Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi had finally succeeded, and his carefully laid plans were playing out perfectly.

Mu Renwang and Su Xin were so incredibly powerful that if Yang Qi hadn’t gained valuable experience from stealing the Mahātmā Jade from the Shepherd, he would never have succeeded. Nor would he have succeeded if they hadn’t used the Heart-Linking Hex on him. And were it not for the Royal Palace of Assassins trying to take out the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, the purrling would never have revealed its ability and Yang Qi would never have gained further enlightenment of the Purrfect God Art. In that case, he would also have failed.

Another factor was that the imperial couple had left Mu Yexi behind to watch over Yang Qi, giving him the perfect hostage.

And if the imperial couple hadn’t revealed their eighteen godpower seeds to him, Yang Qi would have had no choice but to go along with their plan to manipulate him.

There were a host of factors that had all played out perfectly in his favor.

In the end, it was the imperial couple’s conniving and overbearing attitude, and their insistence on turning Yang Qi into a puppet, that ensured everything had turned out this way.

If they had treated him the way the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect had, supporting him and helping him with good intentions, then they might have greatly benefited as a result. Unfortunately, as mid Terrifying experts who could survive in the god world, they believed they were past the point of needing to deal with Yang Qi according to the old expression treat the virtuous men courteously and the scholars with respect.

Sadly for them, they had lost out and were now under Yang Qi’s control.

Their daughter’s life was in his hands, and they knew that they had to be very careful. Now that he had consumed the eighteen godpower seeds, Mu Renwang could see that Yang Qi’s cultivation base was enigmatically high, and he was pulsing with an energy that could shake the heavens and topple the earth. All of a sudden, Mu Renwang wasn't confident in being able to kill him.

“How dare you use our daughter to threaten us, you brute!”

“Lower your blade and become a buddha, Yang Qi,” Su Xin said. “Let our daughter go and get on your knees in repentance. That’s the only way you’ll get out of this situation alive, understand? Do you realize what you've done? We helped you! We even made you into an Inheritor. But as it turns out, you have the ambition of a wild wolf, and as soon as you made some energy arts progress you threatened us with the life of our daughter! Are you trying to get your sect wiped out? There’s no way the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect could possibly stand up to our fury!”

Although Su Xin was trying to appeal to Yang Qi's sense of righteousness, the truth was that she was ready to launch a deadly attack at any moment.

In response, Yang Qi laughed in their faces. “The way you two talk makes it seem like I'm too shameless to show my face in public. I know you’re planning to attack me, Su Xin. And I guarantee that if you do, I’ll tear your daughter into so many pieces you’ll never be able to put her back together. Go ahead and test my resolve, if you feel like it. I don’t care. Worst case scenario, I just hide in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, where you’ll never be able to get to me.”

“You!” Su Xin spat, furious at having her true intentions spoken out so casually. At the same time, it made her realize that Yang Qi was a lot smarter and more experienced than she realized, and not the sort of immature kid who could be easily fooled.

“Do you know how many dangerous situations I’ve found myself in throughout my life?” he asked. “By now, I can see through every kind of crafty plot and machination. The two of you planned to make me the puppet league-lord for only as long as it took to have me killed. You think I didn’t realize that? I know everything that you’ve been planning, thanks to the Heart-Linking Hex!” He chuckled darkly.

“Impossible!” Su Xin shrieked. “The Heart-Linking Hex is too profound! How could you possibly use it to spy on us?”

“Why couldn’t I? By the way, I know it was you who spread the word about what I did to the junior pontiff. And you knew that he would hire the Royal Palace of Assassins to try taking down the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect. You wanted that to happen, so that you could find out more about the purrling. If it turned out to be weak enough, you would’ve been more than happy to see my sect destroyed. You claimed that you would protect me and my sect as well, didn’t you? But not only did you not do that, you actually plotted against me. What kind of people are you? Did you actually want me to be dead-set on killing you?” Truth be told, Yang Qi was monologuing to buy time as he waited for the eighteen godpower seeds within him to be assimilated.

“You're very crafty and treacherous, boy!” Mu Renwang said, taking a step forward. “Sadly for you, you’re too greedy. Now that you’ve consumed those eighteen godpower seeds, your insides are roiling with true energy. And the instability caused by the Great Necropolis godpower is going to cause you to explode in short order. Did you really think we’d feel threatened by you?”

Yang Qi snorted coldly. “Are you sure about that? Are you certain that I can’t assimilate this power? You see, I'm quite experienced with the godpower of the Great Necropolis! I know that if you could somehow manage to deal with the purrling, you could easily wipe out my sect. But believe me, if you make the slightest wrong move, you’ll be sorry.”

Even as he spoke, his energy seemed to completely settle down, causing the imperial couple to again hold back.

