Translator: Deathblade
Editor: Chesire Phoenix
âThatâs fine, Yang Qi,â Proud World said. âGo put your league in order. Weâll focus on stabilizing the new puppets. Later, we can continue our search for the essence of the Great Necropolis. Itâs true that the depths of the necropolis are particularly dangerous, so we need to be well-prepared. But I refuse to believe that with two pieces of the God Legion Seal, plus the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, we wonât be able to unlock the secrets of the necropolis. So, we meet back here in three days.â
The Shepherd nodded. âYes, we absolutely have to uncover all the mysteries of the necropolis. You all know the maxim: he who controls the Great Necropolis controls everything under heaven. We know that Proud Heaven has already been venturing into the depths of the necropolis, and I'd say it's highly likely that he has a clone there exploring it even as we speak. If he gains control, weâll never get a chance to do the same. And thatâll make it much more difficult to kill him. By the way, Yang Qi, did you ever unlock any of the mysteries of that MahÄtmÄ Jade you took from me?â
The Shepherd obviously hadnât forgotten about the MahÄtmÄ Jade, but considering how powerful Yang Qi was, he didnât dare harbor thoughts of trying to get it back. Yang Qi was so powerful and ferocious that it didnât seem like anyone could possibly be a match for him. Although the Shepherd was incredible in his own way, he wasnât confident in being able to come out on top in a fight against Yang Qi, and in fact, he knew it was likely that he would be killed if he tried.
Furthermore, everyone knew that, until the mysteries of the Great Necropolis were revealed and access to the Ancient Road to the Gods was restored, no one would have a chance to reach godly ascension. In other words, until the Great Necropolisâ secrets were cracked, everyone was doomed to die.
Looking completely calm and unruffled, Yang Qi replied, âThe MahÄtmÄ Jade is extremely strange. It can absorb a personâs spirit, soul, blood, flesh, and quintessence energy, then take all of those things and return them. On a few occasions, I was very nearly devoured by it. In the end, I'd say itâs dangerous and deadly. In fact, Iâve given up on studying it until I can get some more pieces of the jade to add to the collection. Once we do, we can look into it further. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.â
âThat makes sense. I studied the thing for hundreds of millions of years, but never learned anything of substance. Having it in your care is probably for the best. Who knows, you might even find a use for it eventually.â It wasn't that the Shepherd trusted anything that Yang Qi said about the jade, but he knew that he had no way to confirm or deny any of it. For now, he had no choice but to accept how things were.
Swish!
Yang Qi vanished, without any of them being able to tell how he had done it.
âHeâs only getting stronger and stronger,â Proud World said. âAnd with that immortal-slaying clone and the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, heâs like a tiger that had grown wings. Thereâs no way we can stand up to him, and for all we know, he could end up being the death of us.â
âThatâs not necessarily true,â Doom said.
âHmm?â Proud World said. âYouâre both bearers of the God Legion Seal, shouldnât that make you diametrically opposed to each other? Youâll have to fight it out in the end. I can turn weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk with Yang Qi because we both want to kill Proud World. But it's not the same with you.â
âWrong. Yang Qi has already abandoned the God Legion Seal, and uses the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth as a tool for study and research. I wouldnât be surprised if, after he joins the legion of gods, he completely rejects the God Legion Seal. He has grand ambitions of his own. He wants to forge his own path and use his nascent divinity to create something that surpasses the God Legion Seal.â
âWhat? He wants to surpass the God Legion Seal? Thatâs impossible. Lunacy! The stronger our cultivation bases get, the more possible it is for us to sense the might of the legion of gods. How could we dare to think of surpassing them? Only someone who doesnât understand the gods would attempt something like that.â
âIt is lunacy. But I can tell you that nobody understands the legion of gods better than he does. Well, him and Proud Heaven. The only way to surpass the legion of gods would be to understand them, so in that sense, heâs not crazy, he's ambitious. Very ambitious. That said, having ambitions and making them come true are two different things. So ambitions arenât necessarily a good thing. As the saying goes, ambitions can be as high as heaven, but oneâs life is as thin as paper. There are many things in heaven and earth that can hold us back, and itâs hard to control everything. He might be a Fateless One, making him free and unfettered by fate, but does that mean he can change the fate of the legion of gods?â Doom sighed. âI donât need to kill him. Heâs cast aside the God Legion Seal, which means that eventually, the seal will come to be mine. Although I envy that he can forsake the God Legion Seal, I'm not like that. I can only become more and more connected to it.â
After digesting Doomâs words, Proud World nodded. âIs there anything you can tell me about Proud Heaven? Although I'm his son, and I hate him down to my bones, I donât actually know much about his general plans. Do you know what heâs up to? What is he trying to accomplish? I really canât figure it out. Considering how you waged war against him in the Primeval Age, you must know a bit about him.â
âFor one thing, heâs not human,â Doom said, his eyes flickering with hatred. âSometimes, he acts awe-inspiring and righteous, other times, heâs profoundly evil and wicked. Sometimes he acts like a treacherous schemer, other times he almost seems slow-witted. It's impossible to pin down his personality. In fact, it almost seems like he has multiple personalities, and randomly changes back and forth between them. Perhaps the version you dealt with is just one of those personalities. In the end, itâs like I just said: heâs not human.â
âNot human? Then what is he?â Proud World was truly confused.
