Sage Monarch

by Stayrr

Yang Qi was the son of the patriarch of a wealthy family from a small town. Believing himself to be in love, he stole a pill for his lover, only to have the girl betray him, by taking the pill and leaving him behind. Caught, his dantian was crippled and left to die under the lightning. This lightning helped him to recover his lost martial arts and also helped him gain a new, divi

3. 65

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Chapter 65: The Ancient City of Kroran

'Jing Wuxue. A Lifeseizer.' This was not Yang Qi's first time hearing the name.

Back when he was in the eighth phase, he came to find that he was definitely not a match for the terrifying Chu Tiange. But now, he was in the ninth phase, with the power of fifteen ancient megamammoths, and most of the life force quintessence of the lightning mammoth gone.

It was hard to say exactly how powerful his three best assets were, the Infernal Deity Spear, Infernal Deity Aegis and Fiend-Devil Wings. The only way to find out for sure was to find some top expert to compare with.

However, he could defeat other Masters of Energy with hardly any effort at all. Only Lifeseizers, who were generally a hundred times more powerful than Masters of Energy, could provide him with the experience he needed. And that was also the best way to absorb the last bits of the lightning mammoth.

At the moment, his true energy was surging mightily, as if urging him to find someone challenging to fight.

"Let's go. If we leave now, we can reach Krorän in less than a day. Considering it's morning now, we should be able to get there by nightfall. The darkness of a snowy night is perfect to clear out demons and devils."

Yang Qi rose to his feet, and his four friends joined.

Before leaving, they changed clothing, donning white clothing and cloaks that were made from snowbear fur. Not only were they very warm, but they would also provide a large measure of camouflage, which would make it much easier to ambush the vampire brigands.

Snowbear fur was so warm that it would even allow mortals to survive in the bitter night cold.

Of course, these outfits were gifted to them by the villa lord.

Because Yang Qi and his friends were Demi-Immortal Institute students with profound energy arts, they hadn't brought changes of clothing with them. But with these snowbear cloaks, they would be able to conserve true energy.

Thus clad, they vanished into the night in blurs of white, leaving not even a footprint behind as they sped through the snow.

They followed their maps until roughly nightfall, at which point they detected the odor of blood in the cold around them.

Yang Qi stopped in his tracks and reached out, letting a snowflake land on his finger. Unexpectedly, the snowflake had a bit of red on it, which was none other than blood-colored true energy.

'What powerful demonic energy. How much human blood must have been consumed to cause the snowflakes to smell like it?' Obviously, someone had cultivated their blood energy arts to the point where they could fuse their energy with the clouds. Thus, the snowflakes were stained red with blood.

Without a doubt, some freakish hellion was in the area.

"Krorän is right up ahead," Li He said.

Sure enough, they soon caught sight of a magnificent metropolis, surrounded by smaller cities that served as guard stations. All of the buildings and structures were in very bad shape, as though some chaotic battle had been fought there.

There were massive stone columns and pillars, and domed temples that gave a glimpse into the city's past glory.

This was the legendary city of Krorän, which in its golden era had housed millions upon millions of residents. Now, there weren't any living beings at all, only vampire brigands.

Yang Qi and his friends dropped to the ground and crawled to the top of a nearby hill, which gave them a good vantage point of the city, as well as the various vampire brigands that were on patrol.

The blood-red garments they wore made them particularly eye-catching in the brilliant white snow.

They moved with incredible agility, and because their body structures were based on frigid yin qualities, were also completely unaffected by the frigid cold. According to the rumors, after cultivating blood demon energy arts, and consuming enough blood, a person could become a blood demon. In addition to spectacular power, it would bring a ferocious change in personality, and would force that person to live by consuming human blood.

"So many brigands!"

Yang Qi's eyes were like blades as he examined the scene. In the smaller guard cities, there were tens of thousands of patrolling vampire brigands, including ones from the fifth to the ninth phase.

As for Krorän itself, it contained well over a thousand major structures, a testament to how rich the city had once been.

There were more vampire brigands patrolling the outskirts of the city, so there was little need to mention what it would be like in its depths.

"What do we do now?" Liang Dong said, making sure to keep his energy concealed. He knew full well what the deadly consequences would be if he didn't. "According to the rumors, blood demon energy arts are quite miraculous. Supposedly, they originate with the Devil Sutra of the Blood Emperor, an imperial-class energy art. The Blood Demon Grotto cultivates a subsidiary version which is only royal-class, but it still leads to incredible cultivation progress. After consuming enough blood, one can reach Energy Eruption in only two or three months, and the Energy Weapon level in only a year…."

"That fast?" Yang Qi exclaimed. To the country bumpkins of Yanhaven, an energy artist who reached the Energy Eruption level in ten years was considered gifted.

"Yeah," Hua Yinhu replied. "All you have to do is drink a lot of blood, which makes it a very attractive option to many. According to the legends, there was an ancient devil king who saw humankind flourishing, and created the Devil Sutra of the Blood Emperor in an attempt to seduce them to the dao of devils. And it worked. Some people will go crazy for power. Not me though."

"In the past," Li He added, "there were even some students in the institute who resorted to cultivating the dao of devils in the hopes of gaining more power. But that's been strictly forbidden for a long time now."

When Yang Qi used the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth to summon his Infernal Deity Spear and Fiend-Devil Wings, it definitely resembled an energy art from the dao of devils. If the Demi-Immortal Institute found out about that, it would lead to problems.

Of course, the truth was that the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was the most orthodox energy art amongst gods and spirits. It was upright and majestic, something used by the legions of gods in heaven to crush hell. However, because of how it was touched by the aura of hell, there were certain aspects of it that seemed fiendish and devil-like.

Part of that was due to the fact that Yang Qi's level was simply too low. For example, his Fiend-Devil Wings would eventually transform, becoming Angel Wings. And they would experience even further transformations later. At that point, the mere snap of his fingers would allow him to travel through all sorts of planes and dimensions.

As he hid in the snow, Yang Qi analyzed his energy arts.

He still itched to communicate with the golden imp that resided in his forehead, but unfortunately, it remained as still as if it were asleep.

That was currently the biggest mystery of all to him.

His godly technique came from that golden imp. But who exactly was the imp?

"You know," Yang Qi said, "the institute sent a lot of people out here to hunt vampire brigands. If Krorän is the focal point, it's safe to assume we'll run into some other students here. And considering how the brigands have been terrorizing all of the northwest, there's no way that the other institutes didn't send people."

"That's right. How could that have slipped my mind?" Li He said. "There are over a million freshman students in the Demi-Immortal Institute, as well as plenty in the Outer and Inner Campuses. And that's not to mention the elite students. There must be a lot of us in the Krorän area. I guess we'll just have to play things by ear."

Almost as if in response to what had just been said, he suddenly heard a whistling sound nearby.

Moments later, they saw figures speeding through the snow.

Apparently, the vampire brigands also detected the noise. Howling, they drew their blades and bows. Some of them even manned cannons on the city walls.

When such massive cannons were used, they could kill even a Master of Energy.

"They're from our institute!" Li He exclaimed. "Look, Yang Qi. They're from the Gentlemen's Society; they usually wear white headbands and green clothing."

With that, he rose to his feet fearlessly, looking almost like a snowbear.

Sure enough, there were several hundred students coming from the east, all of them dressed in green clothing, with white headbands, and swords in their hands. They were marching in tight formation, connecting their true energy to defend themselves. There were thirty-six students out in front who were Masters of Energy, leading the charge as they cut down any vampire brigands that got in their way.

BOOOOOOOM!

One of the cannons on the wall suddenly heaved backward as it launched an enormous projectile toward the students from the Gentlemen's Society.

In response, they shouted, unleashing their energy to form a huge protective shield that stopped the projectile in mid-flight and sent it flying backward to smash into the city wall. Instantly, dozens of vampire brigands were wiped out.

Next, several hundred students joined their voices together to shout, "Thunder Fist!"

At the same time, they all unleashed precisely timed fist strikes.

A massive wave of energy rolled out, smashing into the city gate. The huge, seemingly impregnable metal gate was shredded to pieces as surely as if it had been made of paper.

Yang Qi watched as the hundreds of students from the Gentlemen's Society destroyed a city gate that weighed a hundred thousand pounds. Then, they unleashed energy arts with deadly force, cutting down the vampire brigands who were on guard.

"Incredible," Yang Qi murmured. "This Gentlemen's Society is so strong!"

"Brother Yang Qi," Li He said, "this is just one squad from the Gentlemen's Society. They have tens of thousands of members overall; they're the second most powerful society next to the Crown Prince Society after all. I think even the Crown Prince fears their leader."

"Only one of their squads is this powerful?" Yang Qi's blood was already pumping with excitement. "Come on, let's join the fight."

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Chapter 66: Red Fur

"Hold on!" Li He said. Yang Qi was obviously very pumped up, and wanted to wade into the fighting just like the members of the Gentlemen's Society. However, Li He had another idea. "These vampire brigands have more experts than the sky has clouds," he continued. "Look, the students from the Gentlemen's Society aren't actually able to get very far into the city. Why don't the four of us stay out here and pick off stragglers? As for you, Brother Yang Qi, your cultivation base is the highest, so you can sneak into the city and try to find the brigands' treasure stores. Our Sage Monarch Society has just been founded, and we're completely broke. We'll need to get some major funds to attract new recruits."

Yang Qi immediately realized that Li He was right. If he could find the treasure stores in Krorän, it could theoretically be far more valuable than killing the brigands themselves.

After all, the vampire brigands had been terrorizing the northwest for some time now, so they definitely had a lot of wealth built up.

Besides, they had also pillaged Krorän itself. Altogether, that was an amount of wealth that was probably worth more than a thousand Yanhavens put together.

Best of all, Yang Qi had a way to take massive amounts of wealth away with him.

'Definitely a good idea. I can finally make good use of this thumb-ring of holding.' Looking at Li He, he said, "Okay. You four stick close to the Gentlemen's Society, and pick off any stragglers. If the situation changes, adjust accordingly. I'll sneak into Krorän and see if they actually have some powerful experts inside. If not, I'll send you a message to join me. Otherwise, I'll search for their treasure stores alone."

Of course, his four friends had no idea that he had a thumb-ring of holding.

However, they did know that even if he only took away a bit of the treasure the vampire brigands had built up, it would definitely be worth it.

They all knew what was going on.

There was no way they could get rich right here, not with the experts from the Gentlemen's Society present.

In this situation, finding a hoard of treasure would be much better than trying to stack up merit points.

Based on how things were going, it was obvious that of the five members of the Sage Monarch Society, Li He was the most knowledgeable.

Of course, Yang Qi was quite intelligent, but he was only eighteen, making him the youngest. Even though the incident with Yun Hailan had been life-changing, he still lacked experience compared to the others.

After a bit more discussion, Yang Qi blurred into motion, heading deep into Krorän.

In fact, he moved so quickly with his energy arts that not even a Master of Energy would have been able to track him visually.

His friends were all stunned.

'So fast!'

In the shortest of moments, he was thousands of paces away, where he easily scaled the city wall, which was hundreds of meters tall. Before the vampire brigands atop the wall could react, they were killed, and their demon cores harvested.

Meanwhile, whistling sounds could be heard from numerous directions as more students from the Demi-Immortal Institute arrived to besiege the city. Chaotic fighting was breaking out everywhere as vampire brigands rushed to defend themselves.

At this point, Hua Yinhu gave voice to the question that they had all been pondering.

"Liang Dong, now that you're a Master of Energy, you're much more perceptive than before. Can you tell what level Brother Yang Qi's cultivation base is at?"

Liang Dong pursed his lips for a moment. "Presumably you all had a chance to sense his true energy when he improved our cultivation bases. Well, even after becoming a Master of Energy, I'd say I'm not even one percent as powerful as him. And when he struck Song Haishan, I think he only used about ten percent of his full strength."

"So strong…." they gasped. "Doesn't that mean he's as strong as a Lifeseizer? After all, upon first achieving a breakthrough, Lifeseizers are a hundred times as powerful as a Master of Energy."

"Well, if Brother Yang is really that strong, then our little Sage Monarch Society might actually have a chance to get big. We're all sour at having been stuck as freshman students for nearly a decade, right? The only way to earn a name is to rely on someone important and powerful, but nobody like that has ever paid any attention to us. But Brother Yang Qi is definitely on the way to becoming such a person." It was Li He who provided the final analysis. "Our clans are just as powerful as those of students from the Outer or Inner Campuses. Or even the elite students. It's just that our cultivation bases were too low, and we have no sway in our clans. If we stick with Brother Yang Qi, our cultivation bases are definitely going to continue rising.

"Come on, let's focus on killing the stragglers out here. With Krorän under siege, the brigands are going to retreat sooner or later. Let's earn some merit points while we can."

Whoosshhhh!

Yang Qi sped through the towering buildings of Krorän, making his way through the broad streets as he headed deeper toward the city center.

Of course, there were plenty of vampire brigands in the streets, rushing toward the city walls, filling the air with demon energy and the smell of blood.

The ground was stained with blood, and desiccated corpses could still be seen within the buildings.

As of this point, the ancient city of Krorän was nothing more than a ghost town.

In the stories, this place had once been the capital of the thriving Krorän Nation, home to millions upon millions of people. But now, even the remnants of that once powerful country had been completely exterminated by the vampire brigands, turned into fuel for their demonic energy arts.

Of course, the city was large enough that they couldn't occupy every corner of it.

Therefore, it was easy for Yang Qi to stay out of sight. Up to this point, no one had noticed him. And besides, he could move more than ten thousand paces in the blink of an eye. Almost as soon as he appeared in a given location, he would be gone. Even top energy arts masters would see nothing more than a blur.

Krorän had many towering buildings in it, some built from stone, others from hardened clay; all of them were very sturdy. There were even imposing towers made from metal.

At a certain point, Yang Qi resorted to his Four Seasons Swordplay to make it even more difficult for prying eyes to catch sight of him.

He had long since come to understand the royal-class energy art, and considering that it was a snowy day, it was the perfect time to use the winter snow fills the sky aspect. He sent his true energy out, fusing it with the snow, creating an energy field filled with snowflakes. Now, anyone who looked at him would see nothing more than a mass of swirling snow.

The Four Seasons Swordplay itself had an ability to mask one's aura by fusing with the surrounding nature.

Not even a Master of Energy would be able to sense him as he sped like a blast of snowy wind into the depths of the ancient city.

As he got further in, he saw fewer vampire brigands, and yet, each one he saw was more powerful than the last. He also noticed that in some of the most sumptuous mansions, blood pools had been set up, which were all manned by vampire brigand leaders, all of them fiendish Masters of Energy.

And yet, not a single one noticed Yang Qi.

WHOOSH!

He quietly landed on the roof of a nine-story building that had clearly been a restaurant in the past. It was spectacularly constructed, complete with iron columns inlaid with gold leaf. Sadly, most of it had been spattered with blood. Right in the middle, a pool had been dug out which was filled with blood.

Next to the blood pool was one of the brigand leaders, currently in the middle of a session of cultivation. Countless magical symbols could be seen forming within the blood that then floated into his body.

This particular vampire brigand had bright red hair, and spiky, blood-red fur covering the rest of his body. He didn't even look human.

He was a Master of Energy, but was ten times more powerful than the average expert of that level. In fact, he was so strong that his aura was difficult to detect.

Clearly, this person was one of the core leaders of the vampire brigands.

As soon as the blast of snowy wind that was Yang Qi alighted onto the building, the red-furred expert's eyes opened.

"Who's there!" he barked in a voice laced with killing intent.

Even as the words left his mouth, a blood-colored whip appeared in his hands, formed of true energy.

"Bloodshadow Godwhip!" he growled. It was a high-level blood-type energy art which summoned a whip that resembled a blood dragon. Almost as soon as the whip appeared in the open, he lashed out with it, causing a sound like weeping apes and monkeys to fill the air.

Unfortunately for the red-furred expert, Yang Qi waved his hand, placing an energy barrier around the entire building, ensuring that no sound would escape.

Normally speaking, it would take ten Masters of Energy working together to seal down a building this large, but Yang Qi could do it all on his own. As of this moment, the red-furred vampire was now completely isolated.

Pop!

The whip landed, but couldn't penetrate Yang Qi's defensive true energy.

"Who goes there? An expert from the Demi-Immortal Institute?"

Blood-colored true energy swirled around him as he floated up into the air toward the roof, which was when he finally caught sight of Yang Qi in his snowbear outfit.

"A full body of red fur?" Yang Qi said coolly. "Looks like you've cultivated your blood demon energy arts to the pinnacle. You must know all the secrets in Krorän, right? Now's your chance to live. Tell me where the treasure stores are located."

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Chapter 67: The Brigands' Treasure Stores

The ancient city of Krorän was a huge place, filled with too many buildings to count. How could anyone ever find treasure storehouses in a place like that?

And Yang Qi couldn't use his true energy to check, not with a Lifeseizer somewhere in the city.

Therefore, his plan was to capture an important person among the vampire brigands and force the information out of him. Then, he would loot the treasure and pack as much of it as possible into his thumb-ring of holding.

Yun Hailan and Chu Tiange were definitely planning to try to take out the Lifeseizer, and therefore, he would seize the opportunity to take the treasure before they could get to it. That would surely infuriate them.

"And who are you?" the red-furred vampire brigand growled.

Because of how much hair covered his face, it was impossible to read his expression, but from his tone of voice, he was obviously a cruel and sinister individual.

"It doesn't matter who I am," Yang Qi replied. "Tell me where the treasure storehouses are."

The red-furred vampire burst out laughing. "The treasure has already been sent to the Blood Demon Grotto. If you want it, go look for it there."

Suddenly, a mysterious, blood-colored shadow appeared behind Yang Qi, which transformed into a huge hand, reaching toward him aggressively.

BANG!

Yang Qi's true energy smashed the Humanoid True Energy into bits, completely destroying it.

"So, seems you want me to force it out of you. I wanted to be nice, but I guess I'll do it the hard way. You must really think I'm an idiot. Considering the size of the army here, and how much wealth it would take to sustain it, there's no way you sent all the treasure away."

Seemingly not in the least bit frightened, Yang Qi thrust his hand out.

As his hand moved forward, the Infernal Deity Spear formed in it, making him look like a god of death preparing to take the life of a mortal.

"Bloodshadow Godshield!" The red-furred vampire's energy swirled out to create a tower shield decorated with a blood-colored ghost head that spat flames out of its mouth.

Unfortunately for the vampire, when the Infernal Deity Spear stabbed into the shield, the shield shattered into pieces. Then, enormous arms of true energy sprouted from Yang Qi's back, which reached forward and pinned the vampire to the ground.

All it took was one move for him to capture his opponent.

Of course, the vampire's red fur was naturally poisonous, and could kill anyone who touched it. But Yang Qi was using true energy arms, ensuring that he wasn't hurt at all.

"Ready to talk?" He sent a burst of true energy into the vampire, just a touch of the destructive power of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, which began to wreak havoc on the vampire's meridians.

The vampire screamed as its red hair shriveled away, revealing a middle-aged man with an ashen face.

Yang Qi had used his true energy to force all of the man's blood demon energy arts into his sea of energy, and was now exerting so much pressure that it was obvious he intended to cripple him.

"I'll talk!" the vampire shrieked. "I'll talk! There's a secret passageway thirty meters below the imperial palace, right in the middle of the city. That's where the treasure is. Everything we pillaged in the northwest is there."

With that, Yang Qi went on to get more information, such as the layout of the city, where the top experts were located, and what other dangerous things lay about.

After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he had extracted all the information he needed.

Crunch!

With that, he ended the vampire's life and took his blood demon core.

It was a beautiful thing, covered with countless swirling magical symbols that were the color of blood. This core contained the incredibly strong and pure blood demon true energy. Unfortunately, it couldn't be used for cultivation purposes by humans. Anyone who tried would find that they suddenly needed to consume blood on a daily basis lest they experience terrible pain worse than death.

In some ways, cultivating blood demon energy arts was like being addicted to a powerful drug. It was only because of how one could progress in cultivation ten times faster than normal that people were often seduced by it.

"One blood demon core is worth at least five merit points." After examining it closely, Yang Qi put it into his thumb-ring, which he was currently wearing openly.

"Infernal Deity Aegis!"

Rumbling sounds echoed out as his true energy flowed out, creating a dark, golden suit of armor that covered him from head to toe.

The true energy armor looked like it was forged from black gold, and was ferocious in appearance. It had numerous razor-sharp spikes on the back, and two curved horns on the helmet that resembled those of dragons. The gauntlets were spiked as well; each one had nine finger-length spikes, a nod to nine being the ultimate number.

This was a new state his Infernal Deity Aegis could assume now that he was a Master of Energy, the Infernal Deity Plate Armor.

Right now, he could descend into the magma of an active volcano and not be hurt at all. No type of ordinary true energy could possibly hurt him either.

This was another reason he was confident that he could take Chu Tiange on in a fight.

Not even his Cosmic Sunflare Sword could pierce the Infernal Deity Plate Armor.

Another good reason to wear his Infernal Deity Plate Armor was that the helmet made it impossible to see who he was. No one would recognize that he was Yang Qi.

"I can't wait to run into Chu Tiange. And you too, Yun Hailan. Don't think that because you have him to back you up you can do whatever you want. I'm going to kill him right in front of you. And then you'll realize that all your arrogance is worthless when it comes to me."

Thus, clad in Infernal Deity Plate Armor, Yang Qi yet again blurred into motion, speeding through the buildings of the city as a gust of snowy wind that not even top experts would realize was a person.

Before long, he was in the city center, where he saw the imperial palace, a mighty and grand structure that was ten times as large as Yanhaven. Even the roof tiles were covered with gold leaf, and as for the floor, it was paved with gold bricks.

Although gold was no longer used as currency in the world, it was still recognized as being extremely valuable, so to be able to use so much of it for mere decoration went to show how rich the imperial household of Krorän had been.

As Yang Qi neared the palace, he could sense that there was some extremely powerful entity lurking there.

It was like an enormous beast from ancient times, filled with such vast power that its mere breathing would affect the weather around it. He could also just barely make out a pillar of blood-colored true energy shooting up to connect to the sky.

That was definitely something that only a Lifeseizer could do.

"I'll worry about him later. First things first: the secret passageway and the treasure."

He dropped to the ground at the edge of the imperial palace. Thanks to it being night, and him being surrounded by the 'winter snow' true energy of the Four Seasons Swordplay, no one noticed him.

Furthermore, the sounds of fighting from further out toward the city's edge were distracting, making it even easier for him to proceed along undetected.

After landing, he found himself at the edge of a frozen moat.

It was fully a thousand paces across, but the ice was as thick as a person was tall.

During the course of the interrogation moments before, he had learned that there was a subterranean pipe linking the moat to areas beneath the palace. The palace actually had many passageways beneath it, a virtual labyrinth that had been used to store the wealth that Krorän had built up over the hundreds and even thousands of years. And the vampire brigands had only added further to that accumulation of riches.

Although the labyrinth was rife with traps and snares, Yang Qi's energy arts were so advanced that he didn't need to worry about them.

Crunch!

He quickly sent a blast of true energy out to pierce a hole in the ice, and then jumped in, sinking down to the bottom of the moat.

It was very dark there, but Yang Qi could still make out fish swimming about to and fro. Considering he was capable of Mind Incarnation, it was easy for him to see in circumstances in which there was no light.

He swept the area with his true energy, and quickly had a complete picture of it in his mind.

Of course, the moat was deep enough that the freezing temperature and the water pressure at the bottom was significant; most top energy arts masters would have difficulty staying there for too long. But Yang Qi had no problems.

The area was free of any sort of silt or sludge; even the moat was made from glittering gold that was kept clean by the flow of the water.

After proceeding along for some distance, he suddenly chopped his hand out, carving a hole into the moat floor that revealed a large metal door. Clearly, it was made from some sort of metal that didn't rust, and upon opening it, revealed a passageway.

Yang Qi allowed the flowing water to suck him into the doorway.

Cruuuunch!

As soon as he entered the door, he heard a loud grating crunch. Scanning the area with true energy, he realized that the door had an enormous grinder built into it that activated once water flowed past it; if anyone tried to enter, the door would slice them to pieces.

However, it didn't matter how sharp it was, it couldn't damage his Infernal Deity Plate Armor.

Looking at the meter-long blades with their hundreds of razor-sharp teeth, he murmured, "Good thing I'm a Master of Energy, otherwise I would have been dead."

After destroying the trap, he stepped out of the water and into the secret passageway; thanks to the ingenious construction of the trap, the water was actually channeled back out into the moat.

"Alright. Secret passage: found."

Yang Qi knew that he was heading into a dangerous area; the closer he got to the treasure, the more traps there would be.

As he proceeded along, he found too many to count, including needles, poison, bladed wheels and flamethrowers. And yet, not a single one could do anything to hurt him.

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Chapter 68: The Brigands' Treasure Stores Part 2

BAM!

A massive chunk of iron the size of an ox dropped onto Yang Qi.

And yet, the mere wave of his hand shattered it into pieces. Next, thousands of holes opened up in the wall, unleashing a barrage of arrows, each and every one of which was covered with magical symbols that gave them defensive true energy.

Regardless, Yang Qi's true energy turned them into dust.

Moments later, countless razor-sharp blades shot up from the floor, and yet, instead of stabbing through his feet, they were destroyed by his armor.

Not a single one of the traps could hurt him.

Occasionally, iron doors would block his path, but even the thickest one was easy for him to blast through.

As long as he relied on the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, he was like the king of the labyrinth.

Of even more note, he could tell that the Lifeseizer up above was not using true energy to watch the labyrinth, but instead, had it focused elsewhere.

BOOOOOOOM!

After blasting through an iron door that weighed hundreds of thousands of pounds, he found a spray of poison heading toward him that his armor easily deflected.

In fact, when the poison landed back onto the ruined iron door, it sizzled and began to melt.

Yang Qi stepped through the remnants of the door, and found himself in an enormous chamber, filled with case after case of energy convergence pills.

From the look of things, there were at least a hundred million pills there.

'So many energy convergence pills! It's too bad my thumb-ring can't fit them all. The dimension inside is too small.' Suddenly, his eyes lit up. 'Wait a second. Wasn't that trident inside the ring absorbing the energy around it? Why don't I just pull it out and let it absorb the energy convergence pills here? Then, I can move on to another storehouse.'

Without any hesitation, he sent some true energy into the ring, grabbed the trident, and then pulled it out.

Instantly, the weapon began to vibrate in his hand.

Waving the trident through the air, he broke open one of the nearby cases, causing all the energy convergence pills inside to spill out. Then, he crushed the pills with his own true energy, transforming them into a medicinal mist that began to flow toward the trident.

The greedy trident instantly absorbed all the energy.

'This thing is going to turn into a daemon pretty soon….'

He could see the numerous meridian passageways forming inside the trident, gradually spreading out to fill its entire structure as it got more energy convergence pills.

If it eventually became a true spirit weapon, it would be even stronger than a Master of Energy.

"Humanoid True Energy!"

The summoned humanoid wielded the trident to smash more boxes and absorb the energy convergence pills therein.

At long last, it was truly being given a chance to eat its fill.

"I wonder how it will transform if it absorbs all of the energy convergence pills here?" Filled with anticipation, he sped onward to look for more treasure storerooms, leaving the trident behind to do its work.

And he did find them. In one chamber after another were heaps upon heaps of energy convergence pills. He went through over a hundred such rooms, where he also found an assortment of mostly mid-grade medicinal pills.

None of that was particularly enticing to him. Eventually, he reached a sprawling chamber where the floor, walls, and ceiling turned into white jade, inset with gold designs and rare crystals. Amidst the kiosks and pavilions that filled the area, mist swirled, and the ground pulsed with true energy.

That was when he caught sight of an enormous bottle gourd made of crystal, fully half as tall as an ordinary human. Filling the gourd were numerous golden medicinal pills, exactly the same type that he had discovered in the mansion grotto of that white ape back in the Blackcorpse Mountains.

"Oh wow! Golden Nine Transformations Pills!" These pills could be used to break through to the Master of Energy level, and were incredibly valuable.

From what he could tell, there were several hundred such pills there.

Delighted, he sucked the gourd directly into his thumb-ring.

'If I give Golden Nine Transformations Pills to Li He, Hua Yinhu, and He Jili, they'll all be able to reach the Master of Energy level. And then there's eldest brother and second brother. They could use them too…. I wonder what other treasures are around here.'

After looking around, he found a jade box filled with emerald green medicinal pills. Although he wasn't sure what they were made of, from the medicinal fluctuations coming off of them, he could tell they were high-grade pills that were in no way inferior to Golden Nine Transformations Pills.

He put the jade box into his thumb-ring, and then continued on to find dozens of other types of pills.

He was gaining so much on this adventure that he was feeling a bit numb.

Considering that a single Golden Nine Transformations Pill was worth millions of energy convergence pills, and that he had numerous other pills of equal or higher value, how much wealth did he have?

After more searching, he acquired even more medicinal pills, as well as demon cores, all of them from demonlings in the Master of Energy level.

In one location, he found a place where numerous demon cores cast scintillating light into the room.

Surprisingly, the demon cores were actually part of a mural.

It depicted a sage-like individual, with a shaved head and a , riding an enormous black tiger. The image itself radiated the aura of some ancient beast, something that would shock one to the core.

As for the sage, concentric halos floated at his back, radiating light that reached the furthest corner of the chamber.

There were at least ten thousand demon cores that made up the images of the halos, all of them at the Master of Energy level.

In order to create this mural, someone had to kill more than ten thousand high-level demonlings.

And yet, there was something else that was even more shocking to Yang Qi. The sage had a pearl in his hand, which he was about to feed to the tiger he was riding.

That pearl was so bright and lustrous that Yang Qi could tell it was the demon core from a demonling in the Lifeseizing level.

'Dear heavens! Someone killed a Lifeseizing level demonling, took its demon core, and then used it to make a mural? It also seems to be imbued with true energy…. Wait. This is a spell formation! This mural is actually a magical item? Too bad it's so big….'

Waving his hand, he sent some true energy into the mural, which to his surprise, came right off the wall.

The mural was almost like a rug, roughly five inches thick, and crafted, not from paper, but from what appeared to be the hide of some beast. The material used to paint the mural itself was apparently made from the powder of ground-up demon cores.

Yang Qi had no idea what this magical item did, but he decided to take it anyway, and sent it into his thumb-ring.

However, the instant it entered the ring, a voice suddenly echoed out from within it. "What audacious thief dares to steal my Sage-Devil Painting!? It took two hundred years of hard work to complete!"

As the voice spoke, a stream of true energy rushed down from above, piercing through the ceiling to strike at Yang Qi.

It was force like that of a mountain, hundreds of times beyond the Master of Energy level.

"Lifeseizer!"

Not only was Yang Qi not afraid of this true energy attack, but he was actually a bit excited. Now, he knew that the Sage-Devil Painting was obviously the most valuable treasure here.

"Hell-Crushing Godmammoth: Hellfire Crucible!"

Boundless true energy rushed out to block the attack, transforming into the illusory image of a crucible.

BOOOOOOOM!

A huge shock wave rolled out, destroying almost the entire room around him.

Yang Qi's energy and blood were cast into chaos, and his sea of energy felt completely unstable.

However, the attack stimulated the life force quintessence of the lightning mammoth, turning the pain into a relaxing, calm feeling.

"Trident!" he shouted, summoning his Humanoid True Energy back to him, along with the trident, which had absorbed who-knew-how-many energy convergence pills.

'Alright, I got plenty of treasure. I think this is enough. Time to go fight that Lifeseizer! I wonder how I'll do. If I can get the power of twenty ancient megamammoths, I'll finally be able to form my Hellfire Crucible….'

With that, he simply shot straight upward, blasting through earth and stone until he found himself in a palace hall.

This was the grand hall of Krorän's imperial palace, which now looked like hell on earth, as numerous pits had been hewn out, and were filled with blood and corpses.

The entire room reeked of gore.

However, what was most shocking wasn't the blood pools, but rather, a huge sphere of blood-red true energy that was in the middle of battling a sun-like convergence of sword light.

Every clash between the two of them destroyed parts of the surrounding palace.

No Master of Energy would dare to join a fight like this.

These were two Lifeseizers going all out in battle. As for the sun-like sword light, Yang Qi recognized it immediately; it was Chu Tiange's Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique.

While Yang Qi had been down below looting treasure, Chu Tiange had come to Krorän and found the ultimate leader of the hundreds of thousands of vampire brigands, the Lifeseizer Jing Wuxue.

'Where's Yun Hailan?' Yang Qi thought, looking around. 'Didn't she come?'

A moment later, he noticed a young woman in a blue garment, standing atop a high tower nearby.

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Chapter 69: Battling a Lifeseizer

Yun Hailan's blue garment seemed too thin for the coldness around her. As she stood there on the tall building, she looked impressive, and at the same time, dainty and lonely.

Virtually any man who saw her would feel their heart stirring, and would instinctively offer her both worship and love.

But Yang Qi just chuckled coldly in his heart.

'So, you're here in Krorän too, eh Yun Hailan?' He was surrounded by the swirling snow of the Four Seasons Swordplay, and was clad in his Infernal Deity Plate Armor, making him look like a devilghost yama king.

No one who saw him could possibly recognize him.

However, he was still a bit nervous. Considering how close he had been with Yun Hailan, and how intelligent she was, he still worried that she might somehow be able to identify him.

He was fully aware of the extent of her treachery and shrewdness; she was profoundly dangerous.

'Hmph! Even if she does suspect it's me, what good will that do her? Where would she get proof? Besides, a battle of wits and strength is exactly what I want. You're going to see exactly how powerful I am, Yun Hailan. You think you're a powerful Master of Energy? Wait till you see me! In fact, I hope you suspect it's me. That would be a wonderful blow to your self-confidence."

Mind spinning with ideas and plans, he burst into motion, radiating killing intent. As he moved, he unleashed a powerful attack with his right hand, releasing true energy that almost looked like lightning, which headed straight toward Yun Hailan.

This was the summer lightning from the Four Seasons Swordplay.

According to the rumors, that element was the most powerful aspect of the sword technique. Upon cultivating it to the fullest, it was possible to create lightning in the palm of one's hand. It was like the power of gods among men, like the wrath of a lightning deity that could slaughter all types of wretch-devils.

Although Yang Qi hadn't cultivated the technique to that level, his true energy was completely magnificent. As the various streams of true energy interacted, they created a rumbling sound like that of thunder, causing many of the buildings in the city to shake physically.

He was attacking like a thunderbolt, ready to kill his target!

He was actually very curious to see how Yun Hailan would deal with this attack.

Even if she blocked it, he had more moves lined up and ready to go. And his plan was actually to capture her, take her somewhere private, and then reveal his identity. That would be the ultimate humiliation for her.

