Sage Monarch

The supreme rector had been backed into a corner. Now he knew how strong Yang Qi was, and that the fight between him and Lei Jiuzhou hadn't been one of mutual injury.

Otherwise, he would have made his move instantly, and killed him.

Yang Qi had revealed he was in possession of the śarīra of the Preheaven Magnetic King, which was evidence that he really had killed and absorbed Lei Jiuzhou. That put him far beyond the supreme rector’s ability to deal with.

In fact, making a move on him would likely result in the supreme rector’s death, a major blow to the Titan Emperor Collegium as a whole.

Whenever possible, it is always preferable to sacrifice a chariot to defend the general. And in this case, the leaders of the Hegemon’s Society, Everlasting Society, and Hall of Beheadings and Executions were the chariots, and the Titan Emperor Collegium itself was the general. [1]

Three agonized shrieks rang out as three top experts met their end. All three of them were the top leaders of their organizations, and half-Demolishers. For all intents and purposes, they were guaranteed to reach immortal ascension. They were peak figures within the collegium, and their losses would sting painfully.

But there was no other choice at the moment. The supreme rector’s heart dripped with figurative blood, yet he managed to keep a righteous expression plastered onto his face. What else could he do in the face of Yang Qi’s viper-like cunning?

‘There’s no need to get anxious,’ the supreme rector told himself. ‘After I pacify this fiendish monster and everything calms down, I’ll submit a petition to the heaven above. Once the Titan Emperor Heaven realizes what’s going on, they’ll definitely do something about Yang Qi….’

He was confident in his immortal world backing and knew that people from there wouldn’t fear Yang Qi at all, no matter how fierce he was. If Yang Qi raised too much of a ruckus, they would definitely banish an immortal down to deal with him. And perhaps he had already pushed things too far.

Even the most mediocre of immortals sent from above would be ten times as strong as Lei Jiuzhou. After all, he had achieved his breakthrough but had not yet been baptized by the magical laws of the immortal world, which would have brought about transformations on the deepest level.

Reaching the Demolishing level was important, but ascending was even more important. Without it, one’s battle prowess would remain stuck in a much lower state. And of course, Lei Jiuzhou had only reached the first stage of the Demolishing level.

Just like the Demi-Immortal level, the Demolishing level had nine sub-levels, each of which were as separated from each other as the sky from the land.

“Yang Qi, we’ve executed the three degenerates who were plotting against you,” the supreme rector said. “You’re now the leader of the Hegemon’s Society, Everlasting Society, and Hall of Beheadings and Executions. Your first job is to return to the collegium and clean house a bit. And, we need to shore up our defenses. The Titan Emperor Collegium is in a critical state now and we can’t afford any slip ups. Understand? The other collegiums realize that we’ve completely drained our Initiation Power and might take advantage of the situation to attack us.”

Yang Qi stared hard at the supreme rector, a man who had lived through countless years and come out on top, yet who, in this moment, still seemed terrified. A moment passed, and he said, “You’re right. The Titan Emperor Collegium is in the middle of a potentially deadly crisis. As a society chief, I’ll do everything I can to protect the collegium. My first act will be to clean house and consolidate my power. I’ll also set up a grand spell formation to draw on the good fortune and profound mysteries of the universe. And I'm going to execute any infiltrators or invaders. I won't leave even a trace of their existence!”

Then he blurred into motion, and before anyone could react, had left the Immortal Army Battlefield and was heading back to the Titan Emperor Collegium.

Ding. Dong.

The moment he returned, he was met by the tolling of bells. It was almost as if the immortal world had locked onto him with a spell that automatically activated upon his return. 

“Titan Emperor Collegium student Yang Qi killed countless enemy experts, and rose far above the crowd. He thus earned face and glory for the Titan Emperor Heaven. Let him be gifted with a daoist text, nine immortal items, a bottle of high-grade immortal pills, and high-grade universal power in the form of a collection of Double Profundity Vital Energy.”

RUMBLE!

A space-time wormhole opened and all of the aforementioned items descended.

‘Oh,’ he thought, ‘it’s actually a sword!’

The nine immortal items were actually a set, pieced together to form a sword. Its surface was covered with a Nine Palaces Spell Formation, indicating that this was a Nine Palaces Godsword, pulsing with sword energy and an aura of death. The daoist text was a sword technique, the Nine Palaces Swordplay. In addition to that, there were immortal pills and universal power that were all focused on killing and slaughter.

These things were perfect for Sword Seventeen.

“Elder Brother, why don’t you take them,” Yang Qi said, handing them over. After all, he had no interest in such things.

After absorbing Dragon Sun-Chaser’s nascent divinity and quintessence-blood, Sword Seventeen’s genes had exploded to a level tens of thousands of times that of an ordinary cultivator, making him even more of a freak than he had already been.

His eyes were shining brightly. “Junior Brother, why didn't you kill those bastards from the collegium? They’re all venomous schemers, especially the supreme rector!”

Although Sword Seventeen had been working on his cultivation in the God Legion Paradise, he was still privy to the conversation between Yang Qi and the others.

