Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The long spear pulsed with a hellish aura; apparently its origin was the unique true energy flow provided by the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

Infernal Deity Spear!

The sixth phase of energy arts was the Energy Weapon level, in which one’s energy could be formed into a weapon. Such weapons were not randomly created; they were governed by complex rules and mechanics. They were made from different types of true energy, and then summoned through the various acupoints in the human body, in conformity with whatever energy arts were unique to that practitioner.

If the weapons were randomly created, they would obviously not be very powerful, and would be easy to defeat in combat.

As for Yang Qi’s Infernal Deity Spear, it was primitive in construction, and almost looked like it was made from stone. It pulsed with a hellish aura, and had a blood-red tip that would cause anyone who looked at it to feel as though their soul might be pulled into hell if they kept looking.

With this spear in hand, Yang Qi felt like he was actually a god of hell.

“Infernal Deity Spear!” he shouted, stabbing out with the spear. Instantly, the power of megamammoths rose up within him, causing vortexes to spring up inside his body. These were not ordinary vortexes, but instead, hell vortexes.

Once these vortexes sprang into action, explosive energy erupted out.

With that, he threw the Infernal Deity Spear, which streaked through the air, flying several hundred paces before stabbing into the side of a mountain. The mountain was like soft tofu to the spear, which emitted massive rumblings as it hewed out a massive cave so deep that it was difficult to see the end.

“Such might! This spear is so fast and powerful that if I used it to fight Yang Shi and his frigid ice energy art, I wouldn’t have any trouble at all defeating him. And he’s in the eighth phase!”

Yang Qi peered into the smoky cave that had been hewn out, and suddenly had a much better understanding of the might of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. Whether it was the method of forming true energy, or the raw strength, it was definitely beyond the compare of other energy arts.

Back when Yang Shi had used his frigid ice energy art to summon a blue spear, its might wasn’t even close to the Infernal Deity Spear.

And he was in the eighth phase, while Yang Qi was merely in the sixth.

Reaching down, Yang Qi picked up a stone off the ground, then drew on the hell vortexes to throw it. Instantly, it burst into flames and slammed into a nearby boulder, causing it to explode.

“Awesome! Normally, you have to cultivate to the peak of the seventh phase before you can pierce rocks and cause explosions. Just how strong is this energy art of mine? Unfortunately, I still have a lot of progress to make. I can’t extend and retract my true energy, so I still had to personally throw that rock.”

In the sixth phase, one could form weapons, but couldn't control them from a distance.

However, in the seventh phase, it was possible to extend true energy to wield weapons from a distance.

As for retracting the true energy, that was very useful in combat because it could help conserve strength. As was to be expected, the seventh phase was roughly ten times as powerful as the sixth in terms of battle prowess.

In fact, that was the reason why Yang Honglie felt so confident in being able to lord it over Yang Qi. Technically speaking, Yang Qi’s lower level of energy arts mastery meant that he shouldn’t be a match for Yang Honglie.

But now, thanks to the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, he was already confident that he could take on Yang Honglie. And that was especially true considering he had his Infernal Deity Spear, which could move with such speed that no one could possibly evade it.

This spear was not an ordinary weapon. When it was unleashed in an attack, screams like those from hell would echo out, as though millions upon millions of ghosts and devils were howling. Anyone who heard that would be shocked to the core, and would be unable to evade the attack, which in some ways was both mental and physical.

The truth was that even if some other genius somehow acquired the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, that person wouldn’t be able to form the Infernal Deity Spear.

The reason Yang Qi could was because of the lightning mammoth, the possible product of some powerful expert’s cultivation and true energy.

Speaking of which, Yang Qi was still curious as to why the golden imp in his forehead had remained completely unmoving up to this point. The quintessence it had left behind was empowering to a shocking degree, allowing Yang Qi to surpass ordinary people in many ways.

As his true energy surged, Yang Qi felt more relaxed and comfortable than ever, and finally threw his head back and let loose a long cry. It had only been a few days, and he already reached the sixth phase, the Energy Weapon level. Such an accomplishment was the type rarely seen in the Rich-Lush Continent.

“Invincible King’s Fist!” he shouted, unleashing the quasi-royal-class martial technique as best he could. As his energy flowed, his fists became like mountains, moving with rapid speed this way and that. The air was ripped apart, and the dirt was cleaved as though by an axe.

The Infernal Deity Spear was something that he couldn’t use lightly; if anyone saw it, it would surely lead to a major catastrophe. However, he could use the Invincible King’s Fist any time he wanted, making the quasi-royal-class something that could not be looked down on.

In his recent days of cultivation, he had already practiced all of the stances and forms of his new fist technique until he had them down perfectly. Although he couldn’t yet summon the six-armed image of true energy like his father, he could still unleash attacks so explosive they could hew crevices into mountains. At this point, he could easily tear anyone in the sixth phase to shreds.

