Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The sight of Dowager Yan coughing up blood because of Yang Qi’s energy art transmission was a complete shock to Yang Xingshi. At long last he was truly starting to realize that he was on the losing side; having been a patriarch of the Yang Clan for more than a hundred years, he could see how truly powerful Yang Qi was.

“That was a private conversation, Yang Qi! Don’t kill her!”

“I’ll kill her if I have to. Do you submit, Dowager Yan? Answer the question.”

“I submit! I submit!” Dowager Yan couldn’t have been more terrified. She knew that if she refused to back down, she would end up dead. “I’ll respect the clan rules from now on.”

Yang Qi let out a cold harrumph. “Well, that’s good. Let’s hope you keep your word. Everything I'm doing is for the benefit of our clan. If I notice any errant behavior on your part, or if I find out that you’ve leaked information about me to the big sects, then I won’t be as nice as I was today. It won’t be long now before all of the vassal states in the Rich-Lush Continent rise up, and war engulfs the lands. If the Yang Clan isn’t truly united when that happens, we’ll get wiped out.”

“Yes, of course….” Yang Xingshi said, nodding repeatedly. As of this point he was completely cowed by Yang Qi’s strength.

As Yang Qi’s voice faded away, Dowager Yan and Yang Xingshi looked up at him drifting through the sky above, and felt completely powerless.

As for Yang Zhan, he was aware of what had just occurred, but didn’t interfere.

The truth was that, as a Master of Energy, Yang Zhan could easily crush anyone in the clan except for Yang Xingshi and Dowager Yan. Those two had been Masters of Energy for many years, and had considerable influence. If they really wanted to try to overthrow him, the result would be a complete bloodbath.

Obviously, Yang Qi’s seemingly villainous behavior was all for the good of his father.

The clan’s autumn hunt proceeded without a hitch. Yang Qi was always there to interfere if the demonlings that appeared were too vicious, which left a deep impression on the hearts of all clan members.

Before, many of them had truly believed that Yang Qi was possessed by a demon, but now it didn’t seem likely. Possessed individuals would act with crazed insanity, but Yang Qi was cool, reasonable, and in complete control.

As the hunt proceeded, Yang Qi slowly solidified his position as the top genius and number one expert in the clan.

It lasted for three days, and the more than two hundred elite clan members completely dominated everything that got in their path in the Blackcorpse Mountains. Innumerable demonlings lost their lives, and a vast quantity of demon cores were harvested.

At one point, a thirty-year-old young man respectfully approached Yang Qi and said, “Elder Brother Qi, the forest gets particularly dense up ahead, in the true depths of the Blackcorpse Mountains. That’s where the corpse clans lurk, the supposed location of a spectacular battle in ancient times. Eventually, the corpses absorbed enough of the baleful energy of heaven and earth to become demon-spirits. The cores of these corpses are even more precious than normal demon cores. Why don’t we take the hunt there?”

As a matter of fact, many of the younger ones wanted to go into the ultimate depths of the mountains.

Yang Qi was currently standing on a cliff, looking into the pitch-black depths of the mountains, where black energy pulsed in such a fashion that it seemed like he was looking at a graveyard.

That graveyard of black mountains stretched out as far as the eye could see, leading to the true depths of the Blackcorpse Mountains.

As for that war in ancient times, it was impossible to say how many corpses it resulted in. From what Yang Qi could see, those mountains were filled with flickers of motion that seemed to be zombies. There were also numerous auras that even he felt were dangerous to the extreme.

He shook his head.

“Let’s not,” he said. “We’ve already killed enough demonlings to get millions upon millions of energy convergence pills. And the battle experience has been incredible. The battlefield in the depths of the Blackcorpse Mountains is just too mysterious and dangerous. I'm fairly certain there are thousand-year-old corpse kings there; one of those things could wipe out our entire clan if we tangled with it.”

The legendary, terrifying thousand-year-old corpse king was a demonic creature that was even more powerful than a Master of Energy.

Not even Yang Qi was confident in being able to defeat a being like that. He knew that he could crush anyone in the Energy Arts level, but when it came to entities higher than that, he wasn't sure.

The difference between a Lifeseizer and a Master of Energy was like the difference between the clouds and the mud beneath them.

Suddenly, a dazzling beam of light appeared, piercing through the night sky toward Yang Zhan.

With it came pulses of sword energy, and in fact, Yang Qi could even see a sword within the light.

“Watch out, Father!” he shouted, preparing to leap forward to intercept the sword.

“It's fine, Qi’er. That's your aunt's flying sword transmission art. Simply miraculous….” Leaping into motion, Yang Zhan reached out toward the descending sword, attached to which was a letter.

As soon as he plucked the letter off the sword, the sword apparently detected it. Spinning in place, it erupted with sparks and then shot off into the night.

“Flying sword transmission art? Legendary!”

Many of the other elites in the clan recognized what was happening.

Actually, one of the main reasons Yang Zhan had been able to secure the position of clan lord was because of Yang Qi’s aunt, Yang Susu, who was now a member of the Demi-Immortal Institute.