They were hesitating to shoot the rat for fear of breaking the vases. After all, their daughter was still in the hands of this new enemy.

“I never could have guessed that you would be this ferocious, Yang Qi!” Mu Yexi said, her eyes flashing with anger. “Maybe you captured me in a moment of surprise, but do you really think that your cultivation base is strong enough to defy the entire Woodfern Couple Palace?” It wasn’t lost on her that she was the one who had invited the wolf into one’s house.

“Are you okay, Daughter?” Su Xin asked.

“He has me completely locked down, Mother. His cultivation base is so strong that I can’t even struggle. He's using some sort of divine ability that links our two souls together. In other words, if you land a blow on him, the damage will be inflicted on me.”

“What energy art is that?” Su Xin asked.

“My imperial-heaven pre-beginning powers,” Yang Qi replied. “I doubt you’ve heard of them, but that’s not important right now. Why don’t we start negotiating? After all, I don’t think we’ve reached the point where we can't reconcile our differences. You still want me to fight the Genesis Sanctum, don’t you? I can still do that, although not as your puppet.”

“Negotiate?” Su Xin said. “You want to negotiate? Fine, then put my daughter down. If you do, then maybe we can talk. If you don’t, you know what the consequences will be.”

“Don’t threaten me,” Yang Qi said. “I’d be happy to let your daughter go on one condition. Give me my Mahātmā Jade back. Without an Unspoiled Body, you can’t unlock its secrets, and in fact, if you try to use it for cultivation, it’ll suck you dry. I studied it for over a thousand years, and I can tell you it’s a complicated thing.”

“So, you do have the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body,” Su Xin growled, “and the sheepskin scroll.” She took out the Mahātmā Jade. “Why didn’t you say that from the beginning? You obviously had ill intentions from the get-go!”

“If I had ill intentions, I would have given you a cultivation method that would end with you being sucked into the jade and killed,” he replied. “You wouldn’t have stood a chance of saving yourselves.”

“How very kind of you,” Su Xin replied angrily.

“It has nothing to do with kindness. If you were to die, how could I deal with the Genesis Sanctum, or become the league-lord? You see, our interests still align, so calm down. It’s not as if I did anything to warrant being your enemy.”

“You obviously want to negotiate, so just tell us what you want,” Mu Renwang said. “There’s no need to go beating around the bush.”

“First, I want my Mahātmā Jade. Second, I want a real partnership, not a puppet arrangement. Third, you’re not allowed to do anything to my sect. We’ll swear blood oaths to advance and retreat together. In addition to those three major stipulations, we agree to discuss matters before making any detailed plans. And I’ll promise to help you fight the Genesis Sanctum.”

“First let our daughter go,” Su Xin replied.

“Do you think I'm an idiot?” Yang Qi said, laughing. “Come on. Swear formal oaths.”

“Fine. If it's an oath you want, we swear to live by your conditions.”

She and Mu Renwang exchanged a glance, then burst into laughter.

“Who could ever have thought that famous people like us would get manipulated by a brat like you,” he said. “Well done. You really pulled the rug right out from underneath us. Just as you said, we will advance and retreat together, mutually suffering any injuries. And whoever violates the agreement will die by the sword. Let men and gods alike bear witness to this oath!”

“Fine,” Yang Qi agreed. “Advance and retreat together, mutually suffer any injuries, and whoever violates the agreement will die by the sword.”

“Take the Mahātmā Jade,” Mu Renwang said, sending it flying over at incredible speed. However, as it neared Yang Qi, it was grabbed by a bubble and sucked into his bag. Mu Renwang and Su Xin exchanged another glance of surprise. They had previously assumed that Yang Qi would show some weakness when he grabbed the Mahātmā Jade, and they could attack him in that moment.

Instead, he left no such openings.

“Incredible,” Yang Qi said. “You two just swore oaths, then immediately prepared to break them. You encased the jade in energy arts that would have hurt me badly if I’d grabbed it with my hand. You two are clearly insincere at heart. If I were you, I’d watch out; that oath you swore might very well soon come true.”

“That was just a test of your strength,” Mu Renwang said dismissively. “Obviously you really are strong enough to be the league-lord. You have your jade, now let our daughter go.”

“Of course. I’ll just pretend I didn't see that little dirty trick of yours just now.” Yang Qi pushed Mu Yexi out, and in the blink of an eye, the imperial couple attacked!

The attack hit, and Yang Qi exploded!

But it was just a power double; his true self was nowhere to be seen. Laughter rang out. “I'm out with my purrling now. If you want to kill me, come and get me. But if you want to work together, you’d better consider those oaths of yours. You don’t want to end up meeting a grisly end! And when you see how I help you deal with the House of God Bastards and the Genesis Sanctum, you’ll realize how truly powerful I am!”