Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“They’re almost here.”

Yang Qi was fully aware of everything the Second Devil General was up to, and it was the same with Dugu Hong and the others. And it was a given that the heavenly caliber godstones he had provided would get them somewhere with the patriarchs in the House of the Invincible.

Even as he said the words, a teleportation portal whirred to life.

The Second Devil General, Dugu Hong, and the others all stepped out, then knelt in front of Yang Qi.

“Milord,” Dugu Hong said, “I offer my most sincere and profound congratulations. You’re officially a viceroy now, appointed to serve in the Land of Dreamvoid. Here’s the official documentation, already stamped with an official seal. And this is your identity medallion.”

Dugu Hong handed the documents and medallion over to Yang Qi.

As Yang Qi took them, he shivered, and the flows of destiny around him shifted, immediately causing him to sense a connection to the net of law in the distant House of the Invincible.

He was now a viceroy. His position in the sect was completely different from before.

“Milord,” Dugu Hong continued, “as the viceroy of the Land of Dreamvoid, you have a lot of power. And considering what you’re capable of, becoming a viceroy of ten or even a hundred lands shouldn’t be difficult. According to the longstanding rules, new viceroys are supposed to go meet their direct superior, who is always one of the Three Preceptors or Nine Ministers. But we were worried that you and the Second Devil General might have a problem with that, so we used our connections to bypass that step. Thankfully, the wedding ceremony uniting the House of the Invincible and the Spritefolk has thrown everything into quite a bit of chaos, making it easier to bend the rules. Matters regarding ordinary viceroys aren’t considered hugely important anyway. It's only the viceroys of a hundred lands or more that really have to follow that rule.” [1]

“It’s fine either way,” Yang Qi said coolly. “I'm actually curious what the higher echelons of leadership are like. The Three Preceptors and Nine Ministers are the true leaders anyway. The viceroys are just feudal governors that don’t have any sway in the central government. And the destiny we get is like nothing compared to the Three Preceptors and Nine Ministers. That said, we should definitely keep the Second Devil General away from them. He’s much too aloof and arrogant, and if they demand that he starts bowing and scraping, he’ll likely flip out and cause a big scene.”

“Do I really seem that impulsive, boy?” the Second Devil General said.

Yang Qi ignored him, and instead kept asking questions of Dugu Hong. “You must’ve been rewarded for your recent actions. It seems you have a much better flow of destiny. Were you given a new appointment?”

“Yes, Milord. I'm no longer an imperial censor. I'm an arch minister. Arch ministers are much more powerful than imperial censors, and are even authorized to impeach important members of the court. Imperial censors are usually limited to viceroys with less than a hundred lands under their control. Viceroys more powerful than that are completely out of reach. But now, I can investigate and accuse viceroys with up to a thousand lands. Furthermore, new viceroys are constantly being added to the dynasty, and they’re expected to give me gifts, sometimes even minor kingdoms.”

Yang Qi nodded. “That’s great.”

The best gifts that could be given within the court of the House of the Invincible weren’t things like medicinal pills, magical treasures, godstones, godnotes, or martial arts techniques. No, the best gift was destiny.

For example, Dugu Nimou’s Crystalline Turtle Shell Kingdom.

It was the same in the impure lands. Things like gold and pearls were nice, but land was the most valuable thing of all. Along with land came servants, workers, houses, castles, and the like.

From ancient times until now, whether it was in the impure lands or the god world, things had always worked this way.

Yang Qi understood that fully.

Thankfully, the House of God Ordainment had never been something people would pass around as a gift, otherwise things might not have gone well for him there. Perhaps he never would have had a chance to rise to prominence.

Of course, the House of God Ordainment was simply too small. Nobody important would have cared a whit about it. And the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty wasn’t much better.

Perhaps the Deva Dynasty might have been attractive to some people, but it was so remote that it was unlikely anyone would have stumbled across it. In the god world, kingdoms like the Deva Dynasty numbered as many as the eternal sands.

“Let’s go. My empire’s already established, and it has a destiny valuation of five. As my cultivation base increases, it’ll expand and grow stronger. For now, I want to see what this Land of Dreamvoid is like.”

Yang Qi wanted to exercise full control over the place, as it would surely result in a nice boost in destiny.

Unfortunately, all viceroys were legally required to perform services to the House of the Invincible as a whole. And the rules were very strictly enforced. Every year, the viceroys were required to submit destiny to the sect. And the more destiny they provided, the more they were rewarded. That was why most viceroys worked as hard as possible to make their lands thrive.

There was plenty of scheming and infighting in the House of the Invincible, but trickery wasn’t tolerated at all when it came to contributing destiny.