Clearly, this flying sword transmission art was her handiwork. Although Yang Qi was not capable of such a feat, he could tell that the most powerful aspect of it was the sword itself. It was a powerful, divine weapon that had already developed a spirit. In fact, if one considered it to be a demon, it would be a sword demon.

‘I wonder how Aunt Susu’s studies are going at the Demi-Immortal Institute.’ Yang Qi thought back again to the little girl who had fed him his meals when he was a child.

Many of the chief elders who didn't approve of Yang Zhan noticed the arrival of the sword, and looked on reticently.

After all, although they all recognized Yang Qi as being incredibly powerful, not even he could compare to Yang Susu.

And that was because Yang Susu was backed by the top institute in the lands. The Demi-Immortal Institute was a legendary holy place in the Rich-Lush Continent. When people talked about it, they would often refer to it as ‘that colossal monster of an organization’.

Yang Zhan looked at the message for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. “Good news, Qi’er. It's indeed a message from your aunt. She secured a spot for you at the Demi-Immortal Institute! She wants you to head over there to study.” With that, he handed the message over to Yang Qi.

“What?” Yang Qi said, taking the message, the handwriting of which was definitely his aunt’s. Apparently, she had performed some meritorious service for the institute, and was allowed to select her own reward. She had asked for approval to allow a young one from her clan to become a member, and her request had been granted.

All that was required was to personally take the message and report in to the institute.

It was both a great honor and an opportunity. Even Yang Xingshi or Dowager Yan felt jealous. On the other hand, all of their previous dissatisfaction with Yang Qi was now gone. He was going to be joining the Demi-Immortal Institute, which meant that no one had any hope of fighting him. And no excuse about ‘exorcising demons or devils’ would help.

The message from Yang Susu also contained some information about the House of Shadowblight.

She had used her position in the Demi-Immortal Institute to issue a warning to them, instructing that they leave the Yang Clan alone. That had put an end to the matter; the House of Shadowblight was simply too afraid of the Demi-Immortal Institute to do anything out in the open.

It also explained why the House of Shadowblight had been so silent in the past several months.

‘The Demi-Immortal Institute?’ Yang Qi thought, his heart already pounding with anticipation.

Although he had assumed a leadership role within the clan, that just made him a big fish in a very, very small pond. In contrast, the Demi-Immortal Institute was like an ocean, and was truly a place one could be proud to dominate.

Considering it was the number one institute in all the lands, one could only imagine what crouching tigers and hidden dragons could be found there, and what knowledge was there waiting to be acquired.

Yang Qi knew that although his cultivation of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth gave him extraordinary power, if he remained in isolation in this backwater part of the world, he could end up having major problems later. Therefore, having contact with other experts in the world at large would be very beneficial.

The Demi-Immortal Institute didn’t just have Lifeseizers, they had people even higher than that. In fact, Yang Qi wasn't sure what to call the level after Lifeseizing.

Another factor to consider was that if he joined the Demi-Immortal Institute, then the Yang Clan’s position would become even more stable.

That much could be seen from how Yang Susu’s position had helped him survive the disaster of the Latent Dragon Pill incident.

All of a sudden, a name that was branded into his heart and mind suddenly reared its head.

“Yun Hailan is in the Demi-Immortal Institute.”

Her deception had nearly resulted in his death, and he knew that she was a deadly, venomous foe. Now, the fact that she was in the Demi-Immortal Institute didn’t matter as much. Considering he would soon be in the same place, it would make it much easier to exact the revenge he sought.

She had very nearly brought about the destruction of his entire clan.

If it weren’t for that lightning strike, Yang Qi would currently be a cripple, and Yang Zhan would not be the clan lord. His entire immediate family would have suffered heaps of humiliation.

Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, he said, “Well, Father, why don’t we head home? Let’s get clan affairs in order, including all the ceremonial rites and financial aspects. Once all of the top experts have been moved to the main headquarters, and everything is in order, I’ll report in to the Demi-Immortal Institute.”

“Very well,” Yang Zhan said. Raising his voice, he called out, “Members of the Yang Clan, the time has come to go home. We have important matters to discuss in Yanhaven.”

The clan members regrouped, organized their loot, and then began to head back.

Before, people had given respect to Yang Qi because of his profound energy arts, but now, they did so because he was a student of the Demi-Immortal Institute. His future prospects were now boundless.

To the country bumpkins that the Yang Clan were, even an insignificant freshman student from the Demi-Immortal Institute was a top expert.

All the clans in Yanhaven were bumpkins, and the Yang Clan were nouveau riche among bumpkins.

Two days later, all of the experts of the Yang Clan were in Yanhaven, gathered in the meeting hall of the clan headquarters.

This forum was a much more solemn and important one than the previous one.

Yang Qi oversaw the affair, and Yang Zhan issued order after order. No one refused to comply. After all the orders were given, the forum ended, and the clan experts went out to gather all the wealth and manpower in the clan to be returned to Yang Zhan’s control.

Some of the chief elders even agreed to take up residence in the mansion in Yanhaven.

After the forum was over and everyone went about their tasks, the mansion quieted down.