Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)
chapter-273

The conversation between these two disciples from the so-called Yayoi Association had already provided Yang Qi with an abundance of new information. For one thing, he learned that the Holy Daughter of the Quake-Dawn Cathedral had given birth to a son who was said to be a god from heaven descended into the mortal world. Back in the Rich-Lush Continent, people said the exact same thing about the Crown Prince.

Then, he learned that three Great Sages had been sent to the Rich-Lush Continent to investigate, only to be killed by a mysterious figure from there. It seemed highly likely that the mysterious person in question was the chancellor of the Demi-Immortal Institute.

Yang Qi was well aware of how the man had always been a staunch protector of the Crown Prince. And he had learned from Hua Tianxiong that the chancellor had some sort of relationship with the Crown Prince’s mother. Of course, the Crown Prince was not the chancellor’s son, he really was some sort of “god from heaven descended into the mortal world”. There was no question about that. And now, it was clear that he was deeply connected to the Quake-Dawn Continent.

Yang Qi had also learned other information. For instance, the Quake-Dawn Continent had three thousand daoist sects, and a hundred thousand smaller factions. They had more cultivators than an ox had hairs, and even a mere province in these lands was larger than the Rich-Lush Continent.

But then they had mentioned this Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment, and how the Rich-Lush Continent was some sort of springboard, a teleportation portal of some sort. In the end, it seemed that many people out there were interested in profiting from the Rich-Lush Continent.

And if the people from this Yayoi Association were going to open a space-time wormhole to the Rich-Lush Continent, then that might be his ticket home.

Other than that, he had no idea how he could possibly get back to the Rich-Lush Continent.

The Quake-Dawn Continent might be a nice place, but it wasn’t home. His family and sworn siblings were all back in the Rich-Lush Continent.

One day in the future, after he killed the Crown Prince and Yun Hailan, and made sure his friends and family were all safe, he planned to go to the Hanging Mountain to find his mother, and ask her about his origins. Perhaps at that time he would go on to travel to higher planes such as the Quake-Dawn Continent, to seek information about the secrets of the universe. But at the moment, he was itching to get back to where he came from.

“So, what do we do now, Elder Brother Luo? Head back up to hunt for more fiend-devils?”

“Exactly. There have to be more stragglers out there. The more we kill, the greater our reward will be, and the better we’ll be able to further our cultivation.”

At this point, the young woman looked around and realized where she was. “You know, Elder Brother, we’re in the Spirit Origin Mountains right now. There are a lot of rare spirit plants here, and I've even heard that there are subterranean spirit lodes filled with endless reserves of spirit power. Maybe we should search around for some things like that.”

“If you want to, sure. The Spirit Origin Mountains are in the territory of the Spirit Origin Association. They have a lot of subterranean energy, and great feng shui as well. Life abounds here, although, for some reason, the Spirit Origin Association has never started mining operations here. In any case, there are definitely some rich spirit lodes here.”

“Maybe it’s because if they started mining, it could cause spirit energy leakage. And if they mined all the spirit energy, the mountains would turn into a wasteland. From what I've heard, the Spirit Origin Association has been focusing on buying spirit stones and storing them to eventually produce an immortal realm here. I’d say it won’t be long before they actually put their plan into action in these mountains. You know, helping ourselves to their resources probably wouldn’t be appropriate.”

“I think you’re right. Come on, let’s go.” With that, the two of them flew up into the sky to start hunting for more fiend-devils. Considering they were both Personal-Domain Legendaries, they could go past the greyspace of the world they lived in, although they couldn’t stay outside for too long without risking death.

After hearing their words, Yang Qi looked down at the ground, a bit surprised. He had sensed that there was something special to these lands, and now he realized the situation was more complicated than he had realized. Apparently, he was in the territory of some powerful organization, and there were spirit lodes in the ground beneath him, which were perfect for cultivation.

Opening his Lord's Eye, he looked around more closely.

The mountains towered high into the sky, and looked like growling dragons, worshipping tigers, singing birds, and turtles carrying immortals. It truly looked like a pure land of immortals, and at the same time, a place of pristine natural beauty.

It was obvious that there were no human inhabitants, making Yang Qi wonder if the place were some sort of restricted area.

In fact, he didn’t even see any signs of this Spirit Origin Association. One would think that a daoist sect or religion in this place would be huge, at least the size of the Demi-Immortal Institute. The headquarters of such a place would surely be bustling with people, and yet, Yang Qi didn’t see anyone nearby.

It seemed likely that the Spirit Origin Association’s headquarters was hidden in another aspect of the void, in a place where people couldn’t detect its location. Worse, Yang Qi felt a lot of pressure here in the Quake-Dawn Continent, and could tell that he was not as strong as before.

Although his cultivation level was somewhat low, his fighting ability was particularly high. However, he still lacked enlightenment, especially when it came to celestial phenomena.