When it came to matters of revenge, it was important to be able to hold one's head high in the presence of ridiculers.

BOOOOOOOM!

Yun Hailan almost instantly sensed the ghastly killing intent bearing down on her, and it caused her face to fill with shock and disbelief.

Looking over, she saw the swirling mass of snow heading in her direction, and could sense a terrifying aura in it, as well as rumbling like that of thunder. Although she was taken aback, a moment later, she recovered her composure. And yet, she didn't prepare to fight back; she was waiting to see what this person in the snowy wind would do.

She was the type of person who could keep calm even under extreme circumstances.

Yang Qi was not surprised by this. Maintaining complete focus, he continued with the attack, his aura growing unbelievably intense with every moment that passed.

He planned to use this one attack to cleanse the humiliation of the past, and restore his dignity. Because of that, he would not allow himself to be intimidated by Yun Hailan's calmness.

It was in that exact moment, right before he was about to strike Yun Hailan, that a thunderous voice filled the air.

"Freakish hellion!"

A blazing sun suddenly appeared right in front of Yun Hailan, to aid in her defense.

The Cosmic Sunflare Sword!

Whizz!

Sun-like sword light smashed into Yang Qi's summer lightning sword technique, causing a huge shock wave to ripple out in all directions, destroying much of the surroundings, and even causing gold to transform into ash.

The intense heat of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword then began to melt the ground.

Surprisingly, Chu Tiange had interfered to block Yang Qi's attack on Yun Hailan.

During the entire time, Yun Hailan hadn't even moved. Apparently, she had predicted that Chu Tiange would step in to help. This girl was absolutely unbelievable when it came to plots and schemes.

The blazing, sun-like sword light gradually faded away, revealing Chu Tiange, standing there on the building next to Yun Hailan. On another building, the blood energy also faded, revealing a middle-aged man in a blood-red cloak. Although he had no weapons in his hand, and not a single scrap of the aura of a vampire brigand, Yang Qi knew exactly who he was. He was the leader of the vampires here in Krorän, the Lifeseizer Jing Wuxue.

Yun Hailan and Chu Tiange were on one building.

Jing Wuxue was on another.

And Yang Qi was hovering in the air off to the side, still surrounded by swirling snow.

All three parties eyed each other.

"Who are you?" Jing Wuxue said to Yang Qi. "Were you the one who stole my Sage Devil Painting from my subterranean chamber? That was the Four Seasons Swordplay, just now, wasn't it. Are you from the House of Spring and Autumn?"

"That's right," Yang Qi replied, keeping his voice high pitched. "I have your Sage Devil Painting, allowing me to unleash my true power. It won't be long before the House of Spring and Autumn changes its name to the Spring and Autumn Institute, so consider this painting a gift of congratulations for that."

"Do you have a death wish?" Jing Wuxue growled.

"Friend," Yun Hailan said, "are you really from the House of Spring and Autumn? You're not working with this monster from the Blood Demon Grotto, are you? Why did you attack me just now? I haven't done anything to offend you."

"If I feel like attacking somebody, I attack them," Yang Qi replied coldly. "What's that got to do with you?" It was obvious that Yun Hailan was already probing for information, but he didn't care.

"Aren't you aware that doing such a thing could harm relations between the House of Spring and Autumn and the Demi-Immortal Institute? Or could it be that it's all an act? True, the Four Seasons Swordplay is a consummate discipline from the House of Spring and Autumn. But there are plenty of experts who have gotten their hands on it through underhanded methods. Tell me who you really are! And why are you trying to stir up trouble between the Demi-Immortal Institute and the House of Spring and Autumn?"

"You really know how to run your mouth," Yang Qi said, his killing intent surging. With that, he unleashed Silk Rain of the Spring Silkworm, causing masses of silk strands to fly toward Yun Hailan, accompanied by a blast of spring wind. Instantly, the bitter cold in the city turned a bit warmer, as though spring were coming.

On the outskirts of Krorän, some of the students from the Gentlemen's Society looked up, and could sense the feeling of spring.

"What's that? A spring wind?"

"What incredible energy arts. Has another Lifeseizer appeared?"

When Chu Tiange saw the incoming Silk Rain of the Spring Silkworm and its masses of silk strands capable of piercing metal armor, his eyes glittered brightly with killing intent.

"Evil creature!" Activating his defensive true energy, he drew his sword from his back and ran his finger along the flat of the blade. Ten burning suns of sword energy appeared, enigmatic to the extreme as they shot toward the Silk Rain of the Spring Silkworm. One by one, the strands of silk snapped; with one move, Chu Tiange completely vanquished Yang Qi's energy art.

That brief interchange was all Chu Tiange needed to tell that Yang Qi wasn't in the Lifeseizing level.

"So, you're not actually in the Lifeseizing level. You used some spirit medicine to power up, or perhaps you cultivate some strange devil technique. Either way, I'm warning you. No matter how strong a Master of Energy might be, they can never be a match for a Lifeseizer."

After all, breaking through to the Lifeseizing level involved a drastic transformation of true energy. Starting at that level, attacks would contain the spirit energy of heaven and earth.

Yang Qi was strong, but no matter how much power he drew on, his moves could not combine with heaven and earth.

Now that Chu Tiange had a better idea of Yang Qi's level, he looked at him with a sneer.

"You seem to think you're pretty powerful, you little punk. But it turns out you're nothing but trash. You're no Lifeseizer. For that arrogance, you will die!" Brandishing his sword, he said, "Ten Suns Ascend to Heaven; Guide You to an Early Death!"

Ten blazing suns of sword energy shot toward Yang, sharp and hot to the extreme, an energy art that was virtually beyond mortal comprehension.

"Be broken!" Yang Qi said, clearly not the least bit frightened. Suddenly, the Infernal Deity Spear appeared in his hand, with its infinite variations. Without a moment's pause, he leaped toward the ten suns.

Laughing coldly, Chu Tiange yelled, "Fool! Cosmic Sunflare; Meridian Immolation!"

The ten burning suns suddenly exploded, sending light shooting into the Infernal Deity Spear, and through it toward Yang Qi.

'Now's my chance!'

Spinning through the air, Yang Qi intentionally sucked all of the burning, golden fire into him.

His Infernal Deity Plate Armor could have protected him from the attack. But he wanted to absorb the sword light of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword. The attack of a powerful Lifeseizer was nothing to take lightly, but he needed something to stimulate the lightning mammoth.

Yang Qi was essentially using the sword light of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword and converting it into a power-up for himself. It was almost like having someone in the Lifeseizing level intentionally helping him improve his cultivation base.

Intense golden fire streamed through him, so hot and painful that it felt like his meridians were being destroyed. But Yang Qi was like an ancient, wild beast. Taking a breath, he sent the burning sword energy into his sea of energy, and toward the lightning mammoth.

Instantly, the lightning mammoth's life force quintessence went to work, and after three breaths of time passed, all of the sword light had been converted, and his meridians grew stronger.

Multiple particles within him were waking up.

One ancient megamammoth after another was making him grow stronger and stronger.

1. In "real life" Yama is a . In Chinese fantasy stories, his name tends to get used to describe a type of death god in general. There is nothing inherent to the term that would carry any specific meaning. For all intents and purposes, it's like saying "a devil from hell".

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Chapter 70: The Power of Twenty Megamammoths

Five particles within Yang Qi all opened up.

That meant that he now had the power of twenty ancient megamammoths coursing through him, more strength than many people in the Lifeseizing level.

At the very least, he definitely surpassed Chu Tiange.

However, it was a transformation that used all of the life force quintessence he had at his disposal. From now on, his cultivation would progress at a much slower pace.

Regardless, his rapid progress meant that he was now closer than ever to the Lifeseizing level.

Cracking sounds rang out within him as massive amounts of true energy began to gather in his sea of energy, glowing like magma.

And in the middle of it all was something that looked almost like a crucible.

His Hellfire Crucible was growing rapidly, and was already beginning to gain control of his sea of energy.

At the same time, his senses and consciousness were growing much more acute.

In fact, because of that, he now realized that there was something profoundly terrifying in Yun Hailan's sea of energy, something beastly, like that of a god amongst animals.

'What's hiding in Yun Hailan? It's so terrifying! She's even more mysterious than I realized. What I knew about her before was just a drop of water in the ocean…. It doesn't matter though. I have to kill her. Not even Chu Tiange can stop me!'

As he floated there in midair, Yang Qi flexed his muscles, causing thunderous cracking noises to echo out into the air. The different forces of energy inside him cause a force field to spring up around him, making the air ripple, and sending out powerful fluctuations.

Moments ago, Jing Wuxue had been preparing to launch an attack from his position atop the building. However, when he realized Yang Qi was powering up, and that there was a force field rippling around him, he began to back up. 'What a massive aura! What is that? My Blood Emperor devil energy seems like it wants to explode out of me to offer obeisance! This guy's true energy seems like that of an otherworldly devil-god that can dominate all creation, and force all types of demon-devils to heed its commands. What energy art is it? Don't tell me it's a fabled imperial-class energy art! I cultivate the Devil Sutra of the Blood Emperor, which was once an imperial-class art. Unfortunately, my version is far removed from the original, and is only royal-class.'

At this point, he decided that the best thing would be to wait patiently and watch how the situation developed.

Laughing loudly, he said, "I don't want to get involved in a conflict between the House of Spring and Autumn and the Demi-Immortal Institute. Chu Tiange, you fight it out with this guy first, and then we can continue our duel."

With that, he flew up into the air to avoid the fluctuations of Yang Qi's power-up.

"Horrid monster!" Chu Tiange cursed. Moments ago, when he realized that Yang Qi wasn't in the Lifeseizing level, he had unleashed Ten Suns Ascend to Heaven, a consummate move that he had assumed would be instantly fatal.

However, his true energy hadn't even been able to damage his opponent's body, and had been completely useless. In fact, his opponent then went on to unleash shocking energy.

In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi's force field had covered almost the entire imperial palace. At that point, he dispelled the swirling snow around him, ceasing to use the Four Seasons Swordplay and instead fully drawing on the invincible Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

The aura caused Chu Tiange's face to turn very serious. Now, he could see a black-armored figure, tall, with long horns on his head, and vicious spikes protruding from his back. All of a sudden, he had the feeling that he might not be able to win this fight.

'What happened? What technique is this? It's actually intimidating me on the level of my soul? I cultivate the Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique, the key to which is to treat the world like a brightly shining sun. There is nothing more domineering than the burning sun shining down on the lands below! How could I possibly be intimidated by something like this? Ah, whatever. I'll just kill him. That should solve the problem. It will probably be a big help to my cultivation too.'

Chu Tiange was a consummate expert, an elite student of the Demi-Immortal Institute. Therefore, he simply blurred into motion, a streak of afterimages that smashed through the force field and headed straight toward Yang Qi, sword outstretched.

That sword seemed as unstoppable as if it were being wielded by a god.

Bam!

Yang Qi's Infernal Deity Spear shot forth with supernatural speed and focus, heading directly toward the tip of the sword.

"Leaping Flames; Burning Sun!" Chu Tiange said, a vicious smile playing out on his face. Keeping his grip on his sword with one hand, he stretched his other hand out in a palm, within which was a burning, sun-like flame. Suddenly, an enormous flame giant leaped out from the flames, radiating such intense heat that all the coldness in the area vanished, and the stone ground even began to melt.

WHAM!

The palm struck the Infernal Deity Spear with such intense heat that the spear's true energy ignited. In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi's spear transformed into nothing but fire.

Back on the building, Yun Hailan watched with icy calm, apparently not worried about the possibility of Jing Wuxue attacking her while Chu Tiange and Yang Qi fought.

"Listen punk, my Cosmic Sunflare Sword is designed to ignite true energy. Enjoy it while you can!"

"I'd rather not. Frigid Ice Hell." Yang Qi's echoing voice was so cold it seemed capable of freezing everything for tens of thousands of miles. As it swept out, the flames in the area were extinguished one after another.

Swish!

The Infernal Deity Spear swept directly toward Chu Tiange's throat.

Chu Tiange shot backward, a look of shock on his face as he switched sword stances. Suddenly, his sword erupted into flames which took the shape of a fire dragon.

"Fire Dragon Belches Pearls!"

He was pushing his Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique to the limits of its capabilities. His fire dragon sword clashed with the Infernal Deity Spear over a hundred times, until the sword began to hum. Then, he sent a fist-sized fireball out, which exploded right in front of Yang Qi.

BOOOOOOOM!

The entire area instantly transformed into a sea of flames.

However, Yang Qi was completely unaffected. The true energy of his spear was like that of the Frigid Ice Hell, and as he swept it out in front of him, a wind rose up that sucked the fire completely away.

As the sea of flames vanished, his spear suddenly extended in length. It was like a pillar that could support the heavens, or an infernal deity from the distant past. It was something capable of slaughtering devils or demons or ghosts from the deepest hells. Suddenly, a godmammoth appeared behind him, its trunk capable of absorbing stars and moons, its four limbs ready to crush hells.

"The boundless netherworld is filled with dancing devil-gods. Summon the dismal souls into the pitch black of hell…."

As his true energy swirled, a sound filled the air like a song from the Nine Serenities underworld, summoning countless souls to it.

All of a sudden, it almost seemed like the world had been turned into hell itself.

The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth almost seemed to open the gates of hell itself, unleashing millions and millions of devil-gods, all of them thirsting to control the universe and eradicate the world of man.

"Die!" Yang Qi said, thrusting his spear out in the direction of Chu Tiange.

With him dead, Yun Hailan would have no one to protect her any longer!

"The sunlight bathes all things, sweeping through the universe! The brightness of the boundless blazing sun can ignite heaven and earth! DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" Chu Tiange's sword exploded, transforming into innumerable fragments that began to glow as bright as suns. At the same time, his energy surged upward, like a pillar of fire rising into the sky; behind him, a golden-yellow god-spirit appeared, shining brightly, a massive sword held in its hand.

It was as if Chu Tiange had actually summoned the god-spirit who resided in the sun!

"Humanoid True Energy, Lifeseizing Nascent Divinity. The quintessence of the sun, an invincible out-of-body incarnation that can slaughter everything in its path. As long-lived as heaven and earth!" Letting out a shout, Chu Tiange attacked again, his movement mirrored by the flame god-spirit, which slashed its sword toward the Infernal Deity Spear.

Two divine weapons battered against each other more than a hundred times, until swirling black smoke filled the area. Finally, Chu Tiange shouted, "You just wait, you freakish hellion! I'll get you eventually!"

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, he transformed into a column of fire that shot up to Yun Hailan, grabbed her, and then vanished.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi tumbled out of the sky, landing hard on the ground, his true energy in chaos, his meridians twisting and distorting. He was injured, but deep down, was actually very happy. He had fought a Lifeseizer, and even forced him to retreat. Although he hadn't been able to kill him, he had injured him significantly.

And he had confirmed that he himself was as strong as a Lifeseizer.

If he actually broke through to the Lifeseizing level, he would definitely be able to cut down Chu Tiange with ease.

At long last, Jing Wuxue saw the chance he had been waiting for. Dropping down to the ground, he pulled out a long, blood-colored whip and said, "Hand over my Sage Devil Painting, brat, and I'll let you live!"

This Bloodshadow Godwhip caused the reek of blood to fill the area; it was at least a hundred times more powerful than the version used by the red-furred vampire Yang Qi had fought earlier.

"That's pretty presumptuous of you, Jing Wuxue," Yang Qi replied. "I'll take a rain check on sharing fighting tips with you. Just wait till I make another breakthrough. Then, you'll be dead." Jing Wuxue lashed out with his whip, but Yang Qi's spear shattered it. After that, Yang Qi leaped into the air, two enormous wings sprouting out of his back. With a gust of wind, he burst into motion, vanishing as sure as a divine crane flying into the highest heavens.

Jing Wuxue was inclined to give chase; obviously, his opponent's true energy must have been significantly drained after his fight with Chu Tiange. Now would be the perfect time to try to kill him. But Yang Qi was capable of such speed that Jing Wuxue knew he could do nothing more than eat the dust he left behind in his tracks.

'What are those wings?' he thought, shocked. 'And what energy art is that? I'm not even close to being that fast….'

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Chapter 71: Everyone Levels Up

Fierce fighting raged throughout the ancient city of Krorän.

An army of students from the Demi-Immortal Institute had breached the city walls, and were cutting down countless vampire brigands.

In numerous locations, it was possible to see people fusing their energy with the clouds as they reached the ninth phase and became Masters of Energy.

As for the vampires, they were meeting defeat left and right.

The forces from the Demi-Immortal Institute were simply too numerous. Furthermore, as a whole, they were not fighting chaotically; they were organized into ranks and teams, all of whom worked together, joining their true energy, making it as easy for them to kill the vampires as it would be to chop melons.

After all, the vampire brigands were essentially an unruly mob; how could they possibly deal with the best of the best from the Demi-Immortal Institute, the top organization in the lands, whose mere freshman students were in the eighth phase, and whose inner campus students were ninth phase experts?

Amongst the vampire brigands, Masters of Energy were rather rare.

"More and more students from our institute are arriving by the moment. Look guys! That's the Five Lightnings Society, and the Divine Ability Society…. Everybody's showing up. I wonder how Yang Qi is doing."

Li He and the others had just finished killing their one hundredth vampire, and were now taking a rest.

"I dunno," Liang Dong replied. "I saw some powerful energy fluctuations coming from the city center just now. I wonder if Chu Tiange is fighting with Jing Wuxue. Hua Yinhu, He Jili, Li He. How long is it going to take you to reach the Master of Energy level?"

"My energy is pulsing," Li He replied. "I'd say that after this fight is over, and we get back to the institute, I should have enough merit points to buy the spirit pills I need to achieve my breakthrough. Then we can all become outer campus students, and start recruiting people to join us. We can really start to make a name for ourselves."

"There are tons of societies, though," Hua Yinhu said, sighing. "Standing out from the crowd will be easier said than done. The struggles within the institute can be even more fierce and deadly than those in the Sage Ancestor Dynasty as a whole. There, certain rules have to be followed, so enemies usually don't actually kill each other. But if you make the slightest mistake in the institute, you can end up dead. The Crown Prince Society, Divine Ability Society, Five Lightnings Society and Gentlemen's Society… they don't ever show mercy."

"We're fine. Just keep a low profile and don't let anyone on to what we're doing. As long as we don't make a big fuss, no one will know. After all, there are just too many students in the institute for people to keep an eye on everyone."

As they discussed the matter, they suddenly heard a voice behind them. "It wouldn't be good to reveal ourselves now. Just keep improving yourselves, and do your best to bring in talented people to join us naturally. Once I reach the Lifeseizing level, we can officially announce the founding of the Sage Monarch Society."

"Brother Yang Qi!"

Everyone turned to see Yang Qi standing there with two huge bottle gourds in his hands, both of which radiated a strong medicinal aroma.

Then, he produced three medicinal pills that shone with golden light. The group recognized them immediately. "Golden Nine Transformations Pills?!"

"That's right. I wasn't able to bring much loot from the treasure-houses with me, so I tried to choose only the best things. This gourd is full them, plus some sort of violet pill that I'm unfamiliar with. You guys take a look. In any case, one Golden Nine Transformations Pill should be all the three of you need to become Masters of Energy."

Next, Yang Qi pulled out a violet-gold pill the size of a longan fruit.

"Violet-Golden Meridian-Strengthening Pill!" Li He exclaimed. "Those are even more valuable than Golden Nine Transformations Pills. They're made by combining ten-thousand-year-old violet-gold with thousand-year-old violet magical mushrooms, plus a whole bunch of other spirit medicines. It takes fully twenty years of concocting time to finish them. Even one of those pills is as valuable as an entire city! Eat it, and you can strengthen your foundation and consolidate your vitality. It will add a bit of preheaven essence into your sea of energy, which if you cultivate, will significantly improve the state of your meridians. That's why they're called Violet-Golden Meridian-Strengthening Pills. If you sold them at market, they would fetch an astronomical price. Brother Yang Qi, it looks to me like there must be hundreds of pills in that bottle gourd. We're rich! Terrifyingly rich!"

"You got that right," Yang Qi said. Of course, he didn't reveal that in his thumb-ring of holding, he had dozens upon dozens of collections of other pills just like those.

Unfortunately, he didn't quite know what all the pills were. They were obviously beyond the level that mere Demi-Immortal Institute freshman students would know about.

"Let's find a quiet place where I can help you use the Golden Nine Transformations Pills, and then the Violet-Golden Meridian-Strengthening Pills. Let's strengthen your meridians, and get you into the Master of Energy level. Then we can all become outer campus students."

With that, he handed out the pills. As for Liang Dong, he was already a Master of Energy, but Yang Qi gave him a pill anyway as a reward.

Taking one last look at the flames of war flickering within Krorän, they turned and left. Eventually, they found a distant mountain valley that was perfect for their needs. Sitting down cross-legged, they circulated their true energy and then consumed the pills.

The process took six hours. By that point, it was day again, and had stopped snowing, ensuring that bright sunlight filled the lands.

Yang Qi opened his eyes, to be followed moments later by Li He, He Jili and finally, Hua Yinhu. Energy soared into the sky from the latter three, accompanied by intense rumbling sounds. Nearby snow fowl, snow rabbits, snow foxes, snow apes, as well as powerful demonlings, all recognized the Master of Energy auras, and fled.

They were now all Masters of Energy, and not ordinary ones by any means.

"Excellent," He Jili said. "We can hold our heads high now as Masters of Energy, and our positions in our clans will now improve significantly."

All three of them had eyes brimming with tears of excitement. They came from powerful and important clans, but up to this point, their cultivation bases had been insufficient. But now that they were Masters of Energy, they would become outer campus students of the Demi-Immortal Institute, and would have completely different positions within their clans, with access to many more resources than before.

And of course, they all knew that it was because of their good brother Yang Qi. Without him, it would likely have taken another ten years for them to get their breakthrough.

And how many decades did one have to work with in life?

"Brother Yang," Hua Yinhu said, "we won't waste time with words of thanks. You're the leader of the Sage Monarch Society, so we'll climb mountains of daggers and swim through seas of flames to follow your orders, and not even bat an eye while doing so. Our place in our clans will be different now, so if you need help for your own clan, just say the word. Once I join the outer campus, I'll send word back to my family. Soon, I'll be able to call upon ten Masters of Energy to help me with whatever I need."

"What? They'll send you ten Masters of Energy?" Although Yang Qi was shocked, he quickly smoothed out his face. "Well, let's get out of this land of ice and snow. Once we're back at the institute, we can turn in our blood demon cores for merit points, and then get those promotions to outer campus student."

Continuing to chat, they sped away through the snow.

Yang Qi was in a wonderful mood.

But in sharp contrast was Chu Tiange, who was in another part of the northwest, fuming with anger.

'Who would have thought that that punk would mess up my plan to kill Jing Wuxue….'

Currently, he was sending sword energy out as if to connect with the winter sun itself. Gradually, the sunlight gathered together and then descended as golden rays into him.

Earlier, his sword had exploded, and now he was forming it back together.

His Cosmic Sunflare Sword was similar to the Infernal Deity Spear in that it was a manifestation of the technique he cultivated. It collected the quintessence of the sun and the spirit energy of the cosmos to fuse with true energy and create a divine weapon.

Off to the side, Yun Hailan said, "There's no need to be so angry, Elder Brother. Although, I was hoping you would kill him and reveal his identity. What energy art does he cultivate? It seems to surpass the royal-class, so I'd say that, at the very least, it's an imperial-class art. There was something very familiar about him. With enough time in his presence, I could probably deduce his identity."

"What? He seemed familiar to you?" Chu Tiange looked over his shoulder at her. "Don't tell me he's some expert from the Sea God Institute."

"I have no idea," she said thoughtfully. "However, it won't be too long before the truth comes to light. Whoever he was, he seemed to have something against me. After all, he attacked me first, and with killing intent. Seems he hates me and wants me dead. And since he failed, he'll surely try again."

"Well, he's terrifying, I can tell you that," Chu Tiange replied. "He's definitely not a Lifeseizer, and yet, is as powerful as one. If word got out about that, it would cause a huge stir." He smiled viciously. "However, considering he picked a fight with me, he's signed his own death warrant. You're right, Hailan. His incredible strength must come from whatever energy art he cultivates, probably an imperial-class. In fact, it could even be a fabled saintly-class art."

"Saintly-class energy art?!" Yun Hailan was visibly shocked.

"That's right. An energy art that can surpass the mortal and enter the saintly, a consummate discipline passed down from a Great Sage of ancient times. If I could get my hands on it…."

"Well, that shouldn't be hard," Yun Hailan said, her eyes flashing. "He wants to kill me, so he'll show up again eventually. How about this, Elder Brother Tiange: You find some top experts and then set up an inescapable trap to capture him and force him to reveal the details of that energy art. This is the perfect opportunity for us. If it works, then we might have a chance to surpass the mortal and enter the saintly."

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Chapter 72: Returning to the Institute

The more Chu Tiange thought about the plan Yun Hailan had just come up with, the more excited he got.

If he could get that person's cultivation technique, then before long, he would be just as powerful as the conclave students in the institute.

Although elite students were like nobility, to truly be first-class, one needed to become a conclave student, or even better, a holy neophyte.

Those were positions of true power, in which one could have access to all the resources in the institute, including the ability to gain thousands of years of longevity, and essentially never die.

Chu Tiange couldn't help but be envious of such people. If he could somehow get the secret to an imperial-class energy art, then he could rise to higher levels within mere decades.

And if it was a saintly-class art, the results would come even more quickly. He would definitely advance by leaps and bounds, and would be viewed as a genius.

That would be glory far beyond anything an elite student could even imagine.

Of course, Yun Hailan was thinking similar thoughts.

'Just who exactly is he? Not even Chu Tiange realized he was there. He burst out from under the ground, which is where most of the treasure storehouses were. He must have really struck it rich there, plus he also got Jing Wuxue's Sage Devil Painting…. Clearly, he hates me with a passion. Wait, don't tell me he's….' All of a sudden, her thoughts came to focus on one particular person.

Finally, though, she shook her head. 'Impossible. I played that puny silkpants like a violin. There's no way he could have energy arts or a cultivation base like that, right? Besides, when he trounced Song Haishan, he was clearly in the eighth phase and the man from last night was a Master of Energy. The difference between the two is almost too vast to quantify. It seems I need to achieve my next breakthrough as quickly as possible. After I get back, I'll go into seclusion and try to reach the Lifeseizing level…."

"Let's go, Elder Brother," she said. "Considering Jing Wuxue escaped with his life, I guess I don't owe you any favors after all. I wonder who will end up taking him out. The Gentlemen's Society is here, perhaps they'll do it. Jing Wuxue isn't superhuman; he'll definitely meet his end eventually."

"I couldn't care less," Chu Tiange said, looking more than a bit irritated.

Suddenly, his expression flickered, and he looked over to see several beams of light approaching from the horizon. Considering how vigorous they were, it was obvious these newcomers weren't Masters of Energy, but rather Lifeseizers.

"More Lifeseizers?" he murmured, shocked. However, his expression quickly calmed as he realized that the newcomers were students from the Demi-Immortal Institute.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh…!

The beams of light approached, and soon three individuals touched down near them. All of them were elite students just like Chu Tiange.

Two were male, and one was female.

"Long Tai, Ying Ling, Luo Tian," he said by way of greeting. "Experts from the Gentlemen's Society, the Divine Ability Society, and the Five Lightnings Society. What are you doing working together?"

"Infighting is best avoided when dealing with enemies of the institute," the young woman said. Looking Yun Hailan up and down, she said, "Are you the genius they say has sea god blood in your veins? Yun Hailan?"

"Yes, ma'am, that's me." Yun Hailan bowed formally. "Is there some matter you wish to discuss with me, Elder Sister, Elder Brothers?"

The three elite students exchanged glances, and then the young woman said, "Not really. We're just following orders. Here, this is for you."

With that, she tossed a fist-sized, blood-colored demon core over to Yun Hailan.

The odor of blood that the core emanated was shocking to the extreme.

"A Lifeseizer blood demon core!?" Chu Tiange blurted. "Don't tell me…."

"Yes. The three of us ambushed Jing Wuxue, killed him, and extracted his blood demon core. As for why we're giving it to Junior Sister Yun Hailan, you don't need to waste time trying to guess. The Crown Prince ordered it. Although we're not members of the Crown Prince Society, we respect him to the ultimate degree, so it's only natural that we would follow his orders. Junior Sister Yun Hailan, if you happen to see the Crown Prince again, we hope you can put in a good word for us. We would be eternally grateful."

Yun Hailan put the blood demon core away. Expression not changing in the slightest, she said, "Of course I will. Many thanks to you, Elder Sister and Elder Brothers."

Chu Tiange could not have been more shocked by what was happening.

He had assumed that the mysterious and enigmatic Crown Prince had only shown a passing interest in Yun Hailan. But now, it was obvious their relationship went beyond that. Apparently, the Crown Prince had personally spread word that whoever killed Jing Wuxue in the siege of Krorän was to deliver his blood demon core to Yun Hailan. Clearly, his interest in her was beyond passing.

'Who exactly is this Yun Hailan? Why is he interested in her?' Chu Tiange quickly suppressed his feelings. Although he was somewhat of a prodigy when it came to skill and strategy, he was like the earth, and the Crown Prince was the heavens. If he said one wrong thing, he would definitely end up crushed into nothing.

"Why don't you let us escort you back to the institute, Junior Sister?" one of the other elite students said. "If something bad happened to you, the Crown Prince would be furious."

"Thanks for the trouble," Yun Hailan replied, remaining as calm and cool as ever as she flew up into the air to join them. "Oh, by the way, could you three possibly do me a favor?"

"Name it," replied Long Tai.

"There's a certain freshman student named Yang Qi. He's Yang Susu's nephew, and just joined the Demi-Immortal Institute. Could you find out what he does on a daily basis? If so, I'll definitely put in a good word for you with the Crown Prince."

"A freshman student?" The three elite students exchanged glances, then broke out into smiles. "No problem. Let us handle it. You'll soon know every aspect of his schedule, even his bedtime. We can get all that information through our eyes and ears in the Demi-Immortal Institute."

"Very well, let's be off then," Yun Hailan said. "I need to get into secluded meditation as soon as possible to break into the Lifeseizing level."

Feeling very pleased with herself, she flew away with the group.

Normally, Masters of Energy weren't capable of long-term sustained flight, but with the mysterious power of the dragonpearl she possessed, she was nearly on the same level as a Lifeseizer in that regard.

After a day and a night of travel, Yang Qi was out of the snowy northwest, and back in the Demi-Immortal Institute.

Although he had failed to kill Jing Wuxue, the society he and his friends had created profited significantly.

Besides, killing Jing Wuxue would have brought too much attention. If word leaked, how could he explain how a mere freshman student had killed a Lifeseizer? How could something like that even be possible? It would definitely bring too much attention.

Instead, he had secretly acquired plenty of valuable loot, while his team had acquired a good collection of demon cores, and also become Masters of Energy.

As soon as they arrived, they took inventory, and found that they had killed twenty-three vampire brigand in the Master of Energy level. In terms of seventh and eighth phase brigands, they had hundreds.

If they turned all of that in, they would each get hundreds of merit points.

And merit points were the only way to become outer campus students.

Outer campus students had completely different lives than freshmen students. They could go anywhere they wanted in the institute, and also had access to the Scripture Pavilion, where there were plenty of martial disciplines, ancient records, and the like. Furthermore, they would have the chance to learn directly from Lifeseizers.

After resting up a bit, the group of five headed to an ancient stone temple deep in the institute.

The name of the stone palace was written in huge letters above the entrance: Hall of Achievements and Virtue.

This was the location where students could turn in valuable objects in exchange for merit points. Many years ago, the merit point system in the Demi-Immortal Institute had been called the achievement and virtue system. However, later, when other institutes rose up, people began to criticize the Demi-Immortal Institute for using terms that were too pretentious and dramatic. Therefore, it was changed to the merit point system.

And yet, they had not altered the name of the palace hall itself.

Yang Qi looked at the name of the palace, and couldn't help but feel that the words achievement and virtue seemed particularly appropriate. It was as if they represented law and order, and thus, respect.

Inside the hall, an old man sat on duty. He held a scroll in his hands, which he was currently studying, and considering that his aura surpassed that of a Master of Energy, he was obviously a Lifeseizer.

Li He stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and said, "Professor, we're here to turn in the blood demon cores from our mission earlier."

"Oh?" the old man said. He looked up. "Very well, hand them over. Freshman students, eh? Seems you all just became Masters of Energy. Presumably you want to be promoted to the Outer Campus, correct?"

"You're right, Professor. That's exactly why we're here."

With that, they all began to hand over the blood demon cores they had acquired.

When the old man saw how many Master of Energy demon cores they had, his eyebrows rose. "You actually killed this many vampire brigands? Seems you five have some skill. This many demon cores are worth about six hundred merit points. You can split it between yourselves."

With that, the old man waved his hand, and a jade plaque flew out which Yang Qi reached out and grabbed. Inside were roughly six hundred shining dots that indicated how many merit points were inside.

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Chapter 73: Outer Campus Students

'Being an outer campus student is completely different from being a freshman student,' Yang Qi mused. 'Look at these accommodations. A soaring tower with a view of endless clouds and bodies of water. Simply wonderful.'

The building he was in was fully thirty-six stories tall, each story thirty meters from top to bottom. It was truly an imposing structure.

This was where the outer campus students lived. The rooms were far larger than those of the freshman students, and currently, Yang Qi was sitting next to a window, looking at the beautiful winter scenery outside.

After paying his merit points and taking a test provided by the school to prove that he was a Master of Energy, he got his promotion. He was now an outer campus student with his own spectacular accommodations, a virtual mansion grotto.

His four friends had similar rooms, and were currently there organizing their things.

The windows were made of pure crystal, with an inlaid screen that protected against the coldest of winds, but let in all of the light.

His accommodations were roughly six thousand square meters, and contained everything he could possibly need. It had a pill furnace, the requisite flame to power it, a bed made of jade, and all sorts of other things that were required for cultivating energy arts.

The walls were made of some unknown gold-like metal, and were decorated with millions of complex decorative patterns that actually formed a spell formation.

That formation could absorb the quintessence of the sun and moon, and the spirit energy of heaven and earth, which made practicing cultivation twice as productive.

This was the most important aspect to the accommodations, and was a special remuneration from the sect to outer campus students.

The Demi-Immortal Institute had millions of freshman students, but when it came to the outer campus students, there was one-tenth that number. And of course, there were even fewer inner campus students.

Being promoted from freshman student to the Outer Campus was a major upgrade.

Freshman students were assigned all sorts of random tasks and jobs. Some of them even were sent to mines outside of the school to do hard labor. But not outer campus students. Not only did they not have to work, they were actually paid to do nothing.

