Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)
chapter-782

Whack!

Dragon King Buddhiya slammed into the ground, the raging sword energy within him causing him to twitch and spasm. August Patriarch Sword-Burier had won another victory! Of course, August Patriarch Sword-Burier wasn’t about to let his guard down. Calming down and reigning in his momentum, he began focusing on replenishing his true energy.

Meanwhile, three figures blurred onto the platform. Unexpectedly, three patriarchs had all decided to challenge August Patriarch Sword-Burier at the same time. It was no collusion, they just all happened to step forward at the same time.

“August Patriarch Sword-Burier, I am Heaven-Patriarch North Pole. I would like to learn a few tips from you and your sword technique. Make your move!”

“I am Arhat Red-Cloud, and I would also like to test out your sword technique.”

“I'm Fist-Patriarch Evil-Dao, and I hope to test my skill against you.”

Apparently, all three of them hoped to take advantage of a moment in which August Patriarch Sword-Burier was weak and running low on energy. Boos and hisses began filling the temple.

“Patriarchs are supposed to act like heroes!” someone called out. “But you three are trying to take advantage of him when he’s running low on energy?”

Heaven-Patriarch North Pole gave a cold harrumph. “Taking advantage? Whoever wants to be our league-lord should have an unending supply of true energy. What, we’re supposed to just sit around while he rests and recovers? A person like that doesn’t qualify to be our league-lord! If he’s not willing to stand his ground, he can screw the hell off!”

“That’s exactly right!” Fist-Patriarch Evil-Dao said. “But considering there are three of us up here, how do we decide who fights who after August Patriarch Sword-Burier gives up?”

“Simple. Rock-paper-scissors!” Arhat Red-Cloud said calmly.

Before anything else could happen though, August Patriarch Sword-Burier said, “You three are obviously the type who like to take advantage of others. But did you really think I would be scared of you? Which of you wants to take a shot at me first?” Before, August Patriarch had been quite arrogant and would have loved to fight all three of the patriarchs together. But his victory over Dragon King Buddhiya had cost him a huge amount of true energy, and he knew that he would be in a very bad position when fighting three on one.

“I’ll go first,” Fist-Patriarch Evil-Dao said. “I’ll kill you and absorb your quintessence, making me stronger than ever.”

With that he began to walk forward aggressively.

“Hold on!” someone said, and before anyone else could do anything, a young man appeared on the stage.

Yang Qi’s eyes glittered as he realized he had no idea how the young man had made his entrance. Of course, his Lord's Eye was currently closed. Even still, it was a big shock, and something Yang Qi had never imagined could happen. Whoever this person was, he was strong enough that Yang Qi wasn’t even confident in being able to beat him.

As it turned out, he was the young man who had been standing with the Buddha Dragon Tribe.

The young man waved his finger and a stream of energy shot out into Dragon King Buddhiya, who struggled to his feet then walked over and knelt.

“My respects, Young Lord,” Dragon King Buddhiya said. “I deserve to be executed for losing to August Patriarch Sword-Burier.”

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault. August Patriarch Sword-Burier’s energy arts are profound. People say that he inherited the legacy of the ancient Sword God, and even acquired a seed of truth filled with energy arts from his tomb. The fact that you handled yourself as you did is good enough. Now begone, and let me deal with August Patriarch Sword-Burier myself.”

“Yes, Young Lord!” Dragon King Buddhiya hurried off.

“What, you’re also here to try taking advantage of me?” August Patriarch Sword-Burier said, his expression flickering. Obviously, this young lord of the Dragonfolk was no one to take lightly. He had just healed Dragon King Buddhiya with a very profound and mysterious method, after all.

“Why would I possibly want to take advantage of anyone?” the young lord replied. With a flourish, he produced a medicinal pill. “This is a secret legacy of the Buddha Dragon Tribe, the Myriad Dragons Latent God Pill. It’s a medicinal pill from the dao of gods and can negate internal heat, settle the nascent divinity, extrude postheaven impurities, and replenish preheaven essence. It will also heal your injuries, improve your cultivation base, and restore your true energy. And it will do all of that within only three breaths of time. While you benefit from the effects, I’ll defeat all three of these despicable losers. Then, you and I can have a match.”

It was such shocking news that the other patriarchs in the room immediately devolved into an uproar.

“What? A Myriad Dragons Latent God Pill?”

“That’s one of the top two god pills from the Dragonfolk! They’re profoundly rare and precious and can lead to incredible improvements to the cultivation base. They can even produce nascent divinities out of the True Void, allowing one to return to life after death. This young lord of the Dragonfolk is just going to give one out!?”

“He's trying to win hearts, that's what he’s doing. He wants to make himself as impressive as the league-lord should be!”

“You’re right. That's definitely one way to win hearts!”

