Sage Monarch

“Fine then. I’ll put the Grand Emperor's Pagoda inside of you. If you even so much as twitch in the wrong way, I’ll detonate it and kill you.” After entering the pagoda, he caused it to shrink down until it was as small as a tiny particle, which then floated into Blightczar Manyrivers’ forehead.

The man shivered, well aware that he was now completely under Yang Qi’s control.

With the Grand Emperor's Pagoda in his head, if it exploded, his soul would be wiped out, and he would truly lose his life. Even without the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, he knew that he wasn’t a match for Yang Qi. He was a Space-Void Legendary, but he couldn’t actually perform greater teleportations, and therefore, a fight with Yang Qi that dragged on for long enough would eventually end with him losing.

Sighing, he flew up out of the water and then headed toward the House of Shadowblight’s moving island.

Somewhere on that tiny continent, there was an ancient temple, decorated with spectacular gold and jade, with floors made of sparkling crystal that seemed untainted by even a speck of dust. There were beautiful women present, clad in nearly see-through garments; obviously, the master of this place wallowed in all sorts of vices and luxuries.

The holy neophyte Huang Hou from the Crown Prince Society was present, as were Lei Tao and Xie Feng, and the group of them were carrying on a discussion with a young man. The young man sat on a throne, flanked by two beautiful, flirtatious women who were currently massaging his neck and shoulders. The mere sight of it would be enough to induce matchless jealously on the part of most men.

There was something vile about this young man. His eyes shone with malice and ferocity, and he also seemed to thrum with the power of the five phases. In fact, he was surrounded by successive layers of spell formations which would make it impossible for anyone to ambush him. Obviously, he was a Five-Phases Legendary.

From Huang Hou’s perspective, the man almost seemed to be shifting back and forth constantly between different layers of space. It was impossible to lock down on his position even with divine will, which meant that attacking him was virtually impossible.

This was obviously the most powerful person in the House of Shadowblight, the houselord.

“Blightczar Manyshadows,” Huang Hou said, “this deal between our two organizations is going to involve us paying you a huge sum. We’re going to give you all of the demon cores we’ve stockpiled in exchange for spirit stones. In fact, the Crown Prince even went so far as to travel to the kingdom of the fiend-devils and kill a count. You know how valuable the demon core of an Astral-Star fiend-devil is. In addition to that, we have about three hundred other demon cores from various Legendary levels. And when it comes to Lifeseizing demon cores, there are virtually too many to count.”

“I see,” Blightczar Manyshadows said, licking his lips, his fiendish aura pulsing. He almost couldn’t hold back from simply attacking these three students when they mentioned a demon core from an Astral-Star Legendary. However, he was simply too fearful of the Crown Prince, who was essentially the most powerful person in the world other than the Great Sages. “Don't tell me the Crown Prince doesn’t have anything better than that. What about a demon core from a Never-Dying Legendary?”

“He has that too,” Huang Hou replied. “But we need to see if you can provide something of equal value. The Crown Prince is currently in the kingdom of the fiend-devils, hunting down a group of them that are in that very level.”

Shocked, Blightczar Manyshadows said, “The Crown Prince is a Never-Dying Legendary. Are you telling me he can kill multiple opponents that are all in the same level as himself?” 

“What, does that surprise you?” Lei Tao said. “The Crown Prince wouldn’t run from a fight even if he encountered a Great Sage. Think about it. He fought Young Master Shroud-Heaven, the demon kings of the seventy-two grottos, numerous fiend-devil viscounts, and even a Demon Sage spell formation. It took all of that just to hurt him.” From his tone of voice, it was obvious how proud he was. After all, everyone in the Crown Prince Society truly believed the Crown Prince to be invincible.

“Of course. Well, the first shipment of spirit stones will be arriving shortly.”

“There was one other thing we needed to discuss,” Huang Hou said, “that being the incident in Mongoltar. Even many of your House of Shadowblight experts were killed there, and we know who did it.”

“Oh? Who was it?” Blightczar Manyshadows said, his eyes flickering with killing intent.

“Yang Qi.”

“Yang Qi? Isn’t he the one who took first place in your Inter-Institutional Martial Arts Competition, but was then crushed by the Crown Prince? What a loss of face that was!” Suddenly, Blightczar Manyshadows seemed to hesitate. “Is he really that strong? All of our Legendaries there were killed. By him?”

“He has the Grand Emperor's Pagoda!” Huang Hou said coldly. “Houselord, I'm sure that you’ve heard of the powers of that treasure, correct?”

Blightczar Manyshadows’ eyes now began to glitter with greed.  “He has the Grand Emperor’s Pagoda? The same magical treasure forged in the distant past by Grand Emperor Rich-Lush, which can harness the essence of the continent itself? Doesn’t that make him invincible?”

“That’s why we would like to suggest we join forces to kill Yang Qi and wipe out his clan. We’ll need to strike like lightning. Unfortunately, Yang Qi is a member of the Demi-Immortal Institute, the same as we are. If we personally kill him, we’ll be denounced. And that's why we need your help.”

“Killing Yang Qi will be a trivial matter,” Blightczar Manyshadows said. “And if you’re saying he has the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, I’ll do it myself. What’s in it for us? Don’t tell me you’ll just let us keep it?”

