Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The ‘exalted Dream’ laughed softly. “If I couldn’t assess you, wouldn’t that imply that you’re stronger than me? In any case, it's good that you've chosen to join the Crown Prince Society. Congratulations on making the right decision. Henceforth, you’re going to rise rapidly through the ranks. You won’t regret this.”

“Might I inquire how to address you?” Yang Qi asked.

“I'm Dream Daylily,” she replied coolly. “Now, step forward. The process to join the Crown Prince Society is very simple. This is a medallion personally crafted by the crown prince. Place a drop of blood on it and swear an oath to be loyal to him. That’s it. Afterward, you’ll be a member.”

She waved her hand, causing an altar to appear, atop which was a small flag. Beneath the flag was a medallion crafted from jade.

Stepping forward, Yang Qi forced out a drop of blood and let it fall onto the medallion. “I hereby swear loyalty to the crown prince and his society. Never shall I betray it.”

The blood was absorbed by the medallion, and Yang Qi suddenly felt as if he were being connected to something immense and mighty.

Of course, it was a connection to the crown prince.

The crown prince had already reached the Unbounded level of will convergence, and had used that power to create a warding spell in the medallion. Of course, the warding spell wouldn’t work on Yang Qi. He had been expecting something like it, and was prepared.

In fact, he had turned the tables on this crown prince, and planned to use this chance to spy on him a bit, and hopefully discover whether or not he really was connected to the Crown Prince from the impure lands.

If he was, more caution would be required.

Thankfully, even if they were connected, there was no way the crown prince here could know what had played out in the impure lands.

“Very well, the ceremony is over.” Dream Daylily was pleased to see how decisively Yang Qi acted, and was already feeling good about recruiting him. “You’re now a member of the Crown Prince Society. As such, no one will ever dare to bully you.” She waved her hand, and a stream of light shot over to Yang Qi’s hand, which resolved into the shape of a handkerchief. “That’s the Silkcloud Kerchief, a god item I personally created. If you ever run into trouble, even from a Greater God, you can activate it to resolve the situation.”

“Many thanks,” Yang Qi said, plastering a look of extreme gratitude onto his face. Of course, the truth was that the thing might as well have been a literal piece of trash to him.

“You’ll receive many other benefits as a member of the Crown Prince Society, especially considering your attitude. Some people who want to join suddenly get reluctant when they're asked to pledge their loyalty. Faceless bastards!” She smiled coldly. “But considering your attitude, I can assure you that you won’t regret your decision.” Raising her voice, she said, “Girls, get in here!”

“Ma’am! What orders do you have?”

Three handmaidens entered. To Yang Qi’s surprise, they were all Common Gods, and they were all dazzlingly beautiful.

“This is Yang Qi, a new member of the Crown Prince Society. Take him to pick a girl, and let him drain her dry. Who’s considered the most desirable girl right now?”

“Exalted Dream,” one of the women said,” the most desirable girl right now is one that just finished her training and graduated from the Chapel. Her name is Summer Tearfall. She cultivated the Profound-Jade Sex-Goddess Liquid-Jade Divine Art in her training. She’s originally from the Nacrelight Sageland, and was captured with a larger group of women from there during a clash between our organizations. She’s a peak Lesser God, but with the Profound-Jade Sex-Goddess Liquid-Jade Divine Art, she could be an amazing asset to any man who bedded her. A Lesser God who takes her virginity could easily become a Common God. That said, she’s worth a huge amount of money. In fact, it might even be better to auction her off....” [1]

“Auction her? Is the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty really so low on funds that we need to auction things off?” Dream Daylily chuckled coldly. “Spare no expense here. Call this Summer Tearfall out and deliver her to one of the rooms for Yang Qi to drain.”

“Yes, we’ll handle it right away.” The handmaidens quickly left.

“Hurry up and offer thanks to the exalted Dream Daylily!” Cold Jade said, the envy visible on his face. Back when he had joined the Crown Prince Society, he’d received similar treatment, which was why his godhood was so unique.

Yang Qi offered his thanks.

Before long, the handmaidens returned with a beautiful young woman in tow. She had large eyes and was surrounded by an enticing aroma. That said, her face was expressionless, making her seem almost like the walking dead. It was obvious why; her fate was to be sold, her virginity paid for and her vitality drained. It was obviously going to be a miserable fate. Women like this were essentially thralls designed for the benefit of others’ cultivation. Their godpower would be drained away, and in the end, they would simply die.

“Yang Qi, this young woman is Summer Tearfall. She’s worth over a hundred thousand godnotes, or perhaps even more to someone who fancies her. She's yours now. Use her to get stronger, and you’ll be better equipped to handle tasks for the society.”

“Many thanks for the reward,” Yang Qi said. “That said, I don’t need methods like this to improve my cultivation base, and harming innocents goes against my code of conduct. Therefore, I must reject the offer. That said, I’d like to pay the godnotes to buy her outright.”

