Looking absolutely terrified, Leaf Dao-Denier immediately launched an attack with his left hand using the Taiji Indestructible Chaos-Magic World-Terrorizing Profound Art, and with his right hand using the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic. As a result, two powerful streams of energy shot out as he attempted to break through the seals and escape.

Unfortunately, he was too weak and slow.

Yang Qi murmured an enchantment and a glittering wall of mist appeared, which the attacks sank into without any effect.

Unwilling to give in, Leaf Dao-Denier burst into motion, looking almost like a fly trapped in a bottle as he scurried this way and that in his attempts to break free. However, any force he unleashed was absorbed by the warding magics, making it obvious that he was completely and utterly trapped.

“No!” Eventually, he stopped moving and looked over viciously at Yang Qi. Clenching his hands into claws, he lunged forward like a tiger.

Yang Qi hardly looked at him or his two consummate energy arts. He threw a palm out using the Hand of the One God, causing dazzling sagelight to flare. At the same time, bright light shone as he summoned a sealing mark from the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic.

It was a simple move, but backed by power that

could change something rotten into something magical

. As soon as it hit Leaf Dao-Denier, he staggered backward, vomiting up a mouthful of blood and falling into a sitting position.

Yang Qi didn’t press the attack. Although he did plan to eventually kill Leaf Dao-Denier, he was still connected to Empress Joyflower for now. If he killed him, she would show up almost immediately. Besides, Leaf Dao-Denier was already deeply infected by his Heaven-God Hell-Exterminating Devil Embryo, which meant that Yang Qi could control him without him even knowing about it.

However, he didn't want to do that right now. If he did, Leaf Dao-Denier would surely try to destroy the devil embryo.

“You!” Leaf Dao-Denier blurted, then coughed up another mouthful of blood as he realized that he had been completely drained of power and couldn’t muster a single energy art. It would definitely take him at least two to three days to recover. “Since when did your energy arts advance so dramatically? I thought you ended up defeated by Profound Valor!”

“Oh? So you were watching my fight with Profound Valor?” Yang Qi chuckled. “I figured all along you were up to no good. You never had any intention of actually working with me, did you?”

“That's not true!” he replied, struggling to his feet. “I really do want to work with you to deal with Empress Joyflower. Yang Qi, your energy arts improve too quickly. Every time I think I can finally beat you, you advance by leaps and bounds and leave me in the dust. Why? Why does this always happen? Does heaven have something against me? Am I just not talented enough? Are my energy arts not good enough? Is it really

heaven wanting to kill me despite my success in battle

?!”

[1]

“Enough whining,” Yang Qi said coolly. “I assimilated some godhood and boosted my cultivation base, that’s all. You have one choice here: be a good boy and do what I say. If you do, I won’t kill you. After all, you have incredible prospects for the future.”

A moment passed, and Leaf Dao-Denier’s expression softened. “What are you trying to do here, Yang Qi?”

Of course, his meekness was an act; as soon as he heard that Yang Qi had assimilated some godhood, his heart burned with malice and hatred, although he hid it well.

On the other hand, Yang Qi was no fool.

Once the devil embryo grew to an appropriate size, he would use it to simply possess Leaf Dao-Denier. In fact, he was even thinking of taking advantage of a moment when Leaf Dao-Denier and Empress Joyflower were involved in dual cultivation to also infect the empress.

Unfortunately, given the level of her cultivation base, that wasn’t likely to happen.

“You need to hurry up and get into dual cultivation with the empress,” Yang Qi said. “We’re running out of time, and need to kill her as soon as possible. Her abilities are terrifying, to say the least, and she’ll be difficult to keep under control.”

“But I have no way to get in touch with her,” Leaf Dao-Denier replied with a sigh. “She's in seclusion in a very dangerous session of meditation. I’d hoped to let her know about the Inheritors of the Great Necropolis, but I really don’t have any way to reach her.”

“Oh? Well in that case, I have an idea.” It seemed to Yang Qi that now might be the perfect time to head back into the Joyflower Palace’s treasure storehouse and clear out more god formations.

Now that his energy arts had advanced so much, he was capable of much greater speed than before. And with the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic, as well as his higher level of will, dealing with the knowledge-devils would be much easier.

