The chancellor and the Young Lady had assumed that Yang Qi would die, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Or at least, that his backer would come to his aid. It should have been impossible for someone in the second transformation to defend against the combined assault of a Ghost-God Legendary and an Astral-Star Legendary.

Not even the Grand Emperor's Pagoda should have tipped the scales.

Therefore, the final result of the conflict left them with eyes wide. Not only did Yang Qi not die, he actually fought back, killing the Ghost-God Legendary with a spear strike, and using the Grand Emperor's Pagoda in the way that a saint from ancient times would. In fact, the chancellor actually suspected that if Yang Qi were just a bit stronger, he would be able to activate the sage formations that existed in the pagoda. Such formations had been put in place by Grand Emperor Rich-Lush, and could only be used by people in the Great Sage level.

Although Yang Qi had not activated such formations yet, what he was doing did cause the might of a Great Sage to spread out and destroy the personal domain of the Ghost-God Legendary.

After all this time, no mysterious backer had appeared, and Yang Qi had relied on his own might to come out on top of the conflict. The chancellor shook his head. “This Yang Qi has unbelievable potential. Sending him into the hell monsoon to repair the damage to heaven actually turned out to be the perfect training for him. In only a few days, he achieved a hundred years’ worth of bitter cultivation. By the way, where did he get all the spirit stones he must have needed?”

“That’s a good question, Father, I’m not sure. Considering all of this, do you think he can really accomplish the mission on his own? Should I tell him how to actually succeed?”

“Well, repairing the damage to heaven is actually a simple task. Find the Planar Pearl, and pour pure

immortal dao

power into it. That’s all that needs to be done to repair the sealing marks. After all, the fiend-devils’ method to corrode the seals is similarly simplistic. They simply pour evil power into the Planar Pearl to slowly eat away at it. I would do it myself if it weren’t for the fact Great Sages can’t get remotely close to the pearl. It won’t hurt to tell Yang Qi. Besides, his energy art seems designed to subjugate evil. There couldn’t possibly be a power that conforms more purely to the immortal dao. If he gets close enough to the Planar Pearl, it should be a simple thing for him to repair it.”

“If he tries to get close to the Planar Pearl,” the Young Lady said, “his backer will definitely show up. The amount of power required to repair the pearl would drain even a Great Sage. That’s the most difficult aspect to it all. And that’s not to mention that the thing is surrounded by countless fiend-devils, some of them in the ninth Legendary transformation. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are even Great Sage entities. Back when the Crown Prince tried to get close to the pearl, he had no choice but to retreat. I'd say that even if Yang Qi turns out to be stronger than he’s let on, he still won’t succeed. After he runs out of true energy, he’ll be surrounded by fiend-devils and killed.”

“Even I would suffer the same fate, much less Yang Qi,” the chancellor said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “The time has come for his final test. Go tell him the details of the repair work.”

“Yes, dear Father.”

Meanwhile, Yang Qi had just finished killing the Ghost-God fiend-devil. Feeling very pleased with himself, he turned to face the female Astral-Star fiend-devil, when a stream of spirit power entered his mind with a message, the result of a powerful energy art of the Young Lady’s.

“Yang Qi, did you happen to notice that, deep in the sealed area, there is a huge sphere surrounded by hordes of fiend-devils? That sphere is called the Planar Pearl, and must never be destroyed. Many Great Sages joined forces to make it, and they were even helped by someone from the cultivation level beyond them, the Demi-Immortal level. Get close enough to the pearl to send pure power of the immortal dao into it, and you can repair all the damage. Of course, to get close to the pearl, you’ll have to fight anything that gets in your path. And after you get there, you run the risk of being drained of energy, and then perishing. So consider the matter carefully. Do you think you can accomplish the mission?”

‘Planar Pearl, huh?’ Yang Qi turned to look off into the depths of the inky hell monsoon. Thankfully, the Lord's Eye could pierce through all sorts of devilish clouds, and therefore, he quickly identified the location the Young Lady had referred to. There, he saw an enormous, glowing pearl, dozens of kilometers in radius, inset into the greyspace of the plane, seemingly eternal in nature.

Black stains covered the surface of the pearl, evidence of the corrosive power of the fiend-devils. In fact, it was only about half as bright as it should be. If that pearl were to ever be destroyed, the sealing marks and the greyspace would shatter, and the hordes of fiend-devils from hell would invade the Rich-Lush Continent and destroy it.

‘Are these people serious? This is way too dangerous! I've already come under attack by seventh and eighth transformation fiend-devils. How am I supposed to keep going if things get worse? Do they expect me to just go and fight Never-Dying monsters? I'm definitely not a match for things like that right now. Even experts in the eighth transformation are difficult for me to handle. And the only reason I could handle the seventh transformation fiend-devil just now was that he had drained much of his quintessence-blood and true energy before I attacked him.’

At this point, Yang Qi had no hope whatsoever that he could accomplish the mission.

