Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘I’m not going to just allow this Sixtieth Young Sir Proud to go on his merry way. I’ll leave a psychic branding mark on him, which might even get me some clues about Proud Warpatience.’

Sixtieth Young Sir Proud had no idea, but right before Yang Qi stepped into the wormhole, a tiny, undetectable stream of light had flown out and landed on him, a psychic branding mark that would keep the two of them connected. It was something Yang Qi had gained from King Heaven-Devourer’s will, an energy art that could dominate everything, as immense as a god dragon and as tiny as an earthworm.

One of the reasons Yang Qi had decided to flaunt his wealth was in the hopes that it would attract the attention of Proud Warpatience. If he could beat the grass to startle the snake, perhaps that could lead to drawing the snake out of its hole. Then maybe he would finally get an idea of what this apprentice of Proud Heaven’s was like. Was he really as superhuman as everyone claimed?

Regardless, Yang Qi was convinced that he must have at least some idea of where Proud Heaven was. Unless he really was incomprehensibly powerful, Yang Qi would simply face his tribulation, become a Demolisher, then capture the man. Then he would take him out of the Titan Emperor Heaven and find an appropriate place to interrogate him about Proud Heaven.

‘I wonder if I can make it all happen,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘There are obviously ups and downs. Normally speaking, I wouldn’t have flaunted my wealth. If word got out that I have that much money, it could cause problems. But without doing that, how could I get Proud Warpatience out into the open where I can assess his energy arts and cultivation base?’

As he followed the Mechfolk, he was simultaneously keeping an eye on Sixtieth Young Sir Proud via the psychic branding mark.

Eventually, they reached their destination, a fold of space in which negotiations could be finalized.

“Do you really have that many power stones?” one of the Mechfolk asked. “If not, you’re asking for trouble. We Mechfolk don’t take kindly to being scammed.”

Smiling, Yang Qi said, “Don’t worry. As an imperial clansman, I would never try to scam you.” He knew that the Mechfolk had offended Sixtieth Young Sir Proud over this, and if it turned out he didn’t have the power stones they would be furious. He would feel the same if something like that happened to him. The Mechfolk were primarily businessmen who prided themselves on maintaining a reputation of treating all customers fairly.

Even as the Mechfolk looked at him suspiciously, Yang Qi extended his hand and masses of power stones began tumbling out of the sleeve of the God Legion Battle Robe, rapidly piling up into a tiny mountain. There were hundreds of thousands of them, each of them the size of a walnut and bursting with the power of a high-level immortal world.

One of the Mechfolk rushed forward and grabbed one of the stones, flipped it over in his hand, and sent some true energy into it. As a result, the stone immediately projected an image of a violet-colored immortal world, which was none other than the Tusita Heaven.

“They really are Tusita Heaven power stones! Look at the magical laws!”

“Incredible. Amazing! Now those are power stones. They’re far superior to what we've used in the past. They’re fairly bursting with energy!”

“Wonderful. These power stones are marvelous. With them, our machinery will be without peer.”

“This level of power is exactly what our eternal shrines are missing!”

“Report this to our superiors. We’re going to get a big bonus for this!”

Yang Qi nodded in satisfaction. After getting the six hundred and sixty-six imperial snakecharms, his ability to extract power and magical laws from the Tusita Heaven had grown even more formidable. As a result, the power stones he could produce were even stronger than before.

“Please note, friends,” he said, “these power stones are superior to any similar ones you might have acquired recently. As such, I think they’re worth more.”

The Mechfolk reported the matter to their superiors, took the time to properly assess the stones, and, eventually, offered a fair price.

“We’ll give you five million per stone.”

“Perfect,” Yang Qi said. “You Mechfolk really are honest businessmen.” He was very impressed. The Mechfolk were definitely not like the slippery and slimy Heaven’s Net Consortium, who had tried to rip him off and paid a heavy price for it.

Yang Qi was the type of person who preferred to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots. When the time was right, he would go back and wipe out the Heaven’s Net Consortium, and not show an ounce of mercy. Leaving a group like them in existence was just allowing them to take advantage of who knew how many people.

