Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“A hundred...?” The grand elder from the Dragon Society involuntarily laughed. “Very ambitious, Grand Elder Hong Lie. Why not just resort to highway robbery?”

“It’s not ambitious at all,” Hong Lie replied. “In fact, it’s a very low sum. Jadefall’s Master personally asked me to watch out for Yang Qi, so if I help frame him, I’ll have to deal with her revenge. Unless you’re telling me the Dragon Society will stand in to protect me.”

“He’s a nobody!” Meng Guo growled. “Do you think that the Dragon Society is in the habit of just throwing our resources away?!”

“In that case, I guess we're done here. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about what we talked about today. We can just pretend it never happened. By the way, Yang Qi is planning to stay in seclusion for ten years. We’ve already arranged for a comfortable study for him in the Scripture Pavilion.”

The Scripture Pavilion had a lot of influence of its own. For example, disciples who worked there could get access to higher levels to learn techniques or work on their enlightenment. If Yang Qi was going to be in seclusion for ten years, there was no amount of plotting or scheming that could do anything to him.

“Fine, fine,” said Meng Guo. “I had no idea you were such a shrewd businessman, Grand Elder. Unfortunately, I don’t have the authority to agree to a payment of a hundred Paramount god pills. I’ll need to ask my superiors about that. Please wait a moment.”

With that, he flew up into the air and vanished without a trace.

Bai Yin and Hong Lie simply waited. About four hours later, Meng Guo returned. “They agreed. However, we can only agree to give you half the pills up front. The other half we’ll give you after the task is complete.”

“How very generous of you. I almost can’t believe you’re willing to spend that much just to frame a nobody. On the black market, you could spend this much to get the head of a Greater God.”

“The deal is done!”

Before handing over the bag of medicinal pills, though, Meng Guo said, “Remember, you can’t breathe a word of this to anyone. And you need to accomplish the deed within three days. If you can’t, you’ll have to return the medicinal pills. Got that? The Dragon Society won’t let this matter drop if you mess things up.”

“That’s fine,” the grand elder said with a faint smile. “As a grand elder in charge of managing the Scripture Pavilion, if I couldn't handle an official disciple, then how could I do anything? Three days? No problem, we’ll get it done. But once we do, you’d better not get stingy and withhold the rest of the pills. If you do, I’ll make sure the truth comes out and Yang Qi gets justice. I'm not going to offend Jadefall’s Master for no reason!”

“Don’t worry. As long as you do the job, you’ll get your medicinal pills right away.”

With that, Meng Guo handed the bag of pills over to Hong Lie.

Hong Lie laughed heartily. “With these pills I finally have the hope of becoming a Greater God!” Taking out one of the pills, he saw that it was as big as a longan fruit and looked as if it were made from amber. It even contained a starry sky of its own. “This is a Double-Nines God-Dragon Starry-Sky Pellet, right?”

“That’s right. Those are Double-Nines God-Dragon Starry-Sky Pellets, personally concocted by our leader Dragon Floret. In order to concoct them, he killed a Greater God of the Dragonfolk and used his blood and core vitality along with all sorts of other rare medicinal ingredients. Then he purified it with his Paramount will. Normally speaking, the Dragon Society only hands out pills like those as a reward for immense services rendered.”

“Once this matter is over, you’ll definitely be rewarded,” Bai Yin said with a smile. “I've heard that Dragon Floret wants to use Yang Qi as a threat against Jadefall. Your Dragon Society has influence with the Law-Enforcement God-Palace, so any disciple who gets convicted of a crime will be under your control, am I right? Once Yang Qi is in custody, Jadefall won’t be able to do a thing to fight you, and you’ll get her pet.”

The elder with the godhood rating of six snorted coldly. “Hmph! Very smart, boy.”

“Let’s go,” said Hong Lie. “We’ll send news within three days. In the meantime, prepare the pills you owe us.”

With that, he and Bai Yin flew off.

Grinding his teeth, the elder said, “You’re really handing those pills over, just like that? Those were all Double-Nines God-Dragon Starry-Sky Pellets!”

“Calm down,” said Meng Guo. “Bai Yin was right. As long as we accomplish this mission, we’ll be handsomely rewarded. And if our leader can use the blood of that pet to reach the Unbounded level of will convergence, we can completely take over the entire House of God Ordainment. Besides, do you really think it will be easy for them to keep those pills? When the time comes, we’ll exterminate them and take them back. Anyone who has the gall to screw with the Dragon Society deserves to die!”

“But he’s a Common God! We can’t just kill someone like that, can we?” Killing Bai Yin might not be a big deal, but killing a grand elder would be very difficult to cover up.