Looking down into the ground, he saw immense universal power simmering there in numerous spirit stone veins.

‘Seems like a good opportunity for me. I think I’ll slip into one of those spirit stone veins and work on my cultivation. Maybe I can reach the Space-Void Transformation.’ Although he knew this was the territory of the Spirit Origin Association, he didn't see anyone else present. And based on the conversation he had just heard, he was fairly certain this was an out-of-the-way place. If it weren’t, then why didn't anyone come out when a bronzeblaze fiend-devil showed up?

Although the subterranean spirit stone veins weren’t particularly high level, it would still be beneficial to work on his cultivation there.

However, there was always the possibility that he would be noticed by some expert. Setting up the proper spell formation would help, although, that was no promise of safety. After all, breakthroughs in the Legendary level could provoke reactions from magical law, and cause very noticeable things to happen in heaven and earth. And if some powerful expert came along who realized who and what Yang Qi was, he would definitely be in great danger.

Most of the time, when Legendary experts attempted breakthroughs, their master or sect would watch over them. Having a dharmic guard could protect against outsiders, but Yang Qi would be doing it completely alone, and would be particularly vulnerable. Unfortunately, there was little he could do about the situation. Obviously, he didn't trust the chancellor any more than the Crown Prince did, and therefore, wouldn’t risk attempting a breakthrough in the Demi-Immortal Institute.

‘Ah, whatever. I’ll just set up the spell formation and try to extract some of the spirit energy from underground. If a dangerous situation arrives, I can always use the formation to lock down the vital energy in the area and attempt the breakthrough later.’

He spent some time searching through the mountains until he found a suitable location, a lake with a spirit cave located atop a sizeable vein of spirit stones. There was a considerable energy buildup in the area, to the point where the fish swimming in the pond had large demon cores.

Yang Qi set up the spell formation, locking down everything for dozens of kilometers in every direction. Then he waved his hand, parting the waters of the lake and revealing the lake floor beneath. Sending out a stream of true energy, he hewed out a hole, and then sent the energy down into the ground. Eventually, he found the origin of the lake, after which, his true energy vibrated as it hit something solid.

Using his true energy like a fishing line, he dragged up a raw, uncut spirit stone.

It was fist-sized and irregularly shaped, but contained such power that it was obviously a royal-grade stone.

Clearly, he was above a vein of royal-grade spirit stone, which would be very useful to most Legendaries. To Yang Qi, it wasn’t particularly amazing, but something was better than nothing.

Besides, it seemed likely that a vein of imperial-grade spirit stone would have been highly guarded, not just sitting out in the open where anyone could take it.

‘This seems like as good a place as any. Besides, I have plenty of true energy reserves built up.’ With that, he placed some demon cores into the spell formation he had set up, then activated it with his true energy.

From a distance, the area would seem completely still and undisturbed.

However, it was now a location of hidden danger.

Also noteworthy was that after absorbing the spirit energy of the Quake-Dawn Continent, the emperor embryo in the Grand Emperor's Pagoda had grown, and had begun to twitch and move as though it might transform. It seemed like the Grand Emperor's Pagoda wanted to expand its territory yet again, and conquer this new continent it had encountered.

‘You want to wage war on the Quake-Dawn Continent?’ Yang Qi thought with a wry smile. ‘I don’t think that would be possible even if I were a Great Sage.’

Ignoring the pagoda, Yang Qi used his divine will to prepare his soul, then sat down cross-legged next to the lake. Combining his soul and body, he prepared to step to a higher level, and focused his thoughts.

Seemingly endless spatial power began to form around him, and more spatial tempest fays came into being, covering him, entering his blood, and eventually causing a black hole to spring into existence, which sucked in the vital energy in the area.

This was the beginning of the Space-Void Transformation, in which Yang Qi adjusted his soul and body to a precise level. Afterward, he would be able to unleash the technique to open rifts in space.

“The Void is Boundless, People are Boundless….” He began to mutter mnemonics from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, causing the spatial tempest fays to scatter. However, the spell formation he had created suppressed them, and then, the space in the area began to rip and tear as white holes popped into existence.

White holes were the exact opposite of black holes.

The black hole he had created was gobbling up the vital energy in the area, but the white holes were an expression of tribulation, and spat out countless deadly attacks against him.

Already, his attempt to reach the Space-Void Transformation was meeting resistance.

BOOOOOOOM!

A tiny speck of divine lightning appeared, and then slammed into him with the force of a mountain. Heaven-shaking, earth-shattering rumbling sounds filled the area, and were it not for the spell formation he had created, would have echoed out for experts thousands of kilometers away to hear.

This was none other than Space-Void Godlightning, each tiny manifestation of which was capable of destroying mountains, diverting rivers, slaughtering armies, and drying up lakes and seas.