âWhen the time comes to actually kill him, youâll understand. With me and Yang Qi working together, I'd say we have a fifty percent chance of killing him. If you really want to kill him, Proud World, then donât have a falling out with Yang Qi, and donât plot against him. Does he seem like the kind of person that plots work against? He can produce clouds with one turn of the hand and rain with another. Even Proud Heaven is nervous about him. And as for all the other people who have tried to plot against him, they're all dead. In the past, I'd considered trying to lay a trap for him to get the God Legion Seal. But after I realized he forsook the seal, I abandoned such thoughts. Heâs beyond our ability to deal with. Furthermore, once we get to the god world, he might be able to help us a lot. The god world is a dangerous place, and the affairs we deal with here in the mortal world are inconsequential compared to what goes on there. Hmph! Immortal worlds with a rank of three thousand? In the god world those might as well be considered bubbles.â
âAh, the god world,â Proud World murmured. âThe world of worlds. Compared to the god world, everything here is like dust. Itâs a place of deathless beauty, of eternal luxury, and anyone who reaches it will never return here, no matter how much difficulty they face. Such people are like caterpillars that have become butterflies. Once a butterfly feels the freedom of being able to fly with wings, they would never dream of changing back into a caterpillar, crawling around one inch at a time....â
âAlright, enough blathering. Remember, don't cause any problems with Yang Qi, and donât plot against him. Heâs no fool, and knows that people at our level are prone to scheming. Heâll be on guard.â
âI know,â Proud World said, nodding.
The Shepherd didnât say anything. Earlier, he had been considering trying to get the MahÄtmÄ Jade back from Yang Qi, then perhaps joining forces with Doom to take Yang Qi out. But after Doomâs speech just now, he realized that was a foolish idea and dispelled such thoughts.
With their conversation over, the three of them began working on their cultivation.
Meanwhile, Yang Qi was back at the Sage Monarch League.
During the ten years that had passed, the Sage Monarch League had continuously expanded and grown. The Executors of the Ancient Road had attempted a few incursions, but hadnât been able to penetrate the grand spell formation that Yang Qi had set up. The flows of destiny inside continued growing stronger, and Yang Qiâs Wheel of Fate was growing more powerful.
If it werenât for the growth of the alliance, and the increase in destiny, Yang Qi would never have achieved the breakthroughs he had, and would definitely not have been as impressive to Doom.
As soon as he returned, bells began tolling.
Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong.
Instantly, the top experts began gathering.
Sect leaders, elders, and other leaders gathered in the Sage Monarch Temple, which was the main area for meetings in the Sage Monarch League, just as the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple had been the place of meeting in the Dao Defense League.
Experts from the House of God Bastards, the Woodfern Couple Palace, and the Genesis Sanctum were there, and it was immediately obvious that their leaders were nowhere to be seen.
Yang Qi looked out at the hundreds of thousands of experts, most of whom were leaders of superpower sects.
âI have something very important to announce,â he said. âA time of reformation has come to the Sage Monarch League. All sects will be gathered into a unified body. There will be thirty-six empyrean heavenly societies, seventy-two baleful earthly societies, and three hundred and sixty heavenly zodiac societies.â
The chamber erupted into a commotion. Of course, many of the sects who had joined the alliance had assumed that a day like this would come. However, during the past ten years, the other four experts had obviously been able to keep Yang Qi in check.
But now, Houselord God Bastard, Mu Renwang, Su Xin, and Huangfu Genesis were nowhere to be seen. Obviously, everyone was wondering what was going on.
âLeague-Lord,â said the junior pontiff of the Genesis Sanctum, âDo you really think it's appropriate to make such a big announcement without my father and the other three experts present? I think youâre being a bit too imperious!â