Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)
chapter-218

Yang Qi’s newly reformed bones were etched with magical symbols praising the Lord of the gods, symbols that seemed to have the power to pierce through everything, and absorb universal power.

As his bones formed, he could sense his marrow multiplying within them. It was like drop after drop of the purest of liquids, all of them tiny magical symbols that were akin to the particles of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

As his bones linked together, they formed a skeleton, not that of a human, but something more graceful than that. It was a more perfect design in which the positions of the five viscera and six bowels were arranged within the bones to become something like a spell formation. It was the Physique of the Sovereign Lord, a source of boundless power, something that could absorb any blow, and could draw upon universal power.

As his bones formed, the lightning outside grew more intense.

His organs continued to grow, including his heart, lungs, stomach, and so on, and all of them surpassed anything human. They were pure and translucent, free of any impurities, almost like they weren’t internal organs, but rather crystalline forms of incredible power.

There were other organs growing inside of him that he was unfamiliar with. His eyes took shape, and his pupils spun in an endless cycle. As for his heart, it burned like fire as it sent power to all parts of his body.

Bright streams of light erupted from him as his five viscera and six bowels were completed, and his acupoints, flesh, and skin began to form. There were too many acupoints to count, and combined with his skin and flesh, were like crystal. He glittered with light that seemed to thrum with life force, and his blood flowed through his veins with such force that it seemed capable of crushing stars.

As every aspect of him formed anew, he slowly stood up, tall and straight. Much of him had changed; now he was beautiful and bewitching in the most holy of senses, to the point where women and men alike would be drawn to him, but at the same time, not dare to meet his gaze.

The paths of his meridians had changed. Most humans had eight extraordinary meridians, twelve regular meridians, and a sea of energy. But not Yang Qi. Not any longer. The eight hundred forty million particles which made him up had created new meridians that conformed to the workings of heaven. They were at one with the void, which would allow Yang Qi to, with a single inhalation, absorb the energies of enormous, unknown worlds. It was universal power, something that surpassed Great Void True Energy, Clear Heaven True Energy, Nine-Yang Immortal Energy and the like. It was the pure power of the universe itself, channeled into Yang Qi via a connection to some unknown world. [1] [2]

Within the universe, there were more worlds and spaces than the eternal sands of the seas. There were high-level worlds and low-level worlds. As for the high-level worlds, they had pure sorts of power, and were inhabited by powerful entities. The low-level worlds, however, were powered by the spirit energy of heaven and earth, the inferior quality of which caused the entities from those places to be extremely weak.

Of course, the Rich-Lush Continent was one of those low-level worlds that had weak vital energy.

As the universal power poured into Yang Qi, the burning spirit stones around him continued to fuel his perfect remolding. His aura grew stronger, and the lightning began to fade away, clearly incapable of harming him in any way. In fact, the lightning had actually helped his efforts.

At a certain point, he shivered, and the Lord's Eye opened up on his forehead, which shone with light radiant enough to create and destroy billions of planes of existence. Time seemed to accelerate. Soon, countless gods and spirits appeared, and images could be seen of the godmammoths’ war with the forces of hell, with the omniscient, omnipotent Lord watching over it all.

When the Lord's Eye was complete, it sent a shock wave out that vaporized all of the lightning. Then, true energy swirled out to form a holy garment on Yang Qi’s shoulders. No longer would he don the Infernal Deity Plate Armor, but instead, the armor-like robe of the legion of gods. It was voluminous and flowing, and yet, true energy swirled through it, powering spell formations that made it far stronger and mightier than his old armor.

As for his Fiend-Devil Wings, they had now fully transformed into Angel Wings.

The wings fluttered, and a massive tempest spread out on the seafloor, destroying the ancient city that had existed around Yang Qi moments ago.

“The supreme and ultimate Lord has called on the blessings of the legion of gods to gift you with enormous power. I am to lead all living beings along the path of radiance and light….” A choir sang around him as his power and aura surged to the ultimate level. He was a Legendary now!

The Physique of the Sovereign Lord was complete, and he had transformed on a substructural level, with even his blood taking a new form.

This was the first of the Legendary transformations, the Blood-Form Transformation.

Technically, because he had never officially risen to the level of conclave student in the Demi-Immortal Institute, he was currently still an elite student. But if he went back, he could become a holy neophyte.

For a student to become a holy neophyte was a huge matter. In the distant past, people who reached the Legendary level were known as energy warriors, and many people considered that level the true identifying mark of a cultivator.

Now, Yang Qi was an energy warrior who could aspire to one day join the legion of gods.