Sensing his hesitation, the chancellor looked at the Young Lady and said, “Tell Yang Qi that if he doesn't want to go forward with the mission, he doesn’t have to. He's proven how much potential he has, and I don’t want to see someone as strong as him perish. If he comes back now, I’ll simply imprison him for three hundred years to pay for killing Grand Elder Feat-Virtue. During that time, he’ll have plenty of opportunities for training and cultivation advancement.”

“Yes, Father.” Once again, the Young Lady cast her thoughts into Yang Qi’s mind. “Yang Qi, you've proven yourself. If you keep going, you’ll be killed beyond the shadow of a doubt. The chancellor has agreed to allow you to return, and be imprisoned for three hundred years. During that time, he’ll make sure the Crown Prince doesn’t kill you.”

“Three hundred years?” Yang Qi snorted coldly. “What good will that do? And if I'm in prison, what about my father, my clan, and my sworn brothers and sisters? You people want to see the power of my backer, right? Fine. I’ll show you.”

SWISH!

Hefting his spear, he shot toward the Astral-Star fiend-devil.

‘How did you possibly kill a Ghost-God Legendary?’ That was what the female fiend-devil was thinking. The sight of Yang Qi cutting down her compatriot had nearly caused her eyes to pop out of her head.

As Yang Qi bore down on her with his spear, she shouted and backed up. At the same time, clouds roiled out, and the power of the stars descended from above. A rippling field of power spread out as an enormous, evil star appeared above her, almost like a devil-eye.

Bam!

Without any hesitation, she reached out to meet Yang Qi’s Infernal Deity Spear.

The slashes of his spear were like the sweeping of a divine dragon’s tail. Massive power was unleashed as he drew deeply on his spatial sea of energy and meridians, and the universal power in his flesh and blood. Sky waves continued to roll out of the Grand Emperor’s Pagoda, filling the area, causing it to descend into nothing but primal-chaos.

Not even the attacks of this Astral-Star fiend devil could do anything to the power of those sky waves.

Although Yang Qi might not be capable of slaying a fiend-devil of this level, neither could the fiend-devil slay him.

Over the course of a few dozen breaths’ worth of time, the two of them fought back and forth for nearly a thousand moves. Yang Qi’s true energy was beginning to wane, and he wasn’t even close to killing his opponent. Not even three days and nights of fighting would put him in that position. Therefore, he finally opened his Lord's Eye.

Scintillating light shone out, completely piercing through the fiend-devil’s personal domain, and slamming into her with intense heat.

“You just wait, brat!” the fiend-devil shrieked, turning to flee.

Unexpectedly, a vicious fiend-devil in the eighth Legendary transformation was simply fleeing in the face of Yang Qi.

The Young Lady couldn’t keep the admiration out of her voice as she said, “Father, it doesn’t seem Yang Qi is going to agree with your suggestion.” 

“Predictable,” the chancellor replied, sounding anything but perturbed. “He’s too strong-willed. It doesn’t matter what adversities he faces, he acts like he’s an important person. Well, let’s see if he can accomplish the mission. Can he really repair the Planar Pearl?”

“He's only a Spirit-Soul Legendary, and yet he’s able to fight the seventh and eighth transformation. And kill them at that! If word about this spread, the entire Rich-Lush Continent would be shocked.” The Young Lady sighed. “Even with my special physique, I couldn’t have done something like that at his level. Not even with the help of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.”

“This must remain a tightly guarded secret,” the chancellor said. “Outsiders must never know.”

As his opponent fled, Yang Qi drew on the powers of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. The area around him twisted and distorted, and then he vanished, becoming a blur that headed toward the Planar Pearl, and the hordes of fiend-devils that surrounded it.

Every development only served to pique the Young Lady’s interest more. “So, he’s using the power of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda to disguise himself and get closer to the pearl? I’m afraid that's not going to work. His level is just too low. Maybe if he were in the Personal-Domain Transformation, trying to hide that way would work. But right now, enemies in the eighth and ninth transformation will definitely be able to detect the spatial fluctuations.” 

‘Heavenwave Cloaking.’ Using the spell formations of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, Yang Qi got closer and closer to the Planar Pearl. As he did, he could sense its holy nature. Unfortunately, the evil power had stained it and eaten away at both it and the plane it was connected to.

‘Get close to the pearl, and use holy energy to negate the attacks of the fiend-devils.’

From what he could tell, if he could get close enough to the pearl, its radiance and light would actually protect him somewhat from the fiend-devils. After all, they clearly didn't want to get too close to it.

Onward he proceeded until he was only a few thousand kilometers away from the sealing marks and the greyspace. From what he could tell, he was completely hidden within the hell monsoon.

However, it was at that point that a massive surge of power erupted out, slamming into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. This was something that compared to the Crown Prince, Young Master Shroud-Heaven or Hua Tianxiong. This was something eternally indestructible, something that could never die.

A Never-Dying greater fiend-devil was making a move.

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