“Unfortunately not. To be perfectly honest, Houselord, the Crown Prince acquired the legacy of Grand Emperor Rich-Lush, and thus, absolutely requires the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. However, he is willing to compensate you handsomely for it, namely, with three Never-Dying demon cores. In addition, when he becomes a Great Sage, he will personally impart a powerful ability to you that will ensure that your standing in the Blight Legion Church will rise significantly.”

Blightczar Manyshadows shot to his feet. “Are you serious? The Crown Prince will help me that much?”

“The Crown Prince never, ever goes back on his word. He’s a god from heaven descended into the mortal world, the future Son of Heaven! Have you ever heard any stories of him not living up to his promises? No. As long as you get the Grand Emperor's Pagoda for him, he’ll help you reach the seventh transformation, and become a Ghost-God Legendary!”

“Alright! It’s a deal. You're right, the Crown Prince always follows through on his promises. I'm confident he’ll do the same with me. How about this: let's first conclude the deal at hand. Then I’ll head over to Yanhaven, kill that brat, and take the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. In fact, you can join me if you’d like.”

“Of course I’ll join you,” Huang Hou said. “I’ll even help you handle him. As long as you make sure to spread word that it was all the doing of the House of Shadowblight, we’ll be fine. We just want to have evidence to ‘prove’ that you were responsible. As you probably know, Yang Qi has a lot of sworn siblings from big sects and organizations. If all of them came for the Crown Prince Society at the wrong time, it would be troublesome.”

“I understand. The Grand Emperor's Pagoda will be yours!” Chuckling viciously, Blightczar Manyshadows then said, “You know, isn't there someone else from the Yang Clan who's important? Right. Yang Susu, with her Seven Apertures Sprite Body. If I could use her as a cultivation vessel, it would really help out my techniques and constitution.” [1]

“Well that goes without saying,” Lei Tao said. “If you’re interested in her, we can arrange for the proper opportunity. Next time she goes out of the institute for training, we’ll snatch her right up. Besides, once the Yang Clan is exterminated, she’ll have a permanent grudge with the Crown Prince Society, so we might as well handle everything up front.” He was making absolutely no attempt to hide how vicious and merciless he was.

“Let’s drink to this wonderful partnership of ours,” Blightczar Manyshadows said. “Men, bring some alcohol!”

Just when Blightczar Manyshadows was about to begin the festivities, a servant rushed in. “Sir, the exalted Blightczar Manyrivers just arrived. He's waiting at the main gate.”

“Oh? Junior Brother Manyrivers arrived ahead of schedule! Hurry up, bring him in! With him to help, we’ll be able to exterminate the Yang Clan even more quickly. He’s a Space-Void Legendary with particularly unique understanding of the dao of space. That should also make it easier to get to Yang Qi and deal with the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. Furthermore, Junior Brother was the one escorting the first spirit stone shipment here. That means our first deal can be sealed immediately.”

Even as he spoke, Blightczar Manyrivers entered the room, a leather sack held in his hand.

“Elder Brother!” he said, chuckling loudly. “We meet again! I have the spirit stones, but what’s this I heard about wiping out the Yang Clan? Mind telling me the full story?”

Without an ounce of suspicion, Blightczar Manyshadows said, “Hand over the spirit stones so we can finish the deal with these experts from the Crown Prince Society. Afterward, we have to wipe out a whole clan, kill a top genius, and take a beautiful woman. And we’re even going to get our hands on the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.”

“The Grand Emperor’s Pagoda!?” Blightczar Manyrivers said, visibly shocked. “Since when was that treasure at play?” At this point, he handed the leather bag over to Blightczar Manyshadows.

Blightczar Manyshadows would never have been so at ease with any other person, and would never have let anyone get so close to him.

But this was a familiar face, and therefore, he wasn’t on guard at all.

Chuckling, Blightczar Manyshadows grabbed the bag and prepared to go into more detail about the situation with Yang Qi and his clan. “The Grand Emperor's Pagoda is actually—”

However, it was in that very moment that a powerful aura suddenly erupted from Blightczar Manyrivers. Without any warning whatsoever, an enormous pagoda popped out of nowhere, and smashed down onto Blightczar Manyshadows’ head.

Crack! Snap!

The space around him shattered, and the power of the five phases exploded out, destroying everything in the hall.

And before anything else could happen, Blightczar Manyrivers unleashed a vicious attack onto Blightczar Manyshadows’ chest.

“Are you crazy, Manyrivers!?” Blightczar Manyshadows blurted, blood spilling out of his mouth as he tried to defend himself. But then, a long spear suddenly appeared behind him, held by Yang Qi.

Yang Qi opened his Lord's Eye, and blazing light swept out to cover Blightczar Manyshadows. “The Grand Emperor's Pagoda is right here, Manyshadows.”

Dazzling light filled the area, and the air filled with words of praise for the Lord. His glory, His light, His majesty, completely inundated the area.

Yang Qi was a Legendary, and with the Physique of the Sovereign Lord and the Grand Emperor's Pagoda, his Lord's Eye could strike at the very soul of the enemy.

In the blink of an eye, Blightczar Manyshadows turned into a human torch, and was just about to be sucked into the Grand Emperor's Pagoda.

1. I'm sure most readers of web novels understand what a “cultivation vessel” is. Literally it’s a “cauldron furnace” but I translate it as “cultivation vessel” because I feel it carries across the unspoken implication of the term a lot better than the clunky literal translation. It's when a female cultivator is used for sexual purposes to advance the cultivation of a male (and possibly herself at the same time).