A perfect example was the formation of spirit convergence that was built into the accommodations.

Such formations could only be set up by powerful Lifeseizers, and those who practiced cultivation in one would receive constant tempering from the formation itself. The spirit energy of heaven and earth would continuously enter their pores to strengthen their meridians and replenish their sea of energy. All-in-all, it made cultivation vastly more effective.

Back when he lived in Yanhaven, Yang Qi couldn't even have imagined that such things existed.

Compared to the Demi-Immortal Institute, Yanhaven was essentially a slum.

It wasn't a case of people there rarely using spell formations for cultivation; no, it was a situation of no one having ever seen a spell formation before.

In fact, Yang Qi was shocked to discover that when he left his room, he could sense that the air outside was heterogeneous and full of filth. In contrast, the air in his room was pure and refreshing. It made him feel like he was an immortal of sorts, and caused his true energy to flow even faster through his body.

Yang Qi also spent time memorizing the decorative designs that made up the spell formation. That way, when he reached the Lifeseizing level, he could theoretically return to the Yang Clan and set up a similar formation. That would ensure that his father and brothers would be able to advance in their cultivation much more quickly.

A spell formation like that could help people reach the fifth phase of energy arts in only a few years, as opposed to the dozens of years it would normally take.

Suddenly, Yang Qi heard someone knocking at the door. Waving his hand, he opened it.

"Brother Yang Qi, can you believe these formations of spirit convergence?!"

Li He and the others entered, looking completely proud and elated.

Yang Qi beckoned for them to enter. "I heard that inner campus students have formations of vital convergence that are supposed to accelerate your cultivation even more. I wonder what they're like. Well, I guess we have to start saving up more merit points so that we can become inner campus students."

As of now, he truly was the leader of their little team, and they respected his word over all else.

"We'll need to perform a lot of meritorious service to become inner campus students," Li He said. "Instead of saving up merit points, why don't we focus on cultivation? If Brother Yang Qi can reach the Lifeseizing level, then he'll become an elite student without having to pay a single merit point. Only the students who have absolutely no hope of reaching the Lifeseizing level will actually spend the merit points to get a promotion."

"That's right," Liang Dong said. "Once you reach the Lifeseizing level, you become very important to the institute. Brother Yang, it's all thanks to you that we're Masters of Energy. Considering we're finally outer campus students, I think it's time for us to go home and visit our fathers. At long last we'll officially get higher positions there, and access to greater resources. Before leaving, we wanted to check with you to see if you had any instructions for us while we're gone. For example, what about the situation with your clan? As far as I'm concerned, the Yang Clan is family now, and your father is my father. I swear that we will live together and die together, and share both glory and misfortune."

"Actually, I just did some checking, Brother Yang," Hua Yinhu said. "The fifty-thousand kilometer area that contains Yanhaven is fully engulfed in the flames of war. The main threat is the Seafolk, and to tell you the truth, the Yang Clan is in grave danger."

"Really?" Yang Qi said. "Do you have any suggestion about what to do, Brothers? I know my clan is weak. If the Seafolk attack them, what should they do?" He was fairly certain that Li He would have a good idea in this regard.

"You don't even need to worry about it," Li He said, sounding very matter-of-fact. "The four of us already talked the matter over. It will only take us a day to get back home. Once there, we can take advantage of our new positions to have some Masters of Energy sent to Yanhaven. It should only take three days. They should be able to keep the Yang Clan safe in the future. And if any significant trouble comes along, they can help the clan fall back. Considering we have our respective clans' power at our disposal, your situation should be very easy to handle. The only caveat, Brother Yang Qi, is that you need to give our men something they can use to prove they're allies."

"Very well," Yang Qi said, delighted. "I'll entrust the matter of my clan to you. Here are ten Golden Nine Transformations Pills and ten Violet-Golden Meridian-Strengthening Pills. Send those along to give to my father and my brothers. Whatever's left over can be distributed to loyal members of the clan."

"Of course. Well, I'd say it will be about a month before we return with some good news, although who knows, it could be ten days."

After discussing some more of the finer details, the group split up.

Once alone again, Yang Qi nodded in satisfaction. After their mission to deal with the vampire brigands, and the alliance they had formed, he had finally come up with a good way to help his clan.

Now, the main thing he had to do was focus on his cultivation, and hopefully break through to the Lifeseizing level.

Sitting down cross-legged in the middle of his room, he began to perform breathing exercises. Almost immediately, his true energy began to flow, and his meridians grew stronger. His bones and muscles were cleansed, and his sea of energy erupted like a volcano, causing rumbling sounds to fill his body.

Although massive levels of power were being unleashed, there was no longer any lightning mammoth in his sea of energy, and thus, he had no way to produce life force quintessence.

With that, he immersed himself in the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, causing his room to vanish from his senses. Instead, he saw eight hundred forty million star-like particles, almost like a galaxy that resembled a godmammoth. Unfortunately, those countless stars also pulsed with an aura of death, with the exception of twenty that shone brightly. Those were the twenty ancient megamammoths that he had already woken up.

Compared to that entire godmammoth galaxy, twenty stars were almost like nothing.

Yang Qi knew that if he actually woke up all eight hundred forty million particles, he would be just as powerful as a god-spirit. In fact, he himself would be a god.

'Life force quintessence. Wake up that twenty-first particle!'

Clearing his thoughts, he sent his true energy thrumming through his body in an attempt to create life force quintessence.

Unfortunately, what he was capable of creating didn't even cause the particle to stir, much less wake up.

His cultivation was proceeding completely differently than before. He was really stuck in a bottleneck.

He sighed. 'With that lightning mammoth gone, my cultivation is going to slow down by a hundred or even a thousand percent. Godly-class energy arts are definitely not easy to cultivate. If I want to awaken another particle, I really need to break out of the Energy Arts level and reach the point of being able to seize life and vital energy from the heavens. At my current rate, it's going to take twenty years to wake up that twenty-first particle.'

Twenty years would definitely not do.

However, he had an idea of what to do. There was always the Hellfire Crucible in his sea of energy. At some point, he would be able to use it to refine and melt all types of true energy, and thus directly consume demon cores. He would become like a massive furnace that could melt even stone.

With that, he activated his thumb-ring, summoning a rippling blue door that led to a room filled with shelves of medicinal pills.

And of course, there was the completely eye-catching Sage Devil Painting, made up of thousands and thousands of Master of Energy demon cores, as well as that single Lifeseizing level demon core. The spell formation they created emanated a completely holy aura.

'With the medicinal pills I have stockpiled here, my cultivation should speed up a bit. Unfortunately, I don't know what most of these pills are for, so I can't really use them. And there's no one in the institute that I can fully trust….'

All of a sudden his eyes lit up. 'Wait, what about Aunt Susu? Now that I'm an outer campus student, I can go see her any time I want.'

1. I've decided, after many years, to make a major translation change. From now on, "immortal's caves" will be "mansion grottos". The reason for this is that the original term in Chinese actually does not have any character that relates to immortals. In my quest for a higher level of continuity and accuracy, I feel that this is a very necessary change.

2. Fun fact: If you take the measurements to be literal, then Yang Qi's current accommodations are almost exactly as large as Bill Gates' house

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Chapter 74: Giant Guards

There had been many important tasks at hand, including his personal cultivation and the mission to go hunt vampire brigands in the northwest. Because of all of that, the matter of his aunt Yang Susu had skipped his mind.

But now, here he was, an outer campus student with a more impressive cultivation base than ever. He had the freedom to come and go within the institute as he pleased, unlike when he had been a freshman student and had been subject to many rules about where to go and what to do.

Now, he could go seek out Yang Susu.

Besides, he was interested in getting a better look at the institute. It covered hundreds and hundreds of kilometers, and was filled with pavilions, kiosks, towers, pagodas, and temples. It was a multi-level maze of structures that hid so many secrets it was impossible to even guess how many there were.

Hopefully, a bit of a tour might net more information about Yun Hailan.

Considering the bottleneck he was in, there was no way he would be able to awaken that twenty-first particle any time soon.

The more one cultivated the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, the harder it got, especially considering that the life force quintessence requirement grew with each particle that awoke. In other words, each one was more difficult to wake up than the previous. That was one reason why godly-class energy arts were usually only cultivated by gods, not humans.

Making sure that his thumb-ring was well concealed, Yang Qi walked out of his room, hopping directly from the thirty-sixth floor all the way down to the ground.

Every floor of the tower was a different room or 'mansion grotto'. Each one belonged to a different outer campus student. However, Yang Qi didn't know any of them and actually wasn't very interested in getting too close.

At the bottom of the building was a well-manicured park filled with towering trees, flowing streams, and little pavilions. It was a lovely place, with teams of freshman students visible cleaning up, or trimming and fertilizing the plants.

Yang Qi had done such work himself in past months, but now, he was exempt from such chores.

As he walked along, the freshman students noticed his clothing, and the large 'Demi-Immortal' word stitched on the front in bright red. The envy in their eyes was impossible to mask.

Freshman students had no such marking on their garments. Theirs were pure white, which indicated that they were persons without any academic title or official rank.

Yang Qi noticed the envious gazes, and sighed. There was nothing he could do about how the Demi-Immortal Institute was so strictly organized by rank and title. It was hard to even imagine what the freshman students would think of him if he reached the Lifeseizing level and became an elite student.

He strolled out of the garden, and then began to walk through the various paths that made up the institute, passing buildings, pagodas, walls, and other scenery. Before long, he was at an area filled with majestic temples.

It was a glorious sight. At the tops of the temples were glowing halos that would fill the area with light even during nighttime.

And all of them were augmented by spell formations.

This place was a restricted area, the College of Elite Students.

Only elite students and Lifeseizers could enter, with the exception of lower-ranking students who had authentication tokens.

If any other person tried to enter unlawfully, they would be killed without question.

As he neared the place, and sensed the glory of the temples' spell formations touching him, he felt blessed. His true energy seemed to grow stronger, and he felt more agile and free. It was almost as if he were being cleansed.

"What incredible spell formations," he murmured.

The spell formations in the College of Elite Students were far more powerful than formations of spirit convergence. No wonder Yun Hailan and Song Haishan had experienced such rapid progress with their cultivation.

Now that Yang Qi had been in the Demi-Immortal Institute for several months, there were certain things he understood that had been a mystery at first.

Outer campus students had their formations of spirit convergence, and inner campus students had formations of vital convergence. Each such upgrade led to faster and more efficient cultivation.

As for the College of Elite Students, they had energy formations of the dao of monarchs. Such formations allowed the user to constantly absorb the spirit energy of heaven and earth, and the quintessence of the sun and moon. Even more importantly, they allowed one to develop the energy of the dao of monarchs.

Practicing cultivation there led to speed ten times superior to even a formation of vital convergence.

Yun Hailan had almost immediately been admitted into the College of Elite Students, and had been able to cultivate with an energy formation of the dao of monarchs. Thus, her progress was almost unimaginable.

As he thought about the matter, he stood there basking in the glory of the temples, and the feeling of his true energy being stimulated. It was hard to imagine what it would be like if he could actually go inside.

Suddenly, a thunderous shout emerged from one of the outer chambers bordering the temples. "Stop right there!"

The profound killing intent he sensed caused him to stop in place immediately.

From what he could tell, if he took another step forward, he would be attacked with deadly abandon.

Looking over at the outer chambers, he saw several towering men emerge, fully twice as tall as an ordinary person. They wore full suits of steel armor, and wielded dual-crescent-bladed halberds. As for their auras, they were so wild that they seemed like titans emerged from the wilds of yore.

Furthermore, they were clearly Masters of Energy.

These were giants tasked with guarding the entrance to the College of Elite Students. People with the blood of ancient giant-spirits possessed boundless power, and were the perfect guards.

They were by no means simpletons, and their meridians were ten times as powerful as ordinary humans. A single one who was a Master of Energy could easily defeat ten ordinary ninth phase experts.

They were often tasked with guarding important locations in the Demi-Immortal Institute, and their orders were simple: first give a warning to any trespassers, and if the warning was ignored, execute them.

Given the current level of Yang Qi's cultivation base, he didn't fear Lifeseizers, let alone some giant guards. That said, he also wasn't looking for trouble.

Clasping hands respectfully, he said, "Greetings, guards. I've come to the College of Elite Students to see my aunt, Yang Susu. Would you mind notifying her I'm here?"

The leader of the giants looked Yang Qi up and down, his eyes glinting with what seemed like greed. "Notify her? Sorry, we're busy. Come back tomorrow."

"Oh?" At this point, Yang Qi realized that these greedy giant guards made a practice of soliciting bribes from students.

Not in the mood to bicker, and fairly brimming with wealth, he waved his hand and sent a banknote worth a million energy convergence pills flying over to him. "Please, take this. I hope that you can be a bit flexible here."

"Oh?" The giant leader grabbed the banknote, looked at it, then put it away. However, he didn't seem to have any intention of letting Yang Qi pass. "Listen, punk. We have a hundred guards here. You really think one banknote is enough? What are we supposed to do, cut it up into pieces? One banknote like this is only enough for one of us. Give me some more treasures, enough for a hundred of my brothers, and then maybe I'll let you pass."

"What?" As of this moment, Yang Qi realized what was going on. These giants were specifically making things hard for him! Frowning, he said, "This is ridiculous. All I want is for you to notify someone of my presence. Do you people do this all the time? Aren't you worried that you'll get in trouble if the higher-ups find out about this?"

The giants all burst out into raucous laughter. "Get in trouble? We stand guard here, and the unwritten rule is that we can use our position to earn a bit of extra money. How dare you, an outer campus student, provoke us giants! You really don't know what's good for you, do you? Screw the hell off!"

A massive hand waved through the air, sending a massive tornado spinning toward Yang Qi.

Tornadoes were wind-type energy arts, and the type of thing that could uproot massive trees and send them flying through the air. Obviously, it could hurl a human like Yang Qi far off into the distance.

Yang Qi's eyes suddenly turned as cold as ice, and even began to flicker with killing intent. "Have a death wish, you bunch of watchdogs? Who told you to cause problems for me?"

As the tornado bore down on him, he unleashed some energy, dissipating it instantly.

Then, he made a snatching gesture, causing all of the energy within ten thousand paces to rush toward him.

Suddenly, the dozen or so giants felt their true energy surging out of control; it almost seemed like it might burst out of their bodies and flow toward Yang Qi's palm.

Both shocked and enraged, they scrambled to gain control of their energy.

However, that was when Yang Qi opened his hand, causing all the energy flows to vanish.

As a result, all of the true energy they had been struggling to pull back suddenly rushed back and slammed into their seas of energy.

It was almost like Yang Qi had personally struck them.

POP!

Blood sprayed out of the giants' mouths, even their leader.

'How could a student from the outer campus be so strong?' the leader thought, shocked.

Making another grasping motion, Yang Qi pulled the leader toward him through the air, then forced him onto his knees. "I know someone put you up to this, giant-spirit. Someone told you to cause problems for me, right? But I don't feel like bickering with you. Now you see that I'm virtually as strong as a Lifeseizer, right? Once I achieve my next breakthrough, I could easily cause problems for you. I could make your life very hard."

True energy swirled out, grabbed the banknote, and pulled it back to Yang Qi. "I gave you a banknote to give you some face. But if you don't want face, then don't blame me for taking it back. Now go notify Yang Susu that I'm here, immediately. Furthermore, I'm going to plant a seed of true energy in your sea of energy, so if you disobey, I can cripple you instantly."

1. To some extent this is a slight play on words as the word for "person without academic title or official rank, a.k.a. a commoner", actually contains the character which means "white"

2. The dual-crescent-bladed halberd is literally a "square heaven picture halberd". The name in Chinese comes because of how the crescent blades on either side of the halberd make a "square heaven". You have probably seen them in games/movies/TV shows, in which they are often just called halberds. . In any case, I will translate it as dual-crescent-bladed halberd. This type of weapon will come up again occasionally throughout the story, so try to keep a mental picture in the back of your mind

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Chapter 75: Aunt Susu

Yang Qi quickly sent out a projection of Humanoid True Energy that entered the giant leader's sea of energy.

Shivering, the leader looked at Yang Qi and said, "You're… you're so vicious…."

"There's nothing vicious about it. You treated me like an enemy, so I'm treating you like the dog you are. Go and pass my message along. And don't piss me off; you can't afford to. Besides, I'm fairly certain I know who sent you to cause trouble for me. It was Yun Hailan, wasn't it? Well, you can tell her something for me. One of these days, I'm going to pay her back with full interest. And whatever schemes or plots she hatches to deal with me will be nothing more than jokes. No matter how smart she thinks she is, she's no better than a chicken or dog."

With that, he waved his hand dismissively.

He wasn't afraid of causing a scene like this in the institute. After all, conflicts often erupted between students and giants, and as long as no one got killed, the institute would turn a blind eye to it.

Besides, he had just shown them that he was close to the Lifeseizing level, and had also indicated that he would achieve a breakthrough soon.

Once that happened, and he was an elite student, these guards would either have to suck up to him or suffer the consequences. Elite students were far above and beyond ordinary people.

Otherwise, they wouldn't deserve to be called elite.

The leader of the giants could see the killing intent in Yang Qi's eyes, and therefore, didn't dare to say another word. He vanished in a figurative wisp of smoke, clearly terrified of provoking even more hatred.

As for the other giants, they simply prostrated to Yang Qi and remained there unmoving.

Before long, the leader of the guards came back, followed by a young man of approximately twenty-five years of age. He had an imposing bearing, and a very fair face. Looking Yang Qi up and down, he said, "You're Yang Susu's nephew? She's been in seclusion cultivating a very important energy art, and cannot be disturbed. However, she told me ahead of time to entertain you if you came. Come, follow me."

This bossy fellow had an aura that far surpassed the Master of Energy level. One glance would reveal to anyone that he was a Lifeseizer.

Truth be told, other than people like Yun Hailan, everyone in the College of Elite Students was a Lifeseizer.

The Demi-Immortal Institute was the top power in all the Rich-Lush Continent, with as many experts as the sky had clouds. It wasn't a rare thing at all to see Lifeseizers there.

It was only after arriving that Yang Qi found out his aunt had long since reached the Lifeseizing level, and was in the College of Elite Students.

'Who is this guy? A friend of Aunt Susu?'

Now that he was finally able to visit Aunt Susu, he had assumed that she would come out to meet him. Never could he have guessed that some bossy man would be the one to escort him in. A bit displeased, and also wary, he followed the man inside.

When the man realized that Yang Qi was walking right next to him, he frowned and stopped in place. Looking very irritated, he raised his voice and said, "The College of Elite Students is filled with all sorts of spell formations and illusory regions. Unless you're a Lifeseizer, it can be a very dangerous place. Considering how weak you are, you'd better stay behind me. No wandering off, and no causing any trouble, you hear?"

"I'll be fine," Yang Qi replied calmly. "Those spell formations and illusory regions won't hurt Lifeseizers, so they probably won't affect me either. If anything happens, I'll take full responsibility."

"What?" Eyes widening, the man glared at Yang Qi for a long moment. However, Yang Qi didn't react at all, provoking a sinister smile. "Well then, just be careful."

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, he blurred into motion, vanishing without a trace.

This area was a maze of corridors and doors that twisted and turned this way and that. The temples were very tall, and covered with murals that featured strange magical symbols and spell formations. Anyone who took a wrong step could find themselves falling into a bottomless pit or worse.

As for the elite student, he was so irritated by what Yang Qi had said that, in his hostility, he simply abandoned him in the hopes that he would get hurt or worse.

After only five breaths of time passed, he had gone through nearly a hundred different corridors, and was deep within the temple area.

At that point, he stopped, flicked his sleeve and gave a cold harrumph. "That reckless idiot is a mere outer campus student! How dare he act so arrogantly? I'll just leave him back there to do some soul searching. That will save me some effort keeping him in check in the future."

"Oh, really? These corridors don't seem very dangerous. So what if there are a few illusory regions or true energy barriers? With a high enough cultivation base, dealing with those things isn't any problem at all."

The elite student spun to find Yang Qi standing right behind him, looking completely calm. In fact, he was even examining one of the murals on the wall.

"You—!" After that, the man was at such a loss for words that he just made some gurgling sounds.

"Very well, Elder Brother," Yang Qi replied coolly. "Continue on. I haven't seen my Aunt Susu for ten years now."

The young man snorted, and looked like he might actually launch an attack to try to assess Yang Qi's energy arts. After all, he was a powerful Lifeseizer and made it a practice of acting arrogant and bossy around other students. In fact, he viewed them like slaves or servants. To have lost so much face in front of Yang Qi was almost unbearable.

However, after a long moment of consideration, he got his anger into check and continued onward.

As the moments crept by, they went through numerous corridors and past countless temples. Eventually, they came to a stop in front of one in particular. The young man knocked on the door nine times in a row, and the sounds which echoed out from within seemed to come from another world.

CREAK!

The door slowly opened, revealing nothing but darkness, with a spiral staircase ascending up into parts unknown.

"Alright, your aunt is in secluded meditation here. She knows you've come." Snorting coldly, the young man pointed into the darkness.

"Oh, really?" Yang Qi had already sent his true energy into this particular temple, and got the distinct sensation that it was a very dangerous place. He could even sense the aura of some sort of sealed devil-god.

This was definitely not his Aunt Susu's secluded meditation chamber. It was obviously a trap!

Licking his lips, Yang Qi gestured at the door and said, "Well, Elder Brother, why don't you come in with me?"

The young man's eyes bulged as though he might lose his temper, but then he calmed himself. Smiling viciously, he said, "I have another matter to attend to. You go in on your own."

"Don't tell me there's something dangerous in there?" Yang Qi asked, clasping his hands behind his back. He had no idea why this young man seemed to have it out for him. However, considering that the guards outside had given him a hard time, and now one of the elite students seemed to be targeting him, it definitely meant that someone higher up had issued orders.

'Could it be Yun Hailan?' he thought. 'But she's only a Master of Energy, and doesn't have much clout in the institute. How could she be issuing orders to a Lifeseizer? Don't tell me that she has connections to the leadership of the institute. I'll have to ask Aunt Susu.'

"Cut the crap, you brat. Get in there!"

WHIZZZ!

The young man thrust his palm out, sending masses of true energy raging out to create a powerful energy field covered with palm projections. It was almost like a mountain of palms surging toward Yang Qi.

"You're right, punk! This isn't Yang Susu's secluded meditation chamber. This is the College of Elite Students' Devil Suppression Cave! We have all sorts of vicious devil-banes here, so get in and enjoy yourself. How dare an outer campus student talk back to me so many times! If I didn't punish you, my dignity would hit rock bottom! Oh, I might as well tell you that someone put a reward on your head! And I'm collecting it! After you get eaten by some devil-ghost, remember that the person who killed you was me, Ouyang Hu!"

Yang Qi had been waiting for this Ouyang Hu to attack him, and therefore, simply eyed the incoming mountain of true energy and prepared to make a move.

However, it was at that point that a streak of sword light shot through the palaces, radiating a massive gravitational force, and surrounded by a huge energy field. In the blink of an eye, it completely shattered the mountain of true energy.

Then, the sword light transformed into a vortex that consumed the fragmented energy clusters.

"You've really got some guts, Ouyang Hu! How dare you harm a family member of mine!" The voice belonged to that of a woman, and although it was as melodious as a flowing stream, it was also as sharp as a sword.

"Yang Susu!" Ouyang Hu blurted, shivering and backing up as if to flee the scene.

Even as he turned, a woman appeared at the end of the corridor. Waving her hand, she sucked the sword light back into her palm. She was tall and slender, with long legs that made her as graceful and lithe as an immortal crane. Her garb consisted of an aqua-green waistcoat, and her flowing black hair was bound with fiery-red gauze. The contrast between the green and the red was like the contrast between fire and water, or between yin and yang. She looked both calm and profound, like starlight reflected on the waters of a deep well.

Clearly, her cultivation base was on a far higher level than this Ouyang Hu's.

Calming down a bit, Ouyang Hu, seemingly very confident in his position, said, "This doesn't have anything to do with you, Yang Susu. Your nephew offended someone who the Crown Prince has taken a liking to, and I'm following her orders. I'm just showing respect to the Crown Prince. Don't tell me that you're going to defy him?"

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Chapter 76: Profound Energy Arts

Yang Qi recognized this young woman at first sight.

'Aunt Susu is finally here.'

He couldn't suppress the excitement that sparked deep in his heart. Although she looked completely different from the way she had in the past, she still reminded him of that little girl who had helped him eat his meals as a child. She seemed extraordinary beyond belief, but there was still something about her that was exactly the same as before.

Looking Ouyang Hu square in the eye, she said, "Someone the Crown Prince took a liking to? You mean that Yun Hailan? Am I supposed to be impressed? Who cares if she's using her connections to try to intimidate people? That doesn't change the fact that you plotted against my family. Well, I don't need your life. Just be on your way, and leave behind one of your arms as you go."

"What?" Ouyang Hu blurted, his face falling. "How dare you, Yang Susu! We're both in the College of Elite Students! Would you really attack me so viciously? Aren't you afraid of the institute punishing you? If not, then just go ahead, attack me. I'll make sure you understand what regret really is!"

"Cut the crap. Off with your arm!" Suddenly, Yang Susu drew her sword and then unleashed an eerie beam of sword energy that bore down mercilessly toward his right shoulder. There was no doubt about whether or not she intended to sever his arm.

Snarling with teeth bared, Ouyang Hu thrust out his right hand, which swirled with true energy until it looked like a tiger claw. This was a move from his Beast King Energy Art, Tiger Roars at the Heavens.

More true energy rippled out as images of tigers, leopards, jackals, wolves, snakes, vultures, eagles and bears sprang into being behind him.

He was using this one palm strike to try to deal with the incoming sword energy.

However, Yang Susu's sword energy contained infinite variations. As it sped forward, a field of ice and a field of fire sprang up in front of it, the ice energy cold enough to seal everything within five hundred kilometers, and the fire hot enough to ignite anything.

The two energy fields merged into each other like yin and yang.

This was the ultimate expression of this sword technique of Yang Susu's, a fire and ice taiji symbol.

"The immaterial universe beheads ghosts. Yin and yang expel gods. Supreme ultimate truth! Alright, Ouyang Hu, why don't you try out the new technique I just finished cultivating, the Ghost-Beheading God-Expelling Godsword!"

Whizz!

Sword energy sliced through the air with seemingly boundless sharpness.

The fire and ice taiji symbol smashed into the Beast King Energy Art, and Ouyang Hu immediately staggered backward, blood spraying out of his mouth.

Although Ouyang Hu was also a Lifeseizer, he had only recently achieved his breakthrough, and had not yet fully stabilized his true energy. In fact, he was roughly at the same level as Chu Tiange, from what Yang Qi could tell.

And yet, as the saying goes, a centipede does not stop wriggling even after being stomped on. Despite having his Beast King Energy Art vanquished by Yang Susu, Ouyang Hu wasn't ready to give up. Suddenly, Humanoid True Energy sprang out from him and sped directly toward Yang Qi.

It was a very strange manifestation; it was fully nine meters tall, covered with fur, with a head that resembled a tiger. It was apparently some sort of beast god, and it didn't hesitate at all to rush toward Yang Qi in terrifying fashion.

Smiling viciously, Ouyang Hu said, "Stop right there, Yang Susu! If you make another move, I'll kill your nephew! This Humanoid True Energy is straight from my Beast King Energy Art. True Incarnation of the Tiger King!"

"How dare you!" Yang Susu said, preparing to change the direction of her sword energy to try to save Yang Qi. However, that was when she heard Yang Qi sigh.

"Don't worry about me, Aunt Susu. You handle this Ouyang Hu. I can take care of his puny Humanoid True Energy on my own."

Even as the words left his mouth, he reached out with his hands, causing an energy field to spring out that looked like a whirlpool of stars. "Invincible King's Fist. Six stances combined."

The tiger-headed Humanoid True Energy was sucked into the whirlpool, then let out an agonized shriek as it was torn to pieces. The resulting scraps of true energy were then absorbed into Yang Qi's meridians, and sent to the embryonic Hellfire Crucible in his sea of energy.

Usually, heterogeneous true energy would act like poison if someone absorbed it. In fact, the first thing a normal person would try to do would be to expel it lest it inflict dangerous harm.

But now that Yang Qi was a Master of Energy, and had fully absorbed the life force quintessence of the lightning mammoth, he had his embryonic Hellfire Crucible. Already, it could melt and refine heterogeneous true energy, and turn it into true energy that he could use.

Therefore, he had nothing to fear at the moment. Thus was the power of a godly-class energy art.

Yang Susu had been worried about Yang Qi. And yet, to her utter surprise, it only took one sweep of his hand to vanquish the Humanoid True Energy of a beast king.

She was a veteran of numerous battles, and had been in many tight spots in her life. Therefore, it was easy for her to make quick decisions. Sword energy flared, and blood-red light shone. An agonized shriek rang out of Ouyang Hu as his right arm was cleanly severed off!

The blood-soaked Ouyang Hu couldn't prevent the intense pain from showing on his face. However, he had profound energy arts, and quickly staunched the flow of blood. Grabbing his severed arm with his other hand, he turned and fled, leaving behind the following words: "I won't rest until you're dead, Yang Susu! And you'd better watch out for that nephew of yours. I'm not going to let this rest!"

Lifeseizers were powerful to the extreme. Even having an arm chopped off wouldn't be a big hindrance. In fact, even with all four limbs chopped off, a Lifeseizer could still use their true energy to move as quickly as lightning. They could usually recover from the gravest of situations. The only way to truly put an end to one would be to sever their head, destroy their sea of energy, or perhaps detonate all of their meridians.

"What a piece of trash," Yang Susu said, shaking her head. "Well, severing his arm and damaging his meridians will make it almost impossible for him to make any progress for the time being." Turning her attention to Yang Qi, her eyes flickered with delight. "Qi'er, I didn't realize you've grown up so much. I got your father's message, and I'm up to date on everything that happened, including the incident with Yun Hailan and the Latent Dragon Pill. I know your martial arts were crippled, and that you got struck by lightning, leading to spectacular advancement. But I'd assumed your energy arts were the same as they were before. How could I have guessed that they would have advanced to this level?"

Yang Qi nodded. "Aunt Susu—"

Before he could continue, she waved her hand to cut him off. "This isn't the place to talk. Let's head back to my mansion grotto."

A stream of sword light appeared which wrapped around Yang Qi and then sent him flying through the air faster than the speed of sound. A moment later, he was standing in a temple.

It was located in the middle of a massive lake, and featured massive walls inset with all sorts of gems and demon cores.

Both Yang Qi and Yang Susu were on the top floor of the temple, giving them a view of countless other lakes and temples stretching out in all directions.

"Qi'er, these temples in the College of Elite Students are set aside for students as mansion grottos." Yang Susu pointed out at the scenery beyond. "See the lakes? That's not ordinary water. They're fed by subterranean spirit springs, the waters of which are like the quintessence of the lands around us. The temples are actually constructed with spirit stone bricks that provide spectacular benefits for cultivation. And at the top of each temple is an energy formation of the dao of monarchs. These palaces are also considered to be mansion grottos. If anyone attempts to invade, I can draw upon the spirit energy in the lake water to activate a death formation that could easily kill four or five Lifeseizers. No one would dare have the gall to disturb us here."

Leading Yang Qi inside the temple, she continued, "Qi'er, why don't you stay here in my temple for a while? Your cultivation will progress ten times faster here. I'll also be able to assess your cultivation base better, and determine exactly when you'll be able to reach the Lifeseizing level. Considering how easily you dealt with Ouyang Hu's energy arts, I suspect there is a lot more to your cultivation base than meets the eye."

Already, Yang Qi could sense the boundless spirit energy of heaven and earth, filled with the power of the dao of monarchs, pouring into his acupoints. It felt wonderful.

However, he shook his head. "Aunt Susu, these temples are designed for use by one person. I don't want my own cultivation to influence yours negatively. Besides, my cultivation has been moving along quickly enough. At the moment, I'd prefer to stay at my current level and temper myself a bit. Purify my true energy a bit."

"Oh?" Yang Susu's eyes glittered. "So, your understanding of cultivation has reached this level already? Not bad. Not bad at all! Just what is the level of your cultivation base, Qi'er? Do you mind giving me a little demonstration? Your father sent word a few days ago about how you reformed the clan, and even subjugated Yang Xingshi and Dowager Yan. You must have some spectacular moves to have pulled that off. You know, I've been meaning to take a trip home for a while now, but have been so busy that I couldn't buy the time."

"You want to see my cultivation base, Aunt Susu?" Yang Qi smiled. The truth was that he was immensely proud of how strong he was, and didn't feel any need to hide things from his aunt. "No problem. However, you have to promise to keep it a secret. If word got out, it could shake the entire institute."

"Shake the entire institute?" Yang Susu exclaimed, visibly taken aback. Then she chuckled. "You couldn't possibly shake the entire Demi-Immortal Institute. There are millions upon millions of students here. It's not uncommon for someone to come across some spectacular good fortune, and it's normal to keep some moves secret. But the accomplishments of any single student can't be considered more than a drop of water in the ocean."

"Are you sure about that? Alright, Aunt Susu. Look closely…."

Yang Qi threw his head back and shouted at the top of his lungs, causing true energy to erupt behind him. The temple trembled as though it were being shaken by countless hells. It was as if godly beasts and devilish kings were climbing up out of the ground, and even more awe-inspiring, a huge portal opened behind him, like the gates of hell, from which countless devil-gods and ghost hands extended.

"What?" Yang Susu blurted, her expression flickering. Suddenly, sword light burst out from her palm to create a sword net above Yang Qi.

"Boundless Megaplexus Sword Net! Fetter heaven and shackle earth!" Apparently, she was drawing upon her most consummate discipline. "Qi'er, this is my deadliest move. This net of swords creates a megaplexus with eighty-one layers. If you can break free, it means you're as strong as a Lifeseizer!"

"What's so hard about that?" Yang Qi made a ripping motion with his hands. "Be broken!"

1. This "megaplexus" bears some explaining. It's very closely connected to the word I translated as "Allheaven" in ISSTH. If you added "heaven" to the end of this word, it could be translated as "megaplexus heaven" or "grand allheaven". Its usage in this novel is slightly more complex than in ISSTH, which is why I'm translating it a bit differently. In real life, the "megaplexus heaven" or "grand allheaven" is essentially the highest heaven in the hierarchy of Daoist heavens, and is like a "net" or "mesh" that covers over all the other heavens. I'm using "plexus" because it means a "network" or "complex structure".

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Chapter 77: Medicinal Pill Explanation

Metallic black gold spread out to cover Yang Qi's arms, densely packed magical symbols that looked like vicious devil-gods from hell.

