Sage Monarch

Yang Qi sounded extremely grim when he spoke, his voice lacking even the tiniest scrap of emotion. Anyone who heard his words would feel chilled to the bone.

In fact, even the Plane of Initiation physically trembled a bit as it hovered there in front of him.

As for all of the people on the plane itself, they were shocked to the core. Even the supreme rector’s face was as white as a sheet.

The leaders of the Hegemon’s Society, Everlasting Society, and Hall of Beheadings and Executions were all shaking and sweating. In the blink of an eye, they engaged in a lengthy conversation via divine will. 

“Yang Qi is still alive!?”

“What happened? How could he have survived? He doesn’t even look hurt!”

“He's not injured at all!”

“What do we do? What do we do?! We just wasted the reserve power of the entire collegium. Our Initiation Power is gone, but he's still alive. It looks like Lei Jiuzhou is dead as well. We got nothing, and now Yang Qi is right here in front of us. Do we kill him, or not?”

“Kill him!” said the hallmaster of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions. “There’s no turning back now. Either we win, or we die! Besides, it’s highly likely that Yang Qi suffered internal injuries. He’s definitely an arrow that's reached the end of its flight. He might look tough on the outside, but we should be able to cut him down. We need to end him now. If we give him time to recover, the consequences will be dire!”

“That’s exactly right!” said Chief Hegemon and Chief Everlasting. Clearly, they were itching to take action.

“Supreme Rector, let’s all attack at the same time!”

“Yeah! This is our best chance to slaughter Yang Qi. If we give him time to recover, we’re going to be the ones who end up dead.”

During this very short moment, the supreme rector had recovered his composure. He looked at Yang Qi thoughtfully, as though he had finally made a decision about what to do.

However, he didn’t have time to say a thing before Yang Qi started walking in his direction.

Although the step he took seemed casual in nature, it was actually filled with space-time power that could pierce through multiple planes of existence.

A moment later, he was on the Plane of Initiation, right there in the presence of the initiators and society chiefs. The energy he seemed to radiate caused even the supreme rector to shiver, and his heart to drain of confidence.

“Incidentally, Supreme Rector, I already killed Lei Jiuzhou and absorbed his heaven-immortal magical laws. I also have the śarīra of the Preheaven Magnetic King. However, there’s one thing I don’t quite understand. Why, when I was on the very cusp of achieving victory, did you suddenly draw on the Initiation Power of the Titan Emperor Collegium to launch a deadly attack?”

Every word he spoke struck the listeners to the core. In fact, the initiators all looked like they had been stabbed with knives, and they were visibly trembling with anxiety. Considering how Yang Qi had just casually stepped onto the Plane of Initiation, none of them believed that he was low on fighting power.

Although the Plane of Initiation was damaged, the initiators, society chiefs, and supreme rector were all half-Demolishers. If they pooled their strength, they should be able to kill heaven-immortals. But considering what Yang Qi could do, were they a match for him? At the moment, none of them dared to even move a finger in an attempt to find out.

A tense moment passed, then the supreme rector burst out laughing. Rising from his ostentatious throne, he smiled and said, “Well done, Yang Qi. Well done! You are a true treasure of the Titan Emperor Collegium. I hereby declare you to be my successor as the supreme rector. As soon as I ascend to the immortal world, you will be in charge! You see, we already discussed this matter at length. You are so extremely important that we couldn’t risk you being hurt by Lei Jiuzhou. Therefore, in the interests of your safety, the initiators of the Titan Emperor Collegium all took action to come here and rescue you. Now that the task is accomplished, we can return home. This place is simply too dangerous, and we wasted all of our Initiation Power to help you. As word spreads among the other collegiums, we could end up in serious trouble.”

“Oh, really?” Yang Qi said, looking at the smiling supreme rector. Voice turning even icier, he said, “The thing is, I don’t need your help. I killed Lei Jiuzhou, a mere heaven-immortal, on my own. You knew full well that I had the upper hand in the fight, yet you used Initiation Power to launch a sneak attack. Your goal wasn't to do anything to Lei Jiuzhou—it was to kill me!”

“That’s complete nonsense!” the supreme rector said. “Besides, we sent you a message before we came. You must have received it. Yang Qi, I just named you my successor! How could you be so petty? Well, I guess I understand. How about this: after we get back, I and all of the initiators will send a petition to the heaven above to name you supreme rector immediately. That way, there will be no suspicions between us. Agreed?”

Yang Qi looked at the supreme rector as if he could see all the way into his soul. He didn’t say anything, and the tension mounted.

The leaders of the Hegemon’s Society, Everlasting Society, and Hall of Beheadings and Executions all exchanged glances, as they hoped that Yang Qi and the supreme rector would have a complete falling out. They were in a blood feud with Yang Qi that couldn’t possibly be resolved without death. If Yang Qi became the supreme rector, their days would obviously be numbered.

After a moment passed, the hallmaster of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions snorted coldly. “Can’t you tell good from bad, Yang Qi? The Titan Emperor Collegium wasted all of its Initiation Power to save you. Now you suspect us of plotting against you? Do you know what that is? That’s the wild, evil ambition of a wolf, and the actions of someone from the dao of devils! You want to succeed the supreme rector? Let me tell you, we already reported all of this to the heaven above! It's only going to be a few days before they hand down a punishment!”

