Sage Monarch

If Yang Qi said he was going to make a move, he would.

And he wouldn’t give people a chance to react or prepare. After the events in the Hell of Mahānata, he was in the position to dominate Without Limit Sages in a fight.

And that was before the blessing of the immortal world. Now that the God Legion Seal had produced true Blood of the One God, he wasn’t sure how strong he was, and was curious to find out.

Considering that Chief Lion had openly insulted and provoked him, he was obviously the perfect test subject.

The Hand of the One God shot toward Chief Lion, following a profound, prescribed path of motion.

RUMBLE!

Before Chief Lion could react, the hand slammed into him, and he was sent tumbling backward, coughing up blood, and his golden mane of hair thrown into disarray.

“How dare you ambush me, you little bastard!”

“Ambush you? This is no ambush. This is a straight-up duel to the death, with plenty of witnesses.” Yang Qi began to walk toward Chief Lion. “You insult me? I kill you and all your Lionfolk. That’s how I do things.”

The other Demonfolk chiefs made to interfere, but Yan Wubing blocked their way. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” he said. “The young master said he wants a fair duel with Chief Lion, right in front of all these witnesses. Don’t tell me that you Demonfolk chiefs are going to gang up on him? Are you really that faceless?”

The chiefs immediately hesitated. Although Demonfolk didn’t care as much about things like ganging up, or bullying, it was obvious that Yang Qi was in the younger generation. For an entire group of chiefs like them to join forces against him publicly would be a bit too embarrassing.

It was made worse by the fact that Yang Qi had loudly challenged Chief Lion. If Chief Lion refused to fight him, it would make him seem weak and powerless, and would make it impossible for the Lionfolk to maintain their dignity.

Chief Lion finally threw his head back and roared. “Fine, you little bastard. You want to duel me? That’s suicide for you, but I'm happy to accommodate. And considering how many witnesses there are, nobody can blame me for your death. Fury of the Lion King!”

Roar!

He thrust his hands out in front of him, causing an immense ball of lightning to form.

In the blink of an eye, it seemed like the entire universe had been turned into lightning. It was none other than his sage domain, which quickly spread out to cover Yang Qi in shocking fashion.

“That’s all you’ve got?” Yang Qi said. He thrust his hand out again, and sagelight formed into the Hand of the One God. The drop of the Blood of the One God in his forehead ignited, sending fire through his meridians and out his pores. Instantly, flames engulfed the area, shining like the brilliance of enlightenment.

Smack!

The surrounding sage domain collapsed, and the lightning vanished. Yang Qi’s five fingers were like pillars that could prop up heaven, and they struck fear deep into the heart of Chief Lion.

It was time to go for broke!

Chief Lion took a deep breath, and his golden hair suddenly burst into flame. 

“Echo Heaven, Mirror Earth! Divine Throne of the Lion! I hereby sacrifice my blood to the ancestors. Let the Lion God come!”

RUMBLE!

A rift opened high above, and something that looked like a lion appeared, some sort of Lionfolk god-spirit from the highest heavens.

“Be destroyed!” Yang Qi said calmly. The Heaven-Burying Bow and Heaven-Wasting Arrows appeared, and took aim at the lion high in the sky.

Twang, twang, twang…. 

Immense power was unleashed as the sun-like streams of light shot up into the sky.

The lion erupted into flames, and then everything shook violently as the sky above was turned into pure primal-chaos.

“Such incredible power! That’s a real immortal item!”

“The Heaven-Burying Bow and the Heaven-Wasting Arrows!”

“It completely disrupted Chief Lion’s summoning move.”

“Look, Yang Qi is using killing moves.”

Yang Qi crossed his arms in front of him as he resorted to a consummate technique, causing dazzling sagelight to erupt out, making it impossible for anyone to see clearly what he was doing.

“Fist of the Halls of Heaven; Hand of the One God!”

He began to speed forward, burning the Blood of the One God he had, and converting it into raw power. This time, he was using the Hand of the One God to incredible effect. An immense hand appeared, a hand that could hold the legion of gods, that could inscribe myths, that was the origin of time. It was the hand of the creator of the universe.

“The Glory of the Lord is a Deluge on Space-Time, From Ancient Times Until Now….” Holy hymns could be heard, the praises of the legion of gods, spoken in Godtongue that no one could understand.

Smack!

