Sage Monarch

“Who could have ever predicted we would randomly run into an enemy of such terrifying power?” Sword Seventeen said. “If he escaped into the outer world, it would mean that we have a new archenemy. Most importantly, we don't have any idea where he's from. He came and went with no warning whatsoever, and seemed to know everything about us. If we run into him again, we have to kill him.”

“I have no idea where he's from either,” Yang Qi said. “All I know is that he had two legacy medallions from King Immortal-Slayer. Thankfully, he left behind some blood, which contains his genetic information.”

As Yang Qi stared at the blood with his Lord’s Eye, it bubbled and boiled, eventually producing a blood-colored image formed of countless magical symbols. The image depicted a hodgepodge of shadowy figures that flickered back and forth, as well as a river of fate.

The Lord's Eye glittered as he watched. However, as the genetic performance reached a key moment, a strange power of magical law appeared and the blood simply faded out of existence. It was almost as if it didn’t belong in this part of space-time.

Sword Seventeen’s jaw dropped. “It… it actually provoked a reversal of magical law? Wait. That means… that blood contains the power of the future!”

“The power of the future?” Yang Qi said, shaken. “What's that?”

“The past, the present, the future,” Sword Seventeen replied quietly. “All three of them are deeply miraculous. It’s possible for people from the past to travel to the present. And it's even possible for people from the present to travel to the past. Of course, from our perspective, we live in the present. But to people from the past, we exist in the future. Master once told me about such matters, although I never quite understood them until now. That person we just fought definitely had the power of the future on him. One possibility is that he acquired good fortune that originally existed in the future. The other possibility is that he is from a future aspect of space-time, and he traveled back in time to here.”

“Sounds complicated….” Yang Qi was unable to make sense of it, and simply shook his head.

“Yeah, it's complicated alright. However, there’s no need to overthink it. The past, present, and future are all different levels of time. When it comes to traveling to the past or the future, it's something that not even immortals can do. According to the stories, it's only possible for Godmyths or higher. Only they have the power to travel through the different levels of space-time, in other words, to go back and forth between the past, present, and future.”

“Godmyth level or higher? That’s so far beyond us it's hard to even imagine. I guess you’re right. There’s no reason to worry too much about the details. Wherever that guy in yellow came from, one thing's for sure: he’s an enemy.”

Sword Seventeen nodded. “Exactly. From here on out, we have to be on guard against him at all times. Right now, the most important task at hand is to figure a way to get out of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. It won’t be long before it closes permanently and we’ll have to wait for ten thousand years for another chance. Considering you’ve already fused with that mother godworm, does your new understanding of the godly laws of space give you what it takes to open a passage? Are you confident enough to give it a try?”

“Before, I would have said no. But after the fight, I had an idea. First, though, consider this: that guy in yellow was confident that he could leave the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, so why don’t we follow him? Maybe he’s our ticket out of here.”

“But he's long gone. How are we supposed to follow him?”

Yang Qi smiled. “Just now when we were fighting, I locked onto his aura. Furthermore, when he attacked the halos from the Eternal Heavenly Aria, some splinters of light remained on his person. I'm guessing I can use the Eternal Heavenly Aria to pick up on his tracks and find him.”

“Well what are you waiting for? Let’s do it!”

** 

In the depths of the world junction, the young man in yellow sped through a labyrinth of space with the ease of a fish in water. With the legacy medallion he had, nothing posed an obstacle for him. Even the world-devils that occasionally appeared would either avoid him, or offer respectful greetings when he got close to them.

One of the marvelous aspects of King Immortal-Slayer’s legacy medallions was that they provided a measure of control over the essence of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

‘Dammit. How could Yang Qi be that strong? No wonder he ended up killing that Crown Prince. He has a God Legion Seal! That also explains why he didn’t take the Crown Prince’s legacy medallion after he killed him: King Immortal-Slayer and the legion of gods are like oil and water. But that raises the question of where that legacy medallion ended up.’

The young man snarled as if he were thinking about devouring Yang Qi’s flesh. After a moment, he regained his composure. ‘In the end, Yang Qi has no idea who I am, whereas I know everything about him. He basks in the light, but I am clad in darkness. It's easy to dodge a spear thrust in the light, but hard to ward off an arrow fired in the darkness. One of these days, he’ll fall into my hands and I’ll take all of his treasures and all of his daoist techniques. Then I’ll force the God Legion Seal and King Immortal-Slayer’s medallion to combine, and create something greater than either of them.’

