Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)
Chapter 278: Battling a Half Sage

As the Half Sage unleashed his personal domain, Yang Qi thought, ‘Half Sages are extraordinary. It seems I need to do some more serious training if I'm going to try to kill someone like the Crown Prince. After all, our cultivation levels are just too far apart. Seven whole levels! Although my true energy reserves are immense, that doesn't make up for the level disparity.’

“Warfare Domain!” the Half Sage shouted. As the domain took shape, it was as if the dao of war overtook the area. Vital energy surged with incredible power, and he stood in the middle of it all, seemingly invincible.

Bam!

The Infernal Deity Spear stabbed partway into the Warfare Domain, but then stopped. It sent hellish energy into the domain to try to infect it, but all the Half Sage did was shrug his shoulders, and the energy dissipated.

This was his domain. This was his kingdom.

“So, what other tricks do you have up your sleeve?” he asked. With his personal domain fully powered, the aura of a Great Sage flickered in the area, which was what happened when Half Sages were just on the verge of forming sage motes.

Next, it was without any warning at all that he lunged toward Yang Qi.

Smiling, Yang Qi dodged to the side and slashed out with his Infernal Deity Spear, curious to see exactly how strong this Half Sage would be now that he had called on his personal domain.

“You have no domain! Are you crazy? Or do you just want to die?!” The Half Sage’s fists turned into palms as he said, “Star-Plucking Moon-Snatching Palms!” Now, it seemed as if he were trying to capture Yang Qi, and it almost seemed like the light of fallen stars flickered around him.

Every attack that Yang Qi blocked cause sounds like metal grating on metal to echo out. Unexpectedly, the Infernal Deity Spear wasn’t actually capable of piercing those palms. This man’s fleshly body had reached an incredibly high level.

And yet, the weapon didn’t collapse. Yang Qi was in the Space-Void Transformation, and was strong enough to fight the personal domain of a Half Sage. It was something completely unheard-of, even in the Quake-Dawn Continent.

As for the Half Sage, the longer the fight dragged on, the more surprised he was. He had originally assumed that, considering the level of his cultivation base, all he would have to do was summon his Warfare Domain to capture Yang Qi. In contrast, his confidence was eroding as he realized that his opponent wasn’t even fighting at full force.

WHIZZ!

Yang Qi flitted back and forth like the wind, surrounded by streams of space that made it such that any ordinary person who looked at him would likely grow dizzy from the effort.

None of the Half Sage’s attacks could touch him, and he continued to stab his spear into the man’s domain, damaging it as surely as the stomp of an elephant’s foot.

Eventually, the Half Sage let out a bellow of rage and frustration.

The mere’s flap of Yang Qi’s Angel Wings could propel him through multiple layers of space, making it impossible for the Half Sage to lay hands on him. In fact, the man could only eat his dust as he tried to catch up.

Yang Qi could have merely made his escape, but instead, he decided to teach this Half Sage a lesson, and at the same time, assess the man’s cultivation base.

“You’re pushing things too far!” The Half Sage spun back and forth, and yet could see nothing more of Yang Qi than a blur out of the corner of his eyes. Finally, he forced himself to calm down, and shrank down his personal domain. Then, he unleashed a burst of true energy and said, “The guilty can never escape justice from heaven!”

His true energy became like countless strands of silk that shot out to fill the air around them.

At long last, this effort managed to lock onto Yang Qi’s location.

“Sky Sundering Slash!” Using his index and middle finger like a sword, he slashed downward.

From the look of things, the Half Sage was powering this attack with everything his cultivation base had to offer. It was his last move, a move designed to slash open the sky itself, to destroy mountains and rivers, to break open the void and wreck great daos.

It was at this point that a spinning pagoda appeared above Yang Qi’s head, whose every rotation was capable of nullifying the most deadly of attacks. At the same time, a domain appeared around it.

“Rich-Lush Domain!” Now that he was in the Space-Void Transformation, he could use his Sovereign Lord True Energy to employ the personal domain of the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. As it spread out, the domain glowed with a golden yellow color, the color of fertile crops and lush abundance. It was not metallic gold, but rather, the yellow of wheat and grain, that which represented a rich harvest, and abundant joy.

The Rich-Lush Domain surrounded Yang Qi, making him seem like a god of the most rich and fertile lands possible, a place lush with vegetation.

Yet again, the Grand Emperor's Pagoda revealed a higher level of power; now that Yang Qi had grown strong, this precious treasure from the distant past revealed one of its most powerful abilities.

The instant the Rich-Lush Domain surrounded Yang Qi with golden abundance, he began another bombardment on the Half Sage.