“Now’s not the time,” Yang Qi replied. “I managed to suppress Lei Jiuzhou’s nascent divinity, but because he’s an immortal his branding mark is safe in the Great Metropolis Heaven. I need some more time to wipe it out and make sure he isn’t reborn. Once I do, my cultivation base will reach an even higher level, and at that point not even an immortal from heaven would be able to do anything to me.”

A profound gleam appeared in Yang Qi’s eyes. “I'm not going to let the leaders of the Titan Emperor Collegium off the hook. But killing them now would be counterproductive. There are too many enemies eyeing us like tigers eye their prey. They drained all of the collegium’s Initiation Power to try to kill me, and considering the other collegiums know, they’ll definitely make a move eventually. That will be the perfect opportunity to get other people to do my dirty work for me! I'm mainly curious about what the heavenly world will do. The stance of the Titan Emperor Heaven is key here.”

“You've really thought things through, Junior Brother. No wonder Master appointed you as his successor. Well, what do we do right now?”

“Simple. We seize the resources of the Everlasting Society, Hegemon’s Society, and Hall of Beheadings and Executions and send them to the Sage Monarch planetary system. If the initiators think they’re going to stop me, they’re fools. I'm going to beat them at their own game, and clear out the Titan Emperor Collegium!”

At this point, Yang Qi landed in front of the entrance to the Hall of Beheadings and Executions.

RUMBLE!

The entire headquarters trembled as students poured out of it, unsure of what was happening.

Meanwhile, Sword Seventeen flew out in front of Yang Qi, bursting with an aura that could trample Universal Demi-Immortals.

WHIZZZ!

Instantly, the entire area shone with sword light and an aura of killing.

“Listen up, disciples of the Hegemon’s Society, Everlasting Society, and Hall of Beheadings and Executions!” Sword Seventeen said in a loud voice. “My Junior Brother Yang Qi, society chief of the Invincible Society, has been acknowledged by the supreme rector and the initiators as your new leader. All disciples are hereby ordered to gather in this square, along with the elder kings and prime paragon elders. You have four hours to comply, and any who fail to come will be either expelled or executed as examples!”

The students who had already gathered erupted into pandemonium. 

“What?! How did this happen?! In the entire history of the Titan Emperor Collegium, there’s never been a society chief who took over another society! There’s no way these orders are genuine!”

A group of people emerged, the very same vice-rectors and geniuses from the Hall of Beheadings and Executions that Yang Qi had faced before, including the elysian child Ascendant Beheader. 

The latter glared furiously at Yang Qi, and said, “Yang Qi, you mongrel, I can’t believe you forged orders from the supreme rector! There’s no way our hallmaster will tolerate atrocious behavior like this!”

Sword Seventeen burst out laughing. “You’re real trash, do you know that, Ascendant Beheader? I can’t believe you would dare to jabber in this situation. Do you know what just happened in the Immortal Army Battlefield? The leaders of the Hegemon’s Society, Everlasting Society, and your own Hall of Beheadings and Executions were all proven to be traitors! My Junior Brother joined the supreme rector himself to execute them!”

“Yes, we have three new decorations for the main entrance,” Yang Qi said. With a wave of his hand, he sent the heads of the three leaders up to the main gate to join the others, where they stared out with rancor and fury.

“Aaaiiiieee!” A horrified shriek escaped Ascendant Beheader’s mouth as he dropped to his knees. “Master! How could you have died such a cruel death? Fear not! Everyone in the Hall of Beheadings and Executions, from students, to elders, to prime elders, to prime paragon elders, to elder kings, will kill the fiend-devil who did this to you. We will avenge your death! Everyone, to arms! The Hall of Beheadings and Executions would rather die in battle than beg for our lives!  If you’ve got what it takes, Yang Qi, try to wipe out the entire Hall of Beheadings and Executions! We’ll never accept you as our hallmaster!”

“You animal! You beast!”

“We’re doomed. Doomed! But we’ll never surrender!”

“We won’t stand for this. We stand for law and justice, forever!”

With Ascendant Beheader egging them on, countless students and elders from the Hall of Beheadings and Executions howled in righteous indignation. Their blood was clearly boiling, and they were ready to risk life and limb to get their revenge.

As for the students and elders from the Hegemon’s Society and Everlasting Society, they were also eyeing Yang Qi with rage and were clearly not ready to submit.

From the look of things, this was a level of force that would be impossible to fight against. Not even Sword Seventeen had anticipated that the reaction would be like this, and looked over nervously at Yang Qi.

Looking like the picture of calm, Yang Qi said, “Excellent. I approve of your suggestion, Ascendant Beheader. The time has come to execute all of you. Henceforth, anyone in the Titan Emperor Collegium who refuses to submit to me will be cut down without mercy.”

1.  To sacrifice a chariot to defend the general is an idiom relating to Chinese chess (note that Chinese chess is NOT Chinese checkers, and is also NOT the game of GO). In Chinese chess, the chariot is seen as one of the most powerful pieces in the game because of its movement ability. However, the entire point of the game is to protect the general. In international chess terms, the chariot and general are like the rook and king. Incidentally, there is a more common expression that is very similar which is to sacrifice a pawn to defend the chariot. Obviously, to sacrifice a chariot to defend the general surpasses the level of that idiom.