“Even Greater Gods who get in our way will be killed! Believe you me, once our leader breaks through to the Unbounded level, it's a given that he’ll become the houselord of our House of God Ordainment. When he has the real power, people will have to submit to him and prosper, or oppose him and perish. And you and I can both rise to the top with him!” He flicked his sleeve. “You’re dismissed. Let’s see what happens over the next three days.”

Meanwhile, Bai Yin and Hong Lie had arrived back at the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

Once inside, Hong Lie’s appearance suddenly shifted, and in the blink of an eye, he was someone else. Yang Qi!

“Brother Yang Qi, you were amazing,” Bai Yin said, clicking his tongue in amazement. “I can’t believe you fooled a Common God! Truly incredible! You’re definitely far stronger than me. Where did you get the aura of a Common God?”

“You flatter me. I just so happen to have a Common God friend who gave me some godhood aura. That’s what made the disguise perfect.” The truth was that he had used his Life-Death Void-Destruction God-Lightning to disguise himself. And considering he had Paramount will convergence, he could pass himself off as a Greater God if he wanted to, much less a Common God.

Having been aware of the plot, he’d recruited Bai Yin to help and the two of them had successfully conned the Dragon Society.

“It’s a good thing Meng Guo didn’t attack us. You wouldn’t have been able to keep up the disguise then. And although we're stronger than the average Lesser God, we’d end up dead if we fought a Common God.” Bai Yin was still shivering from fear.

“I'm very impressed by your spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice, Bai Yin,” Yang Qi said, his eyes glittering. “You’re even willing to stand by my side in defying the Dragon Society. Aren’t you worried about the consequences? In three days, they’ll realize they were fooled, and you’ll be in great danger.”

“Ah, what’s there to be scared of? We got paid under the table. Besides, I’ve never grovelled in my entire life.” He chuckled darkly. “They can’t very well accuse us publicly, so why shouldn’t we con them? Do you really think they’ll tell everyone they bribed us with medicinal pills to frame someone for a crime?”

“Obviously not,” Yang Qi said. “But they could try some underhanded tricks.”

“Look, you’re not afraid of the Dragon Society, so why should I be?” Bai Yin shrugged his shoulders casually. “I'm a man who wants to form monarch godhood. If I was a coward, how could I ever succeed with that?”

“Alright!” Yang Qi said, clasping his shoulder. “As a matter of fact, Bai Yin, you made a really good decision here. One of these days, I’ll make sure you understand why. You’re really going to benefit from this. I guarantee you that your fate is going to transform significantly.”

“Hmm?” Bai Yin looked at Yang Qi as if he didn’t know him. “How come you sound like an important person all of a sudden? Hey. Where are you from anyway?”

“I’ll explain everything later,” Yang Qi said, waving his hand dismissively. “Now, let’s split up these medicinal pills. How about fifty/fifty?”

“That works for me. By the way, what are you planning to do with so many medicinal pills designed to boost godpower? To form monarch godhood, we need to improve our fleshly body and psychic power. Godpower won’t really help. I mean, my virtual godhood is already completely full.”

“In that case, give the pills to me,” Yang Qi said. “I need as many as I can get. And I’ll make it up to you by purifying you in body and soul.”

Crack!

Before Bai Yin could do anything, Yang Qi’s hand had latched onto his head, rendering him completely immobile. Then he felt immense godpower flowing through him as cracking sounds rang out, making him feel like he was falling apart as countless noxious liquids emerged from his pores.

Then a burning fire raged through him, crystallizing his godpower and pushing his psychic scale higher and higher. The impurities were burned away and, in the end, Bai Yin was surrounded by golden light, including a halo floating behind his head. And he pulsed with a magnificent aura.

Yang Qi retracted his energy arts, and a short time later, Bai Yin opened his eyes. “My body. It’s been rebuilt on a fundamental level! I never even imagined that something like this could be possible. I'm so strong!” Looking at his hands in wonderment, he continued, “With a physical form like this, I have a much better chance of developing Paramount will convergence and forming monarch godhood!”

“I don’t think so,” Yang Qi said. “Monarch godhood isn’t as simple as that. Truth be told, Bai Yin, forming monarch godhood is simply too difficult. But if that’s your choice, then do as you will. In any case, after remolding your body just now, you have the capacity for a lot more godpower. That said, you’re still light years away from reaching the Paramount level. The further you go along this path, the more you’ll understand. Once you've reached enlightenment on the topic, you’ll see how difficult monarch godhood is.”