Sage Monarch

Curious, Yang Qi reached out to observe the Invincible Society’s warding magics and was immediately shocked at how powerful they were.

The way they rotated and operated was profoundly enigmatic, and they were clearly deadly. Just getting near them filled one’s mind with the howling of ghosts and the wailing of gods. No one would ever dare to challenge formations like that.

All of the societies in the Titan Emperor Collegium had defensive spell formations that made their headquarters like impregnable fortresses. The collegium was sort of like an empire, with the societies being feudal cities that had the right to fight and even kill rivals.

Now that he was actually within the confines of the Invincible Society, Yang Qi felt safe; even safer than he felt when he was back in the Sage Monarch Continent. Back there, fifth, sixth, seventh, and even eighth order Demi-Immortals would die before breaching the defenses of the continent. After all, his mother was there to watch over things. Here in the Invincible Society, though, not even ninth order Demi-Immortals would be able to breach the defenses.

There could be no safer place to challenge tribulations and work on cultivation.

This was the Invincible Dugu’s lair.

“Finally, we can focus on cultivation,” Yang Qi said. “Good luck on your heavenly tribulation, Elder Brother. I'm going to set up a spell formation and see if I can get to the Hell of Mahānata.”

“I should be fine, Junior Brother. Once I break through to the Demi-Immortal level, I’ll be able to use my increase in strength to help you.”

“Just focus on your work,” Yang Qi replied. “I'm familiar enough with how the spell formations here work that I can use their power to help me. I should be able to make my journey through the planes without any problems.”

Yang Qi hadn’t been a member of the Invincible Society for very long, but his Elder Second Brother had explained all of the spell formations to him earlier—including the teleportation portals. There was even a Void-Piercing Immortal Formation, which was designed for interplanar travel.

If he could become a high-level Demi-Immortal, such as a Universal Demi-Immortal, then there was another formation that he could use to return to the Invincible Society whenever he wanted. It was the Retrosummoning God Formation, which the Invincible Dugu had created by means of a taboo technique from an immortal world.

“Alright, Junior Brother. I know that your abilities surpass mine by far. I’ll get to work. Good luck with everything.” With that, Sword Seventeen entered one particular formation, sat down cross-legged, and activated it. That formation could create its own minor world that was able to connect with outside powers, including the immortal worlds above. It was another immortal formation created by the Invincible Dugu, called the Nine Firmaments Soaring Clouds Formation.

It was the perfect option for disciples who needed to face tribulations. The way that it absorbed the vital energy of heavenly tribulations made them much easier to successfully pass, and would also result in a much more stable cultivation base afterward.

The Invincible Society had all sorts of unique and powerful formations, which was a testament to how incredible the Invincible Dugu was.

Almost as soon as Sword Seventeen settled down, thunder rumbled and lighting took the shape of sabers, swords, spears, cudgels, axes, lances, hooks, and tridents. As they smashed into him, it initially seemed like he would be killed. But then he took a deep breath, inhaling the tribulation and using it to temper himself.

This was the tribulation of the Epic Saga Step, which was still a far cry from the Demi-Immortal level.

It took only a moment for Yang Qi to confirm that Sword Seventeen would have no trouble passing the tribulation, then he went further into the depths of the Invincible Society until he found the spell formation he was looking for.

“Heaven’s Equal Grand Formation!” It was surrounded by jutting mountain peaks that seemed to reach so high they were on the same level as heaven. This was yet another spell formation, created by the Invincible Dugu for the purpose of allowing his disciples to reach other planes to further their cultivation.

If powered to its limit by a Demi-Immortal it could send one to a relatively low-level hell such as the Hell of Euphoria, allowing the disciple to hunt fiend-devils for training, to cultivate their nascent divinity, or to hunt for devil cores.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t suitable for traveling to mighty places like the Hell of Mahānata.

However, Yang Qi had come prepared. As soon as he stepped into the Heaven's Equal Grand Formation, he reached out and connected to his immortal clone in the Sage Monarch Continent.

“Open!” Instantly, the formation opened up a space-time wormhole.

Reaching into the God Legion Paradise, he grabbed the physically dead corpse of Grand Emperor Rich-Lush and tossed it into the wormhole.

