Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)
chapter-243

Now that Yang Qi was a Spirit-Soul Legendary, his psychic power could easily penetrate dimensional barriers to see what lay beyond. Because of that ability, he could tell that the monsters in this hell monsoon were extremely powerful.

Soon, he was closing in on the nearest damaged seal, which was surrounded by Legendary-level devil-ghosts. They were creatures with powerful flesh and blood and flourishing true energy. Even casual movements on their part could destroy mountains and rivers. They grasped the meaning of the five phases, and could bend yin and yang to their will. Some of them were even capable of crafting magical treasures, or using their devil energy to set up spell formations and magical sealing marks.

The mere sight of so many terrifying monsters would cause even the most powerful humans to shiver with fear.

However, the Young Lady didn't seem worried at all. Looking over, she said, “The real test begins here, Yang Qi.”

“You’re not really here, are you Young Lady? You’re a projection cast by some unparalleled magical treasure of some sort. That’s why the monsters haven’t shown any interest in you. Of course, that means you can’t attack them any more than they can attack you.”

“Very perceptive,” she replied. “You’re right. I'm using my Cosmic Mirror to project myself here. My true form is in the Minorcosm World. That said, if you think I can’t unleash attacks here, you’d be sadly mistaken.”

Waving her finger, she sent a stream of light out that slammed into a Lifeseizing fiend-devil off in the distance, reducing it to powder.

“But don't even think of asking for help.”

“I don’t need your help,” Yang Qi said with a sneer. “Let's see just how dangerous these fiend-devils actually are.”

Once again drawing on the power of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, he shot forward, twisting and distorting space-time as he passed along. As he drew closer to his destination, he noticed that up ahead was a seemingly endless field of greyspace. That was where the actual sealing mark was. Now he just needed to fight his way close enough to it. [1]

Before actually beginning the repair work, he would need to kill all the nearby enemies. Then, the Young Lady would tell him the specifics of how to do the repairing. Not wasting any time, he shot toward the greyspace.

As for the Young Lady, she remained behind. After all, there would be significant danger, and if she wasn’t careful, her projection could end up being destroyed.

Suddenly, from within the stormy darkness, the ancient voice of a fiend-devil rang out.

“Ah, another damned human has come to repair the seal! Well, I’ll just kill him! He's not a Great Sage, and yet came to repair the sealing mark? Is he looking to get killed? I’ve been camped out here for over a hundred years eating away at the seal. Once I break it, more hell monsoons can enter! And anyone who tries to stop me is going to be killed beyond the shadow of a doubt. Perhaps I’ll eat him! He does look quite plump and flavorful. And he’s a Legendary! Legendary meat is very nutritious. And scrumptious too….”

He was none other than a fierce zombie, dark gold in color, indicating that he was a ten-thousand-year-old corpse king. Shockingly, he pulsed with corpse energy that formed something like a kingdom of corpses around him.

It was a personal domain, indicating that this beast was at least in the sixth Legendary transformation.

By drawing on the power of hell monsoons to bolster himself, he would continuously improve his cultivation as time went by. Practicing cultivation in hell monsoons was the best way for many monsters like this to progress. To them, hell monsoons were as beneficial as spirit stones were to people.

Roar!

As the corpse king flew toward Yang Qi, claws extended, he sent underworldly power out, which became a corpse dragon. At the same time, he used the power of his personal domain to try to crush Yang Qi.

To Yang Qi, it looked like the world around him was collapsing, spinning and turning until it became a strange, new world. It was filled with toxic energy, and plenty of zombies. And it also had the power of the five phases and yin and yang, which instantly tried to crush him into powder.

Incredibly powerful magical laws rendered him almost completely immobile.

‘What power! So, this is what personal domains can do?’ This was his first time tangling with a Personal-Domain Legendary, and already, he could tell how much more powerful this was than the Yin-Yang Transformation.

If he hadn’t already reached the second Legendary transformation, this domain would definitely have crushed him. Thankfully, he now had what it took to fight back.

“Lord's Eye!” he said. The Grand Emperor's Pagoda appeared above his head and began to fight against the evil domain, and the light from the Lord's Eye burned away any corpse energy it touched.

To wretch-devils like this who possessed the aura of hell, Yang Qi was the worst enemy possible.

BOOOOM!

In the very moment that the corpse king enveloped Yang Qi with his domain, hoping to transform him into a zombie servant, that was when intense, burning flame shot out from inside the domain.

Yelping, he ‘vomited’ Yang Qi out of his domain, and then sucked the domain back in.

“Head of the Heaven-Devil Corpse!” Slapping the flames off himself, the corpse king unleashed an evil energy art, sending devil energy roiling out to create an enormous, mountain-like head which opened its mouth and lunged toward Yang Qi.

