Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)
Chapter 144: Saving Everyone

Jun Tianchou grabbed Yang Qi by the shoulder in the hopes of stopping what he took to be a completely crazy impulse. “That's crazy, Brother. The viscount fiend-devils in that Preheaven Devil-Eye could only be handled by a Legendary. If you go down there, you’re dead for sure. Even if we all joined forces, it would be hopeless. The best thing to do is hold out for as long as possible, and hope that a Legendary comes to save us.”

Everyone else present threw in similar bits of advice.

“Brother Yang,” Flame Clearspring said, “we know you’re trying to do the right thing here, but you’d be like an egg thrown against a boulder. The entities down there are too terrifying to even imagine. Besides, the Preheaven Devil-Eye has the power to distort space-time itself.”

Flame Clearspring already liked Yang Qi a lot, and took him to be a heroic individual who valued friendship and righteousness. After all, in response to a call for help from his sworn brother, he had dropped everything and raced over to Fiend-Devil Island to try to save him. Then, he had completely disregarded any potential dangers by offering to enter the Preheaven Devil-Eye to save everyone else. It was a show of absolute sincerity and heroism.

In fact, it wasn’t just Flame Clearspring who felt this way. Everyone present was starting to really like Yang Qi.

It was a rare thing for someone to take the initiative to help friends in such a way. That was especially true among Lifeseizers, who viewed life as extremely precious.

“Come on, Brother Yang,” Hua Fengfeng said. “There’s no need to bring up crazy talk like that. Besides, if you ended up stuck in the Preheaven Devil-Eye in an attempt to save us, how could we rest our hearts at ease? And how would we explain the situation to the Demi-Immortal Institute?”

“That’s right,” someone else said. “You already put yourself in great danger coming in here to try to help. Now you want to just throw your life away? No way!”

“Alright,” Yang Qi said, sighing as his energy rippled. “I came here to save my sworn brother, and now, I have all of the rest of you as friends. So let me explain. I actually cultivate an energy art that’s specifically designed to deal with fiend-devils. If I go in there, it will definitely be dangerous, but it won’t be suicide. I’ll actually have a good shot of eking out a win. Besides, these fiend-devils’ plan is clear; they want us to try to delay things, and as a result, get completely worn out. For all we know, there may be a fiend-devil count on the way from deeper in Fiend-Devil Island. If a being like that showed up, we would definitely be doomed. The best thing to do is try to get out of here as quickly as possible. All of you need to get off of Fiend-Devil Island immediately, and then wait for me to join you.”

Before any of them could even reply, Yang Qi’s true energy thrummed, causing everything around them to tremble violently.

Swish!

He became a blur that shot through the bright light cast by the Flameking Cauldron, and headed directly toward the gravitational force, causing him to be sucked directly into the Preheaven Devil-Eye.

“Brother!” Flame Clearspring cried, but he was too late to stop Yang Qi.

“This….”

Everyone present was completely taken by surprise that Yang Qi was actually going through with his plan without even discussing matters with them. The spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice on display was incredible, and it prompted numerous spirited reactions.

“Come on, everyone. Let’s go fight those fiend-devils to the death!”

“Yeah! If Yang Qi can pursue justice with no second thoughts, then how can we be soft!?”

“Everybody calm down!” Jun Tianchou shouted. “My brother went down there in an attempt to save us. We need to think about the situation clearly. If we go in there now, wouldn’t it be a betrayal of his goodwill? But if we could escape and send word to the elders of our various organizations, maybe someone else will come along who can save him.”

At this point, Zhao Wuhun from the House of Martial Saints said, “Are you really Yang Qi’s sworn brother, Jun Tianchou? He’s down there risking his life, and you’re actually talking about how scared you are of dying?”

“It's precisely because I'm Yang Qi’s brother that I'm suggesting this!” Jun Tianchou shot back. “I have faith that he can hold on long enough for us to get out of here and get help. If Yang Qi dies in that Preheaven Devil-Eye, then I swear to end my own life! All of you can bear witness to this oath!”

“He’s right,” Flame Clearspring said. “Everybody just calm down. If we rush in bull-headed, we’re going to turn this into a worse disaster than it already is. Everyone, focus all of your true energy into the Flameking Cauldron, and get ready to break out.”

“If we get out of this devil formation,” Hua Fengfeng added, “Then we can save Brother Yang. We need to stand united on this.”

“It looks like the Preheaven Devil-Eye is starting to stir!” another expert said. “It’s gonna blow! The gravitational force is weakening!”

In that moment, Yang Qi’s voice echoed out from within the Preheaven Devil-Eye. “Brother Tianchou! I'm fine where I am. Now is the perfect time for you to escape.”

When everyone heard his words, their hearts began to pound with excitement, and their eyes welled up with tears. For people like them, there was little worse in the world than to be almost completely out of true energy in a situation like this. To top it off, Yang Qi disregarded his own safety to try to save them. It was impossible for them to not be moved.