The old-timers here were perceptive people, and it was obvious to them that this young lord was trying to earn points and impress everyone. He really did seem like a league-lord, and people could already imagine how nice it would be to have him in charge.

“You can wait your turn, Young Lord,” Arhat Red-Cloud said. “Don’t you know the rules here? Back up and wait for us to finish fighting August Patriarch Sword-Burier!”

Swish!

He waved his finger and, not wanting to give him a chance to consume the Myriad Dragons Latent God Pill, sent a deadly attack toward August Patriarch Sword-Burier.

“Screw the hell off!” the young lord said, his expression turning ice-cold. His energy surged as he lashed out with his fist, unleashing an expression of the martial path that was a combination of righteous and wicked. This was no martial art of the Dragonfolk, but rather some other strange godly-class energy art, something so powerful that the entire universe seemed to list wildly because of it.

POP!

Arhat Red-Cloud was sent flying off the stage. As he tumbled through the air, his body collapsed into pieces, then his soul, leaving behind nothing but an echoing scream. Just like that, another patriarch was killed.

And the young lord didn’t stop there. Blurring into motion before the other two patriarchs could react, he struck them so efficiently that they died without their corpses even moving. Their souls, nascent divinities, magical laws, and quintessence energy were all sucked away, leaving behind nothing but empty husks.

This was a truly domineering and vicious fist technique! Gasps rang out. Arhat Red-Cloud, Fist-Patriarch Evil-Dao, and Heaven-Patriarch North Pole were all considered elite patriarchs who were vastly more powerful than ordinary Chaos Gods. Yet all of them had been struck dead with a single blow, without even a chance to flee.

It was unquestionable that this young lord of the Dragonfolk had an impeccable cultivation base.

August Patriarch Sword-Burier slowly shook his head as he realized that even if he were back to full power, he was no match for this young lord. He consumed the Myriad Dragons Latent God Pill and performed a few breathing exercises while his injuries healed. “Young Lord, your fist technique is marvelous, and clearly strong enough to shatter universes. You have my sincere respect. There’s no need for us to compete. I humbly concede.”

He clearly didn't want to set up himself up for humiliation, so instead, he simply accepted the benevolence which had been shown him. Turning, he left the stage.

“August Patriarch Sword-Burier, you have a very advanced cultivation base and should definitely be one of the core figures in the Dao Defense League. If I end up serving as the league-lord, I hope you’ll agree to be one of the dharmarajas.” Yet again, the young lord was trying to win hearts.

“Many thanks,” August Patriarch Sword-Burier said. Obviously, this young lord would be a powerful ally and benefactor. “In that case, as long as you stand strong, I’ll support you as league-lord.”

“Excellent!” the young lord said. Then he looked around. “So, who out there will challenge me?”

He’d made an impressive debut by slaughtering three patriarchs and forcing August Patriarch Sword-Burier to back down without a fight. Everyone could tell that his energy arts were profound, and of course, they realized his fist technique was incredibly domineering.

‘What fist technique was that?’ Yang Qi thought. From what he could tell, it must be some extremely powerful martial art from the ancient past. There was something primeval about this young lord that made Yang Qi certain that he must have been blessed directly by an expert from the ancient world.

Yang Qi almost had an inclination to go down and test him out. Although the young lord’s technique was very impressive, Yang Qi was confident that his Hand of the One God was more impressive.

As he considered whether or not to go up to the stage, the rest of the patriarchs suddenly began buzzing with quiet conversation.

Looking over, Yang Qi noticed that the expressions on the faces of the Nine Uncanny Eccentrics had turned very respectful, and from the look of anticipation on the face of Daoist Great Void, someone important was about to arrive.

Moments later, a group of patriarchs appeared, clustered around a mysterious-looking individual. He was a hulking figure with arms that seemed capable of propping up the universe itself. His aura was that of primal-chaos, and he seemed very close to the level of the legion of gods.

‘So, things aren’t as simple as they seemed before,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘Another powerful entity has appeared.’

There was something suffocating about this newcomer, and when Yang Qi drew on his Wheel of Fate, he could see destiny above his head like a fiery conflagration that was fated to engulf the universe itself. If this person wasn’t a god, he was very close.

“So, Young Lord of the Dragonfolk, you want to be the league-lord? If so, I’d like to test your cultivation base a bit. Incidentally, why hasn’t your father, a powerful elder in the Buddha Dragon Tribe, not come forth? Why did he ask a youngster like you to try taking the position of league-lord? Did he really think that none of us would realize that he had opened a passageway to the primeval times and asked an expert from there to bless you with energy arts?”

The mysterious individual's words struck deeply into the hearts of everyone present.

Cries of astonishment began ringing out from the crowd.

“Is that…?”

“That's the legendary Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven! A Grand Emperor from ancient times!”