Chapter 598: Stable Foundation
“Congratulations, Milord! Congratulations! You"re a grand prince now, with command over countless troops. If your rise continues, you’ll eventually be the most powerful person in the t.i.tan Emperor Heaven!”
In the depths of the imperial city, an immense banquet had been thrown in a certain mansion. Yuan Kuohai, t.i.tan Duelbringer, and other loyal followers of Yang Qi were all there. They had been promoted, thanks to Yang Qi"s victory in the Hanging Heaven, and had also been given immense wealth as part of their reward. Their small group was now turning into a powerful faction in the dynasty.
“Yes. As a grand prince, I finally have some formal power and clout. Eventually, we’ll be the most influential force in this immortal world. Stick with me, and your prospects will be endless.”
The mansion they were in was part of his reward for being appointed a grand prince. It was packed with all sorts of wealth and magical treasures, although Yang Qi didn"t care about any of that. The only important thing to him that he had gained in this venture was the t.i.tle of grand prince. He had the full support of Princess Jadefall, and would eventually crush all those who opposed him. The Prince of Jade Warfare, the Prince of G.o.dly Warfare and Proud Warpatience would all fall to him. In the end, he would get the information he sought about Proud Heaven.
Proud Heaven had been the sworn brother of the emperor and was no one to take lightly. In fact, he was definitely the most powerful person connected to the t.i.tan Emperor Heaven. Although he was gone, it was as the saying went: the tiger may leave, but his threat remains. Who knew when he might return, or how dramatically the t.i.tan Emperor Heaven would change when he did?
Raising his voice, Yang Qi addressed his loyal followers, “The time has come for me to impart some consummate arts for you to cultivate. The only way to crush everyone else is for us to become as strong as possible.”
With that, he began distributing G.o.dly-cla.s.s energy arts—four in total—along with Heaven-Devouring śarīras to help extrude the heterogeneous true energy that would result from cultivating them together.
Yang Qi actually had ten G.o.dly-cla.s.s energy arts at his disposal.
Strength of the h.e.l.l-Crushing G.o.dmammoth.
Jade-Emperor Profound-Welkin Exalted-Celestial G.o.d-Dao.
Prodigious Proto-Epoch, Invincible War-Steppe.
Cardinal Grand Brahma Punishes the Fire G.o.d Energy Art.
Heaven-Devouring Good-Fortune Non-Existent-G.o.ds Dao.
Murky Cavern Never-Dying Sanctuary Energy Art.
Killing Fist of the Dao of Monarchs.
Void Mist Mountain and Sea Interstice.
Asiryangguk Sauvastika Devil Grand Infernal Energy.
Namaḥ Myriad Buddha Vajra Great Compa.s.sion Mantra Art.
The shocking power they could unleash when combined defied description.
Of course, only Yang Qi himself could cultivate them all at the same time, thanks to King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans, which allowed him to combine all of their true energy and effects. Because of that, he was slowly pushing toward forming something called virtual G.o.dhood.
Thanks to his Wheel of Fate, he had long since a.n.a.lyzed the structure of all of these energy arts and determined how to make them even more effective. He had also adjusted the mental dharma aspects to make them easier to cultivate.
As a result, he was much more confident in giving them to his followers.
Everyone accepted the Heaven-Devouring śarīras and the energy arts, and they fairly quivered with excitement. Energy arts and cultivation level were the two things that could ensure safety and progress for anyone.
After a short session of cultivation, Yang Qi dismissed everyone and his mansion quieted down. It was a huge minor world of its own, filled with endless paG.o.das and structures and the like. There were even oceans, lakes, rivers, and other terrain features. But no people. According to custom, a newly-appointed grand prince would be given servant girls and bodyguards. But Yang Qi had sent all of his staff back to the Department of Internal Affairs.
There were secrets he kept that guards and servants might discover, and that needed to be avoided.
After everyone was gone, he sent his divine will out to cover the entire manor, activating the numerous deadly spell formations that were there to keep out intruders. The two main priorities in the construction of these mansions were safety and privacy. Obviously, anyone who reached the rank of grand prince would have secrets to be kept from outsiders.
Yang Qi was no exception.
