Sage Monarch

"Heaven Dancer?"

As soon as Yang Qi heard the name, his guard went up even more than it had been before. He could tell that this person's cultivation base was mysterious and unreadable, and he had future science and technology that could likely crush the Cruiser of Civilization. Generally speaking, Future Ones were enemies who couldn't be trusted. Regardless of what they had to say, the best way to deal with them was to build up enough power, trap them in a spell formation, then kill them.

"What are you doing here? You're in the middle of the Dao Defense League. All it would take would be a word from me and you would be overwhelmed on all sides."

"Overwhelmed on all sides?" Heaven Dancer chuckled. "If I get surrounded, I'll just turn you into the subject of universal hatred. I'll tell everyone that you're the son of Proud Heaven, one of the ten magisters of the future world. Would the Dao Defense League just let you keep doing business as usual if they found out who you really are? People think you're Dragon Proudheaven, backed by Dragonfolk experts and patriarchs. The truth is that you're really working for the future world, and that you've infiltrated the Dao Defense League to weaken it from inside!"

"Oh, so you're here to blackmail me?" Yang Qi said. "You must have been sent by Proud Heaven himself. Proud Heaven, one of the ten magisters of the future world. My father? That's a joke, right? I don't have a thing to do with the man, and even he knows that. I'm a god born out of fatelessness. My mother dreamed of the destruction of primal-chaos before giving birth to me, so my blood isn't even connected to her. And you think I'm somehow related to Proud Heaven? Come on, cut the crap."

"I don't know about all that," Heaven Dancer said. "You can argue it out with Magister Proud Heaven if you want to. I'm just here to relay a message. When everyone finds out that the supposed Dragonfolk elders you rely on are fake, and that you're using the power of the future world, that little halo around your head is going to shatter. Everyone will turn on you, and I'm sure you realize what will happen then."

"Very treacherous," Yang Qi said, his mind furiously racing. It was obviously a very serious situation. He really was using the power of the future world, and he really was the 'son' of one of the leaders from there. If word got out, it would cause a huge commotion and was a guarantee that the patriarchs would try to seize him. After all, there were a lot of holes in his current story. He rose to prominence out of nowhere and had a mysterious background that was completely open to speculation and suspicion. Even if he tried to explain the truth, it was doubtful that anyone would believe him.

'Damnation….' he thought. Once the rumors started, they would be almost impossible to stop.

"Where is Proud Heaven?" Yang Qi suddenly asked.

"Magister Proud Heaven? Do you know how important he is? There's no way he would stoop to messing around with a minor force like the Dao Defense League. All he needs to do is deploy a few warriors like me to handle things like this. The really worrisome individuals are the old-timers hidden out there in the primal-chaos." Heaven Dancer laughed darkly. "August Patriarch Proud Heaven. Magister Proud Heaven. He has all sorts of divine abilities, including ones that can take him to the Primeval Age. You see, he needs the God Legion Seal from there and has been fighting for a long time to get it. Soon he'll win out over the almighty individuals from there. And once he has that additional God Legion Seal, he'll return to conquer everything here. Why don't you just hand over the one-third of the seal that you have? Do it for yourself. Do it for your mother, and your Master, and your aunt. It's the right thing to do."

"What?" Yang Qi said, his eyes suddenly flashing with killing intent, making it seem like he might launch an attack at any moment. "Are you saying outright that my mother, my Master the Invincible Dugu, and my Aunt Susu are all in the future world?"

"That's right. They were taken there, and there's absolutely no way you'll ever track them down." Heaven Dancer burst out laughing. "Feeling some killing intent, huh? Go ahead. Kill me. But as soon as you make a move, I'll reveal the truth about you. Then you'll die. Oh sure, maybe you'll escape somehow. But then your mother, your Master, and your aunt will all receive endless torture in the future world. Maybe they'll even die, too. Forever."

Yang Qi let out a long hiss of anger before regaining his composure. "What do you want?"

"Just what I would expect of Magister Proud Heaven's son. Very cool and collected. It's simple. Join the future world. Work for us and do everything we say. You're in the perfect position here in the Dao Defense League. Oh, and also, you need to hand over your God Legion Seal. Give it to me to take back to the future."

"What if I don't agree?" Yang Qi said.

"Then I can't guarantee the safety of your mother, your aunt, and your Master. And I'll start spreading the word that you're the son of Magister Proud Heaven from the future world. You'll have no chance of maintaining your position here. You'll be dead, along with all your clan. You see, you have to work for us. Don't worry, you'll be handsomely rewarded. You need to give me your response, right here, right now. Looking at it from your perspective, you really don't have any alternative but to agree."

After a moment, Yang Qi burst out laughing. "Sorry. I refuse."

"You really don't care that your mother is in danger?" Heaven Dancer said, visibly stunned, and scarcely able to believe his own ears.

