Sage Monarch

Normally, this clone of the Invincible Dugu wouldn’t come out into the world, but now that he had, he seemed more than happy to intentionally provoke the leaders of the Titan Emperor Collegium. As his voice echoed out like thunder, everyone present could clearly hear his words.

In response, several cold snorts could be heard from the depths of the collegium.

“Are you shielding your disciple, Invincible Dugu?”

“I knew you would show up eventually, Invincible Dugu. You love to shield your students from repercussions, but this is too big of an issue. You might as well have not come back. The Titan Emperor Collegium has rules, you know. We old-timers rank as high as you, so we can’t do anything to you. But don't forget, we can contact the heaven above at any moment. If you cause too much of a scene, they’ll definitely banish an immortal down here to deal with you.”

“Shielding him? I think you people are the ones who don’t understand. If I was shielding him, why would I step in and interfere with the fight? Let me tell you people, my disciple is beyond your capability to deal with. As all of you clearly saw, if I hadn’t stepped in he would have unleashed the full power of his Hell Portals and turned this place into a sea of fiend-devils. During the fighting, he would definitely have achieved another breakthrough. Right now, he’s a Lesser Demi-Immortal, but he can already summon seventh order fiend-devils. So, what do you think would happen if he became a Greater Demi-Immortal in the middle of the fight? Or a Profound Demi-Immortal? How many fiend-devils would he be able to summon then? And if he sent Universal Demi-Immortal fiend-devils after you, would you even be able to fight back?”

As the Invincible Dugu’s words echoed out, many a thoughtful expression appeared on the faces of those who could hear him. And many people looked over at Yang Qi as if they were in the presence of a complete freak.

Everything the Invincible Dugu had said was correct. If Yang Qi had summoned Universal Demi-Immortal fiend-devils, the entire Titan Emperor Collegium would have fallen into ruin.

Revered Demi-Immortals could dominate the battlefield, but not if they ran into a Universal Demi-Immortal, who could cast the sun, moon, and heavenly bodies into chaos, and who understood the rotations of the universe.

If Yang Qi had the power to summon Universal Demi-Immortals, there was no way anyone could possibly deal with him, and there wouldn’t be a single person who would dare to treat him with disrespect.

The Invincible Dugu got straight to the point, and his candid words instantly caused newfound respect for Yang Qi to glimmer in the eyes of everyone present. In some ways, it was an added form of protection. After all, if the situation got too out of hand, the Invincible Dugu knew that not even he could do anything to change the course of events.

“You old fogies know full well that these aren’t empty words. As you can clearly see, my disciple cultivates a godly-class energy art, and no simple one at that. In fact, it surpasses the Prodigious Proto-Epoch, Invincible War-Steppe that I cultivate. You saw the primeval god skills he used, didn’t you? If he blessed the fiend-devils with them, how much stronger would they be in battle? Think about it a different way: if our collegium could benefit from such blessings, how much better equipped would we be to fight our enemies in battle? The Megaplexus Collegium is turning into more and more of a threat lately, and you want to get rid of a genius like Yang Qi? What happens if we go to war with him on our side? With his primeval god skills and an army of fiend-devils at his back, which side do you think would have an advantage? Us! And it would be overwhelming.

“You myopic fossils need to stop being so short-sighted. This disciple of mine is far too valuable to harm. If we want the Titan Emperor Collegium to be restored to its former glory, and return to the golden age of the ancient Yore-Wilds, we need him!”

After a moment of thought, one of the mysterious old-timers said, “You have a glib tongue, Invincible Dugu. There’s no need to talk up your disciple so much.”

“I'm not talking anything up. There are plenty of experts in the collegium who were watching things play out, and all of them know how strong Yang Qi is.” Normally, the Invincible Dugu talked in a very arrogant and domineering fashion, but this time he was being calm and reasonable.

Already, people in the area were whispering amongst themselves as they discussed the situation.

“Everybody says that the Invincible Dugu is imperious, bossy and completely domineering. They say he's never willing to listen to reason, and that if his disciples make a mistake, he shields them from any repercussions. So why is he acting so different today?”

“I heard the same thing about him. Supposedly, he won’t even take orders from the supreme rector. But everything he’s saying now seems perfectly reasonable. It must be because he's so pleased with the fact that nobody can handle this new disciple of his. In a situation like this, of course he's happy to be the good guy. The stronger his disciple is, the stronger he is. It’s basically good cop, bad cop!”

“You’re right. That Yang Qi is far too overbearing. He killed a whole bunch of people right in front of us all, and even nailed the head of an elder king above the entrance of the Invincible Society. And that’s nothing compared to the fact that he opened the gates of hell right here in the middle of the collegium and threatened to destroy it. Maybe we could have stopped those fiend-devils in the end, but the casualties would have been massive.”

“Everything the Invincible Dugu said is true. This Yang Qi is so strong! For one thing, he has those primeval god skills. And he can also summon fiend-devils. If we went to war, he would be the ultimate weapon for our side. I mean, he can already summon seventh order fiend-devils! Those things are just as strong as prime paragon elders, or universal-level royal students. Normally speaking, it takes blood, sweat, and tears to develop someone that strong, and he can just casually summon them! It’s like cheating!”

