Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Exalted Celestial Silver-Dagger was ambitious and ruthless, so he quickly calmed down and said, “You beat us, Yang Qi. We’re under your control now. If you want us dead, we’ll be dead. And you even monitor our thoughts. So what choice do we have other than to follow your orders? What do you want us to do?”

“Nothing specific,” Yang Qi replied. “Just help me to build my power structure and start gathering wealth. Whatever resources you have available, bring them to me. I have a few sworn siblings in the House of God Ordainment that I’ll introduce you to soon. And I also have a business called the Sage Monarch Consortium that I want you to help expand. Understood?”

“Understood,” the White-Haired Boxer King said, not sounding the least bit defiant.

“Good. You can go now.” Yang Qi wasn’t worried about them trying anything funny. With the God Legion Seal controlling their thoughts, what could they possibly do?

With Greater Gods at his beck and call, his overall position in the sect was much more secure.

That said, Yang Qi could tell that, considering how difficult it was to actually control Greater Gods, his current psyche and will could only sustain a maximum of about ten of them. Any more than that and his control would wane.

If he didn't bother trying to advance his cultivation base, and literally didn’t do a single thing, then he might be able to control a hundred. But then he would be virtually defenseless if he had to actually fight someone.

And obviously, he would face cultivation problems. However, later on, when his psyche reached a more developed state and he broke through to the Unbounded level, he wouldn’t have such limitations.

‘The next task at hand is to get into the Crown Prince Society and see what’s going on there.’

With Crimson-Maiden Inferno, the White-Haired Boxer King, and Exalted Celestial Silver-Dagger under his control, Yang Qi felt a bit more at ease. So now he was able to deal with something else that had been weighing on him heavily recently: the crown prince of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

He wanted to get into the Crown Prince Society and see what this crown prince was all about, and whether or not he had any relation to the Crown Prince from the impure lands.

After all, it had oft been said that the Crown Prince in the impure lands was really ‘a god from heaven descended into the mortal world’.

Perhaps that Crown Prince was an extension of will sent by the crown prince of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. Yang Qi wasn’t worried about any ramifications if that was the case. After all, there was no way the owner of that expression of will would have any idea who Yang Qi was.

The extension of will had formed a new body in the impure lands, essentially becoming its own unique entity.

If the crown prince of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty and the Crown Prince from the impure lands were the same person, it would be easy to explain the entire situation. The crown prince of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty had obviously sent some of his will to the lower worlds as a unique entity, hoping he would gather certain treasures and ultimately bring them back to the god world.

The lower worlds had contained the God Legion Seal, King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, and countless other god items. And because gods couldn’t descend into the lower worlds, the only way to try to collect what remained of the almighty ancient entities was to send down expressions of will.

Generally speaking, even sending an expression of will to the lower worlds was considered impossible, and even now, Yang Qi had no idea how to do it.

By extension, that was why it was so miraculous that Proud Heaven had somehow personally traveled to the god world and returned to the impure lands.

There were many things in the god world that completely confounded Yang Qi’s ability to understand.

It was likely that, in ancient times, the god world and the impure lands had been connected. That would explain the existence of the god bastards, and how they had been relegated to life on the Ancient Road to the Gods.

In fact, during his time in the god world, Yang Qi hadn’t heard a single mention of the god bastards.

After thinking about the matter for a while, he produced a jade amulet and crushed it. Some time passed, and a figure approached. It was none other than Cold Jade.

When Cold Jade saw that Yang Qi was wearing the robe of a law enforcement disciple, he nodded. “You passed the exam and became a law enforcement disciple. Well done, Yang Qi. That said, I'm not surprised. Considering what you’re capable of, it was a foregone conclusion that you’d succeed. Have you finished thinking about my suggestion? Is that why you summoned me? Interested in joining the Crown Prince Society?”

“Yes, I'm in,” Yang Qi said.

“Alright!” Cold Jade said, smiling broadly. “In that case, I’ll take you to see one of the higher-ranking members. This isn’t someone from the House of God Ordainment, by the way. I’ll give you my endorsement, then once you’re a member, you’ll definitely advance by leaps and bounds.”

“Okay. Who exactly are you taking me to meet?”

“You’ll see soon enough.” The two of them flew to a nearby teleportation portal, which led them to another city named Coiling Dragon. It was outside of the House of God Ordainment’s god kingdom, but was still considered to be administered by the sect. That said, there were many outsiders there, as the city was a major trading hub. As for the city magistrate, he was a Greater God from the House of God Ordainment, a man named Exalted Celestial Coiling Dragon.

