Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Brahma had once been a god, but had fallen into the impure lands and been dismembered, then suppressed by Proud Heaven for years upon years. Eventually he was freed, and followed Yang Qi into the House of God Ordainment. Now he had recovered, and thanks to the experience he had gained, was a Lesser God again.

His godhood rating was nine, but his godpower was different from the Shepherd’s; when he formed his godhood, it crystallized into numerous characters that all read “Brahma”. There was something that seemed invincible about his godpower and will, and Yang Qi could see that he was actually holding back. If he wanted to, he could achieve another breakthrough right now and become a Common God.

Walking over, Brahma said, “I got help from a powerful person, and had access to even more resources than you did. But I have to admit, I still can’t measure up to you. To achieve Paramount will convergence while only a Quasi-God is unheard of. Countless people dream of it, but none have ever succeeded. You're the only one.”

“If I can’t do it,” Yang Qi said, “I don’t think anyone can.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. He had the God Legion Seal, sheepskin scroll, Mahātmā Jade, Seventy-Two Monarchs Energy Art, Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and the Unspoiled Body, all of which were considered consummate techniques in the god world. Plus, he had his Sage Monarch Grand Magic. If he couldn’t achieve Paramount will convergence with all of that, who in the god world possibly could?

“How have things been going for you, Brahma?” Yang Qi asked.

“Very well. I follow a Greater God called Nāgārjuna. He's very powerful, just on the verge of breaking through to the Consummate God level. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’ll succeed. In my previous life, I used a deadly god item to reach the Consummate God level, so I know full well how difficult that is. In fact, I'm even worried about my own chances. But if you form monarch godhood, you should be able to help all of us. You know, Yang Qi, forming monarch godhood requires an indescribably huge amount of power. In fact, it’s a level of power that can destroy almost anything. Given your current rate of cultivation, it’s going to take years to finish, even with the help of medicinal pills. And ordinary medicinal pills won’t do any good. You’ll need Paramount medicinal pills.”

“You’re right,” Yang Qi said, “and unfortunately I don’t have any medicinal pills like that right now. Even a single Paramount pill is incredibly expensive. Even though I can make godnotes and godstones now, it wastes too much godpower.”

The Shepherd chuckled. “As they say, even the rich landlord runs out of money eventually. Don’t tell me you’re going to ask us for help! We’re all dirt poor!”

Yang Qi laughed. “Don’t worry, what's yours is yours. I won’t ask for it. I’ll form my monarch godhood on my own merits, building up every drop of godpower myself. In fact, you could say that I'm not building godhood, but humanity and confidence. How could one possibly build monarch godhood with the help of others?”

“Yang Qi, I'm here!”

“Me too.”

Whooshing sounds could be heard as several people landed on the mountain peak, including Proud World, Doom, Eldest Brother Mage Cloudwalker, and Elder Seventh Brother Meng Shafan.

Everyone else was either on missions, out training, or in seclusion.

Those who had come were all gods. As for Doom, he was even stronger than Brahma, being a Common God. He’d once been a bearer of the God Legion Seal, and had immense destiny, perseverance, and wisdom, so it was little surprise that he would achieve such progress.

His natural aptitude obviously surpassed everyone else, considering he had been selected to bear the God Legion Seal.

“You’ve all done very well,” Yang Qi said. “Do any of you know how Jadefall is doing? I heard she got a very high position of some sort.”

“She's very well-regarded right now,” Doom said. “However, she's out on another mission. She’s representing our House of God Ordainment to offer greetings and gifts of longevity to the emperor of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty as one of a group of top students who were selected for the task. One of the main goals of the mission is to make sure the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty knows what kind of top disciples we have here in the House of God Ordainment.”

Doom had access to better information, thanks to being a Common God.

The Eternal-Life God-Dynasty was an immense organization of a similar size to the House of God Ordainment, both of them superpowers with Paramount Gods. In fact, many other top organizations in the god world viewed the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty as the leader of all the other organizations. In that larger scheme of organizations, the House of God Ordainment was like a government official, whereas the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty was like the emperor. And when the emperor had a major birthday, the officials would obviously deliver gifts.

“Jadefall’s purrling is famous now,” the Shepherd said. “In the impure lands, the purrling was invincible, so I think we all assumed that when it got into the god world, it would be less impressive. Who could’ve guessed that it would remain just as invincible? It can even humiliate Greater Gods, and I suspect that even Consummate Gods probably wouldn't be able to deal with it. Because of that, no one can do anything to Jadefall.”