As the armor covered him, the net descended, and pinging sounds rang out as the armor was scratched and damaged.

Back in the ancient city of Krorän, it was during his fight with Chu Tiange that his Infernal Deity Aegis had taken on the form of the Infernal Deity Plate Armor, which not even the Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique could pierce.

But Krorän was the past. Yang Qi's cultivation base had advanced, and he was just on the verge of being able to seize life from the heavens. His Hellfire Crucible had reached its embryonic stage, and with his Infernal Deity Plate Armor, no divine weapons of any sort could hurt him.

Besides, with the power of twenty ancient megamammoths, he could crush anything that stood in his path.

He let loose a roar which shook everything in the area, and then he took a step forward, reaching out and ripping Yang Susu's sword net apart layer by layer. The resulting destroyed sword energy then flew back to her, taking the shape of a long sword in her hand.

Whizz!

It only took a moment for him to reach the last layer, and crush it into ash.

With that, he retracted his true energy, returning him to his original form.

Shivering, Yang Susu reined in her sword energy, and then looked at her nephew with disbelieving eyes. "You're… you're not in the Lifeseizing level, but your cultivation base is strong enough to stand up to Lifeseizers. It's a miracle! You're a genius! You must be one of the most extraordinary people in the institute. Just what good fortune did you come across, Qi'er? What was that energy art?"

"Aunt Susu, the energy art I cultivate is too extraordinary to speak aloud. If word got out, it could lead to calamity for the Demi-Immortal Institute itself." He shook his head. "As for the details, let's wait until I manage to reach the Lifeseizing level. At that point, I think I'll be strong enough to provide a full explanation. For now, all you need to know is that I'm strong enough to trounce Lifeseizers."

"That's wonderful…." Although her eyes flickered with delight, they soon turned serious. "The fact that you, a Master of Energy, can do such things is actually completely shocking. Qi'er, I'm confident in saying that the technique you just used is an imperial-class energy art at the very minimum. You're right, if people found out, it could lead to a major disaster. I'll definitely keep your secret."

"Thank you, Aunt Susu. By the way, how are things going for you here in the institute? Yun Hailan is here too, and she's gained the favor of the Crown Prince. And who exactly is this Crown Prince character? Is he really that powerful? If Yun Hailan keeps using her connection to him to plot against me, I'm afraid I might be in some actual danger."

"The Crown Prince…." A look of vigilance appeared in Yang Susu's eyes. After a moment of silence, she sighed and said, "He's extraordinary, that's for sure. He's definitely broken out of the Lifeseizing level already, meaning that he's currently in the Legendary level. Nobody really knows anything about his cultivation base, though. He's a holy neophyte; but that said, I don't think you need to worry. His ambitions are too lofty for him to be concerned about you. That Yun Hailan is definitely just using his name to advance her own causes. Qi'er, you need to break through to the Lifeseizing level as quickly as possible. Doing that will relieve a lot of pressure."

"It shouldn't be long before I can do just that…." he murmured. Suddenly, his eyes glittered. "Aunt Susu, although I came across some good fortune, my fundamental understanding of cultivation as a whole is still relatively shallow. Would you mind explaining what this Legendary level that you mentioned is? That's the level beyond the Lifeseizing level, right?"

"Of course I can explain," she replied. Sitting down cross-legged, she said, "The so-called Lifeseizing level involves seizing life from the heavens, and surpassing the limitations of one's own fleshly body. The goal is to be able to extend your lifespan. You seize life nine times within the level, and every time you do, you gain longevity. Of course, each time you seize life, it's more difficult than the time before. And every time involves a tribulation of vital energy. A few years ago, I achieved Primary Lifeseizing, and now I'm preparing for Secondary Lifeseizing. If I succeed, I'll add five or six hundred years to my lifespan. If you reach Nonary Lifeseizing, then your longevity will increase to three thousand years. After you seize life nine times, your true energy transforms completely, allowing it to connect to the substructure of the world itself. Truth be told, I don't know how many sub-levels exist within the Legendary level, but I do know that even a higher level exists beyond it. You hear about it in stories from ancient times, about the great gods of antiquity. Supposedly, it's the Great Sage level…."

With that, Yang Susu went on to give many more details about cultivation. She talked about spell formation theory, true energy usage, meridian classification, as well as all the different types of spirit energy that existed in heaven and earth, and the nature of the quintessence of the sun and moon.

She had studied in the Demi-Immortal Institute for more than ten years, had received the approval of one of the grand elders, and before all that, had received a very thorough education. As such, her understanding of things vastly surpassed that of Yang Qi, who was still little more than countryside yokel.

Many questions and conundrums he had encountered were explained, thanks to her.

Yang Qi felt like he was experiencing major enlightenment.

Tackling a situation with foreknowledge is always the best strategy. Now, Yang Qi's efforts to break into the Lifeseizing level would go even more smoothly.

At a certain point, something she said caused him to remember an important thing.

With a slight grin on his face, he put his thumb-ring onto his palm and held it out.

Yang Susu immediately stopped talking for a moment, then said, "Qi'er, what's that?"

"Watch, Aunt Susu. You'll see. This is another big secret of mine." He sent some true energy into the ring, which caused the blue door to open, revealing the dimension inside the item.

"A thumb-ring of holding!?" Yang Susu said, visibly shocked. "That's a treasure among treasures! Where did you get it?"

"I killed a Master of Energy from the Sea God Institute while traveling here. He had it on him. It took me a while, but I figured out how to use it on my own. What do you think?"

"You absolutely, positively must not let anyone know you have that. If word got out… yes, it would be a disaster for sure." Yang Susu had been shocked over and over again by Yang Qi on this day. "Heart of the Sea holding items do indeed come from the Sea God Institute. The power of the world itself is used to forge them, which means that even Lifeseizers would have trouble to break into them."

"I definitely won't tell anyone about it, Aunt Susu. Except you of course." Reaching into the dimension with some true energy, he pulled out a crystal box filled with medicinal pills. "Oh, I also got these from a leader of the vampire brigands in the ancient city of Krorän. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they do. Can you take a look?"

"Oh?"

Yang Susu took the crystal box and opened it to see rows of emerald-green medicinal pills. Eyes widening, she said, "These are Emerald Dew Rejuvenation Lozenges! They're made from an elixir extracted from thousand-year-old fine jade, which is then mixed with over three hundred types of spirit medicines. Then, they have to sit in a pill furnace for at least ten years. Just one pill is equivalent to over a hundred pounds of thousand-year-old fine jade. It's impossible to even say how many man-hours went into making these. I can't believe you have so many!"

"How do you use them?" Yang Qi asked.

"Seep them in fine liquor to extract the true energy. Drink it, and it will be naturally absorbed into your meridians and bones. It will extrude all sorts of impurities from you, and make you much stronger. It's like the quintessence of jade itself, and can significantly forestall the physical signs of aging. There are plenty of people who would fight tooth and nail to get pills like this."

Although people with profound energy arts could live for hundreds of years, that didn't stop the effects of aging. For example, even if Yang Susu lived for four hundred years, she would start to look old starting at around fifty or sixty. And once that happened, she could never go back. To people who prized their good looks, that was a horrifying thought.

Emerald Dew Rejuvenation Lozenges contained the quintessence of thousand-year-old fine jade, which could prevent the signs of aging and ensure that a person always appeared to be twenty or so. If such pills were held up in public, countless female students in the Demi-Immortal Institute would go crazy to get them.

"They sound amazing. Here, Aunt Susu, take a box. Either use them yourself, or give them out as gifts to strengthen your relationships."

Yang Susu nodded eagerly. "You little brat! I guess it's a good thing I always fed you the most delicious food when you were a kid. Do you remember how you always used to try to grab my things? You even broke quite a few of my treasures."

Yang Qi laughed. "Well, I guess the time has come to pay you back."

Years ago, Yang Susu had taken Yang Qi with her everywhere she went, and it was really impossible to count how many of her trinkets he had stolen or broken. Back then, they had gotten into fights on many occasions, and Yang Susu had often been forced to teach him a lesson or two.

Now, more than ten years later, such memories caused warmth to rise up in both of their hearts.

From what Yang Qi could tell, his Aunt Susu hadn't really changed that much, and he trusted and loved her just as much as he ever had.

"Aunt Susu, I'm just on the verge of breaking through to the Lifeseizing level. Unfortunately, I'm lacking in life force quintessence. Do you think any of these pills could help out?" With that, he pulled out some more medicinal pills and laid them on the ground between them.

"What a fortune…." she said with a slight gasp. "If you sold all of those for money, you would be richer than most of the elite students. Alright, let me see. Medicinal pills to improve life force quintessence…."

At a certain point, she picked up a gray medicinal pill and held it out. "This is a Marrow-Quickening Soul-Strengthening Pill. These pills are pretty amazing. They're made from the fossils of demonlings from the most ancient times. It takes multiple Masters of Energy years of working together to make even just one such pill. This would suit your needs perfectly.

"There's also this Dragon-Tiger Body-Rejuvenating Ointment. It will also increase your life force quintessence. It's made from the gallbladders of pythons that are at least a hundred years old, combined with the crushed bones of fierce tigers. Oh, and here's a Bearsnake Pill and a Blood-Energy Body-Eruption Pill…. They're all very rare."

Yang Susu pointed out numerous different types of spirit medicines, describing what they did and how to use them, as well as any possible negative side effects. When Yang Qi realized how much she knew about all these things, he really felt ignorant.

He had acquired the ultimate collection of spirit medicines, all of them extremely valuable. After memorizing all of the information, he was fairly certain that he would be able to achieve his breakthrough soon.

"Oh, there's one more treasure I have…." he said, pulling out the Sage Devil Painting.

As soon as the painting was out in the open, Yang Susu shot to her feet. "That's…."

1. As is explained fairly directly in this chapter, the Lifeseizing level consists of nine "seizings of life". I could use "First, Second, Third" etc. to describe the sub-levels. Instead, I'm going to use the Latin-based ordinal numbers Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, etc. The reason for this is that it avoids some really frustrating complications of grammar and sentence structure. I know some of the numbers are strange, but hopefully you can bear with me. As a reference, the list of ordinal numbers goes like this: primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, nonary.

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Chapter 78: Sage Devil

"That's a Sage Devil Painting!" Yang Susu said, her eyes wide. The painting was the size of a large rug, and contained thousands upon thousands of Master of Energy demon cores, as well as one that was from a Lifeseizer demonling.

"Aunt Susu, my cultivation level is too low to be able to use all of this spell formation. Do you think you could operate it?"

"The Sage Devil Painting is an immensely powerful magical item. It tells the story of an ancient Great Sage who fell from grace and became a devil. Throughout history, there were many experts from the dao of devils who sought to create an object like this, but only a cold-blooded murderer could do it. To succeed, one would have to kill countless humans and then use innumerable innocent souls to craft the design itself. Qi'er, look at the canvas of the painting. That's not demonling hide; it's stitched together from patches of human skin."

"Human skin…." Yang Qi murmured, shivering. Sending his true energy into the thick canvas, he realized that there must be thousands upon thousands of unique pieces of skin inside.

"Yes, human skin. And two particular types. One is human skin from someone born in a yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour, and then became a devil. The other is human skin from someone born in a yang year, yang month, yang day, and yang hour, who became a sage. See? The Master of Energy demon cores all contain the bitter aura of vengeful souls. This is really some high-level devilish sorcery."

With that, Yang Susu sent some true energy into the Sage Devil Painting, whereupon all of the more than ten thousand Master of Energy demon cores suddenly began to shift and glitter, revealing distorted, bizarre human faces within them. Then, the entire painting began to transform, right in front of their eyes.

Vicious scales rippled out to cover the benevolent sage, who also grew a long tail. At the same time, bone spikes jutted out from his back.

In the blink of an eye, the sage transformed into a fiendish monster who seemed ready to send the tiger it was riding leaping out into the open.

To Yang Qi's shock, the Sage Devil Painting then floated up into the air, pulsing with so much killing energy that it seemed capable of slaughtering anyone it encountered.

This painting seemed so powerful that Yang Qi was certain that Jing Wuxue could have used it to kill him effortlessly.

But then, why would the man keep it in a treasure-house instead of carrying it on his person? For one thing, the painting was designed to be placed on a wall. The only reason Yang Qi had thought to take it was because he knew he could put it in his ring of holding.

"This Sage Devil Painting actually isn't complete," Yang Susu said. "There is one last thing that needs to be done before finishing it, and Jing Wuxue was probably waiting for his secondary Lifeseizing before doing so. No wonder he led all of those vampire brigands on their campaign of devastation in the northwest. Supposedly it was to cultivate their blood demon energy arts; but the truth is that they were killing people to make this Sage Devil Painting. In only a few short years, the vampire brigands wiped out nearly all living beings within five hundred kilometers of Krorän. They didn't leave anyone left alive. And it was all for this painting…. I can't believe you actually stole it, Qi'er.

"Look at those Master of Energy demon cores. They have at least a thousand vengeful souls in them. If you activated all of them at the same time, everything for dozens of kilometers, maybe even hundreds, would become a land of haunted ghosts and opened gates of hell. All the lands would be cast into darkness, and anyone caught in the trap would be killed by the sage-devil. Even a Lifeseizer would be in big trouble. However, the painting still isn't complete. And the final step doesn't require souls, but rather, a massive influx of true energy."

"So what does that mean? Aunt Susu, if you can break through to secondary Lifeseizing, do you think you could complete this treasure?" Yang Qi clicked his tongue. "If you become more powerful, your place within the academy will become even more stable. How about this. Why don't I give you the painting?"

"Give it to me?" Yang Susu said, clearly surprised. "It's a rare precious treasure from the dao of devils, probably the only of its kind. Jing Wuxue risked universal condemnation to make it, and sacrificed countless lives to do so. If I had that painting, I could definitely complete it. But my goal wouldn't be the painting itself, but rather, to use it as a basis to succeed with one of the Demi-Immortal Institute's most supreme energy arts, that of creating a second nascent divinity. The Sage Devil Painting has the fundamental qualities of both sages and devils. If a sage can become a devil, then I can turn a devil into a sage. With the help of my master, I might even be able to achieve multiple lifeseizings."

"This thing is that powerful?" Yang Qi said. "Well, then, take it Aunt Susu. Use it to make your second nascent divinity. If you power up enough, maybe you can become a conclave student. That will be a major improvement in your standing. As for my own cultivation base, treasures like this won't help it much. I just need lots of life force quintessence."

Although he could use it as a magical item if he reached the Lifeseizing level, the truth was that once he was in that level, his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth would be able to destroy anything in his path.

Things were different for his Aunt Susu, who would benefit much more, especially in terms of her standing in the institute.

"It's settled, Aunt Susu. The Sage Devil Painting is yours. Get the help you need from your master to make your second nascent divinity and break through to your secondary Lifeseizing. Also, take any of these medicinal pills that could be of help. As for me, I'll go back and work as hard as I can to break through to the Lifeseizing level."

Rising to his feet, he then added, "There's no time to lose. It's just too bad I didn't do so already, otherwise I could use my unique true energy to help you."

Because of what had occurred with Yun Hailan, he found it impossible to truly trust women. But his Aunt Susu was an exception. They had essentially grown up together, and there was unique emotional connection between the two. When it came to familial love, blood was thicker than water.

"That sounds good to me, Qi'er. Just wait until I have my second nascent divinity, and achieve my next breakthrough. Once I'm a conclave student, no one will ever dare to even think of harming you." Waving her finger, she sent a stream of true energy to wrap the painting up.

With that, they continued to catch up on old times until night fell.

At that point, under the cover of darkness, the two of them flew out of the College of Elite Students.

Yang Susu headed to see her master, and Yang Qi went back to the Outer Campus.

In reality, it didn't matter how close two students were, it wasn't permitted for outer or inner campus students to stay long-term in the College of Elite Students. If the matter were reported, it could lead to severe punishments. After all, if all elite students helped their family out in such a way, how could order be maintained?

Earlier, Yang Susu had implied that he should stay in her temple to work on his cultivation. Although she could probably rely on her master's influence to make something like that work, he knew that Yun Hailan would be taking advantage of every possible opportunity to make a move against him. She was a merciless, venomous schemer, of that he was certain.

Besides, once she became a Lifeseizer herself, she might go after Yang Susu.

The best thing to do right now was make sure that his aunt grew more powerful as quickly as possible, so that Yun Hailan didn't turn out to be a problem.

The Sage Devil Painting was a magical item that essentially shouldn't even exist. It required killing nearly one hundred million people to produce, as well as thousands upon thousands of Master of Energy demonlings, plus a Lifeseizer.

However, it was possible that because of the unique qualities of the treasure, Yang Susu could transform proverbial devils into sages, and thus gain access to incredible power.

Yang Qi took advantage of the darkness of night to slip back into his residence. Now, he realized how inferior his formation of spirit convergence was to an energy formation of the dao of monarchs. Of course, it was still better than practicing cultivation on some random mountain in the middle of nowhere.

Taking some medicinal pills out of his thumb-ring of holding, he identified which ones were ideal for life force quintessence, and began to consume them one by one.

As the pills dissolved, they would be refined by his true energy, and would become medicinal energy that would flow into the embryonic Hellfire Crucible.

One by one, the power of those medicinal pills flowed into the lava-like true energy in the crucible, where they became life force quintessence, which would then continue on into his meridians. Slowly but surely, the twenty-first particle within him was beginning to wake up.

These were all rare medicinal pills, each one of which could provide the benefits of dozens of years of hard cultivation to ordinary individuals. However, because Yang Qi cultivated a godly-class energy art, his body surpassed those of ordinary individuals by hundreds or thousands of times. To him, such pills provided the benefits of ten days of cultivation, or at best, two weeks.

Thankfully, he had plundered a huge stockpile of them from the treasure stores in Krorän. As such, the medicinal strength flowing through him was significant.

As the life force quintessence flowed through him, the twenty-first particle began to twitch and wriggle, almost as if an ancient megamammoth were struggling to breathe. It was obviously just on the verge of waking up.

The true energy surging through him caused rippling, golden halos to spring up around him. They surged out, then shrank back down, gradually transforming into the shape of a door behind him.

The inside of the door was the color of black gold; black represented the devil-gods of hell and gold represented respect and nobility.

Together, they made black gold, the color that represented the supreme leaders of hell.

When the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was cultivated to the ultimate degree, it could summon a gate to the netherworld.

Supposedly, that made it possible to communicate directly with hell itself, and to draw upon the immense power of ancient devil-gods. It was even theoretically possible to summon the heroic souls of such beings, and use them to crush any and all resistance.

Of course, Yang Qi was very far away from that level.

Right now, he needed to become a Lifeseizer, and eventually, reach the Legendary level, the same as the Crown Prince.

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Chapter 79: Breaking into the Lifeseizing Level

After consuming massive amounts of medicinal pills, Yang Qi finally reached the point where life force quintessence was coursing through him, pouring into that twenty-first particle, which began to wriggle and twitch.

By now, he had a very deep understanding of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

The further along one proceeded in cultivating it, the harder it became. Every step was like breaking through a massive obstacle. In fact, without all of the spirit medicines he had access to, he couldn't make this progress in even a hundred years of cultivation.

However, he still wasn't willing to abandon an energy art that was meant for gods and spirits. How could he?

He was developing power that could look down condescendingly on all heaven and earth; despite being a mortal, he was already developing the heart of a god. One reason powerful experts could be called powerful was because of their heart. However expansive their hearts were, that was how expansive their prospects could be.

Now, by sending the spirit energy of numerous medicinal pills into the Hellfire Crucible, he was preparing to make his break through into the Lifeseizing level.

"Seize life from the heavens! Godmammoths are invincible; they can pluck stars and snatch moons, their energy can consume even blazing suns." True energy gathered around him and then shot upward, only to be grabbed by the energy formation, and sent back into him.

Crick! Crack!

True energy settled down around him, no longer in the visage of a suit of armor, but rather, as scales, all of them a deep golden color, and rippling as if they were flowing magma. There were also countless sparks of electricity flowing around him constantly; having been struck with a fatal bolt of lightning, his meridians and true energy contained its power within them.

Scales of true energy settled around him, covering him; in the blink of an eye, it wasn't even possible to see Yang Qi. The only thing in the room was a towering megamammoth.

This megamammoth looked nothing like an elephant; it was massive, with a trunk so powerful it seemed capable of sucking all the air out of the room in the shortest moment.

As for Yang Qi, he sat cross-legged inside of the true energy megamammoth, which was so big it took up almost the entire room.

"Seize life from heaven? Seize life from heaven…. Focus on becoming stronger. Communicate with the spirit energy of heaven and earth, and the quintessence of the sun and moon. Seize life. Transform the self…."

It was a process, not just of reaching the highest level of enlightenment, but of pushing beyond that. Gradually, he realized that the air around him was actually heterogeneous and impure. It was filled with elements that could help all living things to grow, could help plants to blossom, and could help humans to transcend to higher levels. It was an energy, marvelous and strange, something that couldn't be forcibly taken into the body.

It was the spirit energy of heaven and earth.

In the Lifeseizing level, humans rose to the level of being able to take that energy, bring it into their bodies, and use it to create life force essence, to replenish personal true energy, to transform the fleshly body, to acquire greater strength, to add lifespan, and to purify the mind.

One of the most fundamental changes was that, with the swipe of a hand, a Lifeseizer could create a resonance with the spirit energy of heaven and earth, and use it to attack enemies, or create astrological phenomena.

For example, Yang Qi cultivated the Four Seasons Swordplay, so if he reached the Lifeseizing level, he could truly use the sword energy of winter snow to cause actual snow storms.

If he could continue to seize life, and reach Quinary Lifeseizing, or even better, Septenary or Octonary, then he could do terrifying things within a range of fifty kilometers to five hundred. Wind, rain, snow, lightning; all such things were in the realm of possibility.

"Azure dragon. White tiger. Vermilion bird. Black tortoise…."

Yang Qi's true energy megamammoth trumpeted loudly, and as it did, more manifestations of divine animals appeared, all of them bowing in subservience.

Godmammoths were gods to the legions of gods, and were created to be leaders of all creation. In the endless sea of worlds, planes, and hells, they were the only divine beasts capable of forcing anything and everything to submit.

Yang Qi's eyes snapped open, and he threw his head back and howled.

True energy streamed out of his pores, as his Hellfire Crucible transformed the medicinal energy within him into life force quintessence.

Inhale. Exhale….

As he performed his breathing exercises, true energy saturated the room, eventually bursting up to connect to the clouds, which churned and seethed until they were a vortex.

As of this moment, Yang Qi was like a butterfly in a cocoon, just waiting to emerge into the world.

But then, all of a sudden….

The medicinal energy in his Hellfire Crucible faded away. He was out of medicinal pills.

He needed even more life force quintessence than he had already generated.

Without enough spirit medicines, the twenty-first particle could do nothing but sink down into silence.

"Ai…." Sighing, he reined in his true energy.

The megamammoth vanished, and the golden color which made him look like some sort of god from heaven slowly sank back down inside him.

Although it wasn't visible to the naked eye now, Yang Qi could tell that the color of the multi-layered membrane beneath his skin had changed. And now, it had complex designs on it that seemed to be a spell formation.

Once he did step into the Lifeseizing level, he would be a living spell formation of sorts, one with all creation, and virtually invincible.

"I failed to break into the Lifeseizing level. But at least I benefited in some ways. And I did progress a bit." Now that his true energy was back inside of him, and was already starting to build up again, he could tell that his meridians were all thicker and stronger. The true energy flowed through them like massive, roiling rivers.

Compared to his meridians, those of ordinary people would be like little more than streams. Within his various acupoints, his true energy seethed like magma ready to erupt from a volcano and destroy the world.

Yang Qi had failed to reach the Lifeseizing level, and the only reason was that he lacked enough life force quintessence.

Without that lightning mammoth to help him, his cultivation would now be far more difficult. It was a good thing he had mentally prepared for this outcome.

"I need to think of some other way to get the medicinal pills I need." Rising to his feet, he checked his thumb-ring and confirmed that he had less than half of the medicinal pills left.

That definitely wasn't enough to build up the life force quintessence he needed.

Every time one type of medicinal pill was consumed, the second such pill that was consumed would be only half as effective. Therefore, Yang Qi planned to give the rest of his pill stockpile to his brothers and father.

Another month went by, during which Yang Qi stayed in his room and practiced cultivation in peace and quiet. Thanks to the pointers given by Yang Susu, many of his areas of confusion had been cleared up. Now, his routine cultivation went about smoothly and with no difficulty. In fact, he was reaching the point where he felt that he could probably create energy arts of his own.

His Four Seasons Swordplay were now at the ultimate peak, and he could use them without even thinking. He could bring about the transformations of spring, summer, autumn, and winter at will, although not to the level of a Lifeseizer.

And thanks to his constant work at cultivation, every square inch of his flesh and blood was filled with true energy.

His blood was now a deep golden color, and when he cast his senses inward, he could sense how powerful it was. It flowed like mercury through his blood vessels.

At long last, the freezing temperatures were fading away, and the lands were warming up. It was almost time for the lunar New Year.

Yang Qi circulated his true energy and then flicked his finger, causing a drop of blood to emerge from its tip, which then dropped down to the ground. When it landed, it didn't splash, but instead, remained there, a deep golden pearl, flickering and glittering like metal.

His blood had already reached a level that even most Lifeseizers would have a hard time comprehending. It was almost as if he wasn't even human. When one's blood became golden, and as heavy as mercury, it indicated that one's energy arts and cultivation base had reached the point of completely transforming.

If one drop of blood was that heavy, then it was difficult to imagine how sturdy Yang Qi's flesh and blood were as a whole. He was more tough and durable than even some massive beasts from ancient times.

"Wow, I've been in seclusion for a month already. I wonder if Li He and the others have returned. I should go ask how things are going in my clan."

Waving his hand, he pulled the dark golden drop of blood back into his body.

Considering how much medicinal energy now existed in his blood, each drop was precious. In fact, if some master pill concocter got a drop of his blood, they would be able to produce a consummate spirit medicine.

With that, Yang Qi sent his true energy out of his room and into the rest of the tower.

It was at that point that he realized Li He and the others were already back.

Without any hesitation, he summoned them, and they immediately flew over to his room.

"Brother Yang, we've been back for ten days. Why were you in secluded meditation for so long? You were cultivating for an entire month?" When they entered, it was clear that they were in very high spirits.

"Did your trips home go well? How is your clan standing now? And how is my clan doing?" At a single glance, Yang Qi could tell that all four of them had advanced significantly, and were already far beyond the level they had been at when first becoming Masters of Energy.

Obviously, they had benefited greatly from their trips home.

"Between the four of us, we managed to muster over thirty Masters of Energy, and a hundred eighth phase experts. With their help, your father has already driven the previous city magistrate out, and taken control of Yanhaven."

"What?" Yang Qi exclaimed. "They actually took over Yanhaven? Did my father send any messages?"

"Of course, Brother Yang Qi. Check this out."

With that, Li He handed over a sealed letter.

Yang Qi took it and immediately tore it open. At first glance, he could tell that it was his father's handwriting.

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Chapter 80: Life Force Springwater

The letter from Yang Zhan went into detail regarding everything that had happened in Yanhaven over the past several months.

It said that for unknown reasons, the previously overbearing State of Yun had retreated. Then, more than thirty Masters of Energy had arrived from four aristocratic clans, as well as hundreds of eighth phase experts. Because of that, it had been easy to capture Yan Gufeng and seize the city magistrate's mansion.

All of the other clans in Yanhaven had immediately acknowledged allegiance to the Yang Clan, and had agreed to serve as counselors.

The letter went on to say that Yang Zhan intended to found a nation, and that he was interested in Yang Qi's opinion on what to call it.

Furthermore, Yang Zhan's cultivation base had significantly improved, thanks to the medicinal pills Yang Qi had sent him. And because of the Golden Nine Transformations Pills, his eldest and second brothers had both reached the Master of Energy level.

There were other messages that were more vaguely written. First, the clan was growing both in numbers and in power.

Second, Yang Zhan reminded Yang Qi that it was important to make a name for himself in the Demi-Immortal Institute; that was the clan's best chance to remain stable and avoid disasters.

Third, Yang Zhan yet again mentioned Yang Qi's mother, and that he should try to get as much information about the Hanging Mountain as he could.

'Wonderful,' Yang Qi thought. 'Truly wonderful! The clan is finally reaching new heights of glory!'

The message from Yang Zhan also explained that, after capturing Yan Gufeng, he realized that he had powerful backers, and thus, agreed to his pleas to be freed. He even let him take all of his counselors and guards with him. Of course, he had confiscated all of the Yan Clan's wealth.

'Who would have thought that Yan Gufeng would eventually flee Yanhaven? However, considering that Father let him go, I wonder if that means he'll try to come back for revenge one day.'

Yang Qi was fairly certain that problems were on the horizon; there was no way that Yan Gufeng would let the matter drop.

That said, Yan Gufeng's daughter Yan Feixia was a student at the True Dragon Institute, so killing him would still have resulted in major repercussions. At least this way there was still a possibility to resolve things later on.

'For now, I probably don't need to go home. I should focus on reaching the Lifeseizing level first. Once that happens, word will spread far and wide that the Yang Clan has a Lifeseizer on their side, which will make us untouchable.' His hands clenched into fists. 'Mother, I'm definitely going to get to the Hanging Mountain one day, and finally ask you why you disappeared and never returned.'

He really was itching to get into the Lifeseizing level.

At this point, Yang Qi finally put the letter away. Sighing, he said, "So, my clan is finally in a stable situation. Now I can really focus on building my power base here in the Demi-Immortal Institute. Looks like the four of you have improved recently!"

"Of course," Li He replied excitedly. "Our positions in our clans improved dramatically, and we have access to greater resources than before. In fact, one of the Lifeseizer chief elders from my clan personally blessed me and expanded my sea of energy. My clan wants me to continue progressing and eventually reach the Lifeseizing level myself. If I can become an elite student in the Demi-Immortal Institute, my clan will have a huge advantage in the Sage Ancestor Dynasty."

"Brother Yang Qi," Liang Dong said, "you're the leader of our Sage Monarch Society. Do you think you have a shot at reaching the Lifeseizing level? I know you're already capable of dominating Lifeseizers in combat, but it seems you're currently stuck. Is it because of the energy art you cultivate? If you know what you need to achieve another breakthrough, just say the word, and we brothers will figure out a way to help you."

"Yeah, that's right," Hua Yinhu added. "We have access to a lot of clan resources now. Perhaps whatever item you lack is something that we can help you get." After all, if Yang Qi could reach the Lifeseizing level, it would be a big benefit to all of them.

Eyes glittering, Yang Qi said, "Well, what I really need are spirit medicines that increase life force quintessence. With enough pills like that, I could rise to the next level. Can you guys think of a solution to the problem?"

"Spirit pills that increase life force quintessence?" The four friends exchanged glances, and none of them seemed very confident. "Medicines like the Golden Nine Transformations Pill and the Violet-Golden Meridian-Strengthening Pill are extremely rare and valuable. Even if you found a place to buy them in bulk… our clans would probably go bankrupt trying to do so."

"I see…." Yang Qi said, his eyes turning slightly downcast.

After a moment of thought, Li He's eyes brightened, and he said, "But that doesn't mean we have no other options. What if we went on missions for the institute?"

"What do you mean?" Yang Qi asked.

"I remember seeing a mission that involved going into one of the most dangerous locations in the Rich-Lush Continent, the Heavencorpse Dimension. There are fragments of holy relics there that belong to the Demi-Immortal Institute by right. If you collect enough fragments, you can get a hefty reward. Besides, there's a type of spirit water there called life force springwater. According to the rumors, a single drop of it contains a huge amount of life force quintessence, far more than any golden pill or spirit medicine. A few decades ago, some students went there and found some. Afterward, all of them rose to the Lifeseizing level almost immediately. With that water, advancing your cultivation is like turning over your hand. In fact, Lifeseizers can use it to achieve multiple lifeseizings! Even the Crown Prince used it. That's how he broke out of Nonary Lifeseizing into the level beyond."

'Life force springwater?' Just the name alone made it sound like some sort of heaven-shaking, earth-shattering spirit medicine. 'The Heavencorpse Dimension must be a place full of incredible dangers.'

All of a sudden, he found himself thinking about the Blackcorpse Mountains.

Deep in those mountains was a land of endless tombs, filled with countless zombies. According to the rumors, there were thousand-year-old corpse kings there, making it one of the top danger zones in the Rich-Lush Continent. Little did he know that the Heavencorpse Dimension was even more extraordinary.

"I'm not very good when it comes to the geography of the Rich-Lush Continent. What kind of place is this Heavencorpse Dimension?"

Yang Qi had only been in the Demi-Immortal Institute for a short time, and was fairly ignorant when it came to core studies such as medicine, pill concocting, astronomy, geography, history, and the like. Back in Yanhaven, he had spent all his time on energy arts and cultivation, and had never paid much attention to other random things.

Only by attending numerous classes in the institute could one gain an abundance of knowledge.

"The Heavencorpse Dimension is one of the top danger zones in the Rich-Lush Continent. A jeopardous place to say the least. It is surrounded by the Blackcorpse Mountains, Fiendcorpse Mountains, Primalcorpse Mountains, Dragoncorpse Mountains, Direcorpse Mountains, and the Devilcorpse Mountains. Only by passing through such locations can you actually reach the Heavencorpse Dimension, which is filled with such intense corpse auras that time and space are distorted. It's almost like a different world, a place filled with endless corpses. The energy from there actually seeps out into the graveyard mountains in the Rich-Lush Continent. Such locations are where numerous ancient battles were fought, and are the home of ancient corpses, corpse kings, devil-banes, demon-ghosts and the like. Those mountains are filled with numerous tombs and graves that contain precious treasures such as divine weapons. It's relatively common for students to travel there to look for treasure."

Li He and the others were obviously very well-versed in this field of knowledge.

"So, that's how it is," Yang Qi said, nodding. "Yanhaven is near the Blackcorpse Mountains, but I had no idea they're actually an entrance to the Heavencorpse Dimension."

"The Fiendcorpse Mountains are to the east of the institute," Hua Yinhu said. "They also lead to the Heavencorpse Dimension. Low-level students often go there to hunt demon-ghosts and zombies. I also heard that every sixty-year-cycle or so, a devil king will rise up and lead a horde of zombies into human lands to try to make more zombies. For that reason, the institute is always on guard for that possibility. Of course, freshman students aren't allowed in. But now that we're outer campus students, we can go in to hunt zombies and turn in their zombie cores for merit points."

"Alright, let's do it." Yang Qi was intrigued by this life force springwater, and very much wanted to see it for himself. He also wanted to know what kind of place the Heavencorpse Dimension was.

This was his first time hearing that there were other dimensions connected to the Rich-Lush Continent.

