Sage Monarch - Chapter 961

Chapter 961

Chapter 961: Exploring the Temple

The huge temple covered nearly the entire island it stood on, and was surrounded by the river of blood . Yang Qi got the sense that this temple had a very long history, and that the slaughter that led to the creation of the river happened after it had been constructed .

As he walked up the entrance stairs, the blood-colored fog faded away . Apparently, there was a power within the temple that kept the fog at bay . There were pillars lining the staircase that were scarred by the slashes of swords and sabers, as well as enormous palm and foot marks .

And there was a huge furrow running right down the middle, cut by what must have been an enormous stream of sword energy, separating the temple into two halves .

Overall, the staircase was completely dilapidated, although it only served to emphasize the ancient nature of the place . At one point, Yang Qi reached out and struck one of the pillars to see if he could leave a mark on it, only to fail . In that respect, this place was very much like the cave temple of the Vajra Māyādevī .

Yang Qi continued up the stairs, wondering what exactly this place was made from that was so tough he couldn’t leave the tiniest mark on it . Considering he didn’t have Terrifying will, if the godpower of the temple were to be unleashed on him, the consequences would be too horrible to contemplate .

‘Once I find the godhood, I’ll definitely need to assimilate at least one or two pieces . Otherwise, getting back across the blood river will be too nerve-wracking . ’ Each of the steps leading up the staircase were as tall as a person, imparting the sense that this place hadn’t been built for humans, but for gods .

Yang Qi ascended several hundred stairs before reaching the temple proper . The inside was illuminated by bright light emanating from pearls inset in the walls and ceiling . They pulsed with faint godpower, indicating that they were actually magical treasures, although no one could possibly extract them from their spots .

‘Where’s the godhood?’

When he was on the outside, he had been able to sense the general direction of the godhood . But now that he was in the temple itself, he had no such sensation . It was really a case of not knowing the true shape of Mount Lushan because of being on the mountain itself . From a distance, one could easily identify the silhouette of a mountain . But on the mountain itself, it would be impossible to specify its shape .  [1]

That said, he could still catch the faint aura of godhood .

Looking around, he got a sense that this temple was like a world unto itself, and hunting down the godhood wouldn’t be easy .

Whoosh!

All of a sudden, a stream of devil light appeared, which Yang Qi blocked . After it dissipated, he caught sight of a devilish specter off in the distance, which was apparently some sort of hell-born fiend-devil with a power index of about two thousand .

‘There are fiend-devils here in the temple? How?’ Curious, he sent a stream of true energy toward the thing . It was slow to react, and quickly wrapped up . It struggled, but Yang Qi sent some of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth into it, completely immobilizing it .

“What are you doing in here?” he asked .

“Let me go immediately!” the fiend devil screeched . “We're subordinates of Lord Blood River! He sent us in here to get some godhood . If you don’t free me, then when Lord Blood River breaks free, he’ll destroy the temple, and you along with it!”

Yang Qi shook his head .

Crack!

The fiend-devil screamed as Yang Qi converted it into a black pearl, which he locked with the Devil-God Seal . The thing was as strong as a sect leader, so he decided to keep it as a magical treasure and decide its ultimate fate later .

At the same time, he sent some divine will into the creature’s mind to learn its secrets . As it turned out, there was an ancient devil king wasting away in the depths of the blood river, which had been sealed there using the power of this temple . He was called Lord Blood River, and he had summoned these fiend-devils to search the temple, break the seals, and free him . This was the activity that had led everyone to believe that some godhood had appeared .

Of course, once the seals were broken, the godhood really would appear .

‘So that’s what’s going on . ’ There were plenty of fiend-devils in the Great Necropolis, some of which were Terrifying experts . Apparently, this Lord Blood River had issued a call of summoning, hoping to use them to free himself . Although Lord Blood River wasn’t on the level of a god, it was likely that he could match up to the little girl from Memory Peak .

If an entity like him were to be freed, it could be a disaster .

That said, there were definitely powerful entities in the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect that could deal with such a situation . Therefore, the best course of action seemed to be to get the godhood first .

Having dealt with the fiend-devil, he proceeded on, eventually reaching an enormous hall filled with ornamental rocks, garden features, courtyards, winding corridors, ponds, flowing rivers, and so on .

Suddenly, cackling laughter rang out as a group of fiend-devils appeared from within one of the garden courtyards, bristling with devil energy . One of them had a body made entirely of bones and a power index of two thousand five hundred . It was obviously an expert from the Hell of Bleached Bones . Another of the monsters was covered with bulging muscles and had a proportionally tiny head . It was a strength devil from the Hell of Strength, and had a power index of over three thousand . The final monster had bronze skin . It was a bronzeblaze fiend-devil with a power index of two thousand eight hundred .

Yang Qi didn’t need the power assessment systems to know this . Thanks to the level of his cultivation base and will, and his understanding of how those systems worked, he could now perform similar visual inspections .

The three vicious fiend-devils didn't waste any time at all, but immediately fanned out and unleashed attacks on him .

Yang Qi leaped up into the air to avoid the attacks, then dropped back down and unleashed three fist strikes of incredible power .

He was using Emperor Heart-Celestial’s signature Deathless Emperor’s Dao Fist, specifically, the three deadly moves of Unprecedented and Unduplicated, Great Heights Reached, and Without Parallel in History . He had gained enlightenment of them during the fight on the shore of the blood river, and was now unleashing them to practice a bit .

Plop!

The three fiend-devils were sent flying into a nearby pond, whereupon Yang Qi pressed the attack . Stretching both hands out, he summoned a gravitational force that pulled them into his hands . Then popping sounds rang out as he sealed them, transforming them into devil pearls, of which he now possessed four .

These three fiend-devils were elite experts that were famous on the Ancient Road to the Gods . They had drifted to and fro within the Great Necropolis for years, but had now been neatly sealed and imprisoned by Yang Qi . His energy arts had just advanced dramatically, especially thanks to the fight with the chief disciples and the hours spent on the blood river .

Yang Qi walked through the garden courtyard into a wide square, which had likely once been a place for martial arts training, but was now a lair of fiend-devils .

There were roughly a dozen of them, all with power indexes over two thousand . They were huddled in discussion when they realized that someone was approaching .

“So, the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect has sent disciples here, huh?” one of them said . The others cackled .

“You couldn’t have come at a better time . We need a soul to sacrifice to break down the sealing magics . Grab him! Once we unseal Lord Blood River, he can lead us to form a top tier sect!”

“Why don’t we half-free Lord Blood River and figure out a way to control his power? Then he can work for us!”

“We need to talk the matter through, first . Thanks to all the cultivators we’ve killed on the Ancient Road to the Gods, the executors are after us . Lord Blood River might be just the assistance we need to deal with them . ”

“The Executors of the Ancient Road are a race of people left on the road by the legion of gods . Supposedly, their job is to protect the road itself . That's why they always hunt down fiend-devils like us, to keep us out of the god world . Those bastards!”

Even as they continued their discussion, the fiend-devils fanned out in formation and surrounded Yang Qi .

1 . In this passage, the author only uses the second half of the expression . In other words, it simply reads “It was a case of because of being on the mountain itself” . The two halves are idioms on their own right that Chinese people would quickly identify . Thus, the second can be used alone, with the first one being implied . I'm including the first half to make the thing understandable . It would be similar to an author writing in English about something “gathering no moss”, which would imply the “rolling stone” part .