“You’re right, it’s basically cheating. Ai. The Invincible Dugu is enough of a freak on his own. Who could have guessed that he would raise an even more freakish disciple? Is the Invincible Society just plain lucky?”

“When it comes to the most overbearing person in the Invincible Society, nobody can top this Yang Qi.”

Many people in the crowd had hit the nail right on the head. The Invincible Dugu was most definitely a domineering individual, but in this instance he had been outdone by his own disciple, which meant that it was the perfect situation for him to play ‘good cop’.

Aware that the Invincible Dugu was playing good cop, Yang Qi knew that he should go all out in playing bad cop.

“Master, there’s really no need to waste words on these people,” Yang Qi said. “These four rectors should never have interfered in a personal grudge between our Invincible Society and the Hall of Beheadings and Executions. But since they did, I had no choice but to make sure they understood the consequences of their actions. And you’re right, Master. I’m just about to reach enlightenment of the Greater Demi-Immortal level. If a fight broke out, I wouldn’t get hurt and would actually reach an even higher level. If worse came to worst and things went south, I could always use another ability I have to secure safe passage right into hell. If I escaped into the Hell of Mahānata, I refuse to believe that any of them would dare to chase after me. And anyone who had the guts to do so would never return. I’d make sure of that!”

The response to his words was not an outpouring of rage. Instead, everyone felt their hearts going cold with fear. Most people in life will take advantage of kind people, but fear the vicious. And though there were people who didn't fear viciousness, Yang Qi had pushed far beyond the limits of what was reasonable. Even people who normally weren’t intimidated by viciousness still felt a touch of fear.

“Well, what do you think, you old fogies?” the Invincible Dugu said with a chuckle. “If you really want to keep fighting, I’ll just let my disciple do whatever he wants. By the way, his cultivation base is advancing rapidly. Today he can kill elder kings and hold his own against the vice-rectors. Who’s to say what he’ll be like tomorrow? Maybe he’ll even be strong enough to handle you fossils. In any case, he has his own dao, and you couldn’t kill him even if you tried.”

The old-timers went silent for a bit, then one of them finally said, “Fine. Fine, Invincible Dugu. You picked an excellent disciple this time. We were actually waiting for you to come back and save him. However, we could never have guessed that you would actually step in before he went too far. As it turns out, you aren’t shielding him, a fact which leaves us speechless, to say the least. However, we hope you can advise your disciple not to cause a pandemonium like this. Did he really plan to summon the fiend-devils of the Hell of Mahānata to destroy the Titan Emperor Collegium?”

“I agree,” another of them said. “We won't look into this matter any further. However, your disciple did kill prime paragon elders and an elder king, an act which cannot be left unpunished. There must be compensation paid. The truth is that we already discussed the matter earlier, and have a suggestion. The Immortal Army Battlefield will be opening soon, and top experts from many other collegiums will be competing inside. As way of compensation, your disciple will be required to attend and kill as many geniuses from the other collegiums as possible. How about a minimum of one hundred elysian children? What do you think?”

“Fine,” the Invincible Dugu said. “No problem at all. As a student of the Titan Emperor Collegium, it's only natural that my disciple would fight on our side. Even without the events of today, I would have had him participate. The Megaplexus Collegium has been eyeing us like a tiger eyes its prey, so killing some of their elysian children would definitely cut them down a notch. And our Invincible Society could always use a few more heads to decorate the front gate. What do you think, Yang Qi?”

With his final words, he looked over at Yang Qi.

Yang Qi nodded. “That sounds great, Master. The Megaplexus Collegium invaded the Yore-Wilds planetary system recently and nearly wiped out my home. There’s no way I’ll let that go unanswered. I’ll kill every single Megaplexus Collegium student I find from now on!”

“Very well, the matter is concluded,” the Invincible Dugu said. “The Hall of Beheadings and Executions has no choice but to eat their losses. Besides, they started the fight, so all their casualties were all deserved.”

Imperial Beheader, Sovereign Beheader, and Godly Beheader were visibly enraged. “For you to protect your disciple like this is completely outrageous, Invincible Dugu. Are you saying that our prime paragon elders and elder king died for nothing? How is the Hall of Beheadings and Executions supposed to enforce the law going forward?”

“Are you saying you still want to fight my disciple? If that’s the case, I’ll just step back and let things play out.” The look in the Invincible Dugu’s eyes was enough to cause anyone’s heart to turn as cold as ice.

“Forget it,” said Ascendant Beheader, glaring at Yang Qi with such hatred it seemed he wanted to eat him alive. “But we’re not going to forget what happened today. As an elysian child, I already have a spot waiting for me in the immortal world. I'm going to report this matter to the heaven on high, and they’ll definitely side with justice.”

“Whatever,” Yang Qi said with a smile. “I can’t guarantee you’ll come out unscathed if you do that. As far as I'm concerned, elysian children are lower than dogs. I destroy people like that as easily as trampling weeds.”