But then again, when his father told him that his mother came from the Hanging Mountain, and he had asked where it was, his father had said it was a different world. Perhaps the Hanging Mountain was another such dimension.

He couldn't even imagine what kind of power was required to create passageways to such places.

'If I can find that life force springwater, then it would probably help my father and brothers reach the Lifeseizing level too.' With that, the five friends discussed their plans in more detail.

After making all the preparations, they left the institute and headed east.

Spring was unfolding, and the lands were warming up. In many places, the snow had already melted, and the rays of the sun were calling the blooming plants up from the soil.

Yang Qi and his friends flew along at top speed until it was dark. Around that time, they saw mountains looming ahead, stretching from east to south, and radiating profoundly baleful energy.

"Art of Radiance and Light!" Hua Yinhu said, waving his finger. In response, a ball of energy shot out that radiated intense light, and drove away the mists that had begun to build around them.

Already, Yang Qi could sense that the massive mountains up ahead were filled with rot, and numerous corpse auras. There was also something toxic there that pricked at the nose.

Of course, toxins like that couldn't affect him anyway.

"Here we are!" Hua Yinhu said. "The Fiendcorpse Mountains. Let's go!"

However, even as his words rang out, a whistling sound reached their ears, as though someone were flying at top speed through the air.

WOOOOSH!

A powerful aura settled down onto them.

"Lifeseizer!" Yang Qi said. Now visible was a group of a few dozen students from the Demi-Immortal Institute. Apparently, they were also planning to travel through the Fiendcorpse Mountains to the Heavencorpse Dimension.

They had four Lifeseizers with them, and three of them wore the green robes and white headbands of the Gentlemen's Society. As for the other, it was none other than Chu Tiange!

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Chapter 81: Another Encounter with Chu Tiange

In the face of four Lifeseizers, and numerous other Masters of Energy, Yang Qi and his friends subconsciously backed up.

Unfortunately, Chu Tiange had extremely sharp eyes and immediately noticed Yang Qi.

"So, it's you," he said. Yang Qi had made a strong impression on him when he defeated Song Haishan. Later, he had promised Yun Hailan that, if she agreed to owe him a favor, he would kill him for her. Of course, she had other plans and had refused his offer.

Interest piqued, Chu Tiange landed on the ground and looked over at Yang Qi.

Of course, he had no idea that Yang Qi was the same person who had interfered with his duel with Jing Wuxue. If he did know, he would likely vomit blood.

That day had been snow-packed, and Yang Qi had used his Four Seasons Swordplay to cloak himself with a snowstorm, plus he had his Infernal Deity Plate Armor. No one could possibly have pierced that disguise. Besides, he had pulsed with the baleful energy of a devil-god from hell. Because of all that, Chu Tiange didn't even suspect that his mysterious opponent was a student from the Demi-Immortal Institute.

One of the elite students looked at Yang Qi and his group and said, "What's going on, Chu Tiange? You know this guy? He's just an outer campus student. Come on, let's go. We need to find that ripple in space in the Fiendcorpse Mountains that leads to the Heavencorpse Dimension. The zombie horde will be rising up soon, which is nothing to take lightly."

Eyeing Yang Qi's friends, Chu Tiange said, "These four are nothing more than bugs." Smiling enigmatically, he looked at Yang Qi and continued. "But don't underestimate this one. Back when he was in the eighth phase, he defeated a Master of Energy. Furthermore, Yun Hailan hates him to death. She's very influential in the College of Elite Students, and is being mentored by the Crown Prince. It won't be long before she's a Lifeseizer as well. According to the rumors, the Crown Prince gave her three drops of life force springwater."

"Salutations, Elder Brother Tiange, ladies and gentlemen," Hua Yinhu said. "We dare not interfere with whatever important tasks you have at hand."

With that, he and the group turned to leave.

"Hold it right there!" Chu Tiange said, his voice grim.

Heart pounding, Yang Qi stopped in place. He was very familiar with Chu Tiange, and didn't have a good impression of him at all. And now, it seemed like he might be trying to pick a fight.

Before Yang Qi could do anything more than think briefly about the situation, Chu Tiange said, "Yang Qi, you defeated the ninth phase Song Haishan when you were only in the eighth phase. Now, you're a Master of Energy, so presumably, you're even more powerful than before. I heard it had something to do with an airmastery plant, is that correct? Instead of leaving everything up to rumor, why don't you just show us if you really have some potential? If you do, well, you never know. These three here are experts from the Gentlemen's Society. They might be interested in recruiting you."

"Oh?" the leader of the Gentlemen's Society students said, his eyes flashing with interest. "So, you used an airmastery plant? And you defeated a ninth phase expert when you were only in the eighth phase? That seems to indicate you have potential. How about this: give us a demonstration of your energy arts, and if we're impressed we'll give you an official test. If you pass, and you can prove your loyalties, you can join the Gentlemen's Society."

'A test? Prove my loyalties? Join their society?'

It took only a moment for Yang Qi to realize what Chu Tiange was up to.

In the Demi-Immortal Institute, the Gentlemen's Society was second in place only to the Crown Prince Society. Joining them would definitely bring benefits. However, they would obviously have very stringent requirements to join, and it would definitely involve indoctrination into their society. Yang Qi wasn't interested in being held back in that way.

Besides, they would also force him to take a very brutal test, and Chu Tiange hoped that he would be killed during the process. Chu Tiange wasn't from the Gentlemen's Society, but his words still carried a lot of weight. And obviously, he was indicating to the leaders that they should allow the so-called test to take place in the Fiendcorpse Mountains.

If Yang Qi refused to join, it would be an open insult to the Gentlemen's Society. And if he did that, who knew if he would make it back to the institute alive.

Chu Tiange was killing two birds with one stone. He had spoken only a few words, and yet forced Yang Qi into a very difficult position.

Furthermore, from the sinister glint in Chu Tiange's eyes, it was obvious to everyone what his true goal was.

"Come on, Yang Qi," Chu Tiange said coolly. "Let's see if you have enough potential to join them. What do you say? Do you know how many students in the institute are dying to get into the Gentlemen's Society?"

Chuckling coldly in his heart, Yang Qi said, "Sorry, I'm not interested in joining the Gentlemen's Society. I'm used to my freedom and independence."

Almost immediately, the atmosphere grew tense.

One of the inner campus students in the other group stepped forward. "You've really got a lot of guts, don't you, punk? We're giving you face and you're refusing to take it? Do you know how powerful these three Elder Brothers of ours are? They're Lifeseizers! Elite students! They stoop to honoring you, and you throw it back in their face?"

The three Lifeseizers from the Gentlemen's Society all looked visibly irritated. One of them, a middle-aged man, stepped forward and said, "Fine. We won't force you. If you want to refuse a favor from us, so be it. Come on, everyone, let's go. There's no need to waste time on a nobody like this."

The three Lifeseizers flew up into the air, letting out cold snorts that slammed into Yang Qi and his friends, sending them stumbling backwards before losing their feet and thumping down onto their rear ends. Yang Qi's face turned ashen, and his four friends all coughed up blood.

Of course, Yang Qi's reaction was an act, but not his friends'. They had been deeply shaken by the sound wave.

"You're on your own now, punk," Chu Tiange said. "I gave you a chance and you threw it away. Pretty soon, you'll know how stupid that was of you." With that, he flew deeper into the pitch black Fiendcorpse Mountains.

After a long moment passed, Yang Qi crawled to his feet, his eyes flashing with killing intent. Waving his finger, he sent four streams of soothing true energy into his four friends, healing them.

Li He shook his head, his expression the picture of bitterness. "Yang Qi, that Chu Tiange is a real son of a bitch. Thanks to him running his mouth, we've offended the Gentlemen's Society. That's going to make things difficult going forward."

"Don't worry," Yang Qi replied. "Chu Tiange is going to eat his own words sooner or later." With that, he sent some vibrations out to clean all of the mud and filth off of his clothing.

This close to the Fiendcorpse Mountains, the ground was rife with toxins and pollution, and smelled like rotting fish. In fact, the sludge almost seemed like decaying flesh, and provoked the urge to vomit. There were even occasional bones sticking out of the mud, the remains of people who died there at some indeterminable time in the past. It was only recently that Yang Qi had learned about the occasional zombie hordes that would sweep out of the mountains and invade the world of the living, hoping to feast on their flesh, produce more zombies, and strengthen the corpse energy in the mountains.

Based on his experiences in the Blackcorpse Mountains, he knew that many mountain peaks were, in fact, the tombs of illustrious individuals from the past, places filled with treasures of all sorts.

Of course, also buried out in these mountains were students from the Demi-Immortal Institute who had ventured into the wrong place and never left.

"Wavelight shield!"

After regaining their composure, the group of five activated their defensive shields, which manifested as semi-transparent, egg-like barriers around them. It was a common art from the institute which used true energy to defend against all sorts of vile entities.

As they proceeded along, the toxic energy, corpse energy and baleful energy all grew stronger.

It was almost a surprise that trees could grow in this place. Of course, they were completely strange and bizarre, with no leaves, and a color that resembled bone. It was almost like they were actually made from bones.

"Bone trees are native to the Fiendcorpse Mountains," Hua Yinhu explained. "Be careful of them, and definitely don't get too close. They can shoot out bone spikes that pierce most types of defensive true energy. Many students have died because of them."

Even as the words left his mouth, one of the nearby trees suddenly shot out dozens of spear-like bone spikes that swirled through the air at top speed.

At the same time, skeletal hands suddenly reached up from within the sludge, grabbing Yang Qi's ankles and trying to drag him down into the mud.

BAM!

Yang Qi unleashed his energy arts, shattering the bone spikes. Then, he stomped his foot down, destroying the skeletal hands. Floating up into the air, he unleashed a palm strike that smashed into the bone tree and wrenched it out of the ground.

From the resulting hole in the ground belched black smoke; apparently, it was a passage leading to parts unknown.

"Why don't you all head over to that mountain?" Yang Qi suggested, pointing off into the distance. "From there, you can get a better idea of what's going on. I'm pretty sure there was some mysterious power controlling that bone tree, and that it was coming from underground. Perhaps it's a corpse king? I'm going to head down and check it out, see if there's any treasure."

"Alright, Brother Yang. We understand."

After a quick discussion to all get on the same page, Yang Qi flew into the dark tunnel. Meanwhile, his friends headed off toward the mountain he had indicated.

Whizz!

The moment Yang Qi entered the tunnel, he could sense a sinister wind that immediately raised his hackles. The tunnel went down and down, bending, twisting, and turning like a maze. It really did seem like the passageway to a tomb.

Eventually, the rotting smell faded away, and the walls turned into stone. Apparently, these were the catacombs of some ancient and forgotten empire, which had since been buried by the sands of time.

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Chapter 82: An Enormous Tomb

Crack!

As Yang Qi sped through the catacombs, he accidentally stepped on a bone.

Although his surroundings were pitch black, with his energy arts, he could see as clearly as if it were day.

As he went along, the tunnels grew wider and taller, and before long, he began running into skeletons walking around here and there. It was hard to say what these skeletons had been in life. However, the bones that made them up were as tough as iron, and they still possessed the energy arts they had in life. Because of the baleful energy in the catacombs, these spirits of the dead were now skeleton warriors.

One thing was certain; they were the result of human sacrifices. Complex black carvings covered their bones, apparently the product of an energy art designed to automatically absorb baleful energy.

Only Lifeseizers who followed the dao of devils could possibly create spell formations like that.

That seemed to indicate without question that a Lifeseizer was lurking somewhere in this sprawling catacomb complex. Perhaps it was even one of the rumored thousand-year-old corpse kings.

Yang Qi knew that the Fiendcorpse Mountains were massive, and that the catacombs beneath them were a sprawling maze. Even powerful Lifeseizers who entered them would have their true energy slowly corroded by the baleful energy. Under those circumstances, if they actually met that thousand-year-old corpse king, they would be killed beyond the shadow of a doubt.

But Yang Qi was different. Because he relied on true energy that surpassed the Lifeseizing level, he could venture into the depths of the catacombs with ease. Furthermore, his Hellfire Crucible could actually refine baleful energy and corpse energy and change it into something useful.

As he passed along, all of the baleful energy and corpse energy within several dozen paces of him would begin to bubble and boil, causing a smell like that of sulfur to fill the air. At the same time, the stone walls began to sag as if they might turn into lava at any moment.

With each intersection that Yang Qi passed through, he saw more and more skeletons. Soon, he saw some that had bits of skin or hair still attached to them; a few even had ghostly flames flickering in the black pits that were their eyes. Unexpectedly, those were corpses who were using true energy to become demon-devils.

One skeleton appeared, splattered with blood. As soon as it saw Yang Qi, it clenched its hands into fists, which then burst into intense, toxic flames, the manifestation of some sort of toxic flame energy art.

Even more surprising, this corpse's cultivation base was in the eighth phase.

However, this toxic flame energy art was useless against Yang Qi, and didn't affect him at all. A moment later, the blood-drenched skeleton's head exploded into bits, and a demon core flew out of the thing.

With the stomp of his foot, Yang Qi then crushed the rest of the skeleton into dust.

By this point, he had already passed through over a hundred intersections, and was deep underground. As the army of skeletons grew more numerous, he saw scattered zombies, as well as ancient corpses.

All of a sudden, a powerful aura locked down onto him.

Then, blade light flashed, and a zombie lurched out at him from a connecting corridor. This zombie wore a full suit of armor that was so ancient it was impossible to tell what type it was. However, it was clearly the armor of a general. Furthermore, the zombie wielded a massive, triple-spiked greatsaber, fully as long as a person was tall. The zombie was strapping and well-built, with pulsing true energy, and remnants of some consummate energy art. Howling, it slashed its saber out, backed by the power of the ninth phase.

The Fiendcorpse Mountains were essentially a huge burial complex where some grandmaster of the dao of devils had bestowed intelligence to the ancient corpses.

In life, they had been Masters of Energy. But after dying, they were transformed into corpse-demons with one-track minds. Now, they could advance in their cultivation even faster than before, and because they were zombies, were even tougher than in life.

The ancient corpse shouted in an incomprehensible tongue as it sent its blade flying toward Yang Qi.

In response, Yang Qi waved his hand casually, shattering the greatsaber. Then, he flicked his finger, sending out Silk Rain of the Spring Silkworm. Numerous strands of sword energy pierced into the head of the ancient corpse, ripping a jade pellet out of its mouth.

The pellet, roughly the size of a longan fruit, was covered with veins, making it look very much like an eyeball.

Yang Qi could sense an immense true energy in the jade, something akin to the entire sea of energy inside a Master of Energy. This was definitely a rare piece of spirit jade designed to hoard true energy.

Yang Qi remembered hearing that Yan Gufeng had possessed a thumb-ring that had a similar function, which was considered priceless. Although it didn't quite measure up to the Heart of the Sea ring that he possessed, it was still something that students in the Demi-Immortal Institute would drool over.

Apparently, the jade eyeball in the mouth of the corpse general was what had prevented it from rotting away into nothing. Without it, the ancient corpse toppled over and exploded, taking out several nearby zombies with it.

"What a treasure. I don't really need something like this, but perhaps father could. Having a device that stores true energy can make you much more powerful in battle. Combine that with his airmastery plant, and he could probably come out alive in a fight with a Lifeseizer."

Putting the eyeball away, Yang Qi eagerly continued on his way.

Whenever he encountered skeletons, zombies, or even corpse-demons with energy arts, he destroyed them and harvested their demon cores.

He found other ancient corpses with funerary objects, all of which he collected.

Unfortunately, he didn't find any other extremely precious treasures like the eyeball. Everything was ordinary in nature.

Despite fighting constantly, his true energy wasn't draining away.

At one point, he suddenly heard a shrill cry from further ahead in the catacombs.

In response, the nearby zombies and skeletons retreated in other directions, vacating the area.

'What's that? It was so loud.' Eyes flickering, he continued through intersection after intersection, heading deeper and deeper until he found himself at the entrance of a tomb.

It was very large, fully thirty meters tall, with walls covered in carvings of dragons, phoenixes and the like. The floor was engraved with images of mountains and rivers, and the ceiling was inlaid with pearls designed to look like heavenly bodies.

Right in the middle of the tomb was an enormous coffin, atop which lay a giant.

The coffin itself was crafted from bronze, and featured carvings of vicious beasts from primeval times.

One look at this tomb and coffin made it obvious that the person interred here had been very important.

Yang Qi stepped into the tomb, and instantly, the gigantic corpse flew off of the coffin. He was male, with a golden face, his body festooned with jewelry of gold and jade. He wielded a pitch-black scepter forged from unknown materials, capped with an enormous gem that was as bright red as the quintessence of fire itself, and pulsed with such power that Yang Qi felt like it contained a small sun inside.

'What kind of jewel is that?' he thought, shocked. From what he could tell, this jewel was probably of higher quality than the jade eyeball.

It was with profoundly evil eyes that this ancient corpse stared at Yang Qi, his aura rippling out with such power that it seemed capable of causing numerous Masters of Energy to collapse into unconsciousness.

This was a thousand-year-old corpse king in the Lifeseizing level!

And yet, Yang Qi wasn't fazed in the least.

"A student from the Demi-Immortal Institute?" the corpse said in a grating voice. "A puny Master of Energy from the Outer Campus, here in the Fiendcorpse Mountains? How dare you come here! I am King Huaiyin, and this is my tomb. I guess you must be looking to die, right?!" In life, this ancient corpse had apparently been a king of some sort. "Well, since you're here, I'll make you into a corpse slave of mine. Go to hell!"

King Huaiyin's scepter erupted with a violent aura as he waved it through the air, causing a beam of burning red light to shoot out from the gem at its top.

Considering this was a thousand-year-old corpse king, and Lifeseizer, Yang Qi didn't dare to react slowly. And since he was in the depths of a catacomb, he wasn't worried about people seeing him. Without hesitation, he drew on the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, summoning his Infernal Deity Spear, Fiend-Devil Wings, and Infernal Deity Plate Armor.

Black armor rippled out over him, a long spear appeared in his hand, and massive wings flapped, causing a gale-force wind to pop up.

When the spear encountered the burning red light, it ate it up.

And then, innumerable spear projections appeared, bearing down on King Huaiyin. Yang Qi was attacking like a thunderstorm, hoping to destroy this Lifeseizer as quickly as possible.

No Lifeseizer would have been able to escape, especially considering that as a Master of Energy, Yang Qi now understood more about the spirit energy of heaven and earth than most Lifeseizers did.

Right now, he hoped to use this corpse king to prove to himself how strong he was, to temper himself, and to gain more enlightenment of heaven and earth, all in the hopes of achieving his next breakthrough as quickly as possible.

Besides, if he could get the demon core of a Lifeseizer to study, that would be of immense help.

The ferocious Infernal Deity Spear stabbed through the air, piercing the defensive true energy of the thousand-year-old corpse king, and stabbing into his raiment of gold and jade.

However, that was when intense light shone out from the gold and jade garment, and a sound like a booming bell could be heard. The spear was blocked! Unexpectedly, the garment itself was a precious treasure that the Infernal Deity Spear couldn't stab through.

Of course, it was mostly because of Yang Qi's low level, not the strength of the corpse king.

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Chapter 83: Thousand-Year-Old Corpse King

In the sprawling catacombs beneath the Fiendcorpse Mountains, Yang Qi found a thousand-year-old corpse king, King Huaiyin, and attacked him immediately.

If the leadership back in the Demi-Immortal Institute learned of the matter, they would have been shocked. After all, the Fiendcorpse Mountains' catacombs were nothing short of a labyrinth. Even Lifeseizers who ended up trapped by an army of zombies there might end up running out of true energy and dying. And even if they managed to wipe out all the skeletons and zombies, only to be faced with a thousand-year-old corpse king, then the result would be the same.

And yet, the freakish Yang Qi had mowed down everything in his path down to this point, and was still brimming with true energy.

Bam!

The two opponents slammed into each other and then backed away.

Eyes flickering with vile light, King Huaiyin glared at Yang Qi and said, "What kung fu is that? You're no ordinary Master of Energy. You're actually as strong as a Lifeseizer! Who are you? Don't tell me a true consummate genius has risen up in the Demi-Immortal Institute."

Yang Qi snorted coldly and eyed the garment of gold and jade worn by King Huaiyin. It was so tough it could actually block his Infernal Deity Spear, which meant that it was no ordinary treasure. It was obviously incredibly valuable.

Not waiting for any response, King Huaiyin continued, "Well, you might be a genius, but you're going to perish here anyway. By now, you're an arrow that's reached the end of its flight. Well, am I right? You wasted a lot of true energy dealing with the army of skeletons and zombies on the way here, so how are you feeling now?" A horrifying smile spread out across his face, revealing two razor-sharp fangs. "I'm going to enjoy draining your life force. After I suck you dry, I'll turn you into a zombie general under my command. Don't worry, you'll soon find that being a zombie isn't as bad as you might think."

"Is that so?" Yang Qi's grip tightened on his Infernal Deity Spear, which vibrated, causing densely packed magical symbols to appear on its surface. Then, an aura appeared like that belonging to devil-gods from the deepest depths of hell. Clearly, Yang Qi was ready to fight to his heart's content.

Not once since he acquired his new energy art did he ever have a chance to do that. But now, with no one around to observe him, and with a thousand-year-old corpse king standing right in front of him, that was exactly what he was going to do.

"Time for you to die!" he shouted audaciously. Suddenly, his Infernal Deity Spear became ten times as solid as before, revealing countless dark golden designs that pulsed as though liquid flowed within them.

Shockingly, that liquid was actually blood; Yang Qi's blood!

By combining his blood with the true energy in the weapon, it was no longer a manifestation of the Energy Weapon level. Instead, it was a real weapon, the type that would belong to a devil-god who ruled over the netherworld, and be used to execute disgraced gods.

As his spear pierced through the air, pulsing with the mysterious and boundless power of ghost-gods, it almost seemed as if it existed, not in this world, but in some other world or dimension.

The wails of ancient ghost-gods filled the air as, in the blink of an eye, the spear stabbed toward King Huaiyin's throat.

King Huaiyin had a layer of defensive corpse energy, but in the face of this spear, it crumbled as surely as tofu or paper.

"Return of the Ghost-God!" King Huaiyin blurted. His scepter then appeared as if by magic right in front of his throat, the enormous gemstone atop it flaring with light as bright as the sun's.

Bam!

When the two divine weapons slammed into each other, Yang Qi didn't even react. In contrast, King Huaiyin staggered backward, completely unable to rebuff the power of twenty ancient megamammoths.

As of this moment, he didn't hesitate to call upon the grand spell formation that filled the entire tomb.

"Let the earth bring forth mountains and rivers. Let the vault above provide the heavenly bodies. Mountain-River-Heavenly-Body Grand Formation, activate!"

Dots of light blazed into being above, starlight that came from the pearls that were laid out like heavenly bodies. Below, the images of the mountains and rivers came to life, causing dirt and water to rise up. All of it turned into a deadly power which shot toward Yang Qi.

King Huaiyin had set up this spell formation countless years in the past, and now that it was activated, all of its power was bearing down on Yang Qi, force that even Lifeseizers from the Demi-Immortal Institute wouldn't dare to tangle with. In fact, even people who were stronger than King Huaiyin, but who got caught by this formation, would surely be killed.

And yet, that only caused Yang Qi's battle spirit to burn brighter.

His blood surged with the spirit of godmammoths, the overlords of the ancient devil-gods. As of this moment, he was actually filled with a strange excitement.

According to the myths and fairy tales, godmammoths never ceased their war with the devil-gods of the hell planes. In primeval times, they slaughtered countless devil emperors, devil kings and devil dictators. They pulsed with power that even the legion of gods in heaven trembled at.

WHIZZZ!

Explosive true energy rushed out that resembled lava from hell, transforming everything around Yang Qi into burning liquid. And within the bubbling lava, the Hellfire Crucible appeared. Although it was only in its embryonic form, it could still melt the aura of fallen gods, and shake the hearts of billions and billions of devil-gods.

As of this moment, Yang Qi was like the true sovereign lord of hell.

The grand spell formation immediately began to fall apart, causing the ground to crack and the pearls overhead to begin to explode.

Yang Qi was like a godmammoth with a trunk so powerful it could pluck stars and snatch moons, even absorb suns.

As the godmammoth took shape, it crushed everything around it in the tomb.

Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam! Bam!!

The walls exploded, and all remnants of the spell formation were obliterated, and the pearls were transformed into dust.

"What devil art is that? That's not a royal-class devil art. Don't tell me it's a fabled imperial-class art? Or even a saintly-class art? How could you possibly be this strong? You're specifically targeting my type of true energy!"

In the face of a godmammoth, this thousand-year-old corpse king could do nothing but gasp for breath. His grand spell formation was destroyed before he even had a chance to do anything.

This godmammoth was like the bane of his existence, and in fact, the bane of existence for all demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters.

Just about anything possible could be found in hell, and godmammoths could dominate anything and everything, so it was only natural that they could be considered the bane of existence to devil-gods. And the source of this thousand-year-old corpse king's devil arts and true energy was none other than the legion of devils in hell. Therefore, he didn't count for much more than an ant.

However, even as the spell formation fell apart, Yang Qi frowned as he saw a demon core suddenly flying up from the rubble, surrounded by flaming true energy. Before he could do anything, it turned into a beam of corpse light that shot directly toward him in an attack.

"Heavencorpse Assault. Destroy the Cosmos!" growled King Huaiyin as intense corpse energy sped rapidly toward Yang Qi's chest.

Yang Qi's Infernal Deity Plate Armor was already fully powered up by his blood, making it the sturdiest defense possible.

Therefore, when the corpse energy hit him, it was the same as hitting an immovable mountain.

WHAM!

Yang Qi's spear couldn't pierce the gold and jade garment, but the backlash force from the failed corpse energy attack did.

"Aaaiiiieee!" King Huaiyin let out an agonized shriek as he stumbled backward and then fell into the bronze coffin.

Of course, there was no way Yang Qi was going to let matters end there. True energy exploded out as he unleashed a palm strike, completely destroying the coffin, revealing King Huaiyin, battered and damaged, black corpse blood oozing out of him everywhere. He seemed barely capable of keeping his body in one piece.

"You…." he murmured, shivering, completely shocked that a Master of Energy could do something like this.

"I bet you never would have thought I would end up putting you to death. Although, I do have to thank you for the service you've provided. I finally got to fight to my heart's content, and at the same time, confirmed how strong I really am. I'd say it won't be very long now before I reach the Lifeseizing level. Well, time to say goodbye."

Leaping up into the air, he struck downward, smashing King Huaiyin's head into bits, and destroying the rest of his body. At that point, a bone demon core shot out, roughly the size of a fist. Unexpectedly, the core had seven apertures on it, almost as if it were on the verge of gaining intelligence. Yang Qi could sense massive quantities of true energy stored inside it.

This was the demon core of a thousand-year-old corpse king, and was valuable beyond imagination.

However, even better was the gold and jade garment, and the scepter, which were definitely treasures in their own right.

After searching the rubble of the tomb, he found a few other things of value which he put into his thumb-ring of holding. He even took the remains of King Huaiyin.

With that, he donned the garment, and gripped the scepter, blurring into motion as he left the tomb.

Back outside, Li He and the others were on top of a mountain, fighting against the skeletons and rotting zombies that climbed up out of the mud. They had already killed several hundred.

"Brother Yang Qi won't be in any real danger down there, right?"

"Don't worry. We all know what he's capable of."

Suddenly, the ground off in the distance exploded, sending sludge flying everywhere as Yang Qi flew up into the open. With the wave of his hand, he sent a flood of flames flying out over the sludge. Instantly, all of the zombies and skeletons near him were transformed into ash.

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Chapter 84: Chu Tiange Appears Again

"You're really back already, Brother Yang Qi?"

Li He and the others excitedly unleashed their energy arts onto the remaining skeletons and zombies, and then harvested the demon cores from them.

Although the quality of the cores was very low, at least something was better than nothing.

"Yeah, I'm back." Beckoning, he continued, "Guys, look at this stuff."

They hurried over, whereupon Yang Qi showed them the gold and jade garment, the scepter, and the remains of King Huaiyin. After examining them closely, Liang Dong couldn't help but exclaim, "That's a thousand-year-old corpse king! And that gold and jade garment is a suite of preheaven armor."

"And that scepter has a sun gem in it!" Hua Yinhu said loudly.

"I can't believe it's a sun gem!" Li He exclaimed.

"A suit of preheaven armor? A sun gem?" Since Yang Qi wasn't familiar with them, he needed an explanation.

"Brother Yang Qi," Liang Dong said, "as you know, there are all sorts of fields of study taught at our institute. For example, magical items, pill concocting, spirit medicine, equipment forging, crafting, astronomy, geography and more. We recommend you take the time to attend some classes as soon as you can. Being able to identify items like this will be of great help to your cultivation. This preheaven armor is made from something called preheaven goldjade, which is essentially impenetrable, and yet as soft as cotton. It also prevents dead bodies from decomposing. Any corpse buried in this will naturally absorb the spirit energy of heaven and earth, and eventually transform into a vicious zombie. However, unlike other zombies, it will retain its memories of its past life. As for that sun gem, it's even more miraculous. It contains the quintessence of scorching heat. It actually started out as a fireball descended from the sun itself, which eventually turned into a gemstone. The power it contains can be used for all sorts of things. And anyone who cultivates fire-type energy arts, and got a sun gem, would be able to advance by leaps and bounds."

"Brother Yang Qi, don't tell me you found a thousand-year-old corpse king in that tomb, and then defeated him? How did you possibly beat a Lifeseizer?"

"Nah, I just got lucky. I happened to come across a thousand-year-old corpse king practicing cultivation. By chance, he experienced cultivation deviation, and very nearly exploded. I attacked him right then and managed to kill him." Yang Qi made up a bit of a story. If word got out that he had casually killed countless zombies and skeletons, and then slaughtered a thousand-year-old corpse king, it would become increasingly difficult for him to hide the truth about himself.

It made more sense to slowly make a name for himself in the school, rather than do something to shock all creation. Although he was on the same team as these other four, that didn't mean that it was wise to reveal secrets about his cultivation technique.

"You really did get lucky. You just happened to run into a thousand-year-old corpse king who then experienced cultivation deviation…." The entire group was taken aback, and yet, they believed him. It seemed obvious that it was impossible for him to have single-handedly charged into the depths of the tombs and killed a thousand-year-old corpse king.

"You know," Li He said, "I'd say it's highly likely this thousand-year-old corpse king was actually King Huaiyin. He was a ruler of old who was buried in a geomantic tomb. Later, he became a zombie, and wreaked havoc on the world for hundreds of years. Eventually, he came to rest deep in the Fiendcorpse Mountains. Throughout the years, plenty of students from the Demi-Immortal Institute have tried to fight their way to him, and even some of the Lifeseizer elite students. But he always eluded them. If word got out about this, it wouldn't be good. If people found out we have a sun gem and a suit of preheaven armor, even elite students would get greedy, and would demand we hand them over. And if we didn't, it could cause some deadly grudges."

"That's right," Hua Yinhu said. "This preheaven armor and this sun gem should be considered precious treasures of the Sage Monarch Society. Especially that sun gem. If Chu Tiange found out about it, it would probably mean doom for all of us. He cultivates the Cosmic Sunflare Sword, which gathers the quintessence of the sun and the will of the cosmos to create a divine sword that can slaughter anything within five hundred kilometers. If he got this sun gem, he could instantly add a hundred or even two hundred years of cultivation to his technique. He would instantly go through multiple lifeseizings, and would probably become a conclave student. I bet he would even take the risk to violate the rules of the institute and kill us just to get it."

It was at this point that a voice suddenly drifted into their ears. "You're right. In fact, you couldn't be more right. If I didn't kill you to take something amazing like that, then I wouldn't be Chu Tiange."

Yang Qi, Li He, Liang Dong and Hua Yinhu all looked visibly shocked as they turned to find Chu Tiange floating in the air nearby, his energy already weighing down on the mountain.

Yang Qi's four friends suddenly went pale in the face, and their knees began to tremble as they stared at Chu Tiange. Already, they had sinking feelings about what was to come.

As the saying goes, an innocent man with treasure in hand is courting disaster. Now that Chu Tiange knew they had a sun gem and a suit of preheaven armor, there was no way he would simply let them go.

Only Yang Qi was as calm as could be, as if he was privy to some secret that no one else could guess at. Rising to his feet, he looked over coldly at Chu Tiange.

Chu Tiange looked back at him as if he were already dead. Then his eyes dropped to the sun gem, and they burned with passion. "A sun gem, something I have yearned for even in my dreams. And today, I'll finally get one. With that gemstone, I can push my Cosmic Sunflare Sword to the ultimate peak. I will be like an emperor of the sun, a tyrant of the cosmos. But there's one point in which you are incorrect. It won't just let me bypass one or two hundred years of cultivation and become a conclave student. No, it will likely allow me to become a holy neophyte."

"Ch-Chu Tiange," Li He stammered, "er, Elder Brother Tiange, what are you planning to do?"

"What am I planning to do? You really don't know?" As he talked, Chu Tiange began to stroll in their direction. "Thankfully, I'm quite the clever individual. I knew there was something fishy about you, so I secretly had some Humanoid True Energy follow you. Who would have guessed that the brat Yang Qi would sneak underground and find King Huaiyin in the middle of cultivation deviation, then end up with a sun gem and a suit of preheaven armor? That's some bullshit luck if you ask me. Well, it seems that today is the day that Chu Tiange will finally rise to prominence."

"Please, let us go, Elder Brother Tiange," Liang Dong said. "Take the sun gem and the suit of preheaven armor as a gift. We won't tell anyone what happened."

Chu Tiange chuckled coldly. "Let you go? How naive of you. The only people who won't spread rumors are dead people. All the others are liars. It doesn't matter whether or not you would tell people about the armor or the gem. You're dead. We're in the depths of the murky Fiendcorpse Mountains, a treacherous place of danger. It's the perfect place to get rid of a few witnesses."

"Aren't you afraid the institute will punish you?" Hua Yinhu said, clearly grasping at straws. "You might be an elite student, but that doesn't mean you can just defile the Inner Campus. Murdering outer campus students is a major crime. The institute won't let you off the hook."

"What do you mean? I didn't kill you. It was King Huaiyin." Tapping his fingertips rhythmically, he said, "Of course, I fought a fierce battle trying to rescue you. Sadly, I wasn't able to pull it off. It was only after you were killed that I managed to defeat King Huaiyin, and avenge your deaths."

Chu Tiange had thought everything through, and Yang Qi's four friends could already feel his killing intent.

There was no hope for them. They were all Masters of Energy, but he was a Lifeseizer, and he could crush them as easily as crushing an egg on a boulder.

