Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The news was heaven-shakingly, earth-shatteringly shocking to Proud Heaven, Hailan, and Yang Voidprime.

Of course, it wasn’t the actual loss of strength that was bad, but rather what it represented.

The alliance of three dynasties was planning to attack the Sage Monarch Empire and wipe them out down to the chickens and dogs, carrying out a bloodbath that would leave the stench of death behind for years to come. They had already made the public announcement, and it was tied to their destiny. It couldn't be changed!

The Sage Monarch Empire wasn’t showing any sign of weakness or fear, either. They announced that they were going to crush the three dynasties and restore the glory of the Sovereign Lord. They were going to unite the god world!

The swords were drawn and the arrows were nocked. War could break out at any moment, and it would engulf the entire god world. It would be a war on the same level as the one fought in ancient times between the Sovereign Lord, King Immortal-Slayer, and the True Devil.

Of course, that war had been between individuals, whereas this one involved the destinies of massive empires.

The combined destinies of the three dynasties could even crush half-Annulled experts like King Immortal-Slayer. Although Proud Heaven’s cultivation base was beyond a hundred billion, compared to the destiny of an empire, it was weak nonetheless.

That was what happened when the power of the masses was tapped into.

Of course, it was the same with the Sage Monarch Empire.

Yang Qi’s psychic scale was at three hundred billion, but with the power of destiny backing him, he had nothing to fear, even from experts with a rating of six hundred billion.

Even the purrling was shocked.

“Why? Why is this happening!?” Proud Heaven shouted. “What did he do? They were two top generals! They surrendered, and took many of their officers with them. All God-Lords! This drop in destiny is going to have a huge effect on our reputation. Yet this happened right when we were about to march into battle with weapons drawn? What are all the countless people in the god world going to think of us now? Damn it all!”

“No one from the Central Dynasty turned traitor?” Hailan asked.

“There were,” the army officer said, “but none that were God-Lords. Certain viceroys left, and that's going to have a big negative influence. Almost half of the God-Lord officers from the armies of the Chiliocosm and Invincible dynasties had left! This came out of nowhere! What are we supposed to do? Exalted Proud Heaven, please, issue some orders!”

The army officers were trembling in their boots. None of them had ever seen Proud Heaven this furious.

“Well this is a splash of cold water,” Yang Voidprime said coldly. “We have to strike back immediately. Regardless of how much we were just hurt. It’s obviously going to be a big blow, and news is going to spread fast. Before, our alliance had the upper hand, and people were laughing at the Sage Monarch Empire and their talk of unification. But with this development, people are going to start changing their minds. Everyone wants to be an official who follows someone's rise from a lower rank to that of emperor. We have to strike fast and hard. I suggest that we leave the Chiliocosm and Invincible Dynasties behind. Muster the troops of the Central Dynasty and attack right now. Catch Yang Qi completely unprepared. If we do that, we might be able to regain the upper hand.”

Yang Voidprime was from the Chiliocosm Dynasty, and Yang Primal-Chaos had just betrayed him. But he didn’t seem particularly worried about that, which reinforced the amazing nature of Fateless Ones.

“Hmph. You think I'm just going to run out and fight Yang Qi?” Proud Heaven laughed. “Did you think that because of my little outburst a moment ago that I’d suddenly lost my wits? Don’t joke around. I'm not going to single-handedly win the war. Remember, the Central Dynasty didn’t turn traitor. And the losses suffered by you two dynasties have nothing to do with me. Right now, the other two dynasties need to get their broken armies back together and prepare to attack. We suffered a big blow, but we aren’t dead. And we still have the superior position.”

“Aren't you impressive,” Yang Voidprime said dryly, then shut his mouth.

“I knew all along that those two had been subjugated by Yang Qi,” Hailan said. “I was advocating for a blitzkrieg strategy, before Yang Qi built up any momentum. But then we got bogged down in negotiating for personal gain, giving him all the time he needed. The coming war is going to be even more challenging now.”

“Challenging?” Proud Heaven said. “All of the dynasties have trump cards to be played. And when they are, Yang Qi is going to be dead meat.”

“You think Yang Qi doesn’t have trump cards?” Hailan said. “You’d do best not to underestimate him.”

“It doesn’t matter. We have to make our move now. Crush him. Contact the other two emperors and tell them to mobilize their troops immediately. There’s no time to lose, and we can't afford any further delays. If we waste time, we're going to end up dead.”

They all sensed the impending danger.

The blow that had been struck just before fighting broke out really was severe. It turned the tables, causing all the citizens of the three dynasties to feel choked with fear.

Meanwhile, laughter echoed out as Yang Qi’s friends and family saw him welcoming Yang Primal-Chaos and Dugu Sheji, as well as numerous other God-Lord officers and viceroys, providing an instant increase to their military might. Throughout the empire, hearts swelled with pride as they reveled in what was a clear victory.

The war hadn’t even officially begun, and they were already winning.

What better way could there have been to boost morale?

The people had been feeling a lot of pressure regarding the impending fighting, and if it weren’t for the sage Monarch Empire leading everyone in prayer, there would have been plenty of deserters. But now, no one was afraid to fight.

The armies hadn’t even clashed yet, but the people of the empire knew that His Majesty Yang Qi’s declaration wasn’t just mere words. He really was planning to unify the god world.

If he defeated the other three dynasties, the Sage Monarch Empire really would be number one in the god world. Not even the Sovereign Lord could have done anything about it.

Of course, the way Yang Qi was welcoming them was a bit of a sham. But he still went through the motions of formally appointing them to be generalissimos of the Sage Monarch Empire.

It was a good way to show the rest of the world that he could be accepting of former enemies.

The ceremony was broadcast for everyone to see, and sent out to countless planes of existence.

Yang Qi’s cultivation base was many times that of the old Lord of Radiance and Light, so it was a simple thing for him to project images in that way.

Everyone who saw it reacted with shock.

“Incredible. Completely incredible. Yang Qi is nothing short of amazing!” That was what many of the buddha-lords were saying.

“Things are changing. If Emperor Yang Qi can do things like this, it’s obvious that heaven and earth are going to transform. The god world is changing. Is the civilization of the gods really going to reach a higher level?” The confucians were all abuzz, and many of them were flocking to join the Sage Monarch Empire.

Of course, during all this, Yang Qi’s destiny was increasing. At first, his empire had consisted mostly of Dragonfolk and Spritefolk. But now those groups only made up about a third of the population.

That alone showed how much the empire was growing.

If the other three dynasties didn’t do something quickly, he was just going to continue getting stronger. For all anyone knew, he might actually break past the half-Annulled level.

Despite everything he had been busy with, Yang Qi hadn't forgotten about the Nacrelight Sageland. Waving his hand, he pierced through space and time, pulling the Nacrelight Sageland toward him.

Instantly, he could sense the rage of the High Priestess. She was obviously slumbering in some aspect of space-time. But once she finished regenerating, she would wake up. The time had come to fight.

However, he wanted to ensure that the majority of people were still able to live in peace.

In fact, getting so many new God-Lords wasn’t as important as the prestige he had earned.

The god world was huge, and nobody even had any idea of how many God-Lords there were out there. He had won the first major victory in the conflict, and the hearts of many people. Because of that, more people were streaming toward him. Many, many more times than before.

There were even people in the three dynasties that were considering defecting. After all, the three dynasties didn’t have sage monarch magistrates to help calm the hearts of the people.