However, Yang Qi already had his Infernal Deity Spear ready. Swishing forth, it stabbed directly into the forehead of the incoming head.

More flames erupted from the spear, which instantly set the gigantic head ablaze, and then surged onward to threaten the corpse king.

Never could this zombie have guessed that this opponent would be so formidable. Howling, he summoned an enormous, freezing banner of true energy. The surface of the banner was embroidered with millions of zombies, and even just flourishing it caused the temperature to drop so rapidly that the flames began to die.

‘Heaven-Devil Banner?’ the Young Lady thought. The shock was visible on her face. ‘That ten-thousand-year-old corpse king knows energy arts from the Heaven-Devil Sutra? Supposedly, it’s a supreme energy art created by the ancient ancestor of the heaven-devils, the Mahābrahmā Nine Destructions. The original is a heavenly-class energy art, but as it passed down through the generations of monsters, it became saintly-class, then imperial-class, and finally royal-class. But this Heaven-Devil Banner seems to be imperial-class. If he finishes cultivating it, it will be powerful enough to blot out the sky and melt mountains and rivers.’

Eyes flashing with killing intent, the corpse king said, “I haven’t even used a trump card yet, brat! You have no idea what true power is. Prepare to die….”

With that, his psychic tempest erupted out, slamming into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda and provoking a sonorous boom.

The Heaven-Devil Banner extinguished the remaining flames, and prepared to sweep Yang Qi up into its depths. At the same time, it locked down all of the space-time in the area. This energy art was definitely no weaker than the Son of Heaven’s Godfist.

However, Yang Qi didn’t seem even a little bit nervous. He hefted his spear, and the Nightfall Symphony rose up. As the Heaven-Devil Banner descended, it was sliced as cleanly in half as a ribbon that landed on a razor-sharp blade.

“Hell Portal!” The portal opened up behind Yang Qi, something that the corpse king couldn’t possibly fight against. In the blink of an eye, the Heaven-Devil Banner was sucked inside and thrown into the Hellfire Crucible.

“What energy art is that?” The corpse king blurted, turning around in the hopes of fleeing into the depths of the hell, and possibly getting help from other monsters. Every single move he used was completely defeated by Yang Qi, who now seemed like an impossible opponent to fight.

Of course, how could Yang Qi possibly let a ten-thousand-year-old corpse king escape? His true energy erupted as he sped forward like a stone shooting from a catapult. At the same time, the Grand Emperor's Pagoda began to rotate as he then smashed into the corpse king.

An agonized shriek erupted from the corpse king as cracks appeared all over him, and he began to leak corpse energy.

“Rage of the Infernal Deity!” Yang Qi poured all of the true energy he could into this one deadly attack. As he did, an actual infernal deity appeared, howling with such rage that the corpse king was completely struck senseless.

This was an ultimate expression of the Infernal Deity Spear, a martial technique that could cause monsters from hell to experience unbelievable fear. Nothing could terrify hellish monsters as much as infernal deities could, not even Great Sages.

The fact that the corpse king had been struck senseless also indicated that he was about to be destroyed.

The spear stabbed into his chest, and then flames enveloped his meridians, true energy, demon core, flesh, blood, and even his magical laws.

Even as he remained pinned on the spear, he reached out as if to grab Yang Qi.

Unfortunately, as his claws reached Yang Qi's skin, bronze light flared up, making it impossible for him to do any damage. That was the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

“No! I refuse to accept this!” From the evil hatred in the corpse king’s eyes as he stared at Yang Qi, it seemed as though he wanted to end this fight in mutual ruin. Most people would shiver in fear at the mere sight of a gaze like that.

But Yang Qi wasn't moved at all. Reaching out, he extracted the thing’s demon core through the top of its head.

BOOM!

The corpse king dissolved into ashes, and Yang Qi tossed the core into his Hellfire Crucible, where it erupted into flame.

1. The term “greyspace” is borrowed from the original Dungeons and Dragons Spelljammer campaign setting. I have no idea how it found its way into Chinese fantasy novels, maybe through anime/manga that also use it, but it’s common enough that I found extensive information about it in Chinese. Based on my understanding, it was originally used as a proper noun to describe a crystal sphere that contains one of the worlds in that setting. In Chinese, it is literally a “crystal wall system”. Although it's not evident in this chapter, it is later described as a set of interlocking crystalline segments that resemble pieces of a turtle shell. Obviously, the author doesn’t need to use the term in exactly the same way it’s used in Spelljammer, or other materials. It’s essentially a quasi-physical barrier of some sort that contains a world, plane, or other incredibly large object.