At this point, a burst of energy appeared as he produced a handful of immortal pills which he used to heal himself and restore his energy.

‘These Heaven-Seizing Good Fortune Immortal Pills are really miraculous,’ he thought. ‘I've found quite a few lovely treasures here in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, all thanks to this legacy medallion. Now I need to get back to my lair and unleash the power of my heaven-defying spell formation to get out of here. The monarch chart is closing soon, so there’s no time to lose.’

He blurred through the spatial labyrinth, until he reached a place that he had altered for his own purposes. He had manipulated the various greyspaces of the labyrinth here to create an enormous spell formation that resembled the azure heavens. It was none other than a manifestation of Operation Azure Heavens, the very same type of spell formation that the Crown Prince had used, although far larger in scope.

‘Those who acquire the legacy of King Immortal-Slayer always benefit from immense good fortune, but eventually perish, to have their energy and destiny absorbed by the medallion, which is then passed on to the next successor. Now that I'm back in this age of energy arts cultivation, I’ll have to reach the Godmyth level before I can return home through space-time. I wonder who ended up with the Crown Prince’s medallion. Most likely, it’s someone in the Yore-Wilds planetary system. It was difficult enough to find the two I have. If I’d had a third, I would definitely have had an advantage against Yang Qi and his broken God Legion Seal.’

With that, he settled down into the spell formation.

There were piles of magical treasures here and there, and even more shocking, there were nine spell formation eyes, out of which jutted nine mammoth tusks. They were enormous, like giant pillars, fully three thousand meters tall and covered with complex carvings, including many instances of the character ‘mammoth’.

They radiated the aura of ancient megamammoths, but at the same time, the aura of dragons. That, and the fact that the designs carved into them also featured dragon motifs, went to indicate that these were actually the tusks of dracomammoths.

They were immortal items, incredibly sharp and bursting with immense power, taken from the corpses of demon-immortal dracomammoths. In other words, they were relics from the corpses of Demolishers.

The young man in yellow had used his legacy medallion to track them down in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, then used them to build his Azure Heavens Grand Spell Formation. That was his way to leave this place.

‘Hopefully Yang Qi ends up stuck in here for the next ten thousand years. He’ll remain at his current cultivation level, and by the time I come back I’ll be able to snuff him out with ease. Very well, the time has come to begin.’

Raising his voice, he said, “Nine Mammoths Shake Heaven and Pierce the Void. Let the Nine Combine!”

He waved his hand, and the nine mammoth tusks began to vibrate, sending powerful fluctuations out into the world junction, causing it to shake violently.

Light shot up from the nine tusks, becoming like heavenly pillars that began to burrow out of the world junction. Slowly but surely, the vital energy of the world junction began to fade, and it soon became possible to see the starry sky of the universe beyond.

‘Such immense power….’ the young man thought as he gasped for breath. ‘Each one of those nine tusks holds incalculable power, power that I shouldn't even be able to wield. Thankfully, I have the Azure Heavens Grand Spell Formation and plenty of immortal stones to burn.’

The mountains of treasures and immortal stones located throughout the spell formation were burning brightly. This level of wealth was what the spell formation required to operate, and was something that only this yellow-garbed young man with the buzz cut could have possibly accumulated in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. And only he would burn them in this fashion.

Unfortunately, there was no other way to power the nine dracomammoth tusks.

** 

Yang Qi had been slowly following the traces left behind by the young man in yellow. At a certain point, he sensed a burst of energy up ahead. 

“What an intense aura. What is that?” Looking over with his Lord's Eye, he saw the nine mountain-like tusks, a sight so shocking that he initially thought he was hallucinating.

“Those are ancient megamammoths who became dracomammoths. Those tusks come from demon-immortals! As far as I'm concerned, those are even more precious than the corpse of an immortal! If I got those tusks and absorbed them for my own use, then once I get to the Hell of Mahānata my Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth would advance like crazy….”

There didn’t seem any reason not to try to get them, especially if he could simultaneously strike a grievous blow against the young man in yellow.

“Now I’ll use the immortal-slayer’s power to open the monarch chart….” The yellow-garbed young man spat out a mouthful of blood, causing the nine mammoth tusks to begin spinning. At the same time, the piles of immortal stones burned even more brightly.

At that point, the spell formation began to shrink down and rise up into the sky.

“This is our chance!” Yang Qi said.