Yang Qi’s Sage Monarch Consortium had a branch in this city, and it was doing quite well. Because it was backed by the House of God Ordainment, no one would ever dare to cause trouble here.

Upon entering the city, the guards saw that Yang Qi was wearing the uniform of a law enforcement disciple, and as such, they didn’t dare to charge him the entry tax. And once Yang Qi and Cold Jade were walking through the city, everyone scurried out of their way, even some Common Gods. Even ordinary disciples of the House of God Ordainment would be respected here, much less law enforcement disciples.

“This uniform is pretty useful,” Yang Qi said. “People seem scared just seeing me.”

“Well that goes without saying,” Cold Jade replied. “Why else do you think people want to be law enforcement disciples so badly they’ll even risk their lives for the chance? Okay, here we are. This place is called the Eternal Mark. It’s a restaurant run by the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. Not even the House of God Ordainment would dare to cause problems here.”

The two of them entered the restaurant and were met with an extremely luxurious scene inside. They were now in a sumptuous god kingdom, filled with innumerable beautiful women, with fine wine and gourmet food everywhere. Of course, none of it was cheap. Yang Qi caught sight of a few disciples from the House of God Ordainment handing over stacks of godnotes to order food and purchase the services of the beautiful girls.

He even saw some female Lesser Gods that were nothing more than slave girls.

“What’s wrong?” Cold Jade asked, noticing his expression. “The slave girls here are all from organizations conquered by the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. The most beautiful girls go through special training that makes them so good in bed that afterward, you can hardly breathe. And if you're willing to pay, you can even absorb their godpower and take it for your own. Unfortunately, this place is really expensive. Too expensive for me, even. All the customers here are children of very important people. Either that, or they’re extremely powerful in their respective sects.”

Yang Qi shook his head. ‘I feel bad for these women,’ he thought. ‘They’re basically thralls, trained by the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty to use their own cultivation bases for the benefit of the customers. And eventually, they’re just sold. What a miserable fate.’

He knew of certain godly-class energy arts that women could cultivate to form pure yin bodies. Although it made them strong, if they lost their virginity, whatever man did the deed would reap an immense reward. Obviously, the men who patronized this establishment enjoyed ravaging women and absorbing their cultivation bases.

Seeing Yang Qi and Cold Jade enter, a man walked forward and said, “How can we help you, gentlemen?”

He was only a Quasi-God, but from this aura, it was obvious that he was no weaker than a Lesser God.

Cold Jade produced a jade amulet and said, “I'm here to see the exalted Dream.”

“Of course!” the man said, looking visibly surprised. Being as respectful as possible, he led them through the corridors into the depths of the restaurant. It was a unique heaven and earth, cut off from the rest of the world and filled with beautiful streams and ornamental rocks. Immortal cranes flew through the air, and the faint sound of zither music reached their ears. Eventually, they came to a stop in front of the zither player, who was a woman, her back to them as she played.

Cold Jade simply stood there respectfully until the music ceased.

“Cold Jade?” a woman asked. “Have you finally recruited someone into the Crown Prince Society? Is it your Master?”

“Exalted Dream, I dare not try to recruit my Master yet. But I did find someone of unusual talent that should be a great member. This is Yang Qi. He just became a law enforcement disciple, and is also a friend of Jadefall.”

“Oh? A friend of Jadefall?” The woman looked over her shoulder at Yang Qi, staring at him with eyes that seemed capable of piercing deep into his heart and mind.

‘This woman is a Consummate God!’ he thought, surprised to find someone like this here. Although she only released the aura of a Greater God, she couldn’t hide the truth of her cultivation base from him.

“Yes, I'm a friend of Jadefall,” he said. Considering he was dealing with a Consummate God, there was no way he could infect her with a devil embryo. He had to be very, very careful, lest he reveal the wrong information. If she knew the truth about him, she would very likely try to kill him.

“You’re strong,” she said, looking him up and down. “A godhood rating of nine, early Lesser God. Not bad at all.”

Yang Qi had loosened his Devil-God Seal a bit, lest he make himself seem too weak. At the same time, he pretended to be surprised that she had seen through to the ‘true’ level of his strength.

“What?!” he exclaimed. “You can actually assess me? Very few people can see through my concealment!”