Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘Who could’ve guessed that I would benefit so wildly. Not only did I subjugate Hailan, but I also got the Soul of the Ancestor God. I knew there was more to her than met the eye, but surprisingly, she had an incredibly powerful item, something not even the Sovereign Lord ever got his hands on. With it, the God Legion Seal is really going to become something that can surpass the civilization of the gods.’

Yang Qi was back in his own empire, with Proud Heaven none the wiser.

Settling down cross-legged, Yang Qi drew on the destiny of his empire and locked it down completely. Up above, the black and white sun rotated, and while it had transformed from its original state, Yang Qi knew it could still function as a back door for the Sovereign Lord.

There were still some things about it that Yang Qi didn't understand, but that said, he wasn’t overly anxious about it.

Now that he had the Soul of the Ancestor God, he would be able to remove all traces of the Sovereign Lord from his empire. It was the key to opening the door that led to that profound civilization that surpassed that of the gods.

Yang Qi didn't immediately attempt to integrate the Soul of the Ancestor God into the God Legion Seal. Instead, he carefully extracted it, still sealed, and began carefully studying it. At a certain point, he fed a bit of energy into it, causing it to pulse. Inside, he could see the beginnings of a grand civilization.

He had never had the profundities of the gods laid out in front of him in this way. As he continued studying the soul, he saw the civilization of the gods developing in his mind’s eye.

History was playing out right in front of him. The elites of the past didn’t really have any idea how to advance their civilization, but the Soul of the Ancestor God had opened the doors for them.

Yang Qi felt like he was mentally floating along the river of history, which of course gave him a much more profound understanding of the God Legion Seal. And as the will of the legion of gods percolated in his mind, his thinking became more profound and clear, and he saw, not just the past paths with utmost clarity, but also the path going forward.

Because he had devoured Wretch God Ultimate, his own will had occasionally been influenced by the Wretch God. But now, he sloughed off any such fetters, reaching a new acme of enlightenment.

‘Now, I’ll draw on the Soul of the Ancestor God.’

Using the Wretched Brain God Art, he performed countless mental calculations, which he used to analyze all of the historical information from the Soul of the Ancestor God. At that point, he realized that the Soul of the Ancestor God really did have a soul in it.

Now, he was ready to integrate it into the God Legion Seal. As he did, he realized that he was creating the perfect trap for the Sovereign Lord. When the Sovereign Lord returned, and made his move on the God Legion Seal, he would meet a powerful backlash. It would be a perfect trump card for Yang Qi’s defense.

Furthermore, the Soul of the Ancestor God would have a profoundly positive effect on the God Legion Seal.

After all, simply trying to assimilate the Soul of the Ancestor God would be like killing the chicken to get the eggs.

Slam!

Something seemed to break inside the Soul of the Ancestor God, and Yang Qi saw a huge door opening. In its depths were various types of godly civilizations, creating a sea of information that washed through his psyche, causing enormous transformations.

He was experiencing a baptism in regard to the civilizations of the gods, as well as the dao of gods.

He suddenly understood everything about the legion of gods. Matters of civilization, will, transformation, cultivation base, worlds, nations. He knew about the quintessence of the god civilization, and he knew how to make something superior to it.

“There never really was a god civilization,” Yang Qi said coolly. “There was the Soul of the Ancestor God. It was what brought civilization. And previously, there was no way to surpass it. But I can.”

His psychic scale was continuing to grow, and was getting closer to reaching the level of a trillion.

Even in ancient times, no one had ever reached the level of a trillion, not even the Sovereign Lord.

As he gained further enlightenment of civilization, his sage monarch magistrates also transformed, with the God Legion Seal on their foreheads becoming more distinct. And they experienced inner changes, such as their hearts transforming into projections of jade.

That came from Yang Qi’s deeper and deeper enlightenment of the Mahātmā Jade, enabling him to create copies of it, just like he could with the God Legion Seal.

If people such as the King of Godmammoths could see him right now, they would only be able to use one word to describe him: freakish. Not only could he mass-produce God Legion Seals, but he could also do the same with the Mahātmā Jade.

As this process went on, Yang Qi’s empire grew stronger.

Crunch. Crack!

As he grew stronger, the Everlasting Aegis expanded, and was able to absorb primal-chaos paleo-energy more quickly and in greater quantity. And as that happened, Yang Qi could sense the essence of the god world trembling, as if in pain.

It was similar to how if a person had a tick sucking their blood, they might not feel it. But if that tick transformed into a vampire bat, they would definitely find it unbearable.

RUMBLE!

All of a sudden, a faint tremor passed through the god world, something that most ordinary people wouldn’t even feel. But Yang Qi knew that it meant the essence of the god world was reacting to the sudden growth of his empire.

The sage monarch magistrates were experts at their work and would quickly disseminate the new knowledge that Yang Qi had gained, giving it to the common people and fueling more growth.

Heaven and earth changed dramatically and constantly, and that meant the Sage Monarch Empire was constantly gaining new sages and mahātmās, whose thinking was profound and unparalleled under heaven.

‘Yang Voidprime, the time has come to bring you to me.’ A smile appeared on his face. ‘I’d originally hoped you’d end up blowing up. But I just made some significant progress, and I have no need to hide any longer. My empire is ready to bring about a new age.’

Yang Qi had been hiding in the shadows for too long.

Now that he had taken the Soul of the Ancestor God from Hailan, he had what he needed to take the next step. Although he wasn’t any stronger than before, he had the key to civilization, and deep enlightenment of the God Legion Seal. He was just on the verge of a psychic scale of a trillion, and could now mass-produce copies of the Mahātmā Jade.

Having been bolstered by the copies of the Mahātmā Jade and the God Legion Seal, his sage monarch magistrates were in an even better position to govern the empire and educate the masses. And that made his empire grow even stronger.

The time was ripe to crush all obstacles blocking his forward progress.

And the first step in it all was to summon Yang Voidprime.

Only by getting the other half of the fateless energy he needed could he get his sage monarch magistrates to the level of God-Lords.

“Come to me! King of Godmammoths, Demon Master, High Priestess, you people are useless to me. Weak trash that needs to be gotten rid of.”

Yang Qi rose to his feet and surged with fateless energy, then unleashed a fist strike.

Cracking sounds rang out as he pierced through the multiverse of the god world, sending an attack right into the middle of the Demonfolk Empire.