Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi was telling the truth, yet not a single person believed him. After all, not even the highest leaders of the dynasty had ever seen their Patriarch Invincible, the Invincible Dugu. The Invincible Dugu had fallen in the Sovereign Lord’s Age, and it didn’t seem possible that he could be alive right now. It was said that the whole reason the House of the Invincible was gathering destiny was to resurrect him and follow his leadership to dominate everything under heaven.

But many people thought that was nothing more than an old story, and that Patriarch Invincible was like the Sovereign Lord: impossible to resurrect.

Yang Qi looked at Dugu Wanqing and snorted coldly. “Why would I lie to you children? You lot are so weak that I could kill you in half a moment. And you think that I’d just make up something about my Master? Let me explain things here. I’m from the lower worlds, and my master there was the Invincible Dugu. There’s no reason for me to just make that up.”

“You ascended from the lower worlds?” Dugu Wanqing said. “Then why are you targeting us? If you really are the patriarch’s apprentice, you shouldn’t be opposing us! That would be harming your own Master’s interests. Look, we can talk this out. Given how strong you are, we can arrange for an important position for you in the House of the Invincible. But if you kill us, you’d be cutting off any future that you have here. Come, let’s negotiate!”

“Negotiate? You think you deserve to do that? The reason I'm telling you all this is that you're going to be my slaves in a moment. I'm the real successor of the House of the Invincible. And now you’re all going to be subjugated, starting with you, Sprite Guyuan!”

Crack!

Golden light shot out from Yang Qi’s palm, entering Sprite Guyuan and causing him to slump to the ground. Then a shocked expression overtook his face, and he got to his knees and kowtowed. “My respects, Milord. I deserve to die for what I did. I had no idea you were so mighty. You have the God Legion Seal! I'm truly blind.”

“What? The God Legion Seal?!”

“What nonsense are you spouting, Sprite Guyuan?”

“You’re the top expert in our faction, Sprite Guyuan. You couldn’t possibly be so foolish. I can’t believe you’re kowtowing to him? You're besmirching the honor of the Spritefolk!”

“Dammit. Attack!”

“Let’s all attack together. I refuse to believe that he would dare to kill us!”

Roar!

One of the Spritefolk experts, with a psychic scale and godhood rating of about seven billion, transformed into a stream of sword light that resembled a striking snake and shot toward Yang Qi.

Yang Qi didn’t even look in his direction. “Be subjugated,” he said. Instantly, the man stopped in mid-flight, whereupon Yang Qi flicked his finger, sending a stream of light into him.

A moment later, the man dropped to his knees. “Milord, you are truly invincible. I deserve to die for my actions!”

“Now for the rest of you.”

CRASH!

A massive hand descended, like the Sovereign Lord reaching from the halls of heaven down to hell. To the shock of the handful of Spritefolk, they could only watch as that hand crushed down on them.

The entire group was sucked up into the hand, which closed around them. Flashes of light exploded out, then they dropped to the ground, all of them addressing Yang Qi as ‘milord’.

Yang Qi felt the surging destiny they provided. It was a different type of destiny than that of the Dragonfolk, but it was fragmented and disunited. And it couldn’t come close to matching up to the destinies of the three major organizations, which was why the Spritefolk had to pick a side to join.

Now Yang Qi controlled the destiny of these Spritefolk, and any who refused his orders would be killed instantly.

Roar!

Yang Qi quickly blessed them with the Eternal Heavenly Aria, then turned and smiled at the group of priestesses. “Do you really think you can refuse to serve me, ladies?”

“Y-y-you...” Dugu Wanqing stammered, a look of fear finally showing on her face. “Stay away from me!”

“You’re very stubborn.” Yang Qi exhaled, causing the Sovereign Lord’s Holy and Far-Reaching Consummate Omnicurse to fall like snowflakes and enter the bodies of the priestesses. Before any of them knew what was happening, they were kneeling in front of Yang Qi.

They had all been subjugated.

Yang Qi smiled. “Excellent. My command of the Sovereign Lord’s Holy and Far-Reaching Consummate Omnicurse has reached the highest level. I can turn it into a falling snow that baptizes anyone it touches.”

“My respects, Milord!” the priestesses all said.

“On your feet,” Yang Qi replied, simultaneously reining in the God Legion Paradise so that the meeting hall returned to its original state. Instantly, the net of law rumbled in and filled the place.

As soon as it made contact with him, he shivered as he felt himself contacting the essence of the destiny of the House of the Invincible. As for the destinies of these priestesses, they were far beyond the level of a viceroy with two lands.

Of course, it wasn’t even close to sufficient. He needed to subjugate more of the leaders, those that had godhood ratings and psychic scales of ten billion. With that, he would gain a very deep enlightenment of the organization’s destiny and net of law. Then he could become like a parasite, taking away the destiny and giving it to his Sage Monarch Empire.

As he subjugated more and more people here, he was actually creating a secret organization in the dynasty. The Sage Monarch Society, which he would eventually use to take over.

There were some existing factions in the Invincible Dynasty. For instance, the grand exarch’s Confucian Society and Dugu Yunkong’s Sky Society.

The nine Dugu patriarchs that ran the entire dynasty didn't pay much attention to such affairs; as long as they had the destiny to work on their cultivation, they only showed their faces for important matters.

Of course, Yang Qi wouldn’t give them an opportunity to do anything. They would have no idea he was eating away at them until it was too late.

“For now, just carry on with business as normal. But remember, you’re now members of the Sage Monarch Society, which will eventually control the entire Invincible Dynasty.” Turning to Sprite Guyuan, he said, “By the way, there’s something I need to know. Where is Sprite Susu?”

“Milord, Princess Sprite Susu is currently at her mobile palace of operations. It's called the Cloud Palace, and it’s been set up here in the House of the Invincible as a special place for her to reside. You see, we’re actually guards assigned to keep her safe.”

“Let’s go!” Yang Qi said. “Take me to see her.”

“But...” Sprite Guyuan said. “Men aren’t allowed to enter the Cloud Palace. Not even Dugu Yunkong can see her before the wedding. We only patrol the exterior.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Yang Qi said. “Take me there. I’ll just sneak inside.”

“Yes sir!” the Spritefolk said, not daring to argue. And with that, they led the way.

After he left, the priestesses sagged limply. Exchanging awkward, fearful glances, they said, “We're finished. I can't believe we've fallen into the hands of that monster. We’re done for.”

“Ai. There’s nothing we can do now except follow his orders.”

“He's wildly ambitious. I can’t believe he wants to eat the Invincible Dynasty from the inside out. Well, we work for him now. He planted seeds in our minds and souls that will make it impossible to be free.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Whatever he says, that’s what.”

All of the priestesses were filled with regret that they had chosen to trifle with Yang Qi. That said, he would have come for them regardless. The Palace of Destiny was just too important to him.

Before long, Yang Qi was deep in the Invincible Dynasty, where he caught sight of an enormous palace hovering in the air, slowly rotating. It looked like a violet planet, reminding him of the Tusita Heaven from the immortal worlds.

Shockingly, there was an entire army guarding the palace, composed of crack troops from the Spritefolk.

Sprite Guyuan was one of the generals from that army.

WHOOSH!

Upon catching sight of the Cloud Palace, Yang Qi became a shadow that slipped inside completely unnoticed.