Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi was holding back to see how things played out, hoping to work things to his own advantage. He wasn’t announcing that he had reached the half-Annulled level, and wasn’t combining with the Invincible Dynasty. As a result, any outsider who looked his way would think he was a lot weaker than he actually was.

Because of that, the High Priestess and Proud Heaven felt free to struggle with each other without worrying that he might interfere.

If Yang Qi were to be perceived as being too powerful, Proud Heaven and the High Priestess would feel compelled to refrain from infighting. They would stick together and stand strong against him. But when external pressure was light, they wouldn’t hesitate to move against each other.

Yang Qi didn't want to put pressure on any of his enemies. He wanted them fighting amongst themselves while he remained locked up inside his own empire, slowly growing stronger. He wanted to become the top power in the entire god world, unbeknownst to everyone else.

Of course, part of it was also that he wasn’t quite confident that he was in a position to go on the offensive. So he couldn’t have been more pleased to see that the High Priestess and Proud Heaven were at each others’ throats.

‘If that slut Hailan has become Proud Heaven’s empress, then this is a perfect opportunity for me. I need to find a chance to capture and subjugate her. Then I can place her next to Proud Heaven as my pawn. Yes. The time has come to finally subjugate her.’

Yang Qi wouldn’t pull any punches in dealing with Hailan. And by now, his cultivation base had made him the number one expert in the entire god world.

The main thing he was worried about was multiple half-Annulled experts teaming up on him. And he knew that there were still old-timers out there hiding, just waiting to make a move. Of course, the two most powerful of all the old-timers had yet to show their faces: the Sovereign Lord and the True Devil.

They had to be out there somewhere, hiding in an unknown location and watching things develop in the god world, waiting to take advantage of the moment. If Yang Qi, the King of Godmammoths, Proud Heaven, the High Priestess, and the Demon Master got into some deadly fight, it was a given that those two would jump in at some point.

So for now, Yang Qi did nothing.

His main concern was the Sovereign Lord, who had previously been the top expert in the god world. Someone like him wouldn’t just die, and it was entirely likely that he had become stronger than he was in the past. Although Yang Qi wasn’t afraid of fighting him one-on-one, he was worried about what would happen if the Sovereign Lord ambushed him.

Yang Qi had been able to track Wretch God Ultimate’s aura, and ultimately devour him. But he couldn't find the Sovereign Lord’s aura anywhere in the Halls of Heaven, thus he couldn’t follow him. Unfortunately, neither could he use the Mahātmā Jade to find the True Devil. Both had cast aside all of their previous glory, entering a mysterious state that would make them very hard to defeat.

Thus, Yang Qi was waiting. He knew how to be patient, and how to wait until he had an advantage.

Next, he shifted his gaze to the distant Demonfolk Empire, whose energy was growing along with its population. If all of the Demonfolk in the god world were united, or even just a third of them, they would outnumber the humans by many times over.

The only reason they had never overwhelmed humanity was because they lacked the ability to act together. That was why an army of a billion humans could easily rout an army of a hundred billion Demonfolk. Another factor was that Demonfolk tended to have lower cultivation bases.

But things were changing. As the human empires struggled to maintain cohesion, the Demonfolk were rising, and madly inflicting vengeance on the smaller human groups.

Yang Qi couldn’t afford to pay attention to that now. The Invincible Dynasty would occasionally send people out to rid the world of devils and demons, bringing any humans they encountered back into their empire.

But that didn’t have anything to do with the Sage Monarch Empire.

For the time being, Yang Qi was just working on his cultivation and watching things play out in the god world.

**

“We’re here!” The High Priestess and Yang Voidprime had reached a location with endless forest-covered mountains. This was the Demonfolk Empire, and the demon energy was immense. Furthermore, order could be seen. Although it couldn’t match up to that of the humans, it made it obvious that half-Annulled experts were in charge.

“I can’t believe the Demonfolk Empire has destiny as amazing as this,” Yang Voidprime said. But then he shook his head. “Sadly, Demonfolk are Demonfolk, and they can’t change their genes and life force. They’re innately chaotic and evil. They might’ve managed to piece together this empire, but they’re going to end up tearing each other apart.”

