Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

These two young men were obviously extraordinary individuals. They had pierced the storms that surrounded the Dragon Compendium, and were obviously elites among elites, and top figures in the god world. Quickly assessing them, Yang Qi found that their psychic scales and godhood ratings were, at the very minimum, over ten billion. As for the exact numbers, he couldn’t tell for sure. For all he knew, they could be in the tens of billions.

After the level of ten billion, there were so many complicated interactions and transformations in psychic scales and godhood ratings that it was essentially considered another level altogether. It was more like half-Annulled, which meant that people like Yang Qi couldn’t assess or comprehend it.

“Incredible,” the Second Devil General said, his eyes glinting with malicious light. “These two are so strong that they’re on the same level as the God-Lords of old. It’s just as they say: each generation will produce talented individuals, and their classic works will survive for centuries. It's too bad I'm still not back at my peak. If I was, I could definitely crush at least one of these kids.”

“Wrong. Even at your peak, you couldn’t handle them. At best, you might be able to hold your own in a fight, or possibly get a tiny upper hand. But there’s no way you could crush either of them. Both of them are top potentates of the god world. One of them is from the House of the Invincible, and the other is from the House of the Chiliocosm. Both have a piece of the Mahātmā Jade, the very same magical treasure I have. By using the will fluctuations of the True Devil, they managed to stave off the psychic tempests of the King of Godmammoths. Very, very impressive. They definitely can’t absorb those pieces of jade into their thoughts like I have, though. They’ve turned them into usable magical treasures instead, so there's a big difference between how they’re using them, and how I am.

“There are few things I desire more deeply than pieces of the Mahātmā Jade. With those two pieces, my sage monarch magistrates would all become late Paramount Gods, which would make them capable of serving as viceroys. And I’d be so much stronger that dealing with the will of the King of Godmammoths wouldn’t be such a challenge. If the House of the Invincible and the House of the Chiliocosm both have pieces of the Mahātmā Jade, it means the Central Dynasty must also have one. For now, I’ll just wait patiently and watch how the situation develops. Maybe I’ll even have a chance to pull a fast one and get those two jade pieces. I wonder what those two are doing here anyway.”

Yang Qi remained hidden, yet continued drawing on the golden liquid from the river to strengthen himself.

The Second Devil General looked over at him and knew he was planning to just wait there, unmoving.

Both of these newcomers were superior to the Second Devil General. He currently had a psychic scale of five or six billion, which was a far cry from ten billion. And unfortunately, getting back to his previous level, let alone surpassing it, was going to be a very hard task. His inner devilishness had been sorely damaged.

With that, he joined Yang Qi in simply looking on.

The two young men landed on the Dragon Compendium, then exchanged a glance and burst out laughing.

“Brother Dugu Yunkong, we’re finally here. The Dragon Compendium. The King of Godmammoths’ tempests are strong, but with our pieces of the Mahātmā Jade formed into a yin-yang taiji symbol, we managed to get here. Without them, we would never have succeeded.”

“That’s right, Brother Yang Jian. This was no easy task that we accomplished. Luckily, of all the various heirs apparent in the Chiliocosm Dynasty, you managed to get the Mahātmā Jade.”

The ultimate patriarch of the Chiliocosm Dynasty was called the Lord of the Chiliocosm. However, his name was Yang Chiliocosm. Therefore, all of the true nobility in his kingdom were also surnamed Yang. It was similar to how viceroys in the Invincible Dynasty were all surnamed Dugu. Neither were actual surnames, but instead represented the fact that they were part of their respective dynasties.

“Brother Yunkong,” said Yang Jian, “you know full well I can’t measure up to you. It won’t be long now before you and Sprite Susu are married. And she’s the most powerful princess among the nobility. I heard that she actually ascended from the lower worlds, which caused a huge stir among the Spritefolk. After arriving in the god world, she shocked everyone by winning an amazing legacy, that of the Spritely Sage Grail. After assimilating that treasure, she became a true holy daughter to the countless Spritefolk. The Spritely Sage Grail is an ancient object born from primal-chaos, and it was what eventually brought the Spritefolk into existence. Over the hundreds of billions of years that followed, they turned the grail into a magical device that only the future leader of the Spritefolk can use to bring their people to glory. Considering all that, why hasn’t Sprite Susu been named as the leader of the Spritefolk? And why is she marrying into the House of the Invincible? Do you know, Brother Yunkong?”

