

Yang Qi’s blow was like a burning conglomeration of sagelight, bright enough to illuminate all the lands. Now that he was a Never-Dying Legendary, and had overcome the Amber Avalanche, his fist strike contained the raw power of heaven and earth. And the heaven and earth he currently occupied was the Hell of Mahānata, which was by definition grand and boundless. Because he had achieved his breakthrough in this hell, his magical laws conformed perfectly with those around him, and he was one with the magnetic field of the place.

Behind him was a flickering projection of the Hell of Mahānata, like a huge bubble hanging in the darkness, lurking, waiting for an opportunity to attack the light of other higher planes. It longed to sully the radiance and light of the legion of gods, to turn it into darkness and gloom, and cause the gods to fall.

“Mahānata Without Limit!”

In the last moment before Yang Qi’s hand hit Lion Hightower, he opened his fist into a palm, causing the brilliance of the One God to appear.

Smack!

The hand shattered all of Lion Hightower’s golden light, bashing through it like a hammer through a sheet of ice.

Lion Hightower reached out to defend himself, and gold blood immediately began to pour out of his hand. Face turning ashen, he staggered backward, clearly injured. He hadn’t even been able to stand up to a single blow.

Lion Hightower, a fifth step Light King Sage, an expert in all sorts of magical laws, was almost immediately defeated by Yang Qi. He even used a divine fist strike, a specialty of the Lionfolk. Of course, how could he possibly have known that Yang Qi had enlightenment of the Hand of the One God?

Compared to that, paltry Lionfolk techniques were meaningless.

Yang Qi’s Hand of the One God wasn’t complete, but his command of the fist techniques of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth had reached the point of perfection, the level of sage inside, monarch outside. He was already in the position to force myriad living beings into submission, and to take control of hell.

And he had the further advantage of being bolstered by the devil energy surrounding him.

Ordinary fifth step Great Sages who came to the Hell of Mahānata would have to take special precautions to stave off the devil energy. But Yang Qi did the opposite. He used that power to improve his attacks.

As Lion Hightower continued to stagger backward, his eyes shone with disbelief.

“I can’t believe your true energy is so strong! Fine. I guess I really need to show you how different the two of us are!” More than ever, Lion Hightower was determined to kill Yang Qi.

Crick! Crack!

Suddenly, energy erupted out of him, and the magical laws of time stirred. Pure, bright light surrounded him, devoid of any impurities, and filled with the raw power of time.

“Lionfolk Consummate Deathblow; Roar of Despair!”

Lion Hightower opened his mouth, and let out a roar that was laced with the power of time. This was the most powerful type of attack the Lionfolk could unleash, a roar that could subdue countless beasts.

“Young Chief, let’s join forces to kill this animal!”

At the same time, the other Lionfolk Great Sages activated their formation, unleashing additional roars that caused the entire area to shake violently.

WHIZZZ!

The soundwaves were like an army of immortal warriors besieging Yang Qi, binding him with the magical laws of time, and forcing him to die.

A vicious expression covered Lion Hightower’s face; clearly, there was no way he was going to back down in this fight.

However, that was when Yang Qi said, “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust. The Deathless Will Always Corrode; Only the Gods Exist for all Aeons.”

As Yang Qi’s voice echoed out loud and clear, the God Legion Paradise expanded, and the Superlative Defense sprang up. Considering how much progress he had made recently, the Superlative Defense was vastly stronger than it had been when he fought the Crown Prince.

The turtle-shell-like greyspace appeared above, and each section contained a megamammoth. They seemed ancient, and radiated both radiance and light, as well as darkness and gloom.

Suddenly, tribulations appeared. Jambudvīpa Deluge. Night Queen Flame. Amber Avalanche.

Three of the main elements of the universe were under Yang Qi’s command.

RUMBLE!

The seemingly invincible sound waves hit Yang Qi’s Superlative Defense, and not even the magical laws of time could do anything to it. And then, the Yore-Wilds’ Heart began to shine with bright-red light.

As of this moment, the Yore-Wilds’ Heart was Yang Qi’s heart.

The consummate and deadly attack which had just been unleashed by the Lionfolk was doing absolutely nothing.

“The Yore-Wilds’ heart is my heart,” he murmured, taking a step forward. As he did, the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment actually flew out and entered his chest. The ground around him immediately shattered from the resulting shock wave, and time itself distorted. His God Legion Battle Robe rippled as he clenched his hand into a fist that seemed to contain the entire world.

Swish!