Some people were still considering trying to join him.

However, that was when Flame Clearspring shouted, “Let’s go! NOW!”

Focusing his true energy, he attacked the black-gold devil light with full force.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was already in the midst of deadly combat. As soon as he entered the Preheaven Devil-Eye, he caught sight of several distortions in space-time, within which were the five towering fiend-devils. They were all different. One had armor plating and looked like a crab. Another had a sheep’s head on a human body. The other three had the heads of wolves and the bodies of humans.

All of them had terrifying auras, auras that vastly surpassed those of the projections he had seen outside.

And yet, before anything could happen, his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth flared to life, and his Infernal Deity Spear appeared, burning with Cleansing Flame of the Heavenly World. Instantly, the wretch energy in the area was suppressed.

“Greetings, fiend-devils. Ready to go back to hell!?” With that, he lunged forward, stabbing his spear out in an attack. Instantly, five projections of energy shot out, each one capable of snuffing out all forms of life, and sending fiend-devils to the depths of hell.

Even more impressive, the spear also projected the image of a shadowy figure in black clothing and a wide conical cap, which was none other than an infernal deity from hell, whose task was to collect the souls of the dead.

“What a mighty energy art!” one of the fiend-devils blurted. Howling in rage, the five of them unleashed more streams of wretch energy, causing everything within the Preheaven Devil-Eye to twist and distort.

Five pulses of devil energy smashed into the five spear projections.

However, Yang Qi’s attack was strong enough to weaken the gravitational force being exerted, and thus gave Flame Clearspring and everyone else the chance they needed to break free.

Howling, one of the huge fiend-devils appeared behind Yang Qi. It was the one with the sheep's head and human’s body; it had a pitch-black carapace and carried a massive hammer that it used to strike at Yang Qi with a devastating, killing blow.

This was a fiend-devil viscount, in the Octonary Lifeseizing level, born and raised in a fiend-devil space-time. Its energy arts were wicked to the extreme, and every move was designed to kill. As for its hammer, it was not a manifestation of true energy, but rather, an actual weapon forged by devilish hands, designed to increase the wicked power of fiend-devil energy arts.

The hammer was larger than Yang Qi himself, and cast a dark shadow over him as it descended, just on the verge of turning him into a bloody paste.

Unexpectedly, he didn’t dodge the strike. As the hammer descended, a shining figure with an elephantine head and a human body appeared behind him. It almost looked like a porcelain statue wreathed in Cleansing Flame of the Heavenly World. Without any hesitation, it thrust its hands up to meet the enormous hammer.

Bam!

The two hands and the weapon collided, and the hammer was sent recoiling in the opposite direction, two hand prints embedded on its surface. As for the sheep-headed fiend-devil, it staggered backward as its carapace exploded, causing red blood to spurt out everywhere.

At the same time, terror appeared in its evil, triangular eyes.

“Prepare to die!” Yang Qi seemed one with the Infernal Deity Spear as he blurred into motion, almost teleporting through space-time to appear right in front of the sheep-headed fiend-devil.

Then, he stabbed his spear directly into its heart.

Blood sprayed out like a fountain, and the fiend-devil howled in heaven-shaking, earth-shattering fashion as it realized that its true energy was leaking out rapidly. The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was attacking it on a foundational level, destroying it piece by piece.

However, in that moment, another of the enormous fiend-devils howled and leapt into motion. Tendrils of wretch energy shot out, some of them wrapping around the sheep-headed fiend-devil like tentacles, and some of them speeding straight toward Yang Qi’s heart.

This was the most powerful expert of the group of fiend-devil viscounts, who commanded an almost supernatural level of power. It was similar to Holy Daughter Manyflowers, being at the peak of Nonary Lifeseizing, and just on the verge of becoming a Legendary.

A devil claw descended, surrounding Yang Qi, its wretch energy threatening to pierce through his armor and devilize him.

In fact, Yang Qi’s Infernal Deity Plate Armor was already beginning to transform, changing into scales, which was the first sign of devilization.

Powerful fiend-devils all had the ability to devilize humans, which involved turning them into a fiend-devil.

And considering this crab-like fiend-devil viscount was in Nonary Lifeseizing, it meant that not even someone in Quinary Lifeseizing would be able to resist its devilization.

‘What an incredible wretch-devil energy art!’ Yang Qi quickly pulled back his Infernal Deity Spear, then stabbed it toward the crab-like fiend-devil. As he did, over a thousand spear projections appeared.

“Quite a strong human!” the fiend-devil said. Strangely, it sounded excited. “You’ll make the perfect sacrifice for our Preheaven Devil Formation. I might even be able to use you to break into the Legendary level! We set this whole trap up for that very purpose, and you’re delivering yourself up willingly!?”

WHOOOOOSH!

The crab-like fiend-devil threw its sheep-headed comrade off to the side, then stood there facing Yang Qi in a ready stance.