“The Legendary level… So this is the power of a Legendary! And I haven’t even opened any more particles to advance the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth! Fine. How about I start with five hundred of them!” Five hundred rumbling booms rang out inside of him, as the true energy of five hundred ancient megamammoths coursed through him. He had already possessed the power of five hundred before his breakthrough, which meant that he was now blessed with the power of a thousand. When he struck out with his fist, he could easily crush mountains or divert the course of rivers.

As he retracted the true energy of the megamammoths, Blightczar Manyrivers cried out from within the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

“Spare me! Spare my life! I can see how powerful you are. Just let me live! I can help you kill Blightczar Manyshadows! He’s my Elder Brother, and one of the top leaders of the Blight Legion Church. He’s in the fourth transformation, a Five-Phases Legendary. Killing him won’t be easy, but with me there to help, you could do it.”

“Oh?” Yang Qi waved his hand, causing the Grand Emperor’s Pagoda to fly over into his palm. Looking down at the man, he smiled. Now that he had made major progress with the Physique of the Sovereign Lord, and was a Blood-Form Legendary, he could control many spell formations in the pagoda that had been restricted to him before. Not only was it more powerful, it had more functions, and could remain hidden from sight more easily.

Given his current level of power, it seemed to him that if he used the Grand Emperor's Pagoda to launch a sneak attack on Blightczar Manyshadows, the man probably wouldn't be able to defend against it.

The Legendary level was completely different from the Lifeseizing level. He now conformed to the dao of heaven, and could use magical laws. Any magical treasure that he laid hands on could be transformed on a fundamental level. He could change something rotten into something magical. And of course, the Grand Emperor's Pagoda was no exception.

Yang Qi’s true energy was now so vigorous that he was no different than ten ordinary Blood-Form Legendaries all put together. Furthermore, his energy contained holy godpower from the legion of gods. When he unleashed it, it would be pure and radiant, without any impurities at all. Even a scrap of that true energy could easily defeat multiple attackers.

“You know my secrets now, Blightczar Manyrivers. You know that I cultivate a godly-class energy art, and have the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. Soon, I’ll reach the second transformation, and then the third. Killing you would be as easy as turning over my hand.”

“Yes, yes, yes. Of course.” Blightczar Manyrivers’ voice was literally quavering. “I’ll stick with you forever. I'm in the third transformation, a Space-Void Legendary. I’ll do whatever you tell me. After all, you still can’t pierce through space without using the power of the pagoda. Look, how about this? Hide the Grand Emperor's Pagoda inside of me. I’ll get close to Blightczar Manyshadows, and then you can jump out and kill him. If you don’t do it that way, it will be difficult to get close to him.”

Yang Qi thought about it for a moment, then nodded. It seemed like a good idea. It would be difficult to get into the presence of Blightczar Manyshadows, and therefore, using Blightczar Manyrivers would definitely save time. Furthermore, catching the enemy unawares meant that his chances of success would improve. After killing Blightczar Manyshadows, he would wipe out the rest of the House of Shadowblight, and thus ensure the ongoing safety of the Yang Clan.

“Alright, I’ll let you off the hook for now. Let’s see how good a job you do. If you perform poorly, I’ll just kill you. But if you do well, maybe I’ll have more jobs for you in the future.”

The reason he had killed Blightczar Skyfiend earlier was that he had no way to keep him in check. But now that he was a Legendary, things were different. With the Grand Emperor's Pagoda in combination with Mind Incarnation, he could do all sorts of things to keep Blightczar Manyrivers in line.

With the help of a blightczar, he would be even more powerful than before. Besides, the House of Shadowblight was backed by the Blight Legion Church. Although the latter had no official presence in the Rich-Lush Continent, they would have plenty of ways to cause trouble. With Blightczar Manyrivers there to give him information, he would be in a much better position.

Despite the fact that Yang Qi was technically two levels below him, Blightczar Manyrivers didn’t hesitate for a moment to immediately start acting the toady. “I’ll help you however you need. Besides, with a godly-class energy art, your future prospects are limitless. I’ll follow you forever, sir!”

1. The eight extraordinary meridians and twelve regular meridians are a real thing from traditional Chinese medicine. Here’s an article about them.

2. I would like to clarify something about how I use capitalization. Generally speaking, I only capitalize what I consider to be proper nouns. For example, I will not capitalize “candy bar” but I will capitalize “Snickers, Butterfinger, etc.” So in this paragraph above, “universal power” is not a proper noun, whereas the other types of energy are. Hopefully this makes sense.