In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi was in front of Chief Lion, destroying all of his defenses with the Hand of the One God.

Chief Lion’s eyes went wide, and he threw his hands out, roaring defiantly.

True energy erupted like a tempest as Yang Qi said, “All the hells belong to the One God.”

WHIZZZ!

The Hand of the One God continued onward with countless profound transformations. Blinding light mixed with complete darkness, like that of infinite hells from the depths of the universe.

Crack! 

Chief Lion’s outstretched hands immediately were torn to shreds, and he was thrown backward into the air.

Yang Qi didn’t stop. He continued onward, pushing the Hand of the One God forward to grab onto Chief Lion, and then rip him in two.

Blood exploded, raining down everywhere, accompanied by an agonized shriek.

Yang Qi had literally ripped Chief Lion into two pieces.

Just like that, the mighty chief of the Lionfolk perished.

Despite the rain of blood, Yang Qi remained pure and clean within the sagelight, making him seem like a god-spirit descended from heaven.

Meanwhile, porcelain-colored flame descended onto the corpse of Chief Lion, burning him out of existence. No one dared to interfere, and the other Lionfolk were already fleeing.

When the process was over, Yang Qi put Chief Lion’s sage motes and magical laws into his God Legion Paradise, strengthening it further.

“Chief Lion is dead! He was an eighth step Great Sage, and Yang Qi tore him to pieces in a fair fight!”

“Chief Lion had lofty ambitions, but died at the hands of a young squirt. What a sad way to go out.”

“What’s sad about it? It was a fair fight, and the loser got what he deserved. Chief Lion said that the Holy Mother’s son was a bastard, which is a major insult to her. In the end, the Holy Mother didn’t even need to do anything. Her son killed the offender to right the wrong. The Lionfolk are in trouble now.”

“This Yang Qi is incredible. The gap between the seventh and eighth steps is immense. Normally speaking, an eighth step Great Sage should be able to kill even a dozen seventh step opponents. Clearly, Yang Qi is actually above the level of an eighth step Great Sage.”

By this point, everyone was afraid of Yang Qi. It was bad enough that he had slaughtered a whole host of young chiefs in the competition. But now, in front of the shocked gazes of a huge audience, he had destroyed the chief of the Lionfolk, who had been virtually incapable of even fighting back.

Even the Epic Saga Sages felt their bones shivering from fear.

Meanwhile, back on Mount Sumeru, Ape Heavenhelve was trembling, and didn’t know what to think. 

“August Patriarch, Yang Qi is even stronger after being blessed by the immortal worlds. And it looks like he's about to achieve another breakthrough. If he gets to the third step, or the fourth, he's probably going to try to kill me.”

“Yes, I can sense his killing intent toward you, Ape Heavenhelve,” Mammoth Heaven said. “You’d better get to the Demi-Immortal level quickly. Perhaps this impetus will help you in your cultivation. Although, I did say that I would personally kill Yang Qi, and I will. He won’t be alive for much longer.” 

Without another word, Mammoth Heaven vanished into space-time, gone to parts unknown.

**

After seeing how he had cast fear into the hearts of the Demonfolk, Yang Qi nodded in satisfaction. Then he discussed certain matters with Leviathan Truesoaring and the others. Considering that the Holy Mother was still in seclusion, he decided that he would go back to see how things were doing in the Rich-Lush Continent.

After bidding farewell, he tore open a wormhole and stepped inside. Before long, he was back at the Rich-Lush Continent.

The continent was cradled with power, and seemed to be growing, and was in fact merging with the Western Continent. Soon, the two continents would be one.

Swish!

After entering Sage Monarch City, he connected with the continent, and could personally sense everything that was going on. Already, the place was forming a planetary core, which was the first step in eventually becoming an independent planet.

Considering how things were going, it didn’t seem like he would have to wait for the tens of thousands of years that Ghost Emperor Yama had said it would take.

“Get out here, Ghost Emperor Yama!” he said in a loud voice.

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I have a new art gift for sponsors, depicting an event from chapter 456. 

To get the art, click through to chapter 457. The link will remain there all the way until the chapter goes live, so if your current tier does not have access to the chapter, just wait until it reaches you. 

There is also a bonus from the archives, the classic Yang Qi v. Ninja.

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In case you missed my tweet and are a fan of ISSTH, check out the Meng Hao poster that I originally gave as a prize for the ISSTH finale contest. Now it's available publicly.