As a result, the man nearly coughed up another mouthful of blood, this time not from injury, but from fury. He simply couldn’t do anything to Yang Qi, a humiliation the likes of which had never occurred to him in battle.

With the domain and the swordbreaker, Yang Qi was simply too powerful. In fact, anyone who tried to enter into that domain would instantly be crushed.

After all, the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker had been forged by some Great Sage who was likely no weaker than Grand Emperor Rich-Lush.

BOOOOM!

Suddenly, the golden light shining off the swordbreaker shot upward, almost as if it intended to break through the Rich-Lush Domain. As a result, flames burst up everywhere around Yang Qi.

“Hah!” the Half Sage laughed. “You think you can take control of the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker, you hellion? That’s impossible. Look, it’s fighting back!”

Throwing caution to the wind, he lunged forward to strike at Yang Qi’s Rich-Lush Domain with a mighty fist strike.

In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi was threatened from both within and without the domain.

“Oh really? It’s not like this swordbreaker is actually a Great Sage. It was made by one, but I can tell that whoever forged it perished long ago. If his will refuses to acknowledge allegiance, then I’ll just have to purge it from the treasure!” Although the will of the swordbreaker was rude and domineering, Yang Qi was even ruder and more domineering. He could crush both heaven and hell alike, and represented both the legion of gods and the will of the Lord.

Gripping the swordbreaker tightly, he sent a stream of Sovereign Lord True Energy into it, suppressing the golden light and slowly eradicating the will inside the weapon.

At the same time, the Hellfire Crucible appeared behind him, as well as the Hell Portal. Fiend-devils poured out of the portal, entering the crucible, which roared to life with flames that further suppressed the will of the swordbreaker.

“What's that?” the Half Sage blurted at the sight of the Hell Portal. A river of fiend-devils flowed out of the depths of the ancient doorway, some of which burned with bronze light, like magma that could melt rocks.

“That’s a bronzeblaze fiend-devil in the eighth Legendary transformation! And that’s an asura!”

Asuras were far more terrifying than bronzeblaze fiend-devils. After all, a single asura was usually worth ten bronzeblaze fiend-devils of the same level. In hell, the asuras were considered the best warriors, and the masters of martial arts, entities who were the ultimate fighters.

The people of the Quake-Dawn Continent knew full well that if an asura in the eighth Legendary transformation arrived in their lands, it would mean utter catastrophe. Not even ten human experts in the same level, powering a spell formation, would be able to take it down easily. Only a minimum of two or three Never-Dying Legendaries could possibly join forces to kill one.

When asuras fought human cultivators, they could easily surpass the gaps between cultivation levels.

And yet now, one asura after another was becoming nothing more than sacrificial fuel for Yang Qi to take control of the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker. Not even Great Sages would be capable of doing something like this.

As of this moment, the Half Sage’s scalp was tingling so hard it felt like it might explode at any moment.

He couldn’t help but wonder what type of person could summon asuras this powerful as mere fuel. Who was this person? The son of a suzerain from hell?

‘This feels great!’ Yang Qi thought. Every inch of his flesh and blood was vibrating from the process, and the burning aura of the asuras was propelling his Sovereign Lord True Energy to new heights.

Furthermore, using asuras as his fuel was able to bring forth the true radiance and light of the legion of gods. According to the legends, in the halls of heaven that belonged to the gods, there were some oil lamps that actually used the fat of asuras as the fuel.

Maybe the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker was domineering, but how could it possibly be as domineering as sacrificial asura flames?

When the ancient sage spirits in the Planar Pearl had encountered Yang Qi’s Sovereign Lord True Energy, they had felt the blessing of the legion of gods, and had risen from the depths of despair.

As for the will of the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker, it could do nothing but back down in the face of this assault. After all, Yang Qi’s Sovereign Lord True Energy was far, far stronger than it had been back when he set out to repair the damage to heaven.

Perhaps if the Great Sage who had forged the weapon was still alive, he would have failed. After all, that Great Sage would have sensed what was happening and interfered. But with that person having long since perished, Yang Qi was the superior entity.

Despite the onslaught, the will of that ancient Great Sage could not be fully exterminated.

And yet, Yang Qi was prepared for that.

All of a sudden, the heaven-demon seed emerged from his forehead and entered the swordbreaker.

WHIZZZ!

Emerald-green light shot out to wrap around the golden light of the swordbreaker, causing a green and gold taiji symbol to appear. The matter was concluded. Yang Qi waved his hand to seal them, and then sent his true energy into the swordbreaker again.

At this point, the swordbreaker was fully his. Gripping it tightly, he raised it into the air.

BOOM!