"Hmph! You moron! Do you really think I can just give you the God Legion Seal? You're really naive if you do. I can use it to slaughter enemies, to create mountains of corpses, to unleash rivers of blood, and to wipe out cities and nations. But I can't just hand it over to someone else. Maybe you can kill my mother, my Master, and my aunt. But eventually, I'll get the other two parts of the God Legion Seal. And then I'll become the Sovereign Lord who exists above the legion of gods, the creator of the great dao, and the founder of the universe. You think I wouldn't be able to resurrect them then? Go ahead. Kill them. All three."

"You!" In that moment, Heaven Dancer realized how dead-set Yang Qi was, and all of a sudden, a trace of panic appeared in his face.

"You want the God Legion Seal?" Yang Qi said. "Fine, try to take it!" The golden imp flew out of his forehead and the Glad Tidings of the Lord erupted out.

The legion of gods could sing powerful blessings to the Lord, but when people profaned the Lord, they could utter incredible curses. In recent days, Yang Qi had gained enlightenment of profound true energy and made significant progress, thanks to the god pill he had benefited from. The God Legion Seal was now even more pure and useful. Although he was still limited to about one one-billionth of its full power, the current limit was even beyond anything from before.

Gold light flowed like water and sagelight streamed like silk. The holy hymns echoed out as billions of trillions of tiny angels appeared, surrounding Heaven Dancer.

"Prepare to enjoy a new power I recently unlocked from the God Legion Seal," Yang Qi said. "Don't worry, I won't kill you. I'll turn you into a puppet like the other six of your friends. You know, as a Measureless God, I probably couldn't handle you if we were outside. You could at least escape. But being the fool you are, you came in here, where I can use my fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization on you!"

[Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep.]

All of a sudden, the photonic computers in the Cruiser of Civilization began flashing with bright light and numerous systems began to report in.

[Foreign object detected! Obliterate it! Obliterate it immediately!]

[Cannon of Civilization: primary attack charge prepared!]

[Foreign invader detected. Weapons systems fully activated!]

[Exits sealed. Hyperdrive systems activated!]

When Heaven Dancer heard all the voices of the computers, his face became a mask of dread.

"This is bad!" he blurted. "We're in a fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization?! This is the highest level of science and technology from the ancient mechanical civilization! I can't die here at the hands of the God Legion Seal! I have to escape. Let me out!"

RUMBLE!

All of a sudden, a blinding burst of light shot out from him as he tried to vanquish the power of the God Legion Seal.

Within the light, Yang Qi could make out something like a sphere covered with endless streams of data that pulsed with incredible power.

"Cosmic Quantum Computer!" Heaven Dancer howled. "Destroy my enemy! Use the power of future god crystals!" He knew that he was in a situation of incredible danger, having been completely surprised by the fact that Yang Qi had part of the Cruiser of Civilization.

'This thing is incredible!' Yang Qi thought as soon as he saw the Cosmic Quantum Computer, which was apparently strong enough to resist the God Legion Seal. "I want that! Hand of the One God!"

The Hand of the One God shot out with countless variations to grab onto the enormous sphere. The sphere struggled, and even sent out attacks into Yang Qi's sea of consciousness. However, he simply chuckled coldly and used his divine will and the power of monarchs to seal the sphere.

"Monarch of Myriad Monarchs! King Immortal-Slayer!"

Yang Qi unleashed a deadly move from King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, a version that surpassed anything that Young Master Leaf had used. After all, Young Master Leaf had only ever possessed three medallions at his height, whereas Yang Qi had four, giving him much deeper enlightenment.

He also drew on the power of the Cruiser of Civilization to add to the sealing effect.

He was now using the God Legion Seal, the Cruiser of Civilization, and King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions to fight Heaven Dancer.

For all intents and purposes, it was as if King Immortal-Slayer and the scientific civilization had joined forces with the Sovereign Lord. No entity or civilization from the past, the present, or the future could possibly fight back against three such powerful wills.

"Arggghhh!"

Heaven Dancer screamed as he exploded into a mass of wriggling, twitching bits of blood and gore.

The mecha he had been equipped with was blasted into streams of mercury-like liquid, but quickly began returning to its original shape.

'What a powerful mecha! Is that thing a combination of machinery and the flesh and blood of gods?' Yang Qi grabbed the flowing mercury that was the mecha, then converged the power of the God Legion Seal on the twitching flesh and blood.

Moments later, Heaven Dancer was back in one piece, his mecha once again equipped. But now he seemed different. His gaze was blank as he kneeled in front of Yang Qi. "Heaven Dancer salutes you, my new master. What orders do you have?"

"Tell me who else knows about my relationship to Proud Heaven. Do the other leaders in the future world know?" Yang Qi got right to the most important issue.

"No, master. It's top secret. Only I and some of the top members of the armed forces in the future know of it. The information was implanted into me and was intended to be destroyed after I accomplished my mission!"