A hundred Masters of Energy working together might be able to take on an ordinary Lifeseizer. But Chu Tiange was no ordinary Lifeseizer. He was an elite student from the Demi-Immortal Institute, a person capable of completely dominating other ordinary Lifeseizers.

Truth be told, outside of the Demi-Immortal Institute, and in the Rich-Lush Continent as a whole, he was considered second to none. When compared to people in the same cultivation level, students from the Demi-Immortal Institute were always considered the best of the best.

With his Cosmic Sunflare Sword, he could be considered a fiendish killer among the elite students.

"Time to go for broke!"

"Yang Qi, we have to put everything on the line. Let's get out of here. Your cultivation base is the highest. We'll buy time for you while you flee."

"Brother Yang Qi, you have to get out of here. Report this matter to the institute. Tell them we were murdered by Chu Tiange! Tell our clans! They'll avenge us."

"We're not going to let this drop, Chu Tiange!"

"Take care, brother! Get out of here!"

Shouting at the tops of their lungs, Li He, Hua Yinhu, He Jili and Liang Dong unleashed their true energy and charged toward Chu Tiange. Their goal: buy time for Yang Qi to escape.

Sword light glimmered behind Chu Tiange's back as he prepared to attack Yang Qi's four friends.

"Gimps," he said, chuckling. "Haven't you heard the expression a mantis trying to stop a war chariot?"

However, that was when Yang Qi took a step forward.

Suddenly, powerful streams of true energy wrapped around his friends, pulling them back to his side.

Their eyes went wide as they looked around, trying to figure out what happened.

As for Chu Tiange, his pupils constricted as he looked over at Yang Qi.

"You four are really willing to sacrifice yourselves so that I can escape?" Yang Qi said. "You four… are truly brothers. Live together. Die together. From now on, you are like blood brothers to me, the same as my eldest brother and second brother. That's how I'll treat you. And therefore, I'm not going to hide things from you any longer. Brothers, watch as I cut down this Chu Tiange. Anyone who insults a brother of mine will die! And that means you, Chu Tiange!"

At that point, the true energy which had neutralized their attacks and pulled them back swirled around them into a defensive shield.

The four of them were gradually regaining their senses, and now looked over at Yang Qi.

"To tell the truth, I've been lying to you, although the reason is that if word leaked, it could have devastating consequences. I didn't kill King Huaiyin when he was experiencing cultivation deviation. I just killed him. Plain and simple." Shifting his attention back to Chu Tiange, he said, "I bet you never guessed at the truth, did you, Chu Tiange? Well now you know, although, it doesn't matter. Because you won't live past this day!"

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Chapter 85: Fierce Comba

All of a sudden, Yang Qi was no longer a puny outer campus student. He was now a powerful expert whose energy could shake the heavens and topple the earth. As of this moment, it was hard to tell whether he was human, or a ghost-god.

As for his friends, they felt like they were dreaming.

And although Chu Tiange's eyes were wide open, he still couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Yang Qi might have defeated Song Haishan, but he was still a nobody, little stronger than an ant, a person who could be defeated without even thinking about it.

That was why Chu Tiange had so casually offered to get rid of him for Yun Hailan, in exchange for a favor.

But considering what Yang Qi's aura was like now, and the fact that he had so easily neutralized the power of his four friends' cultivation base, it was obvious that he was no pushover.

Yang Qi had revealed his true strength, and clearly had no intention of letting Chu Tiange get away alive. It was a kill or be killed situation, and there were no other options.

"You can only blame yourself for seeking death, Chu Tiange. You wanted to kill me, so I have no other options than to take your life first. Enough chit-chat. Let's go!"

Whizz!

A blue ring appeared on Yang Qi's thumb, which flashed with glittering light. Instantly, a rippling blue gate appeared, out of which swirled a cloud-like stream of true energy that wrapped up Yang Qi's four friends, the gold and jade garment, and the sun gem, and pulled them all inside.

Mainly, he was concerned that the shock waves caused by the fighting might hurt his friends.

And he was dead set on making sure Chu Tiange didn't leave the Fiendcorpse Mountains alive.

If he lived, there would be no end to the trouble he would cause.

And once he died, Yun Hailan would lose a powerful backer, which would make her much easier to deal with in the future.

Killing the thousand-year-old corpse King Huaiyin had only been his warm up routine. He was done playing games. Chu Tiange had delivered himself up just in time for Yang Qi to truly fight to his heart's content.

As soon as Yang Qi used his thumb-ring, Chu Tiange realized exactly what it was. Startled, he said, "That's a Heart of the Sea thumb-ring of holding! A consummate treasure which can store vast quantities of items inside of it…."

Then he suddenly let loose a long string of laughter that caused the mists of the Fiendcorpse Mountains to ripple and churn. "I underestimated you, Yang Qi. It turns out you've been keeping a lot of secrets. No wonder Yun Hailan takes you so seriously. And here I thought she was just concerned with giving face to Yang Susu. I would never have guessed that you're so shrewd. Sadly, you have too many valuable things to just let you go free. Before, I'd planned to just cripple you, but now, I guess I really will have to kill you."

"You think you have what it takes to kill me? What a joke!" As Yang Qi's power levels continued to climb, black energy swirled around him, and in the blink of an eye, he was covered with a suit of dark golden armor.

"What's this?" Chu Tiange had been just about to attack, hoping to strike Yang Qi down before he could finish getting ready to fight. But the sight of this dark golden armor was so shocking that he stopped in his tracks. "Is that…."

"Yes, it is," Yang Qi replied. "You've seen this armor before, because I'm the same person who fought you back in the ancient city of Krorän. And I also took the Sage Devil Painting, as well as plenty of treasure that the vampire brigands had hoarded up. By the way, I already gave that Sage Devil Painting to my aunt Yang Susu, which she'll use to cultivate an out-of-body incarnation, a second nascent divinity. That will get her to Secondary Lifeseizing or possibly even Tertiary Lifeseizing. Either way, she'll be well on her way to becoming a conclave student. What, did you really think I would let you take advantage of me that easily? You'll never become a conclave student, Chu Tiange. You won't live that long. Don't tell me you're so stupid that you think that you're a match for me?"

Yang Qi had just openly described Chu Tiange's worst defeat ever up to this point in his life.

Not only had his attempts to fight back been completely useless, he had also hurt himself in the process.

Afterward, he had spent months wondering who that armored man had been, in the hopes of tracking him down and taking back the face which had been lost. Unfortunately, he had never been able to turn up even a single clue.

And now, he found that the person he had been looking for was the same one he had always taken to be trash. It was easy to imagine how displeased, irritated, and impotent he felt.

"DIE!" he shouted. Sun-like radiance erupted from his hand, streams of sword energy that rapidly became his Cosmic Sunflare Sword. One sweep of that sword turned everything for ten thousand paces in all directions into a world of swords. No, a cosmos of swords!

"So, punk, you're that monster with the dark golden armor, and you've been hiding in the Demi-Immortal Institute this entire time. What exactly is your plan? You're obviously a devil, which means that Yang Susu must also be a monstress. Fine. I guess I need to take you into custody and bring you back to the institute for questioning. You and Yang Susu will both be imprisoned, and will suffer a grisly end. You just wait!" Chu Tiange exhaled sharply, sending streams of sound waves out to combine with the sword energy of the formation he had created.

"Cosmic Blast; Aeonic Invincibility!"

SWISH!

Millions of streams of sword energy swept toward Yang Qi with seemingly invincible strength.

At this point, the Infernal Deity Spear appeared in Yang Qi's hand, with vein-like streams of dark golden blood that looked like they came straight from the underworld. The spear began to thrum, emanating a sound like a symphony from hell, describing the death of sovereign gods.

Yang Qi leapt into motion like an eagle taking to flight, easily dodging the sword energy.

All of a sudden, Chu Tiange had the distinct sensation that his life wasn't under his own control.

Instead, it felt like Yang Qi was preparing to end it, a sensation that any Lifeseizer would find completely inauspicious and even terrifying.

"Repulsive!" Chu Tiange shouted. Slashing out with his Cosmic Sunflare Sword, he said, "Sword Shakes all Creation; Engulf the True Origin."

Intense, sun-like true energy filled the entire mountain, driving away the mist, and even shoving away the sludge on the ground, revealing stones and graves of all sorts.

His sword energy spread out to create a fan of swords, which sent a gust of razor-sharp sword wind toward Yang Qi.

"Hell-Crushing Godmammoth!" Yang Qi barked. His spear vibrated, causing millions of spear projections to spring up in all directions, which linked together to make the outline of a door that emanated the aura of hell. It was almost like the gates of hell!

The radiating light from the fan of swords was then sucked into the gates of hell and neutralized, crushed into nothing more than dust.

All of the sword energy of the attack, was sucked through his spear into his sea of energy, and the Hellfire Crucible therein.

The more Yang Qi fought, the stronger he got, and the more impressive his Infernal Deity Spear became. It was now surrounded by a massive vortex of dark golden energy, like the power of hell itself, which was capable of absorbing the enemy's true energy and turning it into Yang Qi's.

The fact that his Hellfire Crucible could do such a thing, to use the enemy's energy against them, made him virtually impossible to defeat.

Although the crucible wasn't actually complete, it was more than enough to deal with Chu Tiange.

He had actually been in the position to defeat Chu Tiange back in Krorän. Now, months had passed, and although he hadn't yet reached the Lifeseizing level, his understanding of his current level far surpassed that of before. When it came to energy, life force, meridians, and cultivation, he was more knowledgeable than ever.

And the dark golden god blood that coursed through his veins made his Infernal Deity Spear, Infernal Deity Plate Armor, and Fiend-Devil Wings anything but simple manifestations of energy. They were almost completely corporeal, and corporeal objects were on a completely different level than illusory objects.

Whoosh!

His spear tore through all of the defensive sword energy, ignoring the burning power of the sun to stab directly toward Chu Tiange's forehead.

Shaken, Chu Tiange shouted, "How dare you, brat!"

Spinning his Cosmic Sunflare Sword until it became a blur, he said, "Mighty Heaven Sword Wheel, Illuminate all Creation!"

His Cosmic Sunflare Sword flew up into the air, creating a burning red sun that cast red light down onto everything below; a burning stream of sword energy fully eighteen meters wide descending to smash viciously into the Infernal Deity Spear.

Snap!

Yang Qi and Chu Tiange shot away from each other. Chu Tiange couldn't maintain his position in the air, and landed on the ground, where he staggered backward.

In contrast, Yang Qi remained airborne, his dark golden Infernal Deity Plate Armor suddenly covered with pulsing flows of god blood that added power to both it and the spear.

As of this moment, his Infernal Deity Spear, Infernal Deity Plate Armor and Fiend-Devil Wings all looked completely corporeal. The wingspan of his Fiend-Devil Wings was nearly three hundred meters now, and the wings themselves were also dark golden. The wild wind caused by their flapping uprooted numerous bone trees, and sent nearby skeletons and zombies flying away as surely as if they were leaves.

At the sight of those wings, Chu Tiange instantly knew that if he didn't flee, he would be killed.

Yang Qi was so fast and brutal that even a Secondary Lifeseizer would be terrified in his presence.

A thousand thoughts ran through Chu Tiange's mind, and yet, he still couldn't think of a way to kill or capture Yang Qi.

"Just who are you?" he growled.

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Chapter 86: Killing Chu Tiange Part 1

In this fight between Yang Qi and Chu Tiange, only one person would come out alive at the end. The other would be dead.

Both of them knew that holding back wasn't an option.

Chu Tiange wanted Yang Qi's sun gem, his gold and jade garment, and his Heart of the Sea thumb-ring of holding. And Yang Qi needed Chu Tiange dead, lest he unleash a host of other complications.

One was an elite student and powerful expert in the Lifeseizing level.

The other cultivated the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and was backed by the power of twenty ancient megamammoths. This was like a battle between two spectacular giants.

The fact that Yang Qi continued to batter him with this Infernal Deity Spear caused Chu Tiange's killing intent to rise to ferocious heights.

"Cosmic Rotation; Rattle Heaven and Earth!"

His Cosmic Sunflare Sword began to vibrate, causing a humming sound to fill the air, along with resplendent sword light. It seemed as if the sword itself were transforming into a burning flame spirit.

Countless burning flames of sword energy swirled together, hot enough to melt metal, to the point where the stones and boulders in the Fiendcorpse Mountains began to liquefy. Even the numerous subterranean tunnels began to fill with lava. This technique was different from Yang Qi's Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and yet, was clearly its rival in this situation.

Yang Qi's technique was a godly-class energy art, whereas the Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique was merely a royal-class art. However, the cultivation level disparity between the two was nothing to disregard.

After all, Chu Tiange's cultivation was a hundred times more powerful than Yang Qi's.

He had pushed his technique to the point of near perfection, allowing him to guide the quintessence of the great sun above, and use burning, righteous sword energy to wipe out wretch-devils of all sorts.

This was a true battle to the death.

A vicious expression filled Chu Tiange's face as he unleashed a move that could shake the lands and rock the mountains. His energy sword slashed through the air like a fire dragon, slamming into the Infernal Deity Spear with astonishing power.

"Little punk! Get ready to die!" he shouted. "I never could have imagined that you would be this strong. Just what energy art is that? It's definitely not royal-class. In fact, I bet it's beyond imperial-class. Its saintly-class, isn't it? Yun Hailan thought she could lure that mysterious armored figure out into the open and kill him. Who would have thought that he was actually you, someone she views as being trash. Well, you pulled a fast one on me. But once I get that energy art of yours, I'll be able to surpass the Crown Prince! Ha! He used his Son of Heaven's Godfist, an imperial-class energy art, to reach the Legendary level. If I could get a saintly-class energy art, then I could go beyond the Legendary level! I could reach the Great Sage level!"

"Great Sage level? Might as well keep dreaming!" Yang Qi had long since learned that after the Lifeseizing level was the Legendary level. But now, thanks to Chu Tiange, he realized that beyond that was the Great Sage level. Of course, he had no idea what heaven-shaking, earth-shattering powers came at that level.

As he faced Chu Tiange's attack, his blood boiled, pumping like liquid gold to power his Fiend-Devil Wings, Infernal Deity Plate Armor and Infernal Deity Spear.

During the course of the fighting, he had continuously absorbed elements of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword into his sea of energy, where he used it to solidify his embryonic Hellfire Crucible.

In fact, if he closed his eyes and focused on his dantian region, he could see the crucible formed of dark golden blood, covered with ancient designs, and the script of ancient gods.

Each magical symbol was like a sharp blade that echoed with the screams of fallen, disgraced gods.

Every time the Infernal Deity Spear clashed with the Cosmic Sunflare Sword, it would absorb some of it. And before long, something like the blood of a sun god existed in the embryonic Hellfire Crucible.

The point of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword was to gather the burning quintessence of the sun and mold it into a nascent divinity. At its highest level, the practitioner would become one with the sun, and would become a virtual incarnation of the Sun God, allowing him to walk about within the mortal world.

It was a consummate discipline invented by a miraculous individual in ancient times.

But now, Yang Qi's aura of hell was drawing that Sun God into his Hellfire Crucible, and using his power to improve it.

As the crucible took form, his Infernal Deity Spear grew more corporeal!

Bam!

The spear once again slammed into the Cosmic Sunflare Sword, and his sea of energy churned like lava, or a volcano on the verge of erupting.

By now, Chu Tiange realized that no matter what sword technique he used, his attacks could not pierce Yang Qi's Infernal Deity Plate Armor, and worse, Yang Qi's true energy was growing fiercer and fiercer. Shaken, he glared at Yang Qi with even more killing intent than before.

After all, as Yang Qi got stronger and stronger, it only revealed how powerful his energy art was. And Chu Tiange couldn't stop thinking about what it would be like to acquire it. And that thought filled him with excitement.

"Time to call it a day," Chu Tiange murmured. "Dragonization!" His energy surged like the ocean, causing true energy flames to erupt behind his head, making it look like a shining sun hanging behind him.

"Behold a flame god from the distant reaches. Fire Dragon of the Great Sun; Nascent Divinity Quintessence. True spirit of mine, emerge! Slay this wretch-devil for me!"

The halo of burning light behind him looked almost like a divine dragon made of shining true energy. It reared its enormous head, its red eyes blazing, a sun sigil on its forehead, its draconic whiskers swirling about it, its horns as sharp as iron, its scales burning as if with fire.

"Yang Qi, you brat, I didn't want to use this move, but sadly, you've given me no choice. You should feel proud that you've made me try out this secret magic that I have worked so hard to cultivate. I forged this fire dragon with the quintessence of my soul, and you will be destroyed by its might!"

Chu Tiange's voice was as cold as a cruel god's, with no compassion whatsoever for mortal men.

As for the fire dragon, it swirled out from the halo behind him, becoming a streak of flame that shot toward Yang Qi.

Yang Qi felt massive pressure weighing down on him, almost as if a real divine dragon from the sun were approaching him. Even the power of twenty megamammoths could do nothing but retreat in the face of such power.

This was Chu Tiange's ultimate trump card, his most deadly secret magic. Obviously, he would only use something like this if he had no other choice. He hadn't even resorted to using it back in their fight in Krorän.

"DIE!" Yang Qi howled, his Fiend-Devil Wings flitting to propel him toward the fire dragon.

And yet, how could he have anticipated that, in that very moment, the fire dragon's power would spread out, locking down the air in the entire area, holding him in place as surely as if with iron fetters. Then, it began to crush down on him as if to destroy him.

Not even his Fiend-Devil Wings were capable of moving him!

This shocking level of power was nothing to look down upon.

"Infernal Deity Spear!"

Yang Qi poured all of the strength he could muster into the Infernal Deity Spear, causing it to glow brightly with an aura of death, piercing through the fetter-like energy bonds holding him in place, and heading directly toward the Fire Dragon of the Great Sun.

The dragon, dozens of meters long, and lithe as a snake, reached out with its dragon claws and grabbed onto the Infernal Deity Spear as if to crush it out of existence.

"Nascent Divinity Quintessence; Fire Dragon Armageddon! Let the burning sun fall to immolate gods and massacre immortals!"

WHIZZZ!

Chu Tiange was pouring all of his energy into the fire dragon, holding nothing back in his effort to kill Yang Qi and then extract his energy arts from him.

Snap! Crack!

Under the destructive power of the fire dragon, the Infernal Deity Spear first trembled, then shattered, sending dark golden fragments flying out in all directions.

Then, the fire dragon of true energy pierced Yang Qi's Infernal Deity Plate Armor and stabbed into his body.

BOOOOOOOM! The dragon burned into his meridians, coursing toward his sea of energy with heat as intense as the sun. It seemed that, within moments, he would turn into an entity of pure flame.

"Time to die!" Chu Tiange said. "Even if you were stronger than you are, you would still burn to death! The nascent divinity fire dragon expression of my Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique is strong enough to melt rocks! It will extract your memories from your soul, and tell me all the details of that secret magic of yours." With that, he erupted into maniacal laughter and took a step forward toward Yang Qi.

However, before he could do anything more than that, the flames that had engulfed Yang Qi winked out.

WHIZZZ!

A thrumming boom could be heard as an enormous crucible appeared behind Yang Qi, seemingly corporeal in every aspect. And inside of that crucible was a fire dragon, struggling desperately to escape.

In this moment of crisis, Yang Qi finished his Hellfire Crucible, and threw Chu Tiange's fire dragon into it, that nascent divinity quintessence that he had worked so bitterly hard to cultivate.

As of this moment, Yang Qi radiated an aura that seemed to contain the power to dominate gods.

And it was only emphasized by the screams of the fire dragon behind him.

"Alright, Chu Tiange. Now it's your turn to face death!"

Yang Qi took a step forward.

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Chapter 87: Killing Chu Tiange Part 2

"What's that?" Chu Tiange blurted, the shock visible in his eyes. Never could he have guessed that his Fire Dragon of the Great Sun would end up trapped in a true energy crucible, where it would be slowly melted out of existence.

Losing that dragon was equivalent to permanently losing half of his true energy, something that could only be replenished by returning to the Demi-Immortal Institute and practicing long-term cultivation with all sorts of precious materials of heaven and earth.

And if he continued to waste any more time in this fight, it would essentially be throwing his life away.

Shaking, he waved his hands, causing two wings of swords to spring out from his back, dozens of meters wide, and wreathed in flames.

Yang Qi chuckled. "That's not going to do anything. Hellfire Crucible, drag him in!"

Dark golden blood flowed across the surface of the crucible, which suddenly shifted, locking onto Chu Tiange as he hovered there in midair.

POP!

A stream of lava-like true energy swirled out of the crucible, flowed up into the air, and grabbed Chu Tiange, ripping his wings off in the process.

"What energy art is that? It's so brutal!"

At this point, Chu Tiange finally realized he didn't have the upper hand, and as he looked over at the enormous Hellfire Crucible, his face flickered with astonishment.

"Yang Qi, how could you, a Master of Energy, actually be a threat to a Lifeseizer!?"

"Since you're about to die, Chu Tiange, I guess I'll tell you. My energy art is called the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. And no, you were wrong. It's not imperial-class. It's not saintly-class. It's not even heavenly-class. It's a godly-class energy art! Only gods and mythological experts could possibly cultivate something like this!"

Yang Qi's words battered Chu Tiange's brain, smashing his self-confidence into absolutely nothing.

Every step Yang Qi took toward him seemed like that of a god in heaven, someone capable of plucking stars and snatching moons. This was the power of twenty ancient megamammoths.

"Impossible! Godly-class energy art!? The arts cultivated by gods exist only in heaven among god-spirits! You can't even use them in the world of men. They're impossible to cultivate! Who the hell are you anyway? A nobody! A lowlife piece of trash! How could you possibly be cultivating something like that!? There isn't even a single godly-class energy art in the entire Demi-Immortal Institute."

Wracked with astonishment, Chu Tiange simply couldn't believe what was happening. He began to hack at the fetters holding him in place, hoping to somehow flee and spread word of what was happening, to ensure Yang Qi's death.

"Infernal Deity Spear!"

Dark golden true energy turned into a spear fully thirty meters long and as thick as a column.

The Infernal Deity Spear was back!

A hell vortex sprang into being around the spear as it shot ruthlessly toward Chu Tiange.

Chu Tiange was simply incapable of dealing with the attack; blood sprayed out of his mouth, along with a terrifying scream, as his defensive true energy was destroyed, and he fell out of the sky onto the scorched earth below.

His true energy was in such chaos that it couldn't even take humanoid form.

Striding forward, Yang Qi wrapped Chu Tiange up in more true energy bonds, making it impossible for him to even move. "Fortune favors the mighty, Chu Tiange. Is there anything you can say to that?"

"I've lost? Defeated by a Master of Energy? I refuse to accept this!" Chu Tiange's hair was in disarray, and he was soaked with blood, his meridians damaged almost beyond repair.

He was now like an arrow that had reached the end of its flight, and was completely and utterly incapable of standing up to Yang Qi.

Even worse, Yang Qi's Hellfire Crucible was simply unstoppable.

"I'm Chu Tiange, a heavenly genius! At age five I could already sense the true energy flowing through my meridians! By age eight, my meridians were fully opened! By nine, I was in the Energy Eruption level, and could use the Hundred Paces Divine Fist to kill people and leave behind no evidence! How could this be happening?" Chu Tiange glared up at Yang Qi. "Don't think you can just kill me and get away scot-free. I'm an elite student of the Demi-Immortal Institute. If I die, it will cause a huge stir, and you'll get found out eventually. The world is a big place, but not even you'll be able to hide from them forever. I'm warning you, Yang Qi. You'd better think this through! And don't forget that you'll drag Yang Susu into it."

Yang Qi burst out laughing. "All that monologuing and you still won't admit defeat? Do you really think that I'm too scared to kill you? What happened to all your big talk? What happened to all your confidence? You're a Lifeseizer! I'm just a puny Master of Energy. How could I possibly kill you?"

"You deserve to die ten thousand times over, Yang Qi, you criminal!" Chu Tiange spat, suddenly feeling a bit self-righteous.

He simply couldn't accept this humiliation at the hands of Yang Qi. He was a Lifeseizer, and Yang Qi was a Master of Energy. That was like the difference between a nobleman and a slave! But now, the slave was about to crush the nobleman beneath his feet. And Chu Tiange knew that the only reason he wasn't dead already was that Yang Qi had more vicious humiliation planned.

"Inverse Sun-Moon Assassination!"

All of a sudden, his seemingly spent frame shone with intense light, and he lunged toward Yang Qi.

It was a last-ditch, suicidal attempt to somehow cut down his enemy.

Unfortunately, Yang Qi had been prepared for something like that, and immediately responded by summoning his Hellfire Crucible.

All of the light Chu Tiange had summoned vanished, and he flopped to the ground again. This time, he really was completely spent, without any more true energy to work with.

"You—!" he growled, glaring at Yang Qi. "I refuse to accept this. How come I can't kill you?!"

"Time to die." This time, Yang Qi didn't mince words. Stepping forward, he thrust his palm out at the defiant Chu Tiange, absolutely shredding his heart, meridians, and sea of energy to pieces.

Chunks of internal organs erupted from his mouth, and he flopped back, dead.

He had been an elite genius student from the Demi-Immortal Institute, who had dominated everything in his path for his entire lifetime. But now he was dead.

Dead at the hands of Yang Qi.

Glancing down at Chu Tiange's corpse, Yang Qi said, "I have to thank you, Chu Tiange. Your Fire Dragon of the Great Sun, the quintessence of a lifetime of cultivation, has already been imprisoned in my Hellfire Crucible. Now I'll slowly refine it into true energy and life force quintessence. Then, I'll make another attempt at reaching the Lifeseizing level!" Already, he could sense the life that was Chu Tiange slowly fading away into nothing.

Supposedly, upon reaching a certain extremely high level of cultivation, a powerful expert could see fading life auras, and manipulate them so that the dying person was temporarily spared.

But there was no one present to do such a thing for Chu Tiange, and thus, his death came quickly and cleanly.

Yang Qi pulled the Hellfire Crucible back into his sea of energy, and then summoned the rippling blue door of his thumb-ring of holding.

Instantly, Li He, He Jili, Hua Yinhu and Liang Dong all leaped out into the open, and the first thing they saw was Chu Tiange's corpse, causing looks of shock to overtake their faces.

A very long moment passed, and finally, Li He managed to choke out, "Is that… the corpse of Chu Tiange? He's dead?"

"Yes," Yang Qi replied. "Chu Tiange's dead. I just killed him."

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Chapter 88: Aftermath

'Is that really the corpse of Chu Tiange? The famous energy arts master who cultivated the Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique? Killed by Yang Qi?'

That was what everyone was thinking. They almost could not believe what they were seeing. Then, they noticed something else. There, in the mangled remains of Chu Tiange, was a tiny little sword, glittering brightly.

Li He recognized immediately what it was. Shaken, he sent out a stream of energy to pull the tiny sword into his hand.

"An animadestiny sword manifestation!"

It was only about three inches long, and seemingly made of either metal or jade, and yet, was clearly neither of those. In fact, it almost seemed to burn with an inner fire, indicating how incredibly powerful it was.

"That's the true energy quintessence of Chu Tiange's Cosmic Sunflare sword," Liang Dong said. "An animadestiny sword manifestation of his own creation. We could use this little sword to acquire Chu Tiange's sword technique!"

"Great!" Yang Qi said. "Why don't the four of you share it, one part each?"

With that, he flicked his finger, causing the animadestiny sword manifestation to shatter into four parts, each of which became a stream of sword light that poured into his four friends.

Sword energy flowed through them like fire, causing their true energy to thrum as they gained enlightenment of the fundamental nature of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique.

Now, each of them had part of the technique, and if they joined forces, could unleash it in full to much the same effect as Chu Tiange.

Yang Qi didn't need the animadestiny sword manifestation himself; it was better used divided among his friends, who could use it to fight a Lifeseizer.

"This sword technique can shake heaven and earth to the point where ghosts and gods weep…."

It took some time, but the four of them managed to absorb all of the sword energy, whereupon their eyes snapped open.

"It's too bad we don't have the full technique," Li He said with a sigh. "We need to get enough merit points to buy it from the Scripture Pavilion back at the institute. Then, we'll really advance by leaps and bounds."

The future cultivation path of these four was now clear: they would work on the Cosmic Sunflare Sword, a royal-class technique that was considered top-rate even among Lifeseizers.

Cultivating it would save the four of them years of hard cultivation, and would also give them a much better chance of reaching the Lifeseizing level.

As for Yang Qi, once he cultivated the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth to the proper level, he could extract memories and thoughts from the soul of someone he had killed.

Devil-ghosts in hell were adept at controlling the souls of humans, and considering that he cultivated the boundless power to crush hells, it was only natural that he would have an ability like this. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite powerful enough to do it yet.

"You're exactly right," Yang Qi said. "With enough merit points, we can acquire the secret cultivation method to the Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique. Before long, the four of you will have surpassed Chu Tiange."

In response, his four friends' eyes went wide with disbelief. They simply couldn't understand why Yang Qi would say such a thing so confidently.

At that point, Yang Qi smiled and pulled out the sun gem.

"Allow me to explain. The Cosmic Sunflare Sword is focused on absorbing the quintessence of the burning sun to form a great sun sword soul. Using this sun gem will save you years and years of cultivation. Furthermore, we can turn in this gold and jade garment to the institute to get a huge sum of merit points. It should be more than enough to get the full Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique."

Gradually, Li He was coming to realize that Yang Qi just wanted to maximize their profits in every way possible.

"Alright, the matter's settled," Yang Qi said. "Let's get back to the institute. If there are any repercussions because of Chu Tiange's death, we wait until things calm down. Then we can turn in the gold and jade garment and King Huaiyin's demon core for even more merit points."

After discussing the particulars, the group of five left the Fiendcorpse Mountains and headed back to the Demi-Immortal Institute.

The mountains weren't very far away, so it wasn't long before they were back in their rooms, working on their cultivation.

As outer campus students, cultivation went a lot more smoothly than back when they were freshman students. Although their formations of spirit convergence were nowhere close to being as effective as formations of vital convergence, or energy formations of the dao of monarchs, they still benefited greatly.

As for Yang Qi, now that he had his Hellfire Crucible completed, and the Fire Dragon of the Great Sun trapped inside, he could slowly melt it away and transform it into the life force quintessence that he needed.

Because of that, he wouldn't need the help of any sort of magical treasure to make his breakthrough into the Lifeseizing level.

As for the gold and jade garment, Li He and the others were working on a plan to turn it in for merit points without attracting suspicion.

Gradually, an entire month passed by. No one realized that Chu Tiange had been killed; it was common for elite students to come and go unpredictably. For one of them to stay out of the institute for even several months was nothing out of the ordinary.

It would only be during the annual Elite Student Convention that his absence would be noted, or perhaps the inter-institute martial arts competition. At that point, an investigation would likely begin.

Unfortunately, by that time, it would be incredibly difficult to dig up any relevant clues.

In the end, Li He and the others sold the gold and jade garment to a powerful clan in exchange for a host of less valuable treasures. Then they turned the treasures in to the institute for merit points, which they subsequently used to get the full Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique.

At that point, they went to work full bore on their cultivation, of course using the sun gem to speed the process along.

By adding the quintessence of the sun into their sword energy, their meridians improved dramatically, and they quickly reached the ultimate peak of the Master of Energy level.

By now, they were able to unleash a level of power equivalent to half of Chu Tiange's Cosmic Sunflare Sword.

Back when Chu Tiange had been cultivating it, he had no sun gem, and therefore, went a lot slower.

During the month that went by, the bitter cold that had gripped the lands began to fade away as spring approached, and life once again began to flourish.

Colorful flowers and medicinal plants were blooming everywhere in the Demi-Immortal Institute. As the pollen drifted through the air, those who breathed it in would suddenly feel much more relaxed and nourished.

On one spring evening, Yang Qi opened the window before sitting down cross-legged to meditate. The only thing that remained of the dragon in his Hellfire Crucible was a stream of golden light that was now flickering on the verge of fading away. The dark golden blood that coursed through his veins now contained some of the quintessence of the sun, making it even more scintillating and powerful.

As life force quintessence poured into the twenty-first particle within him, it slowly edged toward waking up.

Yang Qi breathed steadily, and a vortex appeared near his window, which drew in the life force aura that existed in the Demi-Immortal Institute. Pollen and petals alike formed a resplendent stream that slowly flowed into him.

Furthermore, a glittering demon core rested on the ground in front of him, which also pulsed with life force.

After crushing it, he put it into his mouth and swallowed it.

The true energy inside of the demon core immediately flowed into his sea of energy, and the Hellfire Crucible, which converted it to the true energy quintessence that it had once been!

He was directly consuming a demon core!

If a Lifeseizer could see what he was doing, their face would light up with shock, and they would likely assume that they were looking at a devil-god.

1. This 'animadestiny' is actually a term that I used to translate as 'life-essence'. It refers to something connected specifically to one's own personal being and destiny. In this case, anima is essentially referring to the fundamental essence of a person. The reason I'm ditching 'life essence' is that although it sounds kind of cool, it is completely inaccurate, as the term does not use the word for "life" or "essence" and both of those words come up a lot in cultivation novels.

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Chapter 89: Consuming a Demon Core

Not even powerful Lifeseizers could directly consume demon cores.

After all, demonlings were filled with demon energy. When heterogeneous true energy such as that came into contact with one's own true energy, it would be like fire and water. The violent reaction could crush one's bones and transform one's flesh into ash.

Some Lifeseizers dissolve demon cores with true energy and then use them to bolster whatever weapons or items they used in their cultivation. Others would use pill furnaces to refine them into spirit medicines.

To directly consume them like Yang Qi was simply unheard-of.

However, Yang Qi had the outrageous power of the Hellfire Crucible, which could easily convert heterogeneous true energy into something he could use.

It was something that would make him almost invincible to opponents of his own level.

In fact, that was one reason why he had been so confident in challenging Chu Tiange to a fight to the death.

He fed one demon core after another into the Hellfire Crucible, melting them into something that was useful to his cultivation.

'Reverse the quintessence, cultivate the re-refined!'

In fact, he was converging the true energy inside of him into quintessence vitality.

Most energy artists changed life force quintessence into true energy. But Yang Qi was doing the opposite. He was taking massive amounts of true energy and changing it into life force quintessence.

And then, he poured all of that life force quintessence into the twenty-first particle within him.

After being bombarded in such fashion, the twenty-first particle reached the point of being unable to remain asleep. As it woke, the aura of an ancient megamammoth began to course through Yang Qi.

It felt like being bathed in true energy. At the same time, a lava-like energy field sprang up around him, locking down his room and even forcing the formation of spirit convergence to stop functioning.

WHOOSH!

Yang Qi suddenly flew out of the window, moving with incredible speed and simultaneously reining in all of his true energy fluctuations.