Even as the words left his mouth, he produced two hundred thousand godnotes, then plopped them down on the table.

“So many godnotes! That’s no small sum!” Looking visibly taken aback, Dream Daylily eyed Yang Qi. “Where did you get so much wealth?”

“Simple,” Yang Qi said coolly. “I have a business called the Sage Monarch Consortium. You might even have heard of it, oh exalted Dream Daylily.”

“Sage Monarch Consortium?” She thought for a moment. “Yes, I remember hearing about a business selling certain ancient medicinal ingredients. Definitely an up and coming consortium. They’ve even been coming into direct competition with the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. I’d been planning to strike a blow against it, but if it belongs to you, I won’t need to. Things couldn’t have worked out better.”

“Yes,” Yang Qi said. He was quite pleased to have spared some difficulty for the Sage Monarch Consortium. He had been able to tell right away that his business would be in direct competition with this restaurant.

“I'm a member of the Crown Prince Society now, but I haven’t made any worthy contributions, and that means I don’t deserve any rewards. Therefore, I won’t take advantage of this young woman. That said, I still want to buy her. There is virtue in sparing life, so please, just let her leave.”

“Leave? I'm afraid that won’t be possible. She might have impressive energy arts, but they were specifically imparted to her so that she could give them to others. She can’t do anything in a fight. Given her skill and ability, she’d only be recaptured and end up suffering the same fate. Since you run the Sage Monarch Consortium, why not have her work as a servant there?”

“Hurry up and thank the young sir!” the other handmaidens said, cursing Summer Tearfall.

However, her face remained as expressionless as before.

Yang Qi didn’t seem to take any exception to her attitude. “I only hope that I can meet the crown prince one day and admire him in all his glory. And if he gave me even a small tip about cultivation, I would be boundlessly grateful.”

“Perform some meritorious services, and you’ll be able to meet him,” Dream Daylily said. “Aren’t you a friend of Jadefall’s? It would be very simple to get her into the Crown Prince Society as well. If you could pull that off, the crown prince would definitely give you an audience, and he’d surely help you form Paramount will convergence. What do you think?”

“Er...” Yang Qi said, “that might be hard to pull off, but I’ll do my best.”

“I’ll wait for the good news. In the meantime, do your best to recruit other talented people for our society. If you recruit a capable Lesser God, you’ll be rewarded in kind. Recruit a Common God, and you’ll be doubly rewarded. For Greater Gods, you’ll receive even more amazing rewards. Perhaps you’ll even be allowed to enter the treasure storehouse in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty and pick something you like. Considering what you’re capable of, you should do well. Of course, the Greater Gods of the House of God Ordainment won’t be easy to recruit, but you can try.”

‘The treasure storehouse of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty?’ Yang Qi thought, his heart pounding a bit. He had to wonder if the piece of the Mahātmā Jade was stored there. The Mahātmā Jade was the entire reason he was going through with this whole scheme. That said, he wasn’t in a hurry. Technically speaking, he could instantly recruit Crimson-Maiden Inferno, the White-Haired Boxer King, and Exalted Celestial Silver-Saber into the Crown Prince Society if he wanted to. But that would cause too much of a stir, and draw the wrong kind of attention.

“Very well,” Dream Daylily said, “let's call it a day. Going forward, you work for the Crown Prince Society, and do everything in your power to advance its interests. This jade medallion is an authentication device linking you to our society. It allows us to communicate any tasks you might need to complete. Understand?”

Yang Qi nodded vigorously. “Yes! I’ll take my leave now, and bring Summer Tearfall with me.”

“That’s fine.”

Yang Qi turned to leave, whereupon he heard Dream Daylily say, “Cold Jade, you stay. You’ve earned a reward for recruiting Yang Qi....”

Yang Qi didn’t bother trying to eavesdrop. Cold Jade had a devil embryo in him, which meant Yang Qi could easily listen in on the conversation he was about to have with Dream Daylily.

After leaving, he didn’t go back to the god kingdom, but instead went to the Sage Monarch Consortium’s headquarters.

“My respects, Milord!” Zhang Jufang said. He was now a Lesser God. “The Sage Monarch Consortium has been doing great business lately. That said, we’ve been butting heads with the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. What do you suggest we do? Back down, or force a conflict?”

“Just keep doing business as normal. The Eternal-Life God-Dynasty won’t cause any problems. How are the rest of my people doing? Have any of them been by recently?”

“The exalted Brahma, the exalted Jadefall, the exalted Shepherd... they all come by occasionally. Because of that, no one dares to pick a fight with us. Milord, I also received one of those skulls as a reward, which enabled me to kill a Greater God from the dao of devils who came to cause problems. Later, we actually worked out a deal with some sects from the dao of devils. Some of them should be coming soon to fence some stolen goods.”

1. Summer Tearfall: This is a contrived name that conforms to the Chinese system of surname first, given name last. So her surname is Summer and her given name is Tearfall. As for why I chose to translate this instead of transliterate, you’ll find out later....