“I see,” Yang Qi said, nodding. “Well, it seems that my association with Jadefall has made me the target of some important person. Hey, hold on a second. Why isn’t Yang Immortal-Slayer here?”

Yang Immortal-Slayer was none other than this immortal-slaying clone.

At that point, a projection of will emerged from the talisman he was holding. “I'm in secluded cultivation, Yang Qi, at a very important juncture. The will of King Immortal-Slayer reached out to me and is helping me form Paramount will convergence. I'm going to have monarch godhood! King Immortal-Slayer is in a very dangerous situation; the Great Necropolis fell into the hands of a Paramount god, who’s using it to assimilate him! If that Paramount God succeeds, he’ll gain control of the Great Necropolis, King Immortal-Slayer, and the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart! That’s why he’s helping me. Because of making my attempt to be the first person to achieve monarch godhood, I can’t even send a projection there to meet you.”

The Shepherd burst out laughing. “Yang Immortal-Slayer, didn’t you know that Yang Qi has already reached the Paramount level? He’s the first! That said, I can’t wait to see how this all turns out. You’re his clone, so if you can also form monarch godhood, just how strong will the two of you be?”

Yang Qi wasn’t laughing. “The Great Necropolis fell into the hands of a Paramount God? What happened to Proud Heaven? Is that Paramount God in the Proud Clan? Or was Proud Heaven killed by someone? That seems unlikely. Proud Heaven isn’t the kind of person who’ll die easily. It must be a Paramount God from the Proud Clan. This matter must be more complicated than it seems, so we have to be careful.”

Yang Zhan, as well as Peaklords Celestial and Memory, were all out on important missions, but they had also reached godly ascension.

Right now, the only people who weren’t gods were Yang Qi and Yang Immortal-Slayer, both of whom wanted to complete their monarch godhood. And considering that Yang Immortal-Slayer had the help of King Immortal-Slayer, he was fairly confident in his ability to succeed.

“I didn’t just call this meeting to have a reunion,” Yang Qi said. “I have an important matter I need help with. Like I said, I'm being targeted because of my connection to Jadefall....” He went on to describe everything regarding the Missions Sanctuary and the meeting between the elder and the grand elder.

Doom’s expression flickered. “What? That’s what they’re doing? I wonder if this person they’re referring to is him.”

“Who are you talking about?” Yang Qi asked. “In the hope of not attracting too much attention, I've been sticking to the lower echelons of the House of God Ordainment. That's why I'm only an official disciple. Considering all of you are elite disciples with Greater Gods as your Masters, you must know more about the higher levels than I do.”

“There’s a very important faction in the House of God Ordainment called the Dragon Society,” Doom said. “The leader of the Dragon Society is named Dragon Floret. He’s young, but extremely ambitious, and is in the position to compete with the junior houselord himself. He’s known to be a Consummate God, and according to the rumors, he’s about to break through to the Perfect God level. And while his will convergence is known to be in the late Paramount level, he’s very close to the Unbounded level already. He’s considered the top disciple in the House of God Ordainment and is one of a handful of children of primeval chaos. If he wants to break through, he has to worry about the purrling. And if he succeeds and achieves Unbounded will, not even Paramount Gods would be able to kill him.”

It was a given that the Unbounded level was vastly more powerful than the Paramount level.

“Dragon Floret?” Yang Qi said. The name made him think of a dignified and imposing person who could control the entire cosmos, crush universes, and alter the dao of heaven. A person like that would definitely be able to perceive the workings of heaven. Thankfully, Yang Qi was a Fateless One and existed outside of such purvey.

“If Dragon Floret is plotting against you, there’s no way you can fight back,” Doom said. “Having been in the House of God Ordainment for more than a year, I've come to know the rules quite well. He won’t be able to outright kill you, but he can definitely take you captive and use you as a threat against Jadefall. Of course, he also knows that the purrling can destroy him.”

“He won't find it easy to make a move against me,” Yang Qi said. “How much power and influence do you have? Is it enough to do anything to the Dragon Society?”

1. Nāgārjuna was a real Buddhist philosopher. In Chinese, his name is literally “dragon tree”. .

2. Dragon Floret: Based on my research, I believe the inspiration for his name comes from something called the “dragon-flower tree”, which my Buddhist dictionary says “will be the bodhi-tree of Maitreya, the Buddhist Messiah, when he comes to earth”. The actual character for “flower” isn’t the common character, but rather a more archaic version. That’s why I'm using “floret” instead of “flower”.