Outside, he took advantage of the darkness of night to unfurl his Fiend-Devil Wings and then blur into motion, vanishing without a trace.

Now was the moment in which he would break through to the Lifeseizing level.

However, he didn't want to make a scene in his room in the Demi-Immortal Institute, lest the powerful experts there catch on to his secrets.

He flew through the air as fast as lightning, traveling for a full two hours before dropping to the ground and proceeding along on foot. Eventually, he found himself in a remote, unnamed coastal region roughly five thousand kilometers away from the institute.

He could see the waves of the sea pounding the shore, and there was even water vapor in the air. Up above, a bright moon shone down on the lands below.

'This should work. The boundless, uninhabited ocean is the perfect place to break through to the Lifeseizing level.'

With that, he flew out over the ocean until he found a rather desolate reef, void of vegetation, and just barely above the surface of the water.

It was almost questionable whether the reef could survive the onslaught of the waves for much longer, and yet Yang Qi didn't seem bothered by that at all.

Looking up at the moon, he took a deep breath, circulated his energy, and let out a long piercing cry. Out here, he could be as loud as he wanted.

RUMBLE!

That particle within him erupted, sending out a flow of energy that calmed all of the ocean water within ten thousand paces.

Furthermore, the intense heat of the true energy caused steam to rise up as the water evaporated.

Nothing seemed capable of standing in the way of this energy flow.

The twenty-first particle was awake, and the power of that ancient megamammoth thrummed in his muscles, blood vessels, bones, and meridians, all of which seemed as tough as metal.

He was no longer human, nor of the Demonfolk. Instead, he was now becoming more like a god.

There was no demon energy inside of him, only the energy of a god-spirit.

Human energy was warm and active. Demon energy was strange and powerful. Devil energy was cruel and vicious. But the energy of gods was holy and noble, surpassing anything and everything else.

Now that Yang Qi had the power of twenty-one ancient megamammoths, it was time for him to break through. His thoughts and his mind were now far more powerful than before.

In fact, he could sense millions upon millions of nodes of vital energy in the air around him, things which were not visible to the naked eye.

By absorbing that vital energy, and combining its power with the particles inside of him, he could seize life from the heavens, and advance his cultivation. In the Lifeseizing level, one seized the minuscule quintessences of the vital energy of heaven and earth, then infused it into one's fleshly body to bolster its life force.

As Yang Qi sent his thoughts out into heaven and earth, he felt like his mind and even his soul were being torn apart by vital energy.

Seizing life from the heavens was no simple matter! When reversing the ordinary course of one's life, it was only natural that there would be some opposition from heaven and earth. After all, it involved inserting one's mind into the vital energy of heaven and earth, which would do its best to destroy the intruder.

And that was exactly what was happening right now with Yang Qi.

Unfortunately, it would be ten times more difficult for Yang Qi to achieve his breakthrough than it would be for ordinary energy artists. Perhaps even a hundred times. The resistance from the vital energy of heaven and earth would be even more severe. In fact, at the moment, Yang Qi was like a helpless child in the middle of a violent storm, with a tornado looming over him.

Boundless streams of vital energy swirled around the reef, pouring into him, causing him to tremble as his skin stretched on the verge of ripping apart.

Soon, glittering, dark golden blood began to ooze out all over him.

'Crap!' he thought, as he realized the level of danger he was in.

Throwing his head back, he let loose another long cry. 'Don't tell me that I actually don't have what it takes to reach the Lifeseizing level? Am I lacking life force quintessence? Will I be unable to seize life from heaven? Fine. I guess now is the time to see how terrifying godly-class energy arts really are!'

Suddenly, an enormous demon core appeared from within his thumb-ring, pulsing with corpse energy, and a most sinister life force quintessence. This was none other than the demon core of King Huaiyin, a thousand-year-old corpse king.

Within that demon core was the cultivation base quintessence of a Lifeseizer.

And now that he was trying to reach the Lifeseizing level himself, Yang Qi decided to consume it.

Crack!

He crushed the demon core, causing corpse energy to belch out. As it streamed into his sea of energy, and the Hellfire Crucible, the intense heat caused the corpse energy to be transformed into pure life force quintessence.

The full power of the demon core was now at work within him.

The cracks which had been spreading out on Yang Qi's skin healed, and his blood began to pump vigorously. Even his bones began to shine a dark golden color.

As of this moment, Yang Qi looked like a god descending from heaven. Waving his hand, he caused a whirlpool to spring up in the seawater, which rapidly became something like a tornado, linking to the clouds above.

"Let summer lightning fall!"

Rumbling could be heard within the clouds, and the flash of lightning was visible as rain began to fall.

Within moments, the entire area around Yang Qi had turned into a massive storm.

This was the ability to manipulate meteorological phenomena: transforming water into clouds, transforming clouds into rain.

"Seize life from the heavens!" Yang Qi roared. As his thoughts grew more focused and powerful, the various streams of vital energy began to separate into distinct kinds: gentle, soft, filled with life force, mighty, deathly, desolate… and even some that seemed like sword energy. There were millions upon millions of types of vital energy, and sometimes it was difficult to tell the difference between them.

Some of the gentle vital energy entered him, and at the same time, some of the desolate, deathly vital energy was expelled.

Yang Qi began to float up into the air, the heat radiating off of him being so intense that the reef below him began to melt, sending rivulets of molten liquid into the ocean and causing steam to billow up, and even killing some of the nearby sea creatures.

It was as if energy from hell itself were filling the area.

Yang Qi began to spin, causing the burning energy to rotate, and sending even more steam rising up into the sky.

Strange transformations were already beginning to occur within him, down to his bones and organs. The membrane beneath his skin was turning cutaneous. At the same time, a holy and magnificent aura began to swirl around him, and his heart began to pound.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump! Thump-thump!!!

His energy pulse and his heartbeat formed a resonance that rumbled with thunderous intensity.

His heartbeat was like a heavenly drum, and his energy pulse was like furious thunder!

All of it indicated that the very substructure of his life force was changing.

At the same time, mysterious streams of life force began to emerge from the air and enter him, heading straight toward the sleeping particles.

Instantly, a twenty-second particle woke up, then a twenty-third, a twenty-fourth… all the way to the twenty-ninth.

His energy was now as tough as iron, and at the same time, as soft as water.

This was the Lifeseizing level!

The sea water around him crashed and exploded as the power of twenty-nine ancient megamammoths pushed him the final distance.

He was finally in the Lifeseizing level!

1. The author adds a line of famous poetry here describing the moon shining on the sea. However, without the cultural familiarity of the poem, it's kind of meaningless, so I'm leaving that part out

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Chapter 90: Lifeseizing Level

Yang Qi had finally reached the Lifeseizing level.

He could now detect the complex varieties of vital energy that existed in heaven and earth, as well as the dangerous transformations they were capable of. The countless energy vortexes he sensed were capable of reducing the strongest metals into ash.

Immense power coursed through him.

He took a breath, and could see streams of moonlight becoming refreshing vital energy that flowed into him and became part of his life force quintessence.

At the same time, he could tell that he was breathing in a certain spirit energy that cleansed the impurities within him.

He was now capable of maintaining complete purity of body, both within and without.

He could also tell that he could now subsist without any need to eat ordinary food. The only nourishment he needed was the spirit energy of heaven and earth, and the quintessence of the sun and moon.

Lifeseizers had no need to rely on things that ordinary humans needed.

They could gather energy to seize life.

Energy was life. Life was energy.

Seizing the spirit energy of heaven and earth to sustain oneself was one of the marvelous aspects of the Lifeseizing level. At this level of cultivation, if Yang Qi found himself trapped in some deadly location with no food or water, he could last for dozens of years, perhaps even over a hundred, without dying.

All he needed was spirit energy of heaven and earth.

The moment he reached the Lifeseizing level, his true energy underwent heaven-shaking, earth-toppling transformations, and could now probe and absorb the countless mysterious elements within the vital energy around him.

He was even able to grasp at a simplistic understanding of space-time.

Of course, space-time was actually a very ancient word, and Lifeseizers couldn't possibly have a full understanding of it, much less be able to control it.

For instance, although Yang Qi's Heart of the Sea thumb-ring had a tiny dimension inside of it, that was not a full expression of space-time. Space-time implied fluctuations in time itself.

Yang Qi was now a Lifeseizer, and although he had an increased understanding, he could not yet manipulate the power of space-time to forge items like the Heart of the Sea thumb-ring. He needed to advance much further in his cultivation to accomplish that.

"Moonlight quintessence!"

He let loose a long cry, and the boundless moonlight that hung over the surface of the water swirled around him as rippling halos.

His control over the power of moonlight had reached an incredible level.

"Drain rivers and dry up seas! Crystal palace!"

He shoved his hands down toward the water, solidifying it instantly. Strangely, there was no frigid energy, because this was not an ice-based energy art. Instead, he was using immense power to reconstruct the water into crystal.

RUUUUMBLE!

Then, he lifted his hands up, causing the crystalline water to rise, taking the shape of an enormous palace. Although it looked like water, it was as tough as metal; in fact, during the process of forming, it emitted creaking and crunching sounds like that of metal scraping against metal.

It was fully a thousand paces from end to end, and came complete with tables, chairs, beds, and other furniture, all of it formed from beautiful, crystallized water.

It was a true masterpiece, created entirely by use of true energy.

Only Yang Qi could do something like this after having just entered the Lifeseizing level.

Not even Chu Tiange would have been capable of compressing water into crystal; the true energy wastage would have been too severe.

And to create a palace with such a method would normally have been impossible even for ten Lifeseizers working together.

And even if they somehow succeeded, they definitely wouldn't be able to maintain the structure for more than about ten breaths of time.

But Yang Qi seemed completely at ease creating and maintaining this enormous palace, and from the look of it, could do so for hours. In fact, he wasn't even done with his work. A moment later, numerous crystalline trees began to rise up on the palace grounds.

Even more spectacular, the water also formed crystalline tigers, elephants, and people, who looked startlingly lifelike as they moved about within the palace.

This was a level that surpassed Chu Tiange in every imaginable sense.

Yang Qi experienced unprecedented difficulty in reaching the Lifeseizing level, but now that he had succeeded, he counted as one of the most powerful Primary Lifeseizers possible.

In fact, if he went all out, he would most likely have no problem dealing with Tertiary or Quaternary Lifeseizers.

Nonary was the highest possible level for Lifeseizers. Each process of seizing life was difficult to the extreme. However, success brought increased longevity each time. Nonary Lifeseizers could easily live for three thousand years, giving them plenty of time to pursue their next breakthrough and reach the Legendary level.

Chu Tiange had only been a Primary Lifeseizer. Had he been a Secondary Lifeseizer, he would have been so strong that he could have easily trounced Yang Qi.

But now that Yang Qi was also in the Lifeseizing level, it would be a simple thing for him to destroy Secondary or Tertiary Lifeseizers.

That was how powerful a godly-class energy art was. The techniques employed by gods were not to be taken lightly. Cultivating such techniques was dangerous, but successfully breaking into a higher level with them was like being blessed by the gods, chosen as their representative to the masses below.

"A crystalline palace, a heavenly abode. Unfortunately, it's not permanent. If my true energy were strong enough, and I could turn the entire ocean into a crystalline palace, that would truly be the power of gods. But I'm not quite there yet."

Sighing, he retracted his true energy, and instantly, the crystalline palace, trees, tigers, floodwyrms, immortal cranes, elephants, and people all collapsed, yet again becoming water that splashed back down into the ocean below. The entrancing scene ended as surely as if it had been a dream.

The palace had been created by Yang Qi's true energy, so as soon as that energy left it, it was only natural that it would collapse.

Even still, what he had done was something that most experts on the Rich-Lush Continent could not.

Thankfully, Yang Qi wasn't an inherently arrogant person, and knew his place in the world. The Demi-Immortal Institute was filled with countless experts of all sorts. And there was also the Crown Prince, who had long since reached the Legendary level. It was impossible for Yang Qi to even guess how powerful that made him.

This small accomplishment of his own was nothing worth bragging about.

'So,' he thought, 'should I go apply to become an elite student now?'

With that, he settled down cross-legged on the surface of the water, which crystallized around him. Seventh phase experts could walk on water, so there was little need to mention the power of Lifeseizers.

If he became an elite student, that would earn him a much higher status, and access to even better resources.

However, he was worried that it would also be risky; he still didn't want anyone knowing about his godly-class energy art.

Becoming an elite student would definitely put him in the spotlight, and would prompt many top experts in the institute to look into him. Unfortunately, he wasn't completely confident in being able to keep his secrets under such scrutiny.

Although the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth could hide itself, Yang Qi was getting so powerful that he worried high-level experts might be able to detect the boundless power in his soul.

'Maybe I should just forget about it. I can't reveal the true extent of my powers, so perhaps the best thing would be to wait until I can fully seal my own true energy before revealing that I'm a Lifeseizer. Like the old saying goes, the tallest tree in the forest will be battered by the strongest winds. Besides, Yun Hailan is backed by the Crown Prince. Attracting his attention would definitely be a mistake.'

Eventually, Yang Qi rose to his feet.

As he rose through the cultivation levels, he knew that his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth would only get stronger and stronger. Eventually, it would surely come with an ability to fully seal his powerful life force and true energy.

All of a sudden, he felt the urge to check on the golden imp in his forehead.

That was when he realized that, at long last, his increase in cultivation level had apparently prompted a change in the imp.

After all, his soul, mind, and senses had all been improved by ten times. As of this moment, he could make out the golden imp's facial features, and could see that its body was covered with complex designs.

It was wearing a radiant suit of armor that seemed suitable for fighting gods. Although the imp seemed very, very small, it was actually indescribably powerful.

As for the designs on the armor, they were lines of script that formed the description of some sort of technique.

Unfortunately, Yang Qi couldn't read them. However, he was fairly certain that they described the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Mammoth.

Back when he had been struck by lightning, the imp entered his forehead and imparted the technique to him. However, it wasn't complete. He only knew the cultivation aspects pertaining to what came before the Lifeseizing level.

But now that he was a Lifeseizer, he would need to practice the cultivation described on the golden imp.

Unfortunately, he couldn't make out the text clearly enough to read it. To do that, he would have to improve his cultivation base.

After examining the text, he found one part that he could make out relatively clearly. The words were written in ancient, flowing characters that were difficult to read, but not impossible. They read: God-Devil Seal.

In addition to that, there was another technique called the Hell Portal.

By summoning a Hell Portal, he could call out to the powerful devil-gods in hell, and perhaps even use their power to crush his enemy.

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Chapter 91: God-Devil Seal

At this level, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth had four major capabilities.

First, the Infernal Deity Spear.

Second, the Fiend-Devil Wings.

Third, the Infernal Deity Aegis and its next form the Plate Armor.

Fourth, the Hellfire Crucible.

The Infernal Deity Spear was the strongest offensive weapon, and the Fiend-Devil Wings provided incredible speed. The Infernal Deity Plate Armor was incredible in terms of defense, and the Hellfire Crucible provided major help in cultivation.

The next ability was the God-Devil Seal, which provided perfect powers of concealment.

After that was the Hell Portal, a powerful tool of summoning.

Yang Qi had no idea what came after the Hell Portal, but he did know he would have to wait until the Legendary level to find out.

Now that his Hellfire Crucible was complete, he could start working on the God-Devil Seal. Although the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was inherently capable of concealing his energy arts and blood quintessence deep in his sea of energy, if someone probed him deeply enough, they would still be able to find them.

Now that he was in the Lifeseizing level, he was so strong that such things were actually impossible to cover up.

Thankfully, he now had the God-Devil Seal, which would resolve all those issues.

After memorizing the mnemonic, he circulated his true energy, which emerged and became like black snowflakes swirling around him.

Eventually, the black snowflakes transformed, becoming dark golden, resplendent in every aspect as they burrowed into the depths of his body.

Then, his physical body began to shrink down.

The scintillating dark golden blood within him once again turned red, and his bones began to turn soft. Even his muscles began to weaken. All of the strength left him, like the receding tide.

Next, the true energy snowflakes sealed all the power in his blood, bones and meridians, pulling it into a fist-sized sphere of true energy in his sea of energy. It shrank rapidly until it was the size of a sesame seed, completely undetectable by any outside force.

His overall true energy was now at only ten percent of its normal level, with all of his power having been sealed.

Right now, he seemed like an ordinary person who had just become a Lifeseizer, nowhere near the level of people like Chu Tiange.

That said, his sealed true energy could be released at any time, allowing him to use his true strength whenever he wanted. This was unlike other sealing magics which would usually take time to unravel.

It was not uncommon for people to use sealing marks to hide their true energy. However, it was always a dangerous process, and difficult to undo. And that was not to mention how tragic it would be to be killed before being able to draw on one's full strength.

The God-Devil Seal had no such weaknesses. A mere thought on Yang Qi's part would give him access to all of his energy arts, and all of the massive power that entailed.

To an outsider, though, his aura seemed somewhat weak. That said, even though he seemed weak, that still made him vastly mightier than any Master of Energy.

After doing a bit more work to make sure as much true energy as possible was sealed away, Yang Qi flew into the air and headed back toward the Demi-Immortal Institute.

The moon had already set, and the night had passed. Soon, the first rays of sunlight began to stretch out over the waters of the ocean.

Then the sun rose, and a new day began.

Yang Qi made it back around noontime, and the institute was alive with activity. Some students were hard at work practicing cultivation, some were going out to hunt demonlings, some were sparring, some were attending classes, some were in the gardens, drinking and enjoying the scenery, and some couples were enjoying each other's company.

Spring had come, and life in the place reflected that.

Immortal cranes and fenixes soared in the air, as well as multicolored peacocks and griffons belonging to higher-level students.

The sight of the griffons made Yang Qi realize that, as an outer campus student, he could spend some merit points to get one of his own if he wanted.

Of course, it didn't make much sense to do so. It took a lot of expensive medicinal pills to care for griffons, and besides, no griffon could possibly match the speeds he was capable of with his Fiend-Devil Wings.

Now that he was in the Lifeseizing level, his cultivation base was even more powerful than before. And his status would only continue to increase; when he became an elite student, he would have access to even better materials.

After finding a certain tower, Yang Qi stealthily made his way to a certain room.

There, Li He, He Jili, Liang Dong and Hua Yinhu were working together on the Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique.

By joining their true energy, they could unleash the Thousand-Ton Sword Net, which they were currently using to wrap up the sun gem and extract the quintessence of the sun from inside it. That process saved them months and months of difficult cultivation, perhaps even more than a year.

This technique from the Cosmic Sunflare Sword, which not even Chu Tiange could use, was now a simple cultivation tool for them.

The sun gem continued to slowly shrink as the four of them focused completely on their cultivation.

Unexpectedly, Liang Dong already had a sun-like manifestation of sword energy behind him that seemed equivalent to the one Chu Tiange had used. He had the highest cultivation base of the group of four, and was the most naturally talented in cultivation.

Truth be told, Liang Dong really was a genius, as was evidenced by him being the first to actually become a Master of Energy.

When Yang Qi entered the room and took in the scene, he waved his finger, sending out a bitingly cold stream of true energy to the sun gem.

In response, the sun gem erupted with power, sending four beams of bright red light into the tops of his four friends' heads. As the light streamed into them, the sun gem quickly shrank down into nothing.

A sound like metallic bells filled the room, accompanied by a blast of heat as tiny swords appeared in front of each of the group of four. The swords glittered brilliantly, and radiated a profound cosmic aura.

These were the animadestiny sword manifestations of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword.

These manifestations were already about seventy to eighty percent as powerful as Chu Tiange's. After all, they had absorbed Chu Tiange's preheaven sword manifestation, as well as the sun gem.

As of now, they could definitely tangle with a Primary Lifeseizer and come out alive on the other end.

And if they joined forces to create a sword formation, then they could easily fight on the same level as someone like Chu Tiange.

Liang Dong was the first one to open his eyes. First he looked at Yang Qi, then at the spot the sun gem had occupied moments before, and when he realized what had happened, looked visibly shocked. "Brother Yang Qi, you're back! Your aura…."

"Yep. I reached the Lifeseizing level last night." Although Yang Qi's words were spoken casually, their import was anything but.

His other three friends retracted their true energy and rose to their feet, looking stunned.

"Really?"

"You reached the Lifeseizing level?"

"Such incredible progress."

Instead of replying with words, he simply let loose a ripple of energy that calmed their hearts.

After a moment, Li He hesitantly asked, "Brother Yang Qi, how come your aura doesn't seem very strong?"

"Because I've sealed about ninety-nine percent of my animadestiny quintessence. If I didn't, it would be too terrifying. Even still, I could still crush an ordinary Primary Lifeseizer."

"You sealed ninety-nine percent of it?" Hua Yinhu clicked his tongue in amazement. "How terrifying would you actually be if you unleashed it all?" He was pleased to say the least. After all, the stronger Yang Qi became, the more it would benefit the group, and the more likely the rest of them would rise to the Lifeseizing level.

The Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique was the type that could conquer the cosmos. It was incredibly powerful and dangerous, and could only be cultivated by individuals with very strong meridians.

The four of them had been blessed by Yang Qi, their bodies remolded and their meridians made much tougher than before. Therefore, cultivating an aggressive sword technique like this was very appropriate for them.

Although they wouldn't necessarily achieve a breakthrough any faster because of it, they still had a high likelihood of succeeding. It wasn't like their situation before when they seemed to have no hope of ever becoming Lifeseizers.

"Yang Qi," Li He said, "why don't you head over to the Academy of Sage Studies and apply to be an elite student? All you have to do is pass a test to prove you're in the Lifeseizing level, and then you would rise to a much higher level than before. Nothing could get in your way after that. Furthermore, your clan would also have a much more stable position."

"That's right," He Jili added. Having been in the institute for about eight years, he was very familiar with how much respect was given to elite students. "Brother Yang Qi, if you were an elite student, and your involvement in Chu Tiange's death were to be revealed, the worst thing that would happen is you would be punished. After all, he was trying to kill us. It was self-defense!"

"I was thinking the same thing," Yang Qi replied. "Come on, let's go." After all, he had his God-Devil Seal now, so he was confident that no one would be able to reveal his secrets. With that, he took out a jade pellet and tossed it to Liang Dong. "I got that from a zombie general I killed in the Fiendcorpse Mountains. It's designed to hold true energy, and can thus provide a major power boost. Liang Dong, at the moment, you're the strongest, and have the best shot at reaching the Lifeseizing level. Make good use of that pellet."

"This is made from Kṣitigarbha sagejade!" Liang Dong blurted.

"What's that?" Yang Qi asked.

"There are nine different types of legendary jade in the Rich-Lush Continent," Li He said. "For example, Nine Heavens godjade, Kṣitigarbha sagejade, Star River monarchjade, and so on…. Each type is precious and filled with unique power. Kṣitigarbha sagejade is perfect for hoarding purposes for example, and can even contain life force. It's incredibly expensive, and normally speaking, something that not even Lifeseizers would have. For a Master of Energy to acquire one would make them vastly more powerful."

1. The "fenix" here is a mythological bird that is very similar to a phoenix, but slightly different in some ways. I'm unaware of any English translation for it, so I'm going with fenix because of how close they are to phoenixes

2. Kṣitigarbha is a bodhisattva. Whether this reference implies he exists as a character in this novel's universe remains to be seen. .

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Chapter 92: Academy of Sage Studies

None of the others in the group felt the least bit of jealousy when Yang Qi gave the Kṣitigarbha sagejade to Liang Dong.

All of them knew that Liang Dong was particularly talented in cultivation, and if he could reach the Lifeseizing level as well, and also become an elite student, the benefits to all of them would be astounding.

With two elite students in their group, how powerful would they be?

Obviously, Yang Qi also realized how talented Liang Dong was, and hoped to help him as much as possible.

'Kṣitigarbha sagejade. Nine Heavens godjade…. That's right. I remember that the Chen Clan's Chiliocosm Mirror was made from Nine Heavens godjade. It seems I just don't know enough about treasured items. I really need to take some classes here to learn about all the different types of precious materials of heaven and earth.'

There were all sorts of courses available in the Demi-Immortal Institute: cultivation, meridian theory, vital energy classification, pill concocting, equipment forging… even classes about demonlings and devillings.

In fact, elite students could attend courses regarding alternate dimensions.

Of course, classes weren't free for the low-level students; they cost merit points to attend.

Sadly, Yang Qi was completely ignorant when it came to all those subjects…. He knew he needed to change that. He couldn't just rely on the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, he needed to brush up on deeper fields of learning. Only by gaining a better understanding of heaven and earth could he perform all the necessary lifeseizings to eventually become a Legendary.

"Come on, let's go," Liang Dong said. "The most important thing right now is to register Brother Yang Qi as an elite student at the Academy of Sage Studies."

He put the jade pellet away, although he did send a bit of true energy into it, and simultaneously worked with his Cosmic Sunflare Sword technique.

With that, the entire group headed to a location deep in the institute, to a structure that resembled an ancient castle.

This was the Academy of Sage Studies.

Whenever some talented genius broke through to the Lifeseizing level they would come here to take an exam and then become an elite student.

When it came to the freshman students, outer campus students, and inner campus students, they were like ants, streaming here and there and everywhere. However, elite students were not as common, and were viewed like treasures.

In fact, they were so important that they would receive special protection from the institute.

When it became clear where Yang Qi and his friends were going, it attracted quite a bit of attention.

However, Yang Qi kept his energy under control, so that no one could tell he was a Lifeseizer. Therefore, most people in the area assumed they had just come to look around.

"Why are there so many people at the Academy of Sage Studies today? Don't tell me someone recently became a Lifeseizer. Are we going to have a new elite student soon?" As they got closer, Yang Qi could hear the conversations of students around him, and started to get the feeling something strange was going on.

It was the same with Li He, as he realized that there seemed to be a lot of students gathering in the area.

"I've been here before to watch someone become an elite student," he said, "but it's never this crowded. I wonder if some important person is applying for a promotion. Brother Yang Qi, considering that we're the only ones who know about you, there's no way everyone else is here on your account."

"Yeah, this is weird. Well, let's go ask around and see what's going on."

Yang Qi walked over to a female student in an emerald-green robe and said, "Hey there, Elder Sister. Do you mind if I ask what's going on? Why is it so crowded? Is something important happening?"

This particular female student was a Master of Energy, and was a fairly well-known inner campus student. She was also quite pretty. Looking over at Yang Qi, she said, "You're an outer campus student? Don't tell me you haven't heard the news? One of the top female students here is getting promoted, the genius Junior Sis— er, wait. Now that she's going to be an elite student, I guess I need to call her Elder Sister. Elder Sister Yun Hailan. Only a month ago, she reached the Lifeseizing level. And then she defeated some other Lifeseizers who were much more experienced than her. I'd say that at the moment, she's the most talented female student in the past twenty years."

'What? Yun Hailan already reached the Lifeseizing level, and is being promoted to elite student today?' Killing intent immediately began to pulse in Yang Qi's heart. 'That girl is a deadly schemer. She'll do anything she can to get what she wants. And now she's becoming an elite student. She must have someone helping her, that's the only explanation.'

The fact that Yun Hailan was in the Lifeseizing level was not good news. Already, Yang Qi's blood was pumping, and he had to resist the urge to go give her a piece of his mind. What right did she have to simply manipulate any man she wanted, and then crush him beneath her feet before moving on as if nothing happened?

Killing Chu Tiange had eased some of his fury, but deep in his heart, Yang Qi could never let go of his hatred of Yun Hailan.

The only way would be to crush her once and for all.

When the female student saw Yang Qi standing there silently, she said, "You know, there haven't been any genius male students in two decades. First there was Yang Susu, and now there's Yun Hailan. Two genius women. One of these days the women are going to completely surpass the men…." With that, she gave a cold smirk and walked off.

"Brother Yang Qi, your archenemy Yun Hailan is getting promoted too? I guess it's just destiny that the two of you meet again." Li He knew about how much Yang Qi hated Yun Hailan, how she had tricked him into stealing a Latent Dragon Pill for her and then left him to his death. If something like that happened to Li He, he knew that he would react just like Yang Qi.

Therefore, Li He and the others were all just as angry as he was.

"She thinks she's some sort of genius," Yang Qi said, "but she's only advancing because of the help of the Crown Prince. One of these days, I'll make sure she understands how sadly lacking she really is. Come on, let's get in there. I want to become an elite student and really stick it to Yun Hailan."

With that, he headed into the crowd that had assembled out front the Academy of Sage Studies. Everyone was craning their necks in the hopes of seeing what was happening inside. However, a group of students from the Crown Prince Society had cordoned off the area, and weren't letting anyone in.

That said, it was still possible to see the ceremony being carried out inside, presided over by members of the senior generation with very profound cultivation bases.

Other elite students, Lifeseizers all, were present to act as witnesses and provide moral support.

Yun Hailan wore a sapphire-blue garment, and was very well made-up. She had a somber expression on her face that made her look something like a goddess. The female students were all staring at her in admiration.

In fact, Yang Qi could tell that many of the female students considered her to be a leader of sorts among them.

It hadn't taken her long to really entrench herself in the institute.

As for the male students, they obviously respected her, but at the same time, dreamed of courting her. Of course, they couldn't. The only thing they might hope to do was serve as escorts for her, and perhaps win a smile.

The way that some of these students virtually worshipped Yun Hailan caused Yang Qi to frown; dealing with her was getting more and more complicated.

"Can you guys see? That's Elder Sister Yun Hailan. She's a legend already! She joined the Demi-Immortal Institute less than a year ago, and is already a Lifeseizer! She's already surpassed many of the elite students…."

"Yeah, I know. Supposedly she has the blood of a sea god in her. She's got divine protection!"

"She's definitely going to be the champion of us female students."

"She's spectacular. Even if she just smiled at me, it would make my day."

Everyone seemed completely entranced with her, and that included certain members of the crowd who were from aristocratic clans in the Sage Ancestor Dynasty, or geniuses in their own right.

It was a group of Masters of Energy who maintained the cordoned-off area, preventing anyone from entering the Academy of Sage Studies. Each and every one was a member of the Crown Prince Society, with swords strapped at their backs, and all sorts of jade ornaments and jewelry. Although they looked excited, the arrogance in their eyes was clear; they viewed themselves as being above everyone else present.

Everyone who was in the Crown Prince Society developed something like an air of nobility.

After all, they represented power, authority, and ultimate respect.

According to the rumors, their leader, the Crown Prince, cultivated a rare energy art called the Son of Heaven's Godfist. Upon cultivating that art to completion, one would truly become like a son of heaven, an emperor descended from on high. It was a fist strike that was so powerful that everyone who faced it was like a court official facing the emperor.

The dao of monarchs was one of being unparalleled under heaven.

The dao of the son of heaven was that of winning wars without deploying troops.

Yang Qi had heard stories about the Crown Prince, but had never seen him. However, based on how the Crown Prince Society students acted, he was fairly certain he knew what the Crown Prince himself was like.

"Stop right there!" said one of the Crown Prince Society students maintaining the cordon. Looking coldly at Yang Qi, he continued, "Students here to watch the ceremony have to stay behind the cordon. If you try to break past, don't blame us for cutting you down!"

"I'm also here for promotion to elite student," Yang Qi replied icily. "Besides, who gave you the power and authority to seal the Academy of Sage Studies?"

"What? Here for promotion to elite student? You're in the Lifeseizing level?"

Shocked, other members of the Crown Prince Society looked over.

One of them narrowed his eyes and said, "You're in the Lifeseizing level? Doesn't look like it to me!" Without any warning, he let loose a fist strike.

The people from the Crown Prince Society really were overbearing.

1. In the Chinese culture and language, the "Son of Heaven" is another term for the emperor.

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Chapter 93: How Impudent!

This member of the Crown Prince Society didn't mince words. It was with unbridled aggressiveness that he immediately resorted to a physical attack.

"Army-Shattering Fist!"

A freezing blast of fist-wind roiled out, heading straight toward Yang Qi's head. Even a massive boulder which found itself in the path of this fist attack would be blasted into dust. Furthermore, the fist-wind rotated in a way that was designed to completely obliterate the enemy's defensive true energy.

This member of the Crown Prince Society clearly looked down on Yang Qi so much that he wasn't even worried if he got killed.

After all, the Crown Prince Society was extremely powerful in the Demi-Immortal Institute.

"Resorting right to rule-breaking!?" Killing intent burning, Yang Qi unleashed a palm strike; true energy swirled out to form a huge hand, glittering and golden, which seemed to pulse with the aura of a king.

The fist-wind struck the enormous true energy palm, and shattered, whereupon the golden palm continued onward, smashing into the Crown Prince Society student, who staggered backward and coughed up blood.

The other nearby members of the Crown Prince Society were so incensed that they clearly wanted to kill Yang Qi and chop his corpse up into a million pieces.

"Such impudence! How dare you strike a member of the Crown Prince Society? You're dead!"

Energy art fluctuations immediately filled the area.

More than ten Masters of Energy unleashed deadly attacks, causing sword energy, blade nimbuses, fist strikes, and more to descend like rain.

The explosion of energy actually made it difficult to see clearly.

The other students in the area backed up, all of them wondering who this Yang Qi character was, and why he had dared to arouse the ire of the powerful Crown Prince Society.

"Triumph in Every Battle! Victory in Every Fight!"

It was with casual calm that Yang Qi summoned six true energy arms. Even more shocking, two additional heads sprouted on his shoulders, one of them extremely vicious-looking, the other the picture of calm.

In the blink of an eye, he had literally turned into a three-headed six-armed entity.

This was the full manifestation of the Invincible King's Fist.

His six arms flowed through numerous stances as he lunged forward, seemingly capable of ripping the ground up and destroying it.

"Aaaiiiieee!"

"Aaaiiiieee!"

"Aaaiiiieee…."

Numerous screams erupted as the students from the Crown Prince Society were sent flying backward, slamming into the stairs leading into the Academy of Sage Studies. As they did, the sounds of breaking bones rang out for all to hear.

They had all been vanquished in only one interchange with Yang Qi.

"Lifeseizing level!?" someone shrieked, a woman. "He's actually a Lifeseizer…."

It was none other than the arrogant young woman in the green garment that Yang Qi had spoken to moments ago. The shock on her face was apparent; how could she ever have guessed that the outer campus student she had just derided was actually a powerful Lifeseizer?

"Lifeseizer!? He's really in the Lifeseizing level…?"

As word spread, more and more students looked over at Yang Qi, their eyes shining with the realization that he was a Lifeseizer.

"An outer campus student actually reached the Lifeseizing level? That's incredible! I'm a Master of Energy myself, but even I don't know how many years it will take for me to do the same thing!"

"When you achieve meteoric progress, then you can hold your head high!"

