Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)
chapter-994

“What, boy. Afraid now? Did I hit the mark?” The Wretch God Apostle roared with laughter. “If you insist on being stubborn, then fine, I’ll just keep attacking you, forcing your cultivation base to advance. After a certain point, your nascent divinity will be completely sealed and you’ll turn mindless. Your fleshly body will truly remain unspoiled by countless tribulations and kalpas, until the entire world ends.”

“I'm actually not worried,” Yang Qi said. “I’ll just consider this another tribulation to deal with. You see, the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body is all about surpassing tribulations. If I rely on the Mahātmā Jade, I’ll develop a dependency-devil. I’d rather break through all restrictions by relying on myself.”

“You talk big,” the Wretch God Apostle said. “Call it a tribulation if you want, that doesn’t mean you can pass it. You're just like those fancy monks who sound logical with all their prattling, but never actually accomplish anything. In fact, I'd say you're all hype.”

“If that’s how you feel, then go ahead and attack me again,” Yang Qi said. “Let’s see if I lose my mind in the end.”

At the same time, he focused his thoughts on his nascent divinity in his sea of consciousness. As he did, he sensed that there were transformations occurring to the magical laws in his sea of consciousness.

It was similar to how, when mortal worlds transformed into immortal worlds, the magical laws would become stronger and denser. Those were the same kind of restrictions that seemed to have locked onto his nascent divinity.

In the mortal world, Great Sages could pierce through space, traveling from one planetary system to another. An example of that was how Yang Qi had traveled from the Rich-Lush Continent to the Quake-Dawn Continent. [1]

However, if a Great Sage went to an immortal world, even the lowest level like the first ranked Titan Emperor Heaven, they would hardly be able to move. Forget flying, they would actually have difficulty breathing.

That was because of the restrictions binding the world itself.

Similarly, Demolishers who went to a thirty-third ranked immortal world would also be unable to fly. And in hundredth ranked immortal worlds, only Godmyths could deal with the magical laws there without being killed. And an ordinary Grand Emperor who entered the Cave Temple of the Vajra Māyādevī would be killed.

That was what Yang Qi was experiencing right now. Although his will convergence had improved dramatically, the progress had been too quick. For example, if a Legendary from the Rich-Lush Continent were to suddenly go to an immortal world, not only would that incredible leap upward not help them, it would likely lead to their death.

Right now, Yang Qi’s sea of consciousness was growing stronger, and its magical laws tougher, but his nascent divinity wasn’t able to keep up! Thankfully, he wasn’t completely out of options. For now, he would simply stop furthering the cultivation of his fleshly body and focus on his nascent divinity.

Sifting through his collection of energy arts, he tried to find one that focused on improving the will, and it didn’t take long. Peaklord Memory had given him something called the Unconstrained Sorrow-Forgetting Magic, which was specifically designed for cultivating the nascent divinity. [2]

Closing his eyes, he began working with the technique. However, he quickly found that it was a huge drain on his psychic power. In fact, he ran out almost immediately.

‘Incredible,’ Yang Qi thought, struck with the sensation that he had really made a big mistake.

“So, boy, you’re trying to use the Unconstrained Sorrow-Forgetting Magic from the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect? Very smart. Do you finally realize that you can’t continue on this path of cultivation? Unfortunately, it's too late for you to improve your psychic scale now. The Unconstrained Sorrow-Forgetting Magic is powerful, but nowhere near the level of the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. You see, your sea of consciousness is just too strong and restrictive. It’s similar to weight-lifting. If a mortal lifts a hundred kilograms, they can get a lot stronger. But put five hundred kilograms on their shoulders and they’ll be crushed to death.” The Wretch God Apostle laughed. “But I'm telling you, I have a way to help.”

“Help? How?” Yang Qi asked. Of course, he didn’t trust this Wretch God Apostle at all, and was still trying to think of a way to deal with these side-effects on his own. For example, if he could get the psychic scaling systems, the subsequent enlightenment would likely be very helpful. ‘What a pity I don’t have the full Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. There’s definitely a part that focuses on psychic elements, it’s just not in the third that I have.’

