Sage Monarch

Ghost Emperor Yama had killed a Great Sage, reducing him to nothing more than sage motes.

They contained Great Sage Quake-Cloud’s cultivation base, experience, energy arts, and even the quintessence of his life force. The benefits to acquiring all that could hardly be expressed in words.

For example, a top expert could refine the sage motes and use them to push a Legendary through multiple breakthroughs. It could lead to cultivation advancement that was ten thousand times as fast as ordinary.

And there was no doubt that Ghost Emperor Yama could do that for Yang Qi.

Of course, there was no way he would help Yang Qi for free. He wanted the Infernal Deity Spear technique, with which he could slaughter countless victims. And if he cultivated it into the form of a full divine ability, then he could break into the Demi-Immortal level.

Because of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, Yang Qi was already strong enough to fight people numerous levels higher than himself. Even experts in the seventh or eighth Legendary transformation were like nothing to him. But Ghost Emperor Yama was so far beyond that level that Yang Qi couldn’t even assess him. Furthermore, his overall understanding of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth was far from being complete.

If Ghost Emperor Yama got the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, he would be able to wield it to far greater effect than Yang Qi.

Yang Qi knew that, and therefore, unless the circumstances were dire beyond belief, he would never make a deal with Ghost Emperor Yama to give him part of the technique. As of this moment, the danger had passed; Great Sage Quake-Cloud was dead, and the chancellor of the Demi-Immortal Institute was definitely feeling the pressure of having Ghost Emperor Yama free in the world.

To some extent, it was a deadlock.

“Er. Hmm. Well, I need to think about it.” Yang Qi didn’t outright refuse Ghost Emperor Yama, and in fact, made it seem like he might actually consider taking the offer.

Ghost Emperor Yama snorted coldly. He obviously wasn’t very happy with Yang Qi’s stance, and yet, he was still afraid of the God Legion Seal. “Look, brat, you need to get stronger real fast. Danger is coming. I skimmed through Great Sage Quake-Cloud’s memories, and got a lot of news about the Quake-Dawn Cathedral, as well as that enemy of yours. What’s his name? Right. The Crown Prince. He’s already secured support from several important people in the Quake-Dawn Cathedral, who view him as a true genius, and plan to help him reach his full potential. In fact, he might even become the leader of the Quake-Dawn Cathedral one day. At the moment, he’s dealing with Great Sage Shroud-Heaven, who is not happy at all that his son was killed. Of course, now that the Crown Prince is a Great Sage himself, and has the support of the Quake-Dawn Cathedral, he’ll definitely come out on top. And once he returns, he’ll come for you. You’re strong, I’ll give you that. You can kill Never-Dying Legendaries and Half Sages and whatnot. But if you think you can kill a Great Sage, you might as well keep on dreaming.”

‘What!?’ Yang Qi thought, shocked. He had originally hoped that the news about the Crown Prince reaching the Great Sage level was incorrect. But considering what Ghost Emperor Yama had just said, it seemed it was true. With the Quake-Dawn Cathedral helping the Crown Prince, it was entirely within the realm of possibility that he could have become a Great Sage so quickly.

Before, Yang Qi had been confident that he could kill the Crown Prince, but now, that confidence was waning rapidly.

Of course, from an objective standpoint, Yang Qi himself was an aberration. Only a few years ago, he had been a punk in the fourth phase of the Energy Arts level. At that time, the Crown Prince had been a Half Sage for over a hundred years. It was a level gap that couldn’t be overcome casually.

If Yang Qi made the deal with Ghost Emperor Yama, and took the sage motes, then he could theoretically jump six or seven levels in one shot, and perhaps even become a Half Sage.

But to do that at the cost of handing over the cultivation method of the Infernal Deity Spear would be extremely risky. Besides, it wasn’t as if he trusted Ghost Emperor Yama. And accepting his help would involve willingly allowing him to send true energy into his own body.

Who knew what Ghost Emperor Yama might do in that situation? Yang Qi had no guarantee that the God Legion Seal would save him from every threat.

“What do you think, Yang Qi?” Ghost Emperor Yama said. “Consider my offer carefully!”

At this point, the chancellor of the Demi-Immortal Institute floated over. 

“Ghost Emperor Yama!” he said by way of greeting. “So, you’re finally free. Who was it that saved you? Don't tell me it was Yang Qi?” 

Ghost Emperor Yama looked over. “You're the chancellor of the Demi-Immortal Institute? Well, this is a surprise. You’re pretty young. You must be pretty amazing to have reached this level at your age. Yang Qi? No, he’s not strong enough to do something like that. The Wilds God from the Quake-Dawn Continent freed me, for the purpose of fighting the Quake-Dawn Cathedral! Look, I’ll be straight with you. Yang Qi is my prey, so nobody else is allowed to touch him. And right now we're doing a bit of negotiating.”

“Oh? Your prey?” The chancellor’s eyes flickered with surprise as he looked over at Yang Qi, who stood there looking confident, and not the least bit flustered. In fact, he didn’t look like ‘prey’ of any sort. He looked more like a young master, with Ghost Emperor Yama being a bodyguard arranged to look after him.