"Well, even though he made his breakthrough, he pushed things a bit too far. How is he going to deal with the Crown Prince Society now that he's offended them? Seems he doesn't understand the concept of death. They are definitely not going to let him off the hook."

"Not necessarily. It depends on what society he joins. All the powerful organizations are interested in recruiting new Lifeseizers. If he has a problem with the Crown Prince Society, he could always join the Gentlemen's Society. They would probably protect him."

"You know, you're right."

Even as the members of the Crown Prince Society lay there in shock, Yang Qi strode past them into the main hall of the Academy of Sage Studies.

By this point, the commotion from outside had been noticed by the elite students inside, and they all looked over.

Almost instantly, Yang Qi felt something like the rays of a thousand burning suns locking onto him.

Everyone inside the hall was a top expert, and their combined gazes were so powerful that they could vanquish any Master of Energy.

However, Yang Qi merely squared his shoulders and continued walking.

In fact, his gaze locked onto the key figure of the ceremony, Yun Hailan.

She, of course, looked back at him, and instantly realized who he was. And considering his energy fluctuations, she could tell that he had recently reached the Lifeseizing level.

Chuckling coldly, he said, "I bet you never would have guessed that I would reach the Lifeseizing level, eh Yun Hailan? How long will it take you to learn that schemes and plots don't always work? Connive and finagle to your heart's content. I'm still going to leave you choking dust when I pass you."

'He actually reached the Lifeseizing level…?' Although she was visibly shocked, she quickly wiped it from her face.

"I must offer my sincerest congratulations," she said coolly. "Your cultivation is progressing along quite quickly. I guess I misjudged you in the past. You might be a Lifeseizer now, but don't forget that the higher you rise, the farther you can fall. To be honest, such a high cultivation base doesn't fit you. If you want to live your days in peace, return to Yanhaven and go into seclusion. Live like an ordinary person."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but not only will I not live like an ordinary person, I'm going to become the type of famed individual who shakes the entire world." As of this moment, Yang Qi was hard-pressed not to just attack Yun Hailan and kill her right here.

He had only just entered the Lifeseizing level, and she had reached it some time ago, which left her feeling a bit confident. However, Yun Hailan had no idea how truly powerful he was.

'Just you wait,' he thought. 'After I'm an elite student, there will definitely be some time when we meet alone, just the two of us. Then I'll show you how strong I actually am.' Yang Qi's hand trembled with effort as he calmed his true energy, forcing himself to stop thinking about attacking her.

Although the conversation between Yang Qi and Yun Hailan didn't appear to be over, that didn't stop a certain man from stepping forward and saying, "Who is this guy, Yun Hailan? I can't believe that he actually interrupted a ceremony being carried out by the Crown Prince Society!"

He was tall and slender, with sword-like eyebrows and a complexion as sparkling as jade. A single glance at him, and one would take him to be a very powerful individual. Furthermore, his narrow, wolf-like eyes made him seem like a very unreasonable and intolerant person. At the same time, he was the type of person who could handle 'troublesome' situations.

"And you are…?" Yang Qi said. He could tell from this man's aura that he was no less powerful than Chu Tiange. Obviously, he was also a Lifeseizer, an elite student and a member of the Crown Prince Society.

"You don't need to know who I am," the man said imperiously. "I'll give you three breaths of time, and two options: One. Apologize to Yun Hailan and then get your ass out of here. Two. Get killed by me. Your choice. And when I say get your ass out of here, I mean on your hands and knees. If you try walking, then I'll break your ankles."

Another of the Crown Prince Society students waved his hand dismissively. "Don't get carried away, Gu Fenxian. This student is in the Lifeseizing level, so give him a bit of face. Besides, it's not too late for him to just step outside.

"Listen, brat. Just step out and wait for our ceremony to finish. Then come back and get your promotion. Afterward, you can join our Crown Prince Society. We can take care of everything in one shot."

"Did you hear that?" Gu Fenxian said. "Get your ass out of here!"

Waving his sleeve, he sent a blast of air out that transformed into a tornado which bore down on Yang Qi.

WHIZZZ!

Yang Qi's energy arts rumbled like a bell when Gu Fenxian's tornado hit him. Then, the tornado simply collapsed into pieces.

"You want me to get my ass out of here? You people really talk big, you know that?" Yang Qi was getting very irritated with how arrogant and bossy this Crown Prince Society was. Shoving his finger in the direction of this Gu Fenxian, he said, "If you have what it takes, why don't you make me? Except that you can't."

There were also some elders in the hall, transcendent-looking old men with high positions in the institute, who were tasked with overseeing the promotion of elite students. However, they didn't react at all upon seeing Yang Qi arguing with the Crown Prince Society. In fact, it was even possible to see slight smiles on their faces, as if they were interested in seeing who would come out on top.

"How impudent!" Gu Fenxian blurted, incensed both by Yang Qi's words as well as his sharp tone. With that, he threw his arms wide, causing intense heat to ripple off of him, which transformed into flame horses, flame crows, flame rats, flame tigers, flame snakes, and more….

Fire filled the air and then shot directly toward Yang Qi.

Yang Qi didn't even look at the flames. He unleashed his true energy, causing numerous energy vortexes to spring up around him, which easily sucked in all of the flame manifestations, destroying them and sending sparks showering down everywhere.

Tiny pits and holes opened up on the ground where the sparks landed, which attested to how powerful the flames had been.

"Flame qilin!" Gu Fenxian growled. Scorching hot true energy shot out from his eyes, which rapidly took the shape of a large qilin. Stamping its hooves, it began to race toward Yang Qi, breathing fire as it did. It also emanated an energy field that was so wide it instantly enveloped Yang Qi.

Everyone present could see that the heat within that energy field was so intense that the ground was melting.

However, none of the onlookers felt any of that heat, which showed how exquisitely Gu Fenxian was able to control his energy art.

There were some people who would unleash incredible energy arts, but would injure innocent bystanders. People like that seemed amazing, but were actually not in control, and were wasting their true energy.

Obviously, Gu Fenxian's energy arts had reached the highest level of perfection.

And yet, despite being in the midst of that intense fire, Yang Qi didn't seem worried at all. He was like the ultimate manifestation of the old adage true gold fears no fire. Reaching out, he splayed his fingers, then tightened them into a fist, causing a vortex to spring up around it. It was the Invincible King's Fist again, this time, all of its stances combined into one.

BOOOOOOOM!

He punched the flame qilin hard on the head, provoking a miserable scream from it as it collapsed into pieces.

Thump, thump, thump….

Gu Fenxian staggered backwards, his face draining of blood.

1. Gu Fenxian: Gu is a surname which also means "valley". Fen means "to burn, immolate" and Xian means "immortal".

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Chapter 94: Ceremony

Yang Qi defeated Gu Fenxian with a single fist strike, then stared him down and jokingly said, "A piece of trash like you wants me to get my ass out of here?"

Gu Fenxian was from the Crown Prince Society, but that didn't scare Yang Qi.

Now that he was in the Lifeseizing level, he could use his Hellfire Crucible to directly consume demon cores, which meant that his cultivation base would continue to advance by leaps and bounds.

Given some time, he would eventually seize life again and again, and would thus gain enlightenment of the Hell Portal. With that, he would have even less reason to fear the legendary Crown Prince.

The Hell Portal would allow him to summon countless kinds of devil-gods, the type who had the capacity to turn the world of men into a living hell. Of course, summoning creatures like that was inherently dangerous in certain ways.

Gu Fenxian almost couldn't believe that he had met defeat. "You! I'm gonna kill you!"

He was the insufferably arrogant type, and the fact that he had just been defeated by someone who just reached the Lifeseizing level was a complete humiliation. That in itself ensured that he now viewed Yang Qi as a mortal enemy.

"Painting of Immortal Immolation!" he howled. Flame rippled up behind him, quickly turning into the image of a painting. It depicted all sorts of god-immortals, all of them transcendent beings, who were wreathed in flames, agonized expressions covering their faces as they were immolated into nothing.

Face twisting viciously, Gu Fenxian said, "I can't believe you shoved me backward a few steps, brat. Humiliation like that can never be wiped away. Henceforth, you have no reason to stay alive! I'll put you in so much agony you'll wish you could die! Except, I won't let you! You're going to be the first person to experience my imperial-class energy art, the Five Volumes of Immortal Immolation!"

From the way his energy was building up, it seemed he was preparing to go all out.

"The Five Volumes of Immortal Immolation! That's an imperial-class energy art! It's a consummate discipline from the Gu Clan, not from the Demi-Immortal Institute."

"The Gu Clan is one of the top ten richest clans in the Rich-Lush Continent. According to the rumors, they used to have a Great Sage. Even the Sage Ancestor Dynasty pays them a lot of respect. The Five Volumes of Immortal Immolation are so powerful that, if used together, they can be used to immolate immortals. However, after years of chaos in their clan, four of the five volumes were lost. Now they only have one of them. Even still, it's incredibly powerful."

"Who is this guy anyway? From his clothes, it seems he's an outer campus student. I can't believe his cultivation base is so profound. He actually defeated Gu Fenxian?"

"Gu Fenxian is being a bit careless. Considering he's using his Painting of Immortal Immolation, there's no way this other student will be able to defend himself."

"Well, that guy is a Lifeseizer, so there's no way the elders will let him get killed. They'll interfere. Every Lifeseizer who loses their life is a blow to the quintessence of the institute."

Already, many of the students were taking note of Yang Qi.

As for Yun Hailan, her expression was cold, almost as if she could see deep into Yang Qi and understand the truth of why he had advanced so quickly.

Before, she had taken him to be little more than a talented commoner who would never go very far no matter how hard he worked. How could she have ever guessed that he would actually reach the Lifeseizing level? He was standing out as conspicuously brilliant, which made him a major threat to her.

As for Gu Fenxian, she knew full well that he was one of the top talents in the Crown Prince Society. He had reached the Lifeseizing level ten years ago, and was already a Secondary Lifeseizer. Despite that, Yang Qi had defeated him, and forced him to use his Five Volumes of Immortal Immolation, a consummate energy art. It was no trivial matter, and Yun Hailan knew that things couldn't go on this way.

"This has to stop," she said coolly. It was difficult to tell whether she meant Yang Qi, or herself.

Even as Gu Fenxian prepared to unleash his Painting of Immortal Immolation, one of the elders from the Academy of Sage Studies waved his finger, causing a razor-sharp sword to appear.

"Enough!"

RIIIIP!

The Painting of Immortal Immolation collapsed, and the resulting true energy returned to Gu Fenxian, defeated by only one move from this old man.

The mere sight of it left Yang Qi shaken.

"Elder War-Soldier!"

"Elder War-Soldier, sir, did you have something you wanted to say?"

Shocked that an elder had interfered, Gu Fenxian's fellows all began to urge him to calm down.

"Gu Fenxian, now that Elder War-Soldier has intervened, you'd better not use any more energy arts. Considering this punk barged into the Academy of Sage Studies, Elder War-Soldier probably wants to punish him. There's no more need for the Crown Prince Society to step in."

Obviously, this elder had a very high standing in the Demi-Immortal Institute, to the point where Lifeseizers from the Crown Prince Society wouldn't dare to defy him.

'That was some incredible sword energy,' Yang Qi thought. 'I wonder how many times he's seized life from heaven. If he went all out to attack me, would I be able to defend myself?'

Although Yang Qi's energy arts were strong, he was still relatively inexperienced, and thus had no way to assess Elder War-Soldier's level in detail.

"Silence!" Elder War-Soldier said. Looking around at the students from the Crown Prince Society, he continued, "Calm down, all of you. Today's formalities end here." Then he looked at Yang Qi. "What's your name?"

"Elder War-Soldier, I am Yang Qi," he said respectfully. "I just reached the Lifeseizing level, and came to take the test and apply to be an elite student."

"I see. Well, you definitely have the power of a Lifeseizer. That was the Invincible King's Fist, correct? You've got some talent in you to be able to use an incomplete version of the technique to unleash the power you just did. What do the rest of you think?" Elder War-Soldier turned to look at the other elders.

One of those elders rose to his feet. "You're absolutely right, Elder War-Soldier. I was watching this kid closely just now, and he definitely has a Lifeseizer cultivation base. No one can call that into question. However, according to our rules, we still need to administer the test.

"Elder War-Hero. Elder War-Power. Elder War-Gallant. Why don't the four of us inspect the boy's sea of energy?"

The other elders nodded and rose to their feet.

WHIZZZ!

Gentle energy streamed out of their hands, heading directly toward Yang Qi.

He did nothing to resist, and in fact, dissipated his defensive true energy and allowed their power to enter his meridians. He knew that passing this test was the only way that the Demi-Immortal Institute would permit him to officially become an elite student, and thus join the upper echelons.

Now was the moment of truth: would the God-Devil Seal work?

There were five grand elders present. The highest ranking among them was Elder War-Soldier, and after him were Elder War-Glory, Elder War-Hero, Elder War-Power and Elder War-Gallant.

These five elders ran the Academy of Sage Studies, and were in fact vice-rectors in the institute. Most major decisions were made by them. As for the rector himself, Elder War-Sage, he spent most of his time in seclusion, seeking enlightenment. He hadn't even been seen in the last hundred years.

These five elders sent their power coursing into Yang Qi's meridians, all the way into his sea of energy, where they could see the true energy of both the Invincible King's Fist and the Golden Bell Rampart. As for the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, it was tightly sealed up, as well as the Four Seasons Swordplay, making it impossible for them to even notice.

After closely examining the true energy, the five streams of energy did another inspection of Yang Qi's meridians before moving on to his head, as well as his acupoints.

Finally, the energy settled in his forehead.

Of course, Yang Qi was immediately concerned that the five elders might notice the golden imp.

But after a moment passed, his fears were proved unfounded, as the elders noticed nothing unusual.

It was almost as if the imp weren't real, and existed in an illusory world, to appear only when it wished.

"Very well," Elder War-Soldier said. The five elders retracted their true energy. "You pass, Yang Qi. You have no heterogeneous true energy in you, only energy from traditional consummate disciplines and first-class energy arts. To have practiced cultivation to this level shows how talented you are. We all agree that you should be promoted to elite student."

"Awesome!" Outside, Li He and the others heard the exchange inside, and couldn't help but cry out in excitement. There was no going back now; Yang Qi was an elite student, and nothing could change that.

"Any student who becomes a Lifeseizer, and also passes the test to prove no connection to deadly devil arts or forbidden techniques, can become an elite student," Elder War-Soldier explained. "Let the promotion ceremony for Yun Hailan and Yang Qi be held in unison. Men!"

"Sir!" shouted a handful of giants, who strode forward and knelt in front of Elder War-Soldier. "Go fetch two sets of elite student uniforms from the storerooms, plus identity medallions."

"Yes sir!" Moments later, the giants came hurrying back with the uniforms and identity medallions. Yang Qi tossed the uniform on, which instantly made him look more dignified than before.

"And now, offer three sets of three kowtows to the successive generations of patriarchs of the Demi-Immortal Institute and the Academy of Sage Studies."

Yang Qi looked deeper into the Academy of Sage Studies and saw portraits of more than ten individuals. Each of them looked like transcendent beings, like rising suns, gods, or immortals. They looked ready to spring into action at any moment, and yet completely at ease. At the same time, they were austere, like emperors or saints.

Clearly, these were portraits of the generations of powerful individuals who had led the institute throughout the years.

The last portrait featured the current chancellor of the institute, a young man in yellow garments, with a scroll in one hand and a sword sheathed at his side. He was clearly extraordinary, and yet his eyes seemed touched by sorrow, as though he was worried about the difficulties faced by the common people. He wasn't looking at the scroll in his hand, but rather, at the heavens above, as if he longed to bring peace to all creation.

1. Gu Fenxian's given name "Fenxian" literally means "burn immortals" or "immolate immortals". It uses the exact same Chinese characters as the name of the technique. So if you translated his name, it would be something like "Gu Immortal-Immolator".

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Chapter 95: Becoming an Elite Studen

Yang Qi looked away from the picture of the chancellor and shifted his gaze to Yun Hailan. Although her face was expressionless, he knew that her heart abounded with all sorts of sinister schemes and plots.

Yang Qi's cultivation base had reached a profound level in which he was fairly certain he could sense danger. And right now, he knew that Yun Hailan was already completely fed up with him. There was no doubt in his mind that she was already contemplating ways to get rid of him.

Originally, this should have been a very important day for her, a day in which she could bask in her glory, and be cheered by the students from the Crown Prince Society. And yet, her triumphant rise to the elite student level had been completely ruined by Yang Qi.

If it had been some random person who accidentally interfered, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. But Yang Qi was someone she had personally toyed with in the past.

'I don't care how you plot against me. Like the old saying goes: When soldiers come, send a general to stop them. When flood waters come, use earth to block them. I'll adopt whatever measures are appropriate to the situation. In the end, it will all come down to who is stronger.' He chuckled coldly in his heart. 'Chu Tiange is dead, and when the time comes, I'll make my move, and make sure you end up just like him.'

"Three sets of three kowtows! Bow to the patriarchs!"

Both Yun Hailan and Yang Qi quickly dropped to their knees and offered three sets of three kowtows. After that, they lit incense, and went about the various other formalities.

The audience looked on in complete and utter silence.

This was a formal session of obeisance to the patriarchs, and anyone who dared to disturb the peace would be immediately imprisoned. Although the students from the Crown Prince Society were extremely displeased with Yang Qi, there was no way they would dare to violate the institute's rules to do anything about it right now.

After the kowtows and other formalities were finished, the five elders nodded. Bells rang out twice, drifting far and wide in the institute, announcing that two students had been promoted.

"The ceremony is concluded!" Elder War-Soldier said. "You are now officially elite students of the institute. You will be given your own temple in which to practice your cultivation. You are also free to recruit followers and establish your own societies, all for the sake of serving the institute and promoting peace in heaven and earth. Remember, our institute is devoted to bringing peace, prosperity, and health to the common people. Any time an opportunity presents itself to further that cause, you are expected to drop what you're doing and help. If you do, the institute will take good care of you. All students of the Demi-Immortal Institute have a responsibility to rid the world of devils and demons, to punish those who abuse power, and keep the commoners safe."

"Yes sir!" Yang Qi replied, struck by the righteous and orthodox nature of the words. The Demi-Immortal Institute was devoted to morality and ethics, as well as peace. It was intended to be a just and righteous organization, the likes other smaller sects and groups couldn't possibly match up to.

Now that the ceremony was over, Yun Hailan gave a final glance to the five elders and said, "If we're done, I'll take my leave."

As she turned away, she looked at Yang Qi, cold laughter in her eyes that seemed to say: Let's wait and see what happens in the end!

Yang Qi looked back at her, and his unsaid words were just as clear. I'll be waiting.

Their gazes were only locked for a moment before they parted, and Yun Hailan left, escorted like a celebrity by the members of the Crown Prince Society. Li He and the others hurried over to Yang Qi, who people now looked at very differently than before. The envy and jealousy in their eyes were clear. And the attitude of the young woman in the green garment had completely changed. Walking over awkwardly, she said, "Elder Brother Yang Qi, I know I offended you just now. I hope you're a believer in the adage a great man does not remember a petty person's trespasses."

"Oh?" Yang Qi looked over at her and was suddenly acutely aware of his change in status. "Don't worry about it, I'm not going to cause problems for you. Carry on."

"Many thanks, Elder Brother, many thanks," she said happily, before hurrying away.

Nearly bursting with excitement, Li He said, "Yang Qi, now you can go to the College of Elite Students, where you'll have an energy formation of the dao of monarchs. Your cultivation is going to progress even more quickly than before. And you can also learn about the various daos of spell formations. Soon, you'll be able to set up grand spell formations of your own."

"It goes without saying that I'll figure out how to set up energy formations for you," Yang Qi replied. "We need to get your cultivation bases stronger as quickly as possible. The sooner you reach the Lifeseizing level the better. I've offended the Crown Prince Society and Yun Hailan, and now I've dragged you all into it. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure all of you stay safe." Yang Qi knew that Yun Hailan would definitely harm his friends if she felt it would advance her purposes, and in fact, he was also fairly certain it wouldn't be long before she made a move on the Yang Clan in Yanhaven.

Although the Yang Clan controlled Yanhaven now, they weren't much when compared to the powerful Yun Hailan and the Crown Prince society. As for what exactly to do about the situation, he needed to put more thought into it.

Right now, the most important task at hand was to get his four brothers into the Lifeseizing level. With them as elite students, and with the backing of their clans, they would be extremely influential, and would be of vital importance in protecting Yanhaven.

"Li He, use your powers within your clan to send word to Yanhaven. Let them know I've reached the Lifeseizing level and am now an elite student."

"Sure thing!" Li He said. He could already tell what Yang Qi was thinking. Although Yanhaven was currently impregnable to most of its current enemies, there were plenty of powerful individuals who could still cause trouble for them. At the very most, the Yang Clan was experiencing a temporary respite from danger.

"Come on," Yang Qi said with the wave of his hand. "I'll take you into the College of Elite Students to look around."

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

The incident between Yang Qi and the Crown Prince Society was the talk of the institute. Everyone assumed that the Crown Prince Society would start causing problems for Yang Qi, and yet, before long, the waves died down, and nothing happened. However, people in the know were aware that it was only the calm before the storm.

Yang Qi now had a castle-like temple in the College of Elite Students, just like Yang Susu. It was his own official permanent residence, complete with an energy formation of the dao of monarchs.

During the ten days that passed, he focused heavily on cultivation, both on coming to a deeper understanding of his abilities as a Lifeseizer, and also on his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

Every few days, he would go help Li He and the others fortify their spell formations to further their cultivation. He also spent time attending classes in the institute. The elders and professors spoke on a variety of topics such as astronomy, geography, medicinal pills, vital energy, morality, history, meridians, acupoints, magical treasures, equipment forging, and more.

Being an elite student came with a lot of privileges, such as being able to attend class for free. Freshman students, outer campus students, and even inner campus students all had to spend merit points to do so.

Elite students were also provided with an abundance of resources.

For example, his temple came complete with giant servants who came in regularly to tidy and clean the place. Not only was he able to live like a prince, he was also able to focus more fully on cultivation.

Because of all that, he simply focused on getting stronger, and waiting for Yun Hailan and the Crown Prince Society to make their move.

At the same time, he kept an ear out for news about his Aunt Susu.

After acquiring the Sage Devil Painting, she had sought out her master, and then went into a session of secluded cultivation, with her goal being to achieve Secondary or perhaps even Tertiary Lifeseizing. However, after months with no news, Yang Qi was starting to get nervous about the situation.

Yang Qi was now no less powerful than Yang Susu, and in fact, he had surpassed her. That meant that he could definitely be of help to her, except for the fact that he had no idea where she was.

Meanwhile, far, far away from the Demi-Immortal Institute in Yanhaven, Yang Zhan was contemplating how to manage clan affairs, and push the clan to further glory. Now that Yanhaven belonged to the Yang Clan, he was the new city magistrate.

The Yang Clan had occupied the city magistrate's mansion that had once belonged to Yan Gufeng, and had earned the allegiance of the millions of residents of the city, as well as the support of the other rich and powerful clans.

Yang Zhan was at the peak of the Master of Energy level, and Yang Yunchong and Yang Hualong were now both Masters of Energy.

Yang Qi had acquired all sorts of miraculous medicinal pills from the vampire brigands, such as the Golden Nine Transformations Pills. All of them were astronomically valuable, but he had sent them to his father and brothers, which had pushed their cultivation forward rapidly.

They were now the top figures in the Yang Clan.

Yang Zhan had the power of his airmastery plant, the Four Seasons Swordplay, and the Chiliocosm Mirror. With all of that, it seemed very likely that he would reach the Lifeseizing level soon. He wasn't just the top expert in the Yang Clan, he was the most powerful individual in Yanhaven.

Not even four or five Masters of Energy working together would be a match for him.

Deep in the city magistrate's mansion, in a large meeting hall, he was currently holding an important meeting.

Present were the clan lords from countless clans that existed within the five-hundred-kilometer jurisdiction of Yanhaven.

The Chen Clan had been exterminated, and the Yan Clan had been driven out. But there were still the Xu Clan, Wang Clan, Kang Clan, Chuan Clan, and more, dozens of rich and powerful clans.

"Greetings, gentlemen!" Yang Zhan said, causing profound silence to fall over the hall. No one knew how Yang Zhan had pulled it off, but he had acquired the assistance of thirty Masters of Energy, and hundreds of eighth phase experts. It was with that force that he had defeated the Yan Clan and became the new city magistrate. The spectacular battle which had been fought was still vivid in the minds of everyone present.

Yan Gufeng had been in the possession of an incredible thumb-ring that doubled his reserve of true energy, and yet despite that, had still been defeated by Yang Zhan.

That moment ensured that Yang Zhan would henceforth be the most respected person in the city.

Looking around at the assembled clan lords, Yang Zhan nodded and said, "We are in a bit of a strange situation. The time has come for all the aristocratic clans in Yanhaven to unite and work together. We can no longer be constantly bickering and at odds. Therefore, I have decided to establish a formal royal court. I will be the king, and you aristocratic clans will be appointed as vassals and government ministers. We need to discuss exactly how to administer affairs in the five-hundred-kilometer region surrounding Yanhaven. Gentlemen, do any of you have any good suggestions?"

His words broke the silence like a boulder dropping onto the surface of a placid lake.

"Impossible," one of the clan lords said, rising to his feet. "City Magistrate Yang, you want our clans to be government ministers? You think we'll just give you life-or-death power over us?"

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Chapter 96: Uniting Yanhaven

It was no surprise that the aristocratic clans would be unhappy about Yang Zhan calling himself a king and appointing them all as vassals and ministers.

By doing that, they would be acknowledging that the Yang Clan was superior to them, and could even execute them if they wanted.

Furthermore, the clans' military forces would be under the control of the Yang Clan. And the new royal court would control all of the clans' income, provisions, weapons, medicinal pills, and the like. They would also appoint and dispatch officials to oversee the lands.

In the past, the clans controlled their own territory, and could do whatever they wanted therein. At that time, they were like emperors unto their own. But now, they were being told to be part of a royal court.

The Sage Ancestor Dynasty had little real power, and was also on the decline. City magistrates throughout the Rich-Lush Continent, as well as the various powerful clans, were all independent. Some were declaring their cities to be nations, and setting up their own governments.

And at long last, that was happening here in Yanhaven with the Yang Clan.

The Yan Clan had also attempted such a thing, but had been defeated and driven away.

Now the other clans were being asked to participate in the Yang Clan's arrangement of military and civil officialdom. Without such a formal hierarchy, there would be little point to 'establishing' a nation. Unless the clans agreed to follow governmental decrees, chaos would ensue.

If other powerful forces invaded at that time, the aristocratic clans would be a major weakness.

But, with the clans serving as officials and ministers, with law in place, and with a standing army ready to fight, then it would be a very different story. The newly founded State of Yang would immediately be ten times as powerful as before.

Unfortunately, founding a new nation was no easy task, and the powerful clans would not give in easily.

When Yang Zhan saw that the clan lords were offering such staunch resistance, he sighed inwardly. He had known all along that something like this would happen. After all, if Yan Gufeng had been the one to make an announcement like this, he would have fought back just as fiercely.

"City Magistrate Yang," one of the clan lords said passionately, "it's my duty to follow you as a city magistrate. But do you really think you can just declare yourself king over all of us and confiscate our belongings and property? You might as well just execute us all! We absolutely do not agree. This crosses the line! The aristocratic clans will pay you tribute, but will not become your state officials. There is absolutely, positively no way we will give you the power of life or death over us."

"That's right, City Magistrate Yang. Your son might be a student at the Demi-Immortal Institute, but our Bai Clan has the backing of the House of the White Dragon. If you push things too far, you'll be signing your own death warrant!"

"Exactly. If you want to found your own nation, that means you're our enemy! Besides, what makes you think the Yang Clan can even hold on to the position of city magistrate?!"

"Hmph! Back when the Yan Clan was planning this sort of thing, we didn't do anything. And we also didn't do anything when your Yang Clan routed the Yan Clan. But don't think that we'll let you just run amok!"

"No matter what happens, we're not going to let the Yang Clan gain any more power. Found a nation? Really?"

The clan lords were all talking at the same time, and their opposition only seemed to grow stronger by the moment.

In fact, some of the individuals present, chief elders who were Masters of Energy, began to secretly circulate their energy in preparation to attack.

Yang Yunchong and Yang Hualong were both starting to sweat a bit at the sight of it all.

Back when they had fought the Yan Clan, they had more than thirty Masters of Energy on their side, plus over a hundred eighth phase experts. Afterward, the State of Yun had stopped expanding territory, and all those experts had returned home. If all of these aristocratic clans joined forces against them now, there was no way they could fight back.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Yang Zhan said coolly. "Don't tell me you want to maintain the status quo. If we do, and someone invades us, we'll all end up dead. Even our ancestral shrines will be destroyed."

One of the chief elders rose to his feet and said, "If there's an invasion, we can join forces to fight back. But founding a nation means stripping us of our power, and we'd rather die than let that happen. We refuse to accept such an arrangement."

As the arguing in the hall grew more heated, a whooshing sound could be heard outside the city magistrate's mansion.

Shocked, the clan lords and chief elders rushed out to see a host of men dressed in black garments, with black masks on their faces.

These men were all Masters of Energy, and from the way they looked at the clan lords and chief elders, they clearly viewed them as nothing more than country yokels.

These were experts from the Sage Ancestor Dynasty's Capital City, a place that Yanhaven couldn't even compare to.

Despite that, when they finally caught sight of Yang Zhan, the respect in their eyes was clear for all to see.

One of the black-garbed men tore the mask off his face, stepped forward, and said, "City Magistrate Yang, please, allow me to offer greetings."

Yang Zhan recognized this man. He was one of the Masters of Energy who had been sent to help deal with the Yan Clan and the State of Yun, an expert from the Hua Clan.

"Well," he said, "if it isn't the Goldstone Soulcatcher, Mr. Hua Gang."

The Hua Clan was a very domineering force back in Capital City, and Yang Qi's sworn brother Hua Yinhu was a young lord from that very clan. As for this Hua Gang, he was a mere servant from that clan. Despite his status, he was a Master of Energy!

"Why exactly have you come today, Mr. Hua Gang?" Yang Zhan asked, clearly a bit surprised.

"Why, to offer my congratulations, of course, City Magistrate Yang." With that, he bowed formally at the waist, accompanied by all the other Masters of Energy who had come with him.

Stunned, Yang Zhan said, "P-please, none of that! How could I accept such treatment as this?" He was truly confused as to why these people from Capital City would be acting with such courtesy.

Hua Gang rushed forward to prevent Yang Zhan from bowing in return.

"It's only natural for a father to derive glory from the accomplishments of his son," he said. "Last month, your son Yang Qi reached the Lifeseizing level, making him one of the top experts in the land. Furthermore, the Demi-Immortal Institute recognized his accomplishment, tested him, and deemed him fit to become an elite student. Young Lord Hua Yinhu from our Hua Clan is the sworn brother of Yang Qi, and he asked us to come bring the news."

"What?" Yang Zhan said, so excited that his knees began to tremble. "What did you just say? Qi'er reached the Lifeseizing level and became an elite student?!"

Although he had long since known that Yang Qi had come across some sort of miraculous fortune, and had surpassed him in cultivation, this good news was so shocking that he couldn't hide his delight.

As for the chief elders and clan lords present, they felt like they were being struck by lightning.

'What? Lifeseizer? Elite student…?' That was what everyone was thinking. Perhaps they didn't know what it meant to be an elite student in the Demi-Immortal Institute, but they definitely knew what the Lifeseizing level was. As far as they were concerned, Lifeseizers were invincible gods, the type of individuals they couldn't possibly move against. Lifeseizers could destroy cities and exterminate entire armies.

"It's absolutely true," Hua Gang continued. "It won't be long before the Sage Ancestor Dynasty hears of the matter, and issues an official proclamation about the matter. In any case, our clans were notified early, and came here to deliver the news." Gesturing at the men behind him, he continued, "Our group represents the Hua, Li, He, and Liang Clans. Not only have we brought letters of congratulations, we also have a few meager gifts. Brother Yang Zhan, please, do accept them. Oh, another thing. The clan lords of our respective clans told us to follow any orders you might give us now that we're here."

"That's right," said another of the black-garbed men. "Young Lord Yang Qi has provided help to the young lords of our own clans, and hopes to propel them all to the Lifeseizing level. If the matter is a success, then all of our clans will owe the Yang Clan a big debt. Therefore, we will do everything we can to make sure your clan is the most domineering force in these parts."

"Heaven is showering the Yang Clan with blessings…." Yang Zhan murmured.

At this point, Clan Lord Wang stepped forward, dropped to one knee, and saluted Yang Zhan formally. "The Wang Clan is absolutely behind your effort to found a nation."

'Dammit, Clan Lord Wang sure reacted quickly. Who could have predicted that?' That was what the other dissenting clan lords and chief elders were all thinking. At this point, all of them knew that if they didn't submit to Yang Zhan, it would mean disaster for them, and were cursing Clan Lord Wang for seizing the spotlight. Without hesitation, they all began to rush forward and kneel.

Moments ago, they had been vehemently opposing Yang Zhan, but now they were acting as meekly as sheep.

That was the result of the news of Yang Qi reaching the Lifeseizing level.

After all, a single Lifeseizer could destroy their clans as easily as blowing away some dust.

Some Masters of Energy would work for a hundred years without successfully being able to reach that level.

"Very well, gentleman," Yang Zhan said. "Since all of you are willing to acknowledge me as your king, I accept. And considering you're all here, let's discuss the important matters of establishing the civil and military officialdom, army structure, finances, land ownership and the like."

Another month went by as summer approached and the lands began to heat up. Yang Qi stood atop the roof of his temple, enjoying the warm breeze. In his hands was a letter from his father, detailing events in Yanhaven over the past month. Yang Zhan had declared himself king, and had unified the aristocratic clans under his leadership.

Everything for five hundred kilometers surrounding Yanhaven was now controlled by him, including all of the various cities, towns, villages and hamlets.

According to the letter, Yang Zhan planned to formally declare the founding of a nation in a few months, and was interested in Yang Qi's opinion about what to name it.

The end of the letter contained something else very important, secret matters regarding Yang Qi's mother that Yang Zhan had long promised to reveal.

Qi'er, as you know, your mother comes from the holy land of the Demonfolk, the Hanging Mountain, which is a divine location beyond the heavens. Your mother is no ordinary person there. She is a holy daughter of the Demonfolk, and truth be told, I don't even know her true name. I only know her nickname, Greensura. Supposedly, she was connected to me by destiny. I'll never forget the words she spoke the day we left. 'The day you become the ruler of the Rich-Lush Continent is the day we will meet again'. For years, I assumed we would never see each other again. But with a son like you, perhaps there's hope….

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