As his divine will spread through his mansion, he found certain spell formations that contained elements designed to spy on him.
Instead of destroying them, he used certain special divine abilities to lace them with warding spells that would create illusions. Whoever it was that planned to spy on him through them would soon begin receiving very incorrect information. And he could reach back through the spell formations to identify who was spying on him, or possibly even injure them.
After everything was set up, not even the sovereign of heaven would be able to catch him unawares.
“Three Hundred Sixty h.e.l.l Portals!”
RUMBLE!
Three hundred and sixty h.e.l.l Portals appeared behind Yang Qi, all of which belched roiling devil energy. He had finally broken through the constraints of the immortal world around him to reach out to high-level h.e.l.l planes.
“Come forth! Valiant warriors, officers, and kings of h.e.l.l, I am the paramount and unparalleled Sovereign Lord. It is with the blessings of the Lord that I call you forth to extirpate yourself from the bindings of h.e.l.l. I will return your genes to their original state and make you the most holy of angels!”
With that, he began to recite an enchantment, and soon, powerful ent.i.ties began striding out from the h.e.l.l Portals.
Towering devil emperors appeared, all of them peak fifth stage Origin-Demolishers who were more powerful than their immortal contemporaries in every way.
The Demonfolk from the Hanging Heaven had all been immortal marquises, and each was capable of defeating several immortal marquises of the same rank from the t.i.tan Emperor Heaven. But these devil emperors could defeat dozens of similar experts from the Hanging Heaven!
They were Infernalfolk, descendants of the infernal kings and deities.
“Salutations, Milord!” shouted the three hundred and sixty enormous infernals as they dropped to their knees and kowtowed to Yang Qi.
If these fiend-devils let their auras free, anyone who sensed it would be terrified to the core. After all, they were all elites where they came from, consummate geniuses of the most extreme nature.
“Excellent. The time has come to cleanse your devil energy away and turn you into angels. Your cultivation bases will become stronger, and as you revert from evil to righteousness your auras will become holy.” He waved his hand, sending a host of sealing marks flying out. The halls of heaven seemed to appear, from which descended finger-sized ent.i.ties of holy light. The light entered the fiend-devils, and instantly their faces twisted as if they were in pain. But then pious expressions overtook them, including faint smiles. They even clasped their hands together in front of their chests as their bodies were transformed.
Pure white wings sprouted from the backs of all the fiend-devils, complete with glowing feathers. Halos appeared behind their heads—manifestations of the dao of heaven, pure, holy, and incomparably connected to the surrounding magical and natural laws.
Angels had originally been created by the legion of G.o.ds, and the magical laws they contained made them like machines of war designed to punish those who disrespected the G.o.ds. Countless epochs in the past, angels had been feared in all of the millions upon millions of planes of the universe, and were considered una.s.sailable and irreproachable ent.i.ties by even the most profound experts.
And now Yang Qi was restoring their might and glory.
After the G.o.ds experience nirvanic rebirth, a new civilization will once again be born from the ruins of the old civilization.
RUMBLE!
As the process completed and the three hundred sixty fiend-devils became angels, their battle prowess rose tenfold. Their ancient genes were unlocked and their each and every move harkened to the might of the legion of G.o.ds.
“Excellent. The latent genes of the angels are strongest in the Infernalfolk, making them the most suitable for transformation. Asuras, giant snakes, bronzeblaze fiend-devils… all of them are pure fiend-devils, not fallen angels. They cannot be transformed.” Yang Qi had only recently come to this realization.
One of the angels stepped forward, knelt, and said, “Milord, we are angels, and in the immortal worlds, angels are a thing of the past. If we appear in the open, it would cause a huge stir. Considering you’re still developing your G.o.dly abilities, that could lead to unfortunate complications.”
“I"m aware of that. I"m going to give you a G.o.dly-cla.s.s energy art that you can use to mask your features and make you look like ordinary immortals. Then, when the time is right, you can reveal your true nature. Although you are currently immortal marquises, you can easily defeat even immortal paragons. And, as angels, you are more in sync with the dao of heaven, which will prove immensely beneficial to your cultivation. That is a result of your angel blood. It won’t be long before all of you reach the sixth stage of Abstrusity-Demolishing.”