Dugu Yunkong chuckled. “The Spritefolk are as disunited as a dish of loose sand. They’ve never established a true kingdom, and their old-timers are constantly fighting amongst themselves. None of the competing interest groups can gain dominance. Although the Spritely Sage Grail did fall into the hands of Sprite Susu, indicating she is supposed to be the future leader, to a lot of people, that’s just a fairy tale. A symbol that isn't supposed to be taken literally. Do you really think the interest groups and old-timers are going to follow the leadership of a woman? That’s a joke if I’ve ever heard one. That’s why we agreed to work together. Sprite Susu will marry into the Invincible Dynasty, and she picked me because I'm the most likely of all the heirs apparent to eventually ascend the throne. Of course, it's all a big plot. Once Sprite Susu is mine, I’ll use our marriage as an excuse to invade the lands of the Spritefolk and conquer their interest groups one by one. With that increase in my destiny, I can definitely seize the throne without a hitch.”

Dugu Yunkong seemed completely confident in his plan, as though he had everything under control. From his bearing, it was obvious that he wasn’t the type of person who should be underestimated.

Yang Qi nodded inwardly. ‘Considering this Sprite Susu is an Ascendant, I think I can now say with certainty now she is indeed Yang Susu. And she has the legacy of this Spritely Sage Grail. All seems well with her. However, this Dugu Yunkong seems to be plotting against her, which means I need to wreck his plans. Unfortunately, given my current level of strength, that’s not going to be easy! I'm not a match for this Dugu Yunkong, especially considering he has the backing of an entire dynasty.

‘It seems I need to take a trip to visit the Spritefolk. But in the meantime, I hope I can get these two pieces of the Mahātmā Jade. If I do, I’ll get a lot stronger, and might even be able to take further advantage of the situation.’

“Brother Dugu,” said Yang Jian, “we’ve come here together today to break open the King of Godmammoths’ sealing mark, and take the Dragon Compendium. Very few people could possibly do what we're about to do. Do you think we’ll really succeed?”

“Don’t be unduly humble, Brother Yang. Perhaps you were outdone by that Yang Voidprime, but that’s to be expected considering his status. He’s a Fateless One, which gives him an incredibly outrageous advantage. If it weren’t for that, he wouldn't be a match for you. And we don’t live in ancient times anymore. The famous God-Lords of the past, such as the Lord of Civilization and the Lord of Radiance and Light, weren’t necessarily any stronger than we are right now.”

Yang Jian gave a disdainful nod of agreement. “Well, that's true, Brother Yunkong. Although Yang Voidprime did crush me, and always has in the martial arts competitions, the truth is that he can’t kill me. And if we succeed in getting the blood of the King of Godmammoths, then what will his Fateless One status count for?”

‘Fateless One? Yang Voidprime?’ Based on what Yang Qi understood, whether it was in the god world or ancient primal-chaos, there could be multiple Eternal Ones and Fortuned Ones. But there should only be one Fateless One. And yet now there were two? One named Yang Qi and the other named ‘Yang Voidprime’?

Both had the surname Yang, and there had to be some unknowable and enigmatic reason for that.

“It looks like another Fateless One has popped up, Yang Qi,” the Second Devil General said, and he didn't sound very happy. “The world is changing too rapidly. I don’t even understand what's going on nowadays. I was sealed up for too many billions of years. There are just too many experts nowadays.”

“Oh please, Second Devil General. The world isn’t ‘changing too rapidly’. You were sealed for billions of years, not hundreds. Although, if these two know of some way to undo the King of Godmammoths’ sealing mark, maybe we have a good opportunity on our hands.”

“You’re the expert schemer. I’ll follow your lead.” The Second Devil General was obviously not going to take the initiative to do anything.

“Brother Yunkong, we really had no choice but to come here today. The Central Dynasty is eroding the foundation of the Dragonfolk, and it won’t be long before full-on war breaks out. If they take over the Myriad Dragons Lair, their destiny will improve so dramatically that neither of our dynasties would be able to stand up to them.” A serious expression appeared on the face of Yang Jian. “Proud Central from the Central Dynasty is the most vicious and merciless person in existence. Furthermore, their dynasty has the most righteous destiny there is. We ‘heretical’ sects are at a big disadvantage because of that. But if we take over the Myriad Dragons Lair....”

“Don’t worry about that,” Dugu Yunkong said proudly. “I already own this place. You see, once we get the Dragon Compendium, we can easily take over the other dragon kingdoms. Then I’ll subjugate the Spritefolk, and my personal destiny will be so incredible that I’ll easily achieve my next cultivation breakthrough. Everything is going according to my master plan.”