Sage Monarch

Yang Qi was back to normal, and felt like he was thrumming with power and energy. In fact, it seemed like he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Apparently, the heaven and earth that was the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was actually superior to an immortal world. Its magical laws of space and time existed at the pinnacle of their potential, and as such, it seemed just as likely that he could break into the next level here as he could in the Hell of Mahānata.

The prospect was so exciting that he decided to immediately make the attempt.

His soul enlightenment was already at the level of a ninth step Epic Saga Sage, whereas his body was only in the second step. From what he could tell, all he needed was enough power to achieve the successive breakthroughs.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough power to reach the ninth step immediately, but he could at least go for the third.

‘Third Step. Eternal Sands!’

He took a breath and sent his divine will out into heaven and earth to search for the proper magical laws to turn himself into eternal sand.

Unfortunately, after a long moment, he reached a certain junction that he couldn't pass. He couldn’t provoke the requisite astrological phenomena and form a resonance with heaven and earth. In the end, it seemed that a breakthrough in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was not going to happen.

‘What’s going on here? Is it that I can’t provoke the tribulation?’

After pondering the matter for a while, he decided that the ultimate reason was the unique nature of the world he was in. After all, it was not a true world like that which existed on the outside. Instead, it was a magical treasure.

‘What a pity. I guess I really will have to wait until I get to the Hell of Mahānata. So I can’t achieve a breakthrough, and I can’t even fly. How am I supposed to get out of this place? Don’t tell me I'm stuck here forever.’ Finally, he was struck with an idea and unfurled his Angel Wings, causing raging winds to surround him.

Unfortunately, even as he rose into the air, that immense weight of millions of mountains pushed him back down.

It was almost as if the magical laws of space in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart would adjust based on the power level of the individual. For now, he was completely out of ideas on how to fly.

Crunch-crunch. Crunch-crunch. Crunch-crunch. 

Suddenly, the primeval godworm flew out of his God Legion Paradise and shrank down to the size of his thumb. Looking almost like an eel, it swirled through the air and began consuming the space around it, as well as the magical laws it contained.

And of course, those magical laws began to flow into Yang Qi through the godworm. All of a sudden, Yang Qi realized that he understood a bit more about the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, as well as an inkling of an idea as to how to fly despite that immense, crushing weight.

As the magical laws and spatial power flowed into him, he shrank his Angel Wings down to a wingspan of nine meters, then flapped them. Energy flowed out of them, breaking what seemed to be invisible shackles and allowing his feet to leave the ground.

‘Excellent!’ he thought. ‘Thank goodness I have this godworm. At least I can fly now. If I were stuck on the ground, how would I ever go about searching for treasured items?’

Days passed as Yang Qi continued absorbing the power of the local magical laws of space.

The levels of power involved were the likes of which could not be gathered in a hundred years on the outside, and the quality was different as well. In fact, by using them for his cultivation, Yang Qi’s God Legion Paradise, Infernal Deity Spear, Fist of the Halls of Heaven, and Hand of the One True God had all significantly improved.

Swish!

He flapped his Angel Wings and flew up into the sky, and although he couldn’t move nearly as quickly as he could on the outside, he wasn’t slow by any means.

Looking down, he could clearly see the surrounding terrain features. He had been standing in a forest earlier and, although there were no birds or animals, there was a river and lake, both of which pulsed with an aura of life.

Considering how powerful the magical laws of space were here, it begged the question of how strong the living beings would be.

It seemed likely that they would be similar to the primeval godworm.

He flew along for a few hundred kilometers, spending enough time that, on the outside world, he could have passed by hundreds of thousands of planets and planes. Unfortunately, his speed was very limited here.

Despite traveling for such a distance, he didn't see a single immortal item, immortal pill, or even a vein of ore. 

‘I thought the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was full of treasure, so how come I haven’t seen even a single item?’ 

The Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart was filled with immense universal power and shocking magical laws, but nothing that would cause one's eyes to sparkle with interest. There were no mountains of treasures or immortal ruins as he had imagined there would be.