Soon, it was about midnight, and the valley was starting to get very cold. At that point, Yang Qi took a break from cultivation. Leaping up into the trees, he began to travel out of the mountains, more nimble than a monkey.

Seventh phase experts could surpass this. They could flit along the tops of the trees themselves, and some could even use special methods to form true energy wings, thus making it possible to actually glide through the air. With those techniques, traveling 1,500 kilometers in a day wouldn’t even be a problem.

When it came to wings, if he cultivated the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth all the way to the seventh phase, then he could form Fiend-Devil Wings, which were far superior to true energy wings.

Unfortunately, the Yang Clan did not possess any technique that could be used to form wings out of true energy, which was a weakness of theirs.

Such true energy wing techniques were considered very rare, and were usually tightly kept secrets in the organizations that possessed them.

‘Yun Hailan. Song Haishan…. You two betrayed me, clean and simple. And I'm going to pay you back one of these days. Unfortunately, that time is not right now. But wait until my cultivation base gets stronger. Once I fully absorb that lightning mammoth, then I’ll pay you back in like kind.’

Yang Qi knew that restoring his clan’s honor and glory, helping his father, and saving his brothers were the most important things. But the greatest thorn in his side was still how Yun Hailan had betrayed him.

If he didn't avenge that wrong, then he didn’t deserve to be called a person.

Before long, Yang Qi was out of the mountains and heading back toward Yanhaven.

In the hundreds of kilometers surrounding the city were all sorts of garrisons, villages and towns, scattered about as numerous as the stars in the sky. They were connected by a complex web of roads, the biggest of which were wide enough for a dozen or so horse carts to travel abreast. Each and every road was paved with limestone slabs, and were very well maintained.

In the Rich-Lush Continent, almost everyone could practice cultivation, even the common people. Therefore, creating fabulous buildings and roads was no difficulty for them.

Of course, most ordinary citizens could only cultivate third-class energy arts, and most of them never progressed past the fourth phase, the Energy Refinement level.

However, that was still no small feat. People in the fourth phase were still strong enough to carry a hundred pounds while running at full speed. It was strong men such as they who repaired roads, built buildings, dug ditches, and quarried rocks from mountains. That was why the Rich-Lush Continent was filled with amazing buildings, well-maintained roads, and other rich goods.

It was for that very reason that the name of the continent itself had the word ‘rich’ in it.

Occasionally, a commoner would manage to hoard enough Energy Convergence Pills to make a cultivation breakthrough and enter the Energy Eruption level. Such people would immediately be recruited by the rich and powerful clans, or by the nobility, and would serve as special guards. As they became a part of whatever organization they joined, they would eventually gain access to higher-level energy arts.

Suddenly, something caught Yang Qi’s ear. ‘What’s that? Are there people fighting on the banks of the Yan River over there?’

Yanhaven was built next to the mist-covered Yan River, which was very convenient for many reasons.

The river itself was dozens of kilometers wide, and both of its banks featured sprawling beaches filled with reedy patches of vegetation, boulders, and the like. The beautiful terrain features actually made those beaches the perfect location to remain concealed, and many high-level energy artists would make their home there.

As Yang Qi was making his way past one such beachy area, he suddenly sensed energy fluctuations, and heard the sounds of fighting. Stopping in place, he looked ahead to find a young woman besieged by more than ten black-garbed men.

The black-garbed men were all experts in the fifth phase, the Energy Eruption level. One of them was particularly tall and impressive, and had an energy projection behind him that looked like a vicious ghost face. From the true energy fluctuations rolling off of him, it seemed that his energy arts were related to poison.

He was obviously their leader, and the fact that he could form true energy into a ghost face indicated that he was a bit more advanced than Yang Qi, and was in the seventh phase, the Energy Manifestation level.

‘Are those the energy arts of the House of Shadowblight?’ Yang Qi was quite a perceptive person, and almost immediately could sense that this Ghost Face Energy Art was somehow related to the poison his two brothers had been struck with. Possibly, these black-garbed men were enemies bent on harming the Yang Clan.

As for the young woman they were fighting, she was clad in white garments, and wielded a green sword. Every sweep of her weapon sent streams of sword energy out that would form into immortal cranes, which would then attack the ghost face.

WHOOSH!

A rain of crossbow bolts suddenly erupted from the other black-garbed men, each of them as thick and long as a spear.

“Are those Army-Felling Crossbows?” Yang Qi murmured, shocked. Army-Felling Crossbows were particularly lethal, and could tear right through true energy, even when it was formed into a shield.

For example, the energy shield that Yang Kui had summoned, although it could be said to be impervious to all sorts of weapons, would actually be useless against Army-Felling Crossbows.

Within moments, the air was full of razor-sharp bolts, heading like a cloud of locusts toward the white-robed woman.

The young woman already had her back to the river, leaving her no route of escape. But then… A huge pair of true energy wings suddenly sprouted out of her back, each of them fully nine meters long. With a single beat of those wings, she launched high into the sky, looking almost like an immortal crane as she completely avoided the crossbow bolts.