“That’s right,” said Chief Hegemon, who had obviously decided to throw caution to the wind. “Supreme Rector, our whole purpose in coming here was to eradicate this rebel. This monster. Since he realizes what's going on, what's the point of carrying on the charade? Let’s just kill him. He’s obviously weak right now. I refuse to believe that he’s already assimilated the power of Lei Jiuzhou. In fact, it’s entirely likely that Lei Jiuzhou is trapped in his minor world right now, struggling to escape.”

“Exactly,” said Chief Everlasting, gesticulating wildly. “Initiators! Society Chiefs! Supreme Rector! We have to attack right now and kill this man! If we get his godly-class energy art and absorb his nascent divinity, we can get all of that Initiation Power back.”

Obviously, all three of these leaders were hoping that the supreme rector would use the power of the Plane of Initiation to deal with Yang Qi right here and now. The initiators had all been hoping that Yang Qi could be fooled, only to have the truth blurted out right in the open.

The situation had escalated to the point where it could only end in killing.

At that point, Yang Qi snorted coldly and sent a primal-chaos elder-snake flying out toward the three leaders. Before they could react, it swirled around the three of them, trapping them.

“I understand the situation, Supreme Rector,” Yang Qi said. “It seems some crafty villains have wormed their way into our collegium. And those villains are these three! I’d say that executing them is the only way to keep our collegium united!”

“Are you feeling suicidal, Yang Qi? How dare you do something like this in front of the initiators!”

RUMBLE!

Lunging forward, the hallmaster of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions shouted, “Myriad Magics Combination: Godly Dao of the Grandmaster!”

Dazzling light shot out of him as he launched an attack at the primal-chaos elder-snake. However, the snake simply inhaled, absorbing the power of the attack as if it were nothing.

“Hegemon Ascends to Heaven!”

“Everlasting Azure Heaven!”

The other two society chiefs launched killing moves of their own. 

“Everyone, join us! Kill this Yang Qi! We can’t let a beast like him stay alive!”

“Is that what you think of me?” Yang Qi said. A śarīra suddenly shot out into the open, radiating streams of protomagnetic godlightning that slammed into his three opponents, provoking agonized shrieks.

“That’s….” As of this moment, the supreme rector realized that Yang Qi really had defeated Lei Jiuzhou and taken the śarīra of the Preheaven Magnetic King. He quickly made his decision. Snorting coldly, he said, “The leaders of the Hegemon’s Society, the Everlasting Society, and the Hall of Beheadings and Executions are all villains to the core. How dare they plot against Yang Qi? That’s a crime deserving of death! Even Yang Qi killing an elder king as an example couldn’t force them to abandon their evil ambitions. The Hall of Beheadings and Executions has taken the lead in enforcing the law in the Titan Emperor Collegium for years now, but complaints about them have been building. All students hate them to the core. Yang Qi was simply cleaning house when he killed the elder king and those prime paragon elders. All of the students cheered at the sight of those heads nailed to the front entrance of the Invincible Society. There is nothing more gratifying than punishing evildoers! Sadly, death cannot wipe out your crimes, you three! Initiators, join forces with Yang Qi to clean house and execute these traitors!”

“Yes sir!”

The initiators and other society chiefs all breathed sighs of relief, immediately producing various magical treasures and medicinal pills to aid them in their attacks on the leaders of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions, Hegemon’s Society, and Everlasting Society.

“You bunch of degenerates! This is crossing the river and burning the bridge! You’re an evil snake, Supreme Rector! You were the one who came up with the idea to kill Yang Qi! Now you’re teaming up with him to kill us!? It's rare to ever see scum as low as you!”

“You're a complete backstabber, Supreme Rector, you– AIIIIEEEE!”

Of course, there was no way the three of them could possibly stand up to the combined attack of so many opponents, and they were quickly ripped to shreds. Even as their magical treasures flew out into the open, Yang Qi sent the primal-chaos elder-snake to consume their discarnate souls.

In the blink of an eye, they were killed in body and soul, without a trace of their very existences left behind.

With that, the supreme rector said, “Make an announcement that the villainous plotting of the Hegemon’s Society, Everlasting Society, and Hall of Beheadings and Executions has been brought to light. Their leaders have been executed, and those societies will now report to Yang Qi. If necessary, he can execute any other traitors, including elder kings and elysian children!” Then he turned to Yang Qi. “You have a lot of power now, Yang Qi, and you’re responsible for maintaining law and order in our collegium. Hopefully, you can cleanse the taint of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions and return the Titan Emperor Collegium to shining glory.”

The cloying righteousness of the supreme rector's speech caused the initiators to exchange awkward glances, yet none of them said anything.

Before, Yang Qi had been the society chief of the Invincible Society, a position that didn’t have any overarching power and authority. But now he commanded three societies. That was very different. As of this moment, he was essentially the most powerful person in the collegium, aside from the supreme rector.

It was hard for the supreme rector to keep a wry smile off of his face after he made the announcement, yet he was out of options.