In the impure lands, wolves were meant to eat sheep, and there was no way to change that, no matter how hard you tried. And despite the fact that this Demonfolk Empire had been created, there was no way that Demonfolk could actually exist in orderly fashion. Nor was there any way they could truly cooperate with non-Demonfolk.

Every empire had factions and infighting. The Demonfolk were no exception, and it was definitely going to lead to fierce competition.

At least human factions could reach balance and cooperate. With Demonfolk, that was just impossible. For example, the wolf demons couldn’t ever get along with the sheep demons. They had blood feuds going back generations, and such things couldn't be forgotten. In the end, this empire couldn’t be stable. Not even using force would really do any good.

The Demon Master had tried that in the past, and it had ultimately failed.

“You're right,” the High Priestess said. “The Demonfolk Empire won’t progress past this current level. Not even the most almighty entity can change the fundamental nature of the Demonfolk. The demons number as many as the eternal sands, and they simply have no mental concept of what national unity is. I don’t think the King of Godmammoths and the Demon Master intend for this to be a truly lasting empire. They probably want to use the Demonfolk to feed some sort of spell formation. How very vicious of them. A blood sacrifice to help the two of them to reach personal breakthroughs.”

“You’re wrong, High Priestess,” someone said in a sonorous voice.

The High Priestess backed up as a burly man appeared, clan in animal skins. He seemed like the personification of all the power and will in the world, and was clearly barbaric and violent. At the same time, he seemed strong enough to prop up the Halls of Heaven on his shoulders, and crush the horde of devils in hell.

Yang Voidprime also sensed that this person was as mighty as a mountain.

He was none other than the King of Godmammoths.

In terms of raw power, no one could match up to him. In ancient times, it was impossible to say how many devils in hell he had awed, and how many top experts had trembled at the thought of his name. Nor was it possible to determine exactly how many enemies he had slain.

Yang Voidprime backed up a few paces, trembling inwardly as he realized what sort of mighty being he was looking at. The King of Godmammoths was vastly superior to Proud Heaven in every way.

‘Incredible,’ he thought. ‘Just what I’d expect of the King of Godmammoths. No wonder he was considered the strongest expert in ancient times, someone who could crush the nine heavens and ten earths, a person who the legion of gods bent their heads to.’

“You’re right that Demonfolk are chaotic,” the King of Godmammoths said, “and will only think of personal interest instead of the good of the nation. But that doesn’t matter. We can change that. You see, the Demon Master gained enlightenment of a dao that can unite the countless demons, and even now, we're teaching our people about it. The disorder among us is being rooted out and we're gradually learning how to live harmoniously. Eventually, no other races will exist at all, other than demons. There will be no humans. No Spritefolk, Magefolk, or even ordinary mortals. No one will exist but us.” With that, he threw his head back and laughed uproariously. “Ah, it's been a long time, High Priestess. The years haven’t been kind, have they? Billions of years have passed, yet it doesn't seem like much time has gone by. We’ve finally reached the true golden age. I suppose we ought to sit and reminiscence a bit.”

“King of Godmammoths, the Sovereign Lord is dead,” the High Priestess said. Clearly, she wanted to get right to the point. “Now, people are fighting for supremacy of the god world. Unfortunately, that brat Proud Heaven has gained the support of the essence of the god world. He’s already too much for me to handle, and I’m sure you can envision what’s to come. In addition to the support of the god world, he has the Great Necropolis, and he devoured King Immortal-Slayer. He’s going to conquer the entire god world unless we join forces to crush him. Wipe him out of existence for all time.”

The High Priestess and the King of Godmammoths were very familiar with each other. Although they had fought each other in the past, the billions of years that had gone by had removed any animosity they felt for each other. Both of them cared for little else other than personal gain.

“You don’t need to explain,” the King of Godmammoths said with a smile. “I understand everything. You’ve been patient, High Priestess. I'm honestly surprised you waited so long to come see me. In any case, yes. Proud Heaven has to die. You don’t need to convince me.”