Sage Monarch

Of course, the chancellor wasted no time in spreading word, and the reactions were mixed. However, everyone felt that it was fair for him to punish Yang Qi for being so arrogant. Killing Grand Elder Feat-Virtue was a crime that couldn’t just be forgiven, so if the chancellor hadn’t punished him in some way, the discontent in the institute would have reached the point of being irresolvable.

It was true that the chancellor had never punished the Crown Prince for his breaking of the rules. But Yang Qi wasn’t the Crown Prince. Many people believed that the Crown Prince was so important that he was justified in breaking the rules. Not so with Yang Qi. He just wasn’t important enough.

Many of the grand elders in the Minorcosm World were discussing the matter.

“This was a smart move by the chancellor. He really deserves his position.”

“Mission: Mend Heaven is an extremely dangerous mission. Yang Qi stands a very high chance of dying, and has almost no chance of accomplishing it. That’s a pretty big punishment.”

“It’s unusual. Considering Yang Qi’s cultivation base, not even the Grand Emperor's Pagoda will be enough of a boost for him to succeed. Whenever we make an attempt at Mission: Mend Heaven, it’s with a group of experts, with the chancellor providing backup. Even then, people end up getting hurt or killed. How could one person possibly accomplish it?”

“It’s a stiff punishment. He’s killing two birds with one stone.”

“But what if Yang Qi actually succeeds? Won’t Grand Elder Feat-Virtue have died for nothing?”

“Succeed with Mission: Mend Heaven? If Yang Qi does, it means he really does have the backing of a Great Sage, and yes, Grand Elder Feat-Virtue will have died for nothing. It's a really smart move by the chancellor. Not only does he punish Yang Qi, but he also forces him to reveal if he has a Great Sage backer or not. If he doesn’t, his days are numbered. If he does, then fine, he shows that, not only did he qualify to kill Grand Elder Feat-Virtue, he also was in the position to repair the damage to heaven.”

“If you look at it that way, then the chancellor is really killing three birds with one stone. I wonder if we’ll see who Yang Qi’s backer really is.”

Key members of the Crown Prince Society had been planning to send word of Grand Elder Feat-Virtue to the Crown Prince. However, this latest news pacified them for the moment, and they decided to wait to see how things played out before making a decision.

Before, there had been open cries of complaint about Yang Qi’s actions, but now, everyone was quieting down.

Not even the Hall of Law Enforcement had anything negative to say. The grand elders there were simply chomping at the bit for Yang Qi to fail in his mission, so that they could swoop in and arrest him. Afterward, they would make him live a life worse than death.

** 

Yang Qi and the masked young woman hovered high above the sea of clouds, looking down at the Demi-Immortal Institute.

“Look, Yang Qi, do you see all the devil-suppressing halls down in the institute? The reason for that is we’re located in the exact middle of the Rich-Lush Continent, where there are a large number of spatial rifts. Such rifts are easy for devil-ghosts to slip through, and thus, we need plenty of places to keep them prisoner when we catch them.”

As Yang Qi looked down, he identified many temples that were filled with pitch black devil energy, as well as the howls of devil-ghosts. He even sensed the auras of fiend-devil barons, viscounts, and counts.

The devil-suppressing halls were scattered about everywhere, and anyone who got close to them would be terrified by the powerful devil energy they contained. If any of those halls were breached, and the devil energy poured out, the entire institute would be invaded by devil-ghosts.

“Since you haven’t reached the Space-Void Transformation, you can’t see how, in the very depths of the institute, space-time is twisted and distorted. There are many areas there which were magically sealed by Great Sages of the past. On the other side is an immense aspect of distorted space-time filled with devil-ghosts. To describe them as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea would be an understatement. If those seals were ever breached, the Demi-Immortal Institute, and the Rich-Lush Continent as a whole, would be overwhelmed.”

“Are you saying that the magical seals are keeping the Hell of Euphoria out?” Yang Qi asked.

The masked young woman shook her head. “No. The Hell of Euphoria exists much further away. But the worlds and kingdoms beyond the magical seals have been affected by its devil energy, causing their inhabitants to turn into monsters.” She chuckled coldly. “If it was the Hell of Euphoria on the other side, the Rich-Lush Continent would long since have been razed to the ground, and would be inhabited by monsters. There are far, far more magical seals preventing the Hell of Euphoria from reaching us here, and many space-time barriers. Only someone in the Great Sage level could possibly reach that hell, and yet, if they did, would inevitably be turned into a fiend-devil.”

“The Hell of Euphoria, huh….” The truth was that Yang Qi would love to have a chance to visit a true hell. After all, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was specifically designed to deal with hells, and if he could cultivate in one, it would be very beneficial to his cultivation base.