“Second Devil General, I know you have no interest in governing your lands. But don't worry, I can help you. Jadefall, you work with him to manage his lands, while he focuses on the formalities only.” Yang Qi and Jadefall exchanged a knowing glance, and the purrling in her arms seemed to smile.

The reality was that Yang Qi was doing more and more to keep the Second Devil General under control. In the situation with Marquis Three Realms, he had intentionally held back in the hopes that Yang Qi might get hurt or killed. In the end, that didn’t happen. Furthermore, the Second Devil General had actually benefited significantly from the subjugated Marquis Three Realms.

For now, Yang Qi wasn’t going to place any significant trust in the devil general.

In the end, the Second Devil General was cooperating with Yang Qi for two main reasons: first, because he feared the God Legion Seal, and second, because he feared the purrling. The fact that the purrling had snuck into the halls of heaven and taken out a powerful thumb-ring had made a deep impression on the general.

If they got into a fight, the general wasn’t sure if it would end in mutual injury, or the purrling coming out on top. Neither was a good option. After all, the purrling had never been injured to date, which was very telling. When it met powerful obstacles, it responded with power. When it met weak resistance, it crushed it.

That was exactly why Yang Qi assigned Jadefall and the purrling to work with the Second Devil General.

“Hmph!” The Second Devil General knew exactly what was going on. But the fact was that he was now in a position where he wouldn’t have to do any work at all, yet could still benefit from the destiny. That meant he could continue his recovery, and work toward freeing himself from the God Legion Seal.

With that, Yang Qi drew on his daoist techniques.

Crack. Crunch.

The Cruiser of Civilization shrank down and flew into his sleeve. However, destiny continued flowing from it into Yang Qi. And inside the cruiser, his kingdom grew continuously. There was no true conflict or war, and resources were plentiful. The law was strictly enforced, and everyone enjoyed happy and productive lives.

Occasionally, Yang Qi would adjust the flow of time so that a single day on the outside would see ten or twenty years pass inside.

In other words, ten or twenty times as much destiny would be available on a daily basis.

Not everyone could do that. In fact, if the Cruiser of Civilization were in the hands of someone else, using it in that way might result in a loss of destiny. After all, resources were required to fuel growth.

But the Cruiser of Civilization had access to power from the halls of heaven. That power couldn’t be drained in a thousand years, much less ten. Therefore, speeding up time only came with benefits.

With all of his matters settled, Yang Qi headed to the House of the Invincible and his new Land of Dreamvoid.

Because it had been formally gifted to him, he didn’t need a map. As soon as he was in the House of the Invincible, he sensed the net of law, and knew exactly which way to go. He flew for several hours until the land appeared up ahead. Unexpectedly, it was about a third larger than the Land of Flowerhill.

This was one of the largest lands that Dugu Nimou had administered. Dugu Nimou had already been imprisoned, and had no hope of ever being freed.

Of course, he had been a viceroy of ten lands, which meant there were others to be redistributed. Three of them had been given to Dugu Hong and his people, and Yang Qi and the Second Devil General had been given one each. The remaining five had been distributed to other powerful groups.

It was a given that there were always people in the court looking to expand their power and influence.

Technically speaking, Yang Qi now controlled five lands, and it was all thanks to his heaven caliber godstones.

There was nothing blocking him as he landed on the surface of the Land of Dreamvoid. After all, his energy was connected to the net of law, giving him control of the armed forces in the Land of Dreamvoid. The experts present all felt the energy fluctuations of his arrival, and knew that the new viceroy had come.

There was no way for the leaders of the House of the Invincible to secretly mingle with the commoners. The energy fluctuations made it obvious who everyone was. Any subordinate who defied a superior would be punished by destiny. They could even have their godhood removed.

As the viceroy of the Land of Dreamvoid, Yang Qi could, with a single word, fire any of the police chiefs who worked for him. He could even have them skinned alive. And it was the same for anyone in his armed forces.

Because of that, revolt against the government wasn’t likely to happen.

Upon entering the viceroy’s mansion, Yang Qi found that there was a large group of top experts waiting for him. There were police chiefs, army officers, city magistrates, and other important people.

Even the weakest among them had Unbounded will convergence, and were early or mid Paramount Gods. All of them were nervous to see what their new viceroy would be like.

1. The Three Preceptors and Nine Ministers are real terms from Chinese history. The “Three Preceptors” were the three highest-ranking officials in the imperial court, with titles that changed from era to era. The “Nine Ministers” were nine powerful officials, although sometimes the “nine” part was figurative, and that term would basically be applied to all of the most powerful ministers of state. Collectively, this term basically refers to the top leaders of the land.