Yang Qi acquired three sonic-class mechas, as well as several moonlit-class and starry-class. He also gained status as a preferred customer of the Mechfolk. In addition, he signed a contract order for a battleship, which he would return for sometime in the future.

Of course, Yang Qi didn’t need the mechas for himself; he would bestow them on his subordinates in the Special Reconnaissance Division, which would earn him a bit more loyalty and make them far more domineering than before.

In the beginning, he had forced the Special Reconnaissance Division to work for him by means of the devil seeds, and many of them resented him for that. But in the half a year that had passed, he had bestowed many rewards and benefits and shifted some hearts. Bestowing mechas on his subordinates would only further reinforce the growing attitude that working for him came with a lot of benefits.

**

Sixtieth Young Sir Proud was fuming with rage. ‘Dammit, who exactly was that imperial clansman? And how did he get so rich? I definitely have to look into this and report the matter to father.’

After leaving the business plane, he headed to a special teleportation portal area within the imperial city.

RUUUUUUMBLE!

Stepping into the wormhole, he vanished. When he reappeared, he was in a unique plane of existence high in the sky, nestled amongst the dense winds and empyrean lightning.

It was so high in the sky of the immortal world that measuring the distance would require light-years. The sky of the immortal world had many layers. There was the empyrean wind layer, the profound ice layer, the raging flame layer, the heavenly distribution layer, the star field layer, the rising constellation layer, and more. The sky also had planets, and rivers of stars that were far more numerous than in the mortal world.

Beyond all of that was the greyspace.

Within one of the scintillating rivers of stars hung a palace, heavily guarded by armed troops and filled with beautiful immortals from parts unknown.

No one blocked Sixtieth Young Sir Proud’s path as he entered; obviously everyone knew who he was. However, eventually he reached a point deep within the palace where the guards stopped him.

“Young Sir Proud, if you want to see Generalissimo Warpatience, we’ll have to go in and submit a request first.”

“Do it,” Sixtieth Young Sir Proud said. “I've discovered the source of those power stones and need to talk to father about it. You’d better not cause any delays, understand?”

“Yes, yes of course!” the guards said, and a handful of them hurried inside.

**

Back in the Special Reconnaissance Division, deathless godliness surged as Yang Qi used an energy art to reconstruct the god item that was the Chiliocosm Mirror.

Within the mirror, it was possible to see an image of Sixtieth Young Sir Proud as he waited to see his father, Proud Warpatience. A moment later, the guards returned to lead Sixtieth Young Sir Proud inside.

As they proceeded through corridor after corridor, Yang Qi saw many things. He saw immortal items being forged, and he saw mechanical treasures and weapons. In fact, the entire palace itself was a combination of mechanical objects and precious treasures from the dao of immortals. He could even sense deathless godliness.

It made sense. Proud Warpatience was the generalissimo of the armed forces, so it would be quite ironic if he didn’t have god items and other such things.

Unexpectedly, many of the guards were equipped with mechas.

At a certain point, the guards and Sixtieth Young Sir Proud reached a twisted and distorted area of space-time that caused interference for the Chiliocosm Mirror, making the image blurry. In response, Yang Qi sent out Heaven-Devouring True Energy and immediately removed the interference.

The path took too many twists and turns to count, until eventually, Sixtieth Young Sir Proud reached a spacious audience hall. There was no roof; directly above was a dome of primal-chaos. In the middle of the hall was an altar and throne, both empty.

Sixtieth Young Sir Proud rushed in, knelt before the throne, and said, “Greetings, revered Father. I hope that in the war games in three days, you remove all face from Princess Jadefall and crush her forces beneath your heel.”

RUMBLE!

An immense force descended from the primal-chaos above and caused everything to tremble violently, even cracking the Chiliocosm Mirror.

‘Such incredible power,’ Yang Qi thought, shaken. At the same time, he sent some true energy into the mirror to repair it.

Before long, a figure became visible on the throne. He looked like an emperor, aloof and dismissive. “Dispense with the jibber-jabber and tell me about the power stones.”