Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi flew away with Dugu Hong, yet again headed into the depths of the House of the Invincible, but this time in a different direction from the Palace of Destiny. He was heading to the base camp of the grand exarchs’ faction, which was none other than the Land of Officials.

It was the main headquarters for the government officials in the dynasty.

They were extremely powerful politically, and were constantly at odds with the armed forces and the destinors.

As they flew along, Dugu Hong said, “Milord, the person you’ll be meeting is Duke Nine Cauldrons. He's extremely powerful and influential, and is considered a cornerstone of the dynasty. Be very careful in dealing with him, sir.”

“Got it,” Yang Qi replied. “I've heard of him. He’s a bigshot among the political advisors. Don't worry, I know what to do and say. Eventually, this will bring benefits to you, as well.”

“Excellent.”

Soon, they were approaching the Land of Officials, which was many tens of thousands of times larger than the Land of Dreamvoid. It was clearly a glorious and luxurious place where the destiny surged bright. And it abounded with the energy of confucians.

It was just what Yang Qi had expected.

The gathering place of the grand exarchs was a location where confucian experts abounded, people who excelled at governing nations.

Confucian academies were generally powerful in the god world. For example, there was the League of Academies, which Yang Qi had yet to conquer. When it came to matters of national destiny and the flourishing of nations, no one could surpass the confucians.

As soon as Yang Qi and Dugu Hong landed, a group of imperial censors approached to ask their business and direct them to their destination.

Before long, they entered an enormous, sprawling library that covered an area of ninety thousand kilometers. The aroma of books filled the area, and in fact, it was like a world of books unto itself. And with books came the aura of civilization, which was very inspiring to Yang Qi.

As it turned out, this library was actually an enormous magical treasure.

“This place is the incarnation of an actual book,” Dugu Hong explained. “Its title is Book of Heavenly and Earthly Wisdom and Knowledge. It's an ancient text that was born directly out of primal-chaos.”

“Incredible.” Yang Qi stepped inside and found himself surrounded by constant transformations, as well as a pervasive aura of wisdom and antiquity.

In the depths of the ancient library was a desk, behind which was seated a middle-aged confucian scholar. The man had a long beard and a faint smile on his face as he perused a scroll book that apparently contained information about the transformations of the three realms. This was Duke Nine Cauldrons.

“My respects, exalted one,” Yang Qi said, bowing respectfully. Dugu Hong did the same.

Duke Nine Cauldrons’ cultivation base was superior to that of the priestess Yang Qi had dealt with shortly before. He didn’t dare to try probing him for details, especially considering how foreign the aura here was to him.

In all likelihood, he would be discovered if he tried doing something like that, which would put him in great danger.

“You’re Yang Qi?” Duke Nine Cauldrons said. “You have the aura of a confucian on you. Are you a confucian scholar?”

“Yes. I cultivated confucianism in the past, and even founded a flourishing academy. Unfortunately, Dragonfolk experts destroyed it. In my thirst for revenge, I went to the Bastille of the One God....” Yang Qi went on to fabricate a seamless tale about his exploits as a confucian.

“That’s wonderful,” Duke Nine Cauldrons said. “You’ve done well in administering your Land of Dreamvoid. It's providing incredible destiny to the sect, and of course, the Invincible Dynasty will see to it that you’re rewarded well for that. In fact, I’ll be submitting a request to the court regarding this matter in just a few days.”

“Many thanks, sir. Although, the Palace of Destiny is supposed to assess me soon, and—”

“Hmph!” Duke Nine Cauldrons interrupted with a cold snort. Rising to his feet, he said, “The Palace of Destiny wouldn’t dare do anything to you. Anyone can see how amazing your destiny contributions are. If Dugu Wanqing goes so far as to threaten you, it’ll be a clear violation of national law. Don’t worry, they might dare to try recruiting you, but they won’t cause problems for your destiny production. If they do, I’ll immediately report them to the court for investigation. The Palace of Destiny has been corrupt from its inception. We would’ve gotten rid of them a long time ago, if it weren’t for the fact that we need their skills and abilities to resurrect our patriarch. You see, a dynasty usually only needs two major branches: civil and military. The destinors are interlopers, and they’re worse than dogs. How could they possibly participate in important national affairs?!”

‘Who is this patriarch he's talking about resurrecting?’ Yang Qi thought.