Although, even being able to enter an aspect of space-time filled with devil-ghosts would help him to achieve significant progress. The chancellor was trying to sound him out, but in the end, was giving him a perfect opportunity for training.

And considering the progress he had been making recently, he knew that relying on his current methods to achieve a breakthrough didn't seem the best strategy.

“Very well, let’s go inside,” the masked young woman said. “I’ll point out any monsters, as well as the heavenly damage that needs to be repaired.”

“What?” Yang Qi blurted, completely caught off guard. “You’re coming with me? What’s going on here? Don’t tell me you’re coming to supervise me?”

“That’s exactly right. I’ll be supervising you to make sure you don’t try to escape.” She laughed. “As you well know, if you fail with Mission: Mend Heaven, you’ll be punished for killing Grand Elder Feat-Virtue. But if you succeed, then you’ll have equal standing with the Crown Prince.”

“If this mission is so dangerous, don’t you stand a chance of getting killed if you come with me?”

“Me? Get killed?” She laughed again. “You know, I'm more accomplished than the Crown Prince in many ways. Besides, if you really want to accomplish the mission, you’ll need help from me. There’s no way you could do it on your own. I’ll tell you how to kill the fiend-devils, and how to repair the damage.”

“Who exactly are you?” Yang Qi asked. He was very curious about this point. “Master Wind Gentleman and Unparalleled Lightning treated you with the utmost respect. They even called you Young Lady.”

“It’s no secret. All the important people in the Demi-Immortal Institute know who I am. I'm the chancellor’s daughter. You know, I'm actually very curious about you, Yang Qi. I looked into you, so I know that when you joined the institute about two years ago, you were only in the seventh or eighth phase of the Energy Arts level. Now you’re a Legendary. That’s speed that surpasses almost every genius in the history of the Demi-Immortal Institute. Not even the Crown Prince can come close. Therefore, I'm going to help you repair the damage to heaven, and at the same time, be looking to see what secrets you harbor.”

“The chancellor’s daughter? No wonder everyone shows you so much respect. Might I presume to ask how to address you, Young Lady?”

“Just call me Young Lady,” she replied, clearly not willing to divulge her true name. “Even the Crown Prince calls me that. No one is allowed to know my name, and that includes you.”

‘Quite the egomaniac,’ he thought. He tried again to assess her cultivation base, but had no luck. For all he knew, she could be weaker than him, or stronger. If he had to bet, he would say she was a Legendary, and a high-level one at that.

The fact that she was the daughter of the chancellor meant that she was destined to be powerful and respected.

“Alright, then. I’ll call you Young Lady. With the formalities out of the way, do you mind leading the way into this aspect of space-time?” He extended his hand invitingly.

“You can do it on your own with the Grand Emperor's Pagoda. It's more than capable of piercing through the void and defending against space-time tempests. My father had the Grand Emperor's Pagoda for a while, but sadly, I never had a chance to work with it. He subsequently arranged for the Crown Prince to get it, but things changed, and now it's yours.”

Hoping to probe for some information of his own, Yang Qi said, “Thanks to me, the Crown Prince doesn't fully trust the chancellor anymore.”

“He’s suspicious by nature,” she replied casually. “In that way, he's very much like a monarch. As long as people do what he wants, everything goes smoothly, but when someone goes against him, he reacts violently. He’s the epitome of the saying submit to me and prosper, or oppose me and perish. Of course, he's very important. It's highly likely that he was actually sent here from beyond heaven, by some incredibly powerful person from a higher plane of existence.”

“Higher plane?”

This was Yang Qi’s first time hearing the term.

“Planes are worlds. And our world is one of the lower planes, with living things that aren’t particularly powerful. Even in primeval times, when the Yore-Wilds Continent was whole, it only counted as an intermediate plane. There are many planes in the universe, and they’re usually ranked according to the level of the living beings they contain. As for the truly higher planes, they produce immensely powerful living things. The ancient records of our institute contain detailed information about that. Supposedly, some of the immortal-ranked planes have entities strong enough to be considered immortals, who can pluck stars and snatch moons. Above the immortal planes are the god legion planes, which are inhabited by the legion of gods. The gods are entities which can create worlds as easily as breathing. With the snap of a finger, such beings could create dozens of planes like the Rich-Lush Continent. Although, perhaps all of that is just myth. One thing is for sure, though: the Hell of Euphoria is a much more powerful plane than the Rich-Lush Continent.” [1]

After finishing her explanation, the mysterious Young Lady waved her hand, causing a rift to open up in front of them, from which emerged the sound of wailing ghosts, screaming gods, and spatial tempests.

1. The Chinese terms use the common characters for “high” and “low”. However, it’s not always talking about position, but rank. So while you might expect a hell to exist “below” the Rich-Lush Continent, it might be considered a “higher” plane.