‘Eee? What's that?’

A few hundred kilometers away, he saw a village with signs of human habitation.

It seemed odd that the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, a place with no birds or animals of any kind, would be inhabited by people. And yet this was clearly a town, just like the type that would be seen in the mortal world. It was so surprising that, at first, Yang Qi thought he was seeing things.

However, as he got closer, he became certain that this was an actual village filled with people. Some were going through energy arts forms, others were forging equipment, and some were sitting there meditating. There were even market stalls set up with people selling things.

The whole place seemed like a bazaar.

Even more surprising, it seemed that most of the people present were Great Sages, although there were also Demi-Immortals present.

‘What’s going on here? I guess I should just go in and check things out.’ Landing on the ground, he walked up to the village, only to be completely ignored by everyone.

Frowning, he looked around and realized that everyone seemed to be pulsing with an aura of death.

Eventually, he walked over to one of the vendors, an old man with white hair and a long beard. He was a Lesser Demi-Immortal, and from the look of it his longevity was very close to running out.

Spread out in front of him were a variety of immortal stones and pills.

‘A Demi-Immortal at the end of his lifespan?’ Yang Qi was stunned. Although it wasn’t literally true that Demi-Immortals had lifespans equal to that of heaven, they could still live for hundreds of thousands of years.

“How much are these immortal stones and pills?” Yang Qi asked.

“A thousand years of longevity,” the man replied, barely glancing at Yang Qi. However, a moment passed and his eyes suddenly glittered. “Oh, you’re new to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, aren't you? Ah, it’s too bad you’re only a Great Sage. What a huge waste.”

“What’s that mean?” Yang Qi said, shaken by the realization that this old man wasn’t a native of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, but rather, had come from the outside.

“You can get into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, but you can’t get out,” the man explained. “At least, very few people can. You can’t improve your cultivation base inside either. No breakthroughs. Sure, you can get shocking treasures, even godly-class energy arts. But you can’t sense the universe beyond, and you can’t advance your cultivation. I got here a hundred thousand years ago and I've reached the end of my lifespan. Eventually, I'm going to die in this place.”

The old man chuckled, then began laughing loudly, almost as if in madness.

Despite how crazy he seemed, no one else in the area paid him the least bit of attention.

‘So that’s how it is,’ Yang Qi thought. More aware than ever of the aura of rot, he looked around and saw that most of the people in the village were running out of longevity. No wonder everyone seemed so depressed.

If you couldn't achieve cultivation breakthroughs in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, and couldn’t get out, then what was the point of having magical treasures or medicinal pills?

Suddenly, a burst of maniacal cackling echoed out. Looking up, Yang Qi saw an enormous fiend-devil approaching, pulsing with infernal energy.

It was one of the Infernalfolk.

However, this one wasn’t as strong as the infernal patriarch he had faced outside. He was only a second order Greater Demi-Immortal. However, the fact that he understood the magical laws of space here indicated that he was nothing to be taken lightly. As he descended, he looked around the village and said, “So, it's a whole village of decaying corpses. Well, I still want your souls to add to my longevity. It’s been about ten thousand years, so the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart should be opening again soon, and I’ll definitely be able to find a way out this time. Once I'm in the outside world again, I’ll experience breakthrough after breakthrough….” He broke out into maniacal laughter again.

From the energy fluctuations rolling out, Yang Qi was certain that this infernal was as strong as a fourth or fifth order Demi-Immortal.

Obviously, his level of enlightenment surpassed the level of his fleshly body, just like Yang Qi.

Before anyone could react, the infernal reached out, grabbed a handful of human experts, and crushed them to death. Then he absorbed their souls.

“Run!” The demoralized and rot-filled village suddenly erupted into terror, with numerous experts flying into the air and fleeing in all directions.

At the same time, the infernal lunged this way and that, using streams of infernal energy to trap as many humans as he could.

In fact, one of his streams of energy wrapped around Yang Qi.