A moment later the corpse appeared in the Yore-Wilds planetary system, and the Sage Monarch Continent. From the depths of the Sage Monarch Continent, an enormous hand of primal-chaos energy emerged, which grabbed Grand Emperor Rich-Lush. 

“Stop!” Grand Emperor Rich-Lush shrieked. “You can’t treat me like this, Yang Qi! I’ll be your slave! I’ll do anything you want. Don’t sacrifice me like this. Link me to the continent and I’ll tell you how the immortal formation works. You can go right to the immortal world above!”

“No thanks,” Yang Qi and his clone replied in unison. “Absorbing you and taking your memories will be a lot more beneficial.”

Without further ado, he destroyed Grand Emperor Rich-Lush and buried him in the depths of the continent.

RUMBLE!

Instantly, the continent and its essence began changing again. Sagelight erupted from deep within, transforming into what looked like an ancient god, ready to stand guard patiently and defend all the lands.

All of a sudden, an ancient immortal formation within the continent activated.

‘So, it’s just like he said. There really is an immortal formation hidden in there. Well, King Langya, I guess you’re next.’

RUMBLE!

King Langya’s corpse flew out and entered the Sage Monarch Continent.

Yet again, dramatic transformations occurred.

After all, Yang Qi had collected numerous Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragments, and now he had the power necessary to use them.

It only took a glance for Yang Qi to identify the immortal formation’s function, now that it was fully activated.

‘So, it’s a Hell-Piercing Reincarnation Formation!’ As it turned out, when the Yore-Wilds Continent was fighting the Hell of Euphoria, the top experts had created a spell formation for the purpose of traveling to hell to wage war.

Yang Qi’s true self was in the Invincible Society, and his clone was in the Sage Monarch Continent. But with the Heaven's Equal Grand Formation, and the Hell-Piercing Reincarnation Formation, he had the power to pierce the boundless void and create a world junction.

‘It’s working! I should be able to use this new world junction, along with the power of my godworm, to get to the Hell of Mahānata! As for how to return afterward, well, I guess I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it. Considering I should be a Demi-Immortal by then, it shouldn’t be too difficult.’

He stood up and vanished, and when he reappeared he was in the world junction that had just been created. This world junction was a passageway that Yang Qi could only create with immense amounts of power, based on everything he had learned while in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

Upon entering it, he began to tremble from the sheer levels of power. Then, he used the godworm to harness the power of both spell formations and pierce through multiple planes of existence. As the massive force began propelling him forward, he could already sense the Hell of Mahānata.

Smack!

Before he knew what was happening, he slammed into a golden barrier.

It was impossible to tell how thick it was, and it made a booming sound like a bell when he hit it. Looking around, he realized that he was on the greyspace of the Hell of Mahānata.

It was enormous, seemingly never ending. At a single glance, it was obvious that this place was bigger than the Titan Emperor planetary system, the Megaplexus planetary system, the Coiling Arc planetary system… and even more such planetary systems all put together. Compared to the Hell of Mahānata, such things were like drops of water in the ocean.

A hundred million of the Titan Emperor planetary systems wouldn’t match up, and, in fact, even the Titan Emperor Heaven was like nothing more than a village in comparison.

Most immortals had no idea how large the Hell of Mahānata actually was. And now that Yang Qi was on its greyspace, he realized that there was definitely no way he could break through it. It was even stronger than the greyspace of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart!

But he had a primeval godworm! Without any hesitation, he sent the godworm at work eating away at the greyspace.

“Mammoth tusks!”

At the same time, he drew on his mammoth tusks to help fuel the godworm, and also summoned his primal-chaos elder-snake and all of the energy of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

A tiny hole appeared in the greyspace, little more than the prick of a needle.

RUMBLE!

Even as Yang Qi entered the Hell of Mahānata’s greyspace, it reacted, rapidly sealing the tiny hole behind him. As of this moment, Yang Qi was actually trapped inside the greyspace! He didn’t even have time to try to jump back out.

‘No way…’ he thought. Already, he could feel spatial godpower pushing onto him, suffocating him.

‘Well, I'm not dead yet. I refuse to believe I can’t get through this greyspace!’ It was a dangerous moment. He had no idea how thick the greyspace was, and there was always the possibility that he could get halfway through and then run out of vital energy. If that happened, he would end up as a desiccated corpse, stuck in the greyspace. Yet he knew what he had to do.