Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Proud Radiance, the top young expert in the Lightningbolt Continent, had been defeated with one move. Everyone in the audience was either stunned, or gasping in shock. The gazes fixed on Yang Qi were those of fear and respect; it didn’t matter where someone had been born or what their background was, as long as they were strong enough, people would respect them.

As for Yang Qi, he was more than pleased with the performance of his Purrfect God Art.

It was becoming more and more refined, to the point where it contained about a third of the fundamental nature of the purrling itself.

Purr. Purr....

All of a sudden, the purrling in Jadefall’s arms started purring again, and a look of disdain could be seen on its face. It almost seemed to be laughing at the idea of comparing Yang Qi’s Purrfect God Art to itself.

However, it didn’t emanate any godpower fluctuations, making it seem like nothing more than an ordinary pet. No one present had any idea that the purrling was actually more powerful than even Yang Qi.

Suddenly, a peal of laughter rang out. “Who would’ve thought that a young genius like this had come to the Lightningbolt Continent? This is worthy of celebration!”

“Lightning Dragonriser?” said Proud Radiance. “I thought you were out training! What are you doing back?”

A burly, bearded man appeared, taller than the average person, whose every step caused the faint rumble of thunder to echo about him. It was as if destructive god lightning crackled in his very bones, making him seem doughty, stalwart, and as dangerous as a ghost-god or devil-king.

‘An impressive specimen,’ Yang Qi thought, already impressed by how bold and powerful he seemed. He was obviously strong enough to compare to mid Quasi-Gods, and his godhood was obviously superior to Proud Radiance’s.

“This is Lightning Dragonriser,” Wang Juan explained, “a powerful figure from the Lightning Clan. However, he's not one of the younger generation, but one of the experts from the older generation. Although he doesn’t look a day past thirty, he’s actually over a hundred years old. By chance, he happened to acquire some De-Aging Longevity Figwort Root, which gave him an extra century of longevity compared to ordinary people.” She had already come to see Yang Qi in a completely different light now that he had vanquished Proud Radiance in a single move. If someone like him wasn’t worth recruiting, then who was?

Proud Radiance was certain to become a Lesser God within a few dozen years, so for Yang Qi to have beaten him indicated that there was a one hundred percent chance Yang Qi would become a Lesser God.

“You might be a member of the older generation, Lightning Dragonriser,” said Proud Radiance, “but after you lost to my eldest brother Proud Triumphant, you skulked off into hiding. Now, ten years later, you’re finally sneaking back onto the continent? Could it be that you’re hoping to seek revenge? Sadly for you, my eldest brother Proud Triumphant is already a god! You two are on completely different levels now, and there’s no way you’ll ever catch up to him.”

Lightning Dragonriser gave a cold harrumph that boomed like a bell. “You haven’t made any progress with your cultivation base, Proud Radiance, yet your Proud Clan continues to grow here on the Lightningbolt Continent. You people are constantly taking away business from the Lightning Clan. Just don’t forget that we run the Lightningbolt Continent, so don’t you dare break any rules.”

“You think your Lightning Clan can compare to the Proud Clan?”

“The Proud Clan is definitely a domineering clan. But in my ten years away, I happened to join a similarly important sect. The House of God Ordainment! And I've already been promoted to novice disciple!”

Almost immediately, a buzz of surprised conversation rose up.

“What? Lightning Dragonriser is a novice disciple of the House of God Ordainment?!”

“The House of God Ordainment is a legendary sect of immense power. People say that every hundred years or so, they search the continents for the most qualified elites and ordain them as gods! That’s the meaning behind the name of their sect.”

“That’s right. For many years now, the prospect of joining the House of God Ordainment has been a goal for people of all continents. Sadly, even people considered top experts by the public are often looked down on by the House of God Ordainment. By what virtue or ability did Lightning Dragonriser somehow gain favor with them? And how did he become a novice disciple?”

Some of the people present were quite famous in Lightningbolt City, yet even they were sighing at the news.

Meanwhile, Brahma projected his voice directly into Yang Qi’s ears in a way that no one else could hear. “The House of God Ordainment is incredible. They’ve been a huge, important sect for many years now, and are very mysterious. I was once the ruler of the Five Phases Continent, and a Consummate God. You could say that I was an unmatched hegemon of my time. But not even I could compare to the House of God Ordainment. However, they're very secretive and don’t often step out into the world. There must be something very special about this Lightning Dragonriser for the House of God Ordainment to take a liking to him. And the elimination rate for their novice disciples is very high. The fighting involved to advance beyond that level is incredibly fierce and deadly. Out of ten thousand such disciples who compete, only one will eventually become an official disciple. And you know what happens to all the others? They die!”

“There's a sect like that?” Yang Qi asked, surprised.

If ten thousand novice disciples would fight to the death to become official disciples, it could only be imagined what such people were like.

The survivors would obviously be top elites.