“Considering the level of your cultivation base,” the chancellor said, “it shouldn’t be difficult at all for you to deal with Yang Qi. Why haven’t you made a move on him?”

“Oh please, do you really need to ask?” Ghost Emperor Yama chuckled coldly. “I'm not going to do anything to him. If you want to, though, be my guest. What are you, a Demi-Immortal? Actually, no. Even if you were a Demi-Immortal, and had all of the other past chancellors of the Demi-Immortal Institute helping you, you still wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.”

“Is that so?” The chancellor looked at Yang Qi again, musing that all of his previous speculations were true. Whoever Yang Qi’s backer was, even Ghost Emperor Yama was terrified of him. “Yang Qi, why don’t you just tell us who your backer is? Ask him to send his will to our lands, and bring the most ultimate glory to the Demi-Immortal Institute?”

Ghost Emperor Yama looked at the chancellor as though he were a complete fool. “You want to know who his backer is? Your measly Demi-Immortal Institute doesn't qualify to know. Not even the entire Quake-Dawn Continent qualifies, or the leaders of the ancient Yore-Wilds Continent. He’s backed by the legion of gods, who exist in a plane so high you can’t comprehend how powerful it is. They’re stronger than the host of immortals.”

The God Legion Seal that existed in Yang Qi’s forehead was a fabled thing even in the era of the Yore-Wilds, and was something that only very occasionally would appear in one of the immortal-level planes. And the Yore-Wilds Continent was no immortal-level plane. In those primeval times, it was only considered a high-level plane, completely different from the immortal continents.

Unfortunately, few people in the Rich-Lush Continent were aware of the history of the countless ancient planes, and that included the god legion plane. Compared to the legion of gods, even Ghost Emperor Yama was like a speck of dust. The former leader of the Yore-Wilds Continent had been a Demi-Immortal expert, but even he would have been a speck of dust in front of the legion of gods.

Now, the chancellor of the Demi-Immortal Institute was casually asking Yang Qi to summon the legion of gods? It would be hard to ask for something crazier than that. Strangely, the chancellor responded to Ghost Emperor Yama’s words by simply smiling faintly, apparently under the impression that he was being made fun of. He was convinced that Yang Qi’s backer was stronger than a Great Sage, but there was no way he would believe that he was backed by the legion of gods.

The legion of gods were mythological, and no one even knew the name of the plane they resided in. Even ten of the ancient Yore-Wilds Continents put together would be destroyed if they tried to attack them. The legion of gods could create innumerable continents and living beings as easily as exhaling. How could Yang Qi possibly have backing like that? If he did, wouldn't the Crown Prince have been killed already?

All of a sudden, the Young Lady said, “Yang Qi, bringing Ghost Emperor Yama here to the Demi-Immortal Institute caused a huge disaster. Not only were countless buildings destroyed, but also, Ghost Emperor Yama killed Great Sage Quake-Cloud, damaging our relationship with the Quake-Dawn Cathedral. You’re a holy neophyte of our institute, and yet you've brought us nothing but catastrophe. How can we possibly stand proudly in front of all creation now?”

“Stand proudly? You people can’t even tell the difference between right and wrong. I couldn’t care less if the Demi-Immortal Institute were completely destroyed.” All onlookers reacted with visible shock to his insulting words. Everyone in the Demi-Immortal Institute was on the side of the Crown Prince, and for all intents and purposes, the chancellor was the Crown Prince’s father. “What do you think, Ghost Emperor Yama? Do I have what it takes to destroy the Demi-Immortal Institute?”

“Of course!” Ghost Emperor Yama replied. “Just call on the power of the legion of gods, and you could destroy it ten times over.” Ghost Emperor Yama’s words caused the Young Lady to blanch.

“What kind of talk is that, Yang Qi?” the Young Lady said angrily.

“The truth,” Yang Qi replied, without a hint of emotion on his face. “Anyone who pisses me off will end up dead. That’s how the Crown Prince acts, right? Well, me too. Enough with this chattering. If you don't shut your mouth, I’ll kill you too!”

“You!” she said. However, there was nothing else she could do other than tremble. Obviously, she was no match for Yang Qi.

Ghost Emperor Yama sighed with praise. “What character, Yang Qi. Amazing! It’s a real pity you don’t tread the dao of devils. You would have made a great devil king.”

Ignoring Ghost Emperor Yama, Yang Qi looked at the chancellor and said, “I didn't see Holy Daughter Manyflowers with the other grand elders just now. Why not? Where is she? And by the way, I’d appreciate it if you call my Aunt Susu out. I'm permanently leaving the Demi-Immortal Institute, and I'm taking her with me.”

The Demi-Immortal Institute was no longer a stable location to grow. Yang Qi felt no attachment to it, and no reason to stay. Originally, he had viewed the place as a good spot to practice his cultivation and grow stronger. But now, there was no place for him here. He had accomplished more good for the world than any of the chancellors of the institute ever had, and yet, had received no reward. Instead, the chancellor sent him on a fool’s errand in the Western Continent. Then, upon returning, he was ganged up on by the grand elders of law enforcement.

Considering all that, the time had come to leave, and start building a house of his own.