Sage Monarch

“Don’t kill me! Please, don't kill me!” The immortal emissary could tell that Yang Qi was really about to kill him. “My name is Titan Duelbringer! I'm not just some random immortal, I'm from the imperial clan in the Titan Emperor Heaven! I have the blood of the boundless Titan Emperor in me. Killing me wouldn’t be like killing an ordinary immortal; once the Titan Emperor Heaven found out, they would wipe out your entire Sage Monarch Collegium. Listen, just spare my life, and I can report back to the immortal world and tell them that everything is going fine here. I can even request that they send resources down here. Just think of how much you could profit!”

“Oh?” Yang Qi said, relaxing his hand.

If this emissary could really send back word mollifying the immortal world, and possibly even request resources, it would definitely be worth it to spare him.

“Yes, I'm serious. I spent thirty thousand years, and immense amounts of universal power, to cultivate this immortal body. I really don't want to die! Just show mercy, and I’ll make it worth your while!”

Yang Qi thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll spare you for the time being. But don't think that I trust your word. How about this: send word to the heaven above right now. Tell them that the Titan Emperor planetary system is in danger, and that it could be invaded at any moment. Ask them to send down some magical treasures and medicinal pills, as well as some disposable immortal talismans. If I'm happy with the results, you’ll have your life. But if I'm not happy… well, don’t blame me for being merciless.”

“Of course, of course,” Titan Duelbringer said, nodding his head vigorously. “I’ll say that there's a big situation here and that I need more resources. And I’ll explain that I won’t return until I have the situation under control. Look, considering that I'm an imperial clansman, they’ll definitely agree to my request.”

“Well, then. What are you waiting for?”

With that, Yang Qi allowed Titan Duelbringer to emerge from the Hellfire Crucible.

Then he sent some divine will into the emissary’s mind, making it possible to kill him with a thought if he tried anything funny.

With that, Titan Duelbringer reached out to the heaven above and began to pray. “Oh immortal officials in the heaven on high: the Titan Emperor Collegium has become haunted by freakish hellions, and other collegiums are threatening to invade. The situation is dire! Even worse, I was ambushed and am having trouble recovering from my wounds. If I perish, the entire planetary system could fall into enemy hands and we would lose our foundation in the mortal world. Please, show pity and send some magical devices to help me deal with the wretch-devils and enemy forces!”

Yang Qi watched as the divine will rose high, heading toward what he knew was the Titan Emperor Heaven. 

He was interested in seeing what the immortal world was like, and knew that if he assimilated Titan Duelbringer it would be an easy thing for him to step into the Demolishing level. However, now was not the time for that. He needed to stabilize his foundation first.

His army of devil-ghosts were out in the Four Wilds, arresting dissident clans and exerting control. However, it would take more time before the Titan Emperor planetary system truly became the Sage Monarch planetary system. And it would take even longer before people could forget about the old Titan Emperor Collegium.

**

“What’s going on here? Is the Hell of Euphoria invading again?”

The Proto-Wilds planetary system was a rich and flourishing place, with hundreds of billions of planets and resplendent constellations everywhere. It had all sorts of powerful organizations, including churches, temples, nations, halls, organizations, and societies. It was a hive of both villains and heroes, connected by countless wormholes that allowed cultivators to travel here and there and carry out trade. In terms of population, it surpassed the Yore-Wilds by a hundred million times.

There were plenty of regional tyrants, dictators, and plenty of people who were connected to the Titan Emperor Collegium. And many of the leaders were eighth, or even ninth order Demi-Immortals.

Normally, people like that would remain calm even during catastrophes. But right now, they were in full panic as massive armies of fiend-devils began encroaching on their territory. Some of those fiend-devils were even eighth and ninth order Demi-Immortals.

“An ambush!” people shouted.

However, to the shock of many of the powerful old-timers, these armies of fiend-devils were actually being led by initiators and society chiefs from the Titan Emperor Collegium. As they approached, they announced, “The Titan Emperor Collegium has been toppled and replaced by the Sage Monarch Collegium. A new Mandate of Heaven has been enacted. The leaders of all clans and organizations will travel immediately to the Central Planetary River to offer fealty. Any who refuse will be killed.”

“Impossible!” shouted a Paragon Demi-Immortal. “The Titan Emperor Collegium was destroyed!? We demand to contact the heaven above and ask for more information about—”

Before he could finish speaking, a dozen Paragon Demi-Immortal fiend-devils lunged forward and ripped him to shreds. Then they went on to eradicate the man's entire organization, wiping it completely out of existence.

Screams rang out and blood flowed.

“Those who refuse to submit will be exterminated!”

There were a few others who didn’t give in, and they were also wiped out of existence by the fiend-devils. Slowly but surely, the Proto-Wilds planetary system was pacified.

Similar scenes played out in the Waste-Wilds and Brute-Wilds.

**

“Astral Redirection; Invert Heaven and Earth; Reverse the Cycle of Sun and Moon….” Meanwhile, Yang Qi was using various divine abilities and burning massive amounts of power to transform the Sage Monarch planetary system on a fundamental nature. Soon, it was directly above the Titan Emperor Collegium and began descending.

RIIIIP!

Numerous planets in the Sage Monarch planetary system melted, turning into liquid that became raw power. As the process continued, it fused with the heavenly palace that was the Titan Emperor Collegium.

‘Power. Boundless and never-ending power. This heavenly palace is a majestic and incomparable plane of existence! It's too bad that all the Initiation Power was drained, otherwise my cultivation base could rise to even greater heights!’ As the planetary system fused with the Titan Emperor Collegium, Yang Qi’s immortal clone was baptized and his cultivation base rose higher.

By now, the clone was one with the Sage Monarch planetary system. Therefore, as the system grew stronger, so did he.

When the fusion process was completed, the only person who could surpass the clone would be Yang Qi’s true self.

Yang Qi also took the broken Plane of Initiation, as well as the corpses of the initiators and society chiefs, and added their quintessence energy to his immortal clone.

Soon, the Central Planetary River had taken on a very different appearance from before. It abounded with sagelight, and angels flew here and there singing holy hymns and psalms. The entire place looked like an enormous palace for the legion of gods.

This was the Sage Monarch Collegium. It pulsed with the aura of god-spirits, making it vastly more holy than the Titan Emperor Collegium had ever been.

Next, Yang Qi had the fiend-devil armies bring in the leaders from the various surrounding organizations for the ceremony of fealty.

It was a bright, sunny day in the Sage Monarch Collegium. Yang Qi sat on a throne, and arrayed in front of him were the former initiators and the leaders of the various clans and organizations from the four surrounding planetary systems. Many of those leaders were furious, and cursing inwardly. However, the pillars that lined the square were adorned with the corpses of plenty of famous individuals who had put up resistance. The supreme rector was still alive, and was currently strung up on one of the pillars as well. 

“You criminal, Yang Qi!” he shouted “You were a student in the Titan Emperor Collegium! You rebel! The immortal world will definitely punish you for this! They won’t let you off the hook!”

Everyone could hear his curses. Many were thinking the same thing, but none of them dared to do anything for fear of Yang Qi wiping them all out.

Even as the supreme rector continued cursing, a rift suddenly opened up above and immortal light spilled down, accompanied by a voice from the immortal world. “Listen, ye in the lower realm. In order to defend against foreign incursion, and to defend the honor of the Titan Emperor Heaven, we are hereby granting this lot of immortal items, immortal pills, immortal talismans, and immortal stones.”

RUUUUUMBLE!

Within the immortal light were all of the aforementioned items, which piled up in the square for everyone to see.

Jaws everywhere dropped.