He became a blur of motion that shook everything, and then a terrified scream rang out. The Great Sage standing closest to Lion Hightower exploded into a haze of blood and gore, torn to pieces by Yang Qi. He was a second step Nirvanic Resurrection Sage, and yet he died so thoroughly that even the nascent divinity sealing mark that he had ensconced somewhere out in the void was also shattered.

Yang Qi wasn't showing any mercy. Suddenly, he moved again, his legwork mystifying to the extreme as he appeared in front of another of the Lionfolk Great Sages. This was a third step Eternal Sands Sage, whose true energy was as endless as the eternal sands of the universe. However, not even he could evade the deadly strike heading his way.

His head exploded, and his body turned into mush.

POP!

Yang Qi was moving so fast that everyone else seemed laughably slow. Suddenly, his fingers turned into hooks, and he dug the heart out of the chest of one of the second step Lionfolk Great Sages, simultaneously shattering the rest of his five viscera and six bowels. Then, Night Queen Flame surged out, burning the man into nothing.

WHIZZ!

In one fluid string of motions, he killed three Great Sages, and he wasn’t even close to being done. Without any warning, he shrank the God Legion Paradise down to a sixty-square-meter area, and then body-slammed a fourth step Great Sage, killing him instantly. The remains twitched as they tried to stitch themselves back together, but before they could, sagelight from the God Legion Paradise burned them into nothing.

He slammed a fist into the stomach of a fifth Great Sage, who then shattered into dust. Then, sagelight grabbed his discarnate soul and pulled it into the God Legion Paradise.

Lion Hightower was so dumbfounded that he couldn't even react. His followers were being killed left and right, making it seem like they were fighting a rabid beast from ancient times, and not a human.

It was a case of a tiger among a flock of sheep; this was wanton slaughter of the weak by the strong. Yang Qi was causing blood to rain down, and Lion Hightower didn’t even have time to set up a spell formation to use against him.

‘Dammit! How could this be happening? Why is it happening?’ Lion Hightower leaped in front of Yang Qi to block his path, and once again unleashed the time power of a Light King Sage, summoning an enormous shield that resembled the head of a lion.

“Heavenly Lion God Buckler!”

The buckler was a precious treasure that could be fused with the user’s energy arts, and to Lion Hightower’s delight, it actually succeeded in stopping Yang Qi’s momentum. 

**

Outside in the Hanging Mountain, numerous experts were gathered to observe the proceedings. Many were sixth or seventh step Great Sages, and some were chiefs in the eighth or ninth step. All of them were paying very close attention to what was happening with the names on the list.

“Hey everyone, look! Several Great Sages from the Lionfolk just fell off of the immortal ranking list. They completely vanished! What's going on?” 

The loss of several Great Sages all at the same time was very noteworthy.

“What happened?” Chief Lion said. This was the very same chief who had cursed Yang Qi and called him a bastard. But now, he looked quite flustered. “Did they run into some powerful fiend-devil? Well, I’ll just have to deal with their loss. At least Lion Hightower is still fine.”

However, that was when Ape Heavenhelve, chief of the Apefolk, solemnly pointed out, “Chief Lion, it seems to me that this isn’t because of a fiend-devil, but rather, some powerful expert. Maybe it's even infighting. If you kill other competitors, you immediately acquire their points, which means that it's a great way to climb in the rankings. Perhaps that's what happened to those Lionfolk Great Sages.”

“You think someone killed them to get more points?” Chief Lion growled. “But who? Mammoth Manyvoids? Finest Magic?”

RUMBLE!

All of a sudden, the immortal ranking list vibrated as another name vanished. Another competitor had fallen, and this one, a fifth step Great Sage.

The ranking list would vibrate when a fifth step Great Sage fell, the reason being that Light King Sages had a deep understanding of time. The magical laws of time were the domain of the legion of gods, and thus, the immortal ranking list would tremble with pity when such an individual died.

“A top disciple from the Lionfolk just died!” someone exclaimed. “Lion Hightower! He was killed so thoroughly that even his nascent soul sealing mark was destroyed.”

“You’re right! Look, Lion Hightower’s name vanished from the list! Where did his points go?”

“This is the first time a fifth step Great Sage has died in the competition. They’re considered high-level Great Sages, with an understanding of time. Don’t tell me that their group ran into some vicious fiend-devil!”

“That can’t be it. The passageway opened by the immortal world led to a border area of the Hell of Mahānata. There shouldn't be Demi-Immortal fiend-devils there.”

“Look, everyone! Someone just jumped really high in the rankings.”

“It’s Yang Qi. The moment Lion Hightower perished, Yang Qi jumped up several ranks. It was him! He killed Lion Hightower. That’s the only way to take points from another competitor.”