That said, Yang Qi was no stranger to ruthlessness, so the arrangement wasn’t necessarily shocking to him. He and his people weren’t winners that were selected from a group of ten thousand contestants. They were the ultimate elites who had risen up in their respective ages. The Shepherd had climbed to his position on the corpses of uncountable denizens of hell, over a course of hundreds of millions of years, facing unending dangers. In comparison, these disciples of the House of God Ordainment who were picked out of a group of ten thousand, well, they were like nothing.

Laughing, Proud Radiance said, “You think you have some amazing prospects for the future, Lightning Dragonriser? Being a novice disciple of the House of God Ordainment is like being a flash in the pan! Are you aware that the Bloodgore Trials in the House of God Ordainment involve ten thousand novice disciples all fighting and killing each other until there’s only one left? You think you can survive something like that?”

Lightning Dragonriser laughed. “The only way to find out is to try, and I’m very confident. Once I'm an official disciple, your eldest brother Proud Triumphant won’t count for anything.”

“Why don’t we talk about that after you survive,” Proud Radiance said snidely. That said, he knew that if Lightning Dragonriser actually did become an official disciple of the House of God Ordainment, he would certainly be more impressive than Proud Triumphant.

The Proud Clan was powerful, but truth be told, they were on roughly the same level as the House of God Ordainment. And although the Proud Clan extended their influence almost everywhere, their subsidiary branches were often relatively powerless, and didn’t even know what the main branch was actually capable of.

Ignoring Proud Radiance, Lightning Dragonriser turned to Yang Qi, clasped hands, and said, “Who would’ve thought that an expert like this would appear in the Lightningbolt Continent? Salutations!”

Despite the politeness of his words, the truth was that they contained an immensely powerful force that bordered on an attack.

In response, Yang Qi merely clasped his hands formally and prepared to meet the onslaught. It was obvious that Lightning Dragonriser was simply curious to see what he was capable of, and was thus probing him a bit. As he stood there, he secretly sent out some godpower to defend himself.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Yang Qi felt like his chest, back, head, and even his feet were being pummeled by a powerful fist attack.

However, thanks to being prepared, he was only slightly shaken, and managed to dispel the force of the attack, then used the energy arts of King Heaven-Devourer to consume the resulting fluctuations.

That said he was definitely surprised that his opponent could, with a mere clasping of the hands, send energy to hit his back and the top of his head. And that wasn’t to mention the bizarre fact that the bottoms of his feet had also been hit.

Meanwhile, Lightning Dragonriser was similarly taken aback. He had just used a secret magic from the House of God Ordainment, something called the Shadowless Emptiness Godfist. It was a very powerful technique that made the fist and the heart empty, and through true emptiness, brought about true fullness. By the multitude of variations of true energy that resulted, it could make invisible attacks from virtually any angle.

However, when the attack hit Yang Qi, it was like a statue of an ox tossed into the sea, and had no effect whatsoever.

‘How could this guy’s energy arts be so advanced? And he hasn’t reached godly ascension yet? It was by sheer chance that I met an elder from the House of God Ordainment and helped him out with some matters, which led me to learning a few of his moves. That elder said that I'm an outstanding figure among Quasi-Gods, but I couldn’t even lay hands on this guy! His energy is as strong as a mountain and as deep as a sea. He's definitely much stronger than me.’

Smiling, he said, “You have my sincere respect, Brother Yang. Your energy arts are extremely profound, more so than I imagined. I find it hard to believe that you’re just a mere wanderer. The energy arts of wanderers are usually nothing worth mentioning. How could you possibly be so skilled, Brother Yang?”

“You flatter me,” Yang Qi replied with a faint smile, not wanting to reveal any of his secrets.

“If you aren’t already a member of some organization, why not join the House of God Ordainment? We’re recruiting novice disciples right now, and the Bloodgore Trials will be beginning soon. Given the level of your cultivation base, Brother Yang, you could definitely come out on top of a group of ten thousand opponents. And then you’d be an official disciple of the House of God Ordainment.”

“Oh?” Yang Qi said curiously. “But Brother Lightning, aren’t you a novice disciple as well? You’ll take your place in the Bloodgore Trials as well, which means that if we fought each other, one of us would have to die. Wouldn’t that be picking up a rock only to drop it on one’s own foot?”

“No, it wouldn’t.” Lightning Dragonriser replied. “You see, there are going to be something around a billion people joining the Bloodgore Trials. Each individual group only has ten thousand members. With a hundred thousand such groups, there’s no way both of us would be in the same one.”

“In that case, maybe I’ll give it a shot.” Yang Qi had known all along that he would need to join some sort of organization. To gain enlightenment, enter the field. To gain further enlightenment, live in the world. To gain the greatest enlightenment, participate in the court. In the god world, the powerful sects were like royal courts. And the House of God Ordainment was one of the powerful sects. He would most likely have access to better cultivation resources there, and would also have the protection provided by a large organization.

Obviously, Lightning Dragonriser was trying to recruit him in the hopes of building up his own base of power. But when soldiers come, send a general to stop them. Right now, Yang Qi didn’t think of Lightning Dragonriser as being even close to a threat.