Apparently, Duke Nine Cauldrons sensed his curiosity. “Patriarch Invincible of the Dugu Clan existed in the preheaven primal-chaos before the god world came to be. The current nine patriarchs are his descendants. Many years ago, the House of the Invincible waged war with the Sovereign Lord, and the patriarch was sealed with the Sovereign Lord’s Holy and Far-Reaching Consummate Omnicurse. He’s remained sealed ever since then, in perpetual slumber. Once he awakens, the House of the Invincible will once again rise to glory. The reason we need more destiny is that we have to awaken the patriarch.”

“Patriarch Invincible?” A completely preposterous idea had just occurred to Yang Qi.

“Do you know why we’re called the House of the Invincible?” Duke Nine Cauldrons asked. “The name comes from our first patriarch. He comes from the Dugu Clan, and was known as the Invincible Dugu. That’s why there are so many people surnamed Dugu in our dynasty. All of the patriarchs have his blood, and his people have proliferated over the past hundreds of millions of years, becoming incredibly powerful in the process.”

‘The Invincible Dugu is their founding patriarch!?’ Yang Qi was completely rocked with shock. He had come to the House of the Invincible in part to search for his Master, the Invincible Dugu.

And now he was being told that the Invincible Dugu was actually the first patriarch, except he was sealed in slumber. If that was the case, then who was his Master from the impure lands? Was he a will clone? A projection of some sort?

Things were getting very confusing.

“These are all confidential matters, but considering you're a member of the sect, you have the right to hear them. In any case, everyone knows about your amazing improvement of the destiny in your land. As a result, you deserve a reward. Men, come in!”

Several grand exarchs hurried in.

“Give him a copy of the Confucian Kingdom of Grand Righteousness from the bookshelf over there. And if I recall, the viceroy of the Land of Triplicity was recently assassinated by experts from the Dragonfolk. Henceforth, Yang Qi will be the viceroy of that land, making him a viceroy of two lands. Bring forth the Viceregal Seal!”

RUMBLE!

As soon as the title was officially conferred on Yang Qi, he felt a pleasing flow of destiny being added to him.

At the same time, some of the grand exarchs hurried over to a nearby bookshelf, from which they took an enormous book bound in what appeared to be a bronze turtle shell. Shockingly, the book contained an enormous kingdom within it, filled with living people. It was actually similar to Marquis Three Realms’ bottle gourd, and was obviously something very valuable.

The kingdom within the book was roughly the size of ten Deva Dynasties put together. And from the bright white destiny within, it was obviously a purely confucian nation.

It was an amazing gift.

‘Now this is a good reward,’ Yang Qi thought. If that priestess had given him a reward like this, he might have at least pretended to accept her offer. Instead, she chose to be stingy, which was something Yang Qi couldn't accept. In contrast, Duke Nine Cauldrons seemed to be pulling out all the stops, rewarding him with a viceroyship, destiny, and actual land.

Of course, there were likely spies among the experts in the kingdom he had been given, but he didn't care. He would just take it into the Sage Monarch Empire in the Cruiser of Civilization, and that would take care of everything.

One thing was for sure: it was going to be a big boost in destiny.

It was only now that Yang Qi was starting to get an idea of what the House of the Invincible was capable of. Even weak leaders would have personal kingdoms filled with flourishing destiny.

“You can take your leave now. Continue working hard for the House of the Invincible. I hope that by the end of the year, you’ll have even greater destiny. Incidentally, there’s something you should know. Managing your own lands isn’t anything particularly amazing. If you can expand the territory of the sect, you’ll be truly rewarded! That's when you can jump up to being the viceroy of ten, a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand lands.”

Nodding, Yang Qi took his leave.

After he was gone, Duke Nine Cauldrons looked at Dugu Hong and said, “What do you think of him, Dugu Hong?”

“Sir, I personally rescued him from death in the Bastille of the One God, where he obtained a huge amount of wealth. He has a feud with the Dragonfolk that can only be ended with seas of blood. He's been following all of the rules since he joined the House of the Invincible, and has accomplished a lot. He exposed Dugu Nimou, and refused to be enticed by the Palace of Destiny. I’d say he’s a very reliable person.” Of course, Dugu Hong was acting in line with what Yang Qi wanted.

“I see,” Duke Nine Cauldrons said. “He’s a genius that we should groom to his full potential. However, you need to keep an eye on him, as he’s only been in the House of the Invincible for a short time. Let’s see if he actually attempts to conquer some other territories. Ideally, he’ll clash with the army. Maybe you can hint to him that he should do that. Tell him that the army has been colluding with the Dragonfolk. If he can capture some Dragonfolk kingdoms, he’ll be rewarded with a higher position.”

“Yes sir!” Dugu Hong said, his eyes glittering with a strange light.