“How about this. I might as well help you out a bit by giving you an amazing energy art. Cultivate it, and it will help you immensely during your next session of dual cultivation with Empress Joyflower. Because you have her warding spell inside you, once you cultivate this technique, she’ll sense it and will want to practice dual cultivation as soon as possible.”

Yang Qi’s main plan was to get through all of the remaining god formations in the storehouse and take that god-king’s tear. If he used it to power up the Engine of the One God, he wouldn't need to fear anyone, even the other Inheritors. In fact, he could take them all down one by one.

The godhood contained in the tear of the Passionless God-King was too much for him to personally absorb, being more than a hundred times stronger than the godhood he had acquired in the Exquisite Cathedral.

But it would be perfect for the Engine of the One God and its systems.

“You’re going to impart a consummate energy art to me?” Leaf Dao-Denier said, sounding surprised. “Don’t tell me... don’t tell me it’s the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth?!”

“That’s right. I'm going to give you some of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. But listen well. You can't actually cultivate the technique on your own. That requires the God Legion Seal. Anyone who tries to cultivate it without the seal will eventually experience cultivation deviation and explode. I'm going to imbue you with some of the true energy of the technique, which you can circulate to make it seem like you’re cultivating the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. That will definitely attract the attention of Empress Joyflower.”

“Alright!” Leaf Dao-Denier said. However, deep within his eyes was an imperceptible, sinister glimmer. ‘Ah, Yang Qi. You’re really not holding anything back against Empress Joyflower. You’re even going to give me some of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

Hmph!

You think you can scare me by saying that without the God Legion Seal I’ll experience cultivation deviation? Yeah, right. I, Leaf Dao-Denier, am both an Eternal One and a Fortuned One. I can cultivate any technique I come across. The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth is the top energy art from the godmammoths, and you think I'm not going to cultivate it?’

With that, Yang Qi imbued Leaf Dao-Denier with some of the cultivation techniques of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. Afterward, he said, “If the empress asks where you got this, you tell her you learned it from someone who looks like this....”

He went on to describe Proud Heaven as he had looked back in the Titan Emperor Collegium.

Of course, Leaf Dao-Denier went along with everything.

After it was all over, Yang Qi faded away, then reappeared moments later in the treasure storehouse. Thankfully, none of his previous activity had been discovered. Furthermore, the box that had been delivered to the empress remained unopened. Perhaps it was because Empress Joyflower was busy with cultivation, or perhaps she was just being careful; it was hard to say.

Yang Qi was tempted to open the message and see what it said, but resisted the urge. Instead, he headed back to the area with the god formations and resumed his previous work. He had previously stopped after taking twenty million formations, all of which he had sent into his virtual god world. As a result, his followers and disciples there were all masters of spell formations, and many of them had experienced multiple breakthroughs. Once they emerged back in the immortal worlds, they would be a very powerful force. Of course, the Immortal Dao Age was changing dramatically, so it was a given that Yang Qi wanted to once again establish his own territory and begin expanding it.

Crack! Snap!

As he stood there within the spell formations, he didn’t need to do so much as flick his sleeve. Godpower erupted from his eyes, causing every formation he looked at to transform into dust, which he absorbed with his Lord's Eye. Then his two mundane eyes would recreate an identical projection of every formation that was taken.

Within less than two hours, he had taken an additional hundred million formations. Of course, that caused the same amount of knowledge-devils to appear within his mind, which he vanquished.

As he proceeded forward, he moved more and more quickly, until he had taken fully six hundred million formations. That, in turn, caused dramatic transformations and developments in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart as the countless formations popped into being, creating a profound tempest for the betterment of the disciples there.

“Be broken!”

At this point, his progress began slowing. He had to admit that the Passionless God-King was worthy of praise for setting up so many spell formations. What had his aim been, though?

The further Yang Qi went into the area of the spell formations, and the closer he got to the center, the more sure he was that there was grief-tinged godhood there. However, as the Engine of the One God absorbed the surrounding energy, it was gradually powering up.

The strength god systems were coming more fully online, and as a result, they were sending waves of strength into Yang Qi.

His mind was now thrumming with the same resonance as the God Legion Seal.

1.

Heaven wanting to kill me despite my success in battle

is a quote from the

Records of the Grand Historian

: the Basic Annals - Xiang Yu.

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