“You really only have two options,” the Wretch God Apostle said. “The first would be to get to the root of the problem and try to find some pieces of the Mahātmā Jade. The second would be to focus on the ‘symptoms’ of the problem. The latter is what I'm offering to do. I can give you some of my boundless wretch-god true energy. Send it into your sea of consciousness to stimulate your nascent divinity, and it’ll improve your will convergence. Meanwhile, you will impart some of the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body to me. In the end, you’ll get stronger, and your problem will be solved.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Yang Qi said sarcastically. “So I accept your true energy into my body, help you improve your energy arts, and allow you to take control of my nascent divinity?” He laughed. “Come on, Wretch God Apostle, do you think I'm three years old or something? In fact, I don’t think even a child would fall for a trick as obvious as that. Maybe you’ve just been locked up so long here that your brain’s been addled.”

The Wretch God Apostle snorted coldly. “You know what, boy? I think you need to see what the will of a wretch-god like myself can do!”

BUZZ!

Suddenly, a pulse of psychic power erupted from him, shooting right into Yang Qi’s sea of consciousness and piercing toward his nascent divinity like a needle.

Yang Qi nearly shrieked as he was subsequently flung several meters into the air, then slammed back down onto the ground.

“Well, what do you think of my Wretch Spirit Needle? Not a bad wretch-god energy art, eh?” The Wretch God Apostle actually looked a bit pale in the face compared to his previous blackish violet. Apparently, using the technique was quite a drain on his vital energy.

Inside, he was thinking, ‘This brat is a lot stronger than I thought. I can’t believe his sea of consciousness is so tough! Even converging all of my will to power the Wretch Spirit Needle, I could only pierce inside by a tiny bit. And that’s after all of my cultivation improvement during my imprisonment. Back when I was on the outside, the Wretch Spirit Needle was considered one of the top assassination techniques. I used it to kill too many enemies to count, and could injure Terrifying experts with a single attack. I even had a fight with Mahātmā Compassioncraft once, the very same one who cultivated the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body in the past. But not even he was this strong. Does this boy have some other sort of good fortune?'

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was crawling to his feet. The stimulation to his will just now really had improved it a bit, making it a bit more mobile within his sea of consciousness.

Unfortunately, his nascent divinity was still so restricted that he felt like he could hardly even reach out to the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Thankfully, his immortal-slaying clone was in the chart, keeping an eye on the situation.

But what would happen if his nascent divinity continued to get more and more restricted, to the point where he couldn’t move?

If he couldn’t move, then he obviously couldn’t use any of his energy arts moves.

Previously, he hadn’t even noticed this problem, but after cultivating to the level of over twenty characters from the sheepskin scroll, it was plainly obvious.

“What do you think, boy?” The Wretch God Apostle laughed again. “Should I roast you with more of Wretch God Ultimate's Obsidian Flame? The higher your cultivation base gets, the more you’ll be bound and restricted. Either give me the Unspoiled Body, or prepare to have your cultivation base forcibly improved. Feeling scared yet?”

Yang Qi slowly sat down and began thinking. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come up with any other plan. Quietly sending some true energy through himself, he confirmed that his fleshly body was very strong, but his will wasn’t as responsive as before.

Right now, a single fist from him would be enough to crush someone in the Terrifying level. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be fast enough to actually hit that person, because his will convergence wasn’t on par.

In terms of overall fighting prowess, he was actually far too weak.

Back in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, the immortal-slaying clone knew what was happening. Rising to his feet from his spot in the god formation he was operating, he looked over thoughtfully at the sheepskin scroll.

Nearby, Empress Jadefall said, “Exalted Immortal-Slayer, did something happen to Yang Qi?”

1. Can you believe it’s been over 700 chapters since Yang Qi went to the Quake-Dawn continent? It was in chapter 271.

2. He acquired the Unconstrained Sorrow-Forgetting Magic in chapter 950.