Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi was truly ferocious. In front of countless onlookers, he stripped the Director of Internal Affairs naked and forced him onto his knees. It really was humiliation worse than death.

A host of experts had been secretly looking on, and in the critical moment they had decided to act, sending out divine will to crush Yang Qi. And yet, with a single move, he dismantled the attack. Not a single bit of divine will touched him, nor any energy arts, true energy, divine abilities, or magical techniques.

Yang Qi was so strong right now that no one present was a match for him, not even the experts from the imperial guard.

A sphere of light suddenly appeared, surrounding Yang Qi protectively. Then he sent out his own powerful expression of divine will.

“Anyone who makes a move on me will be putting in an official request to be executed. And anyone who messes with my people will also be asking to be killed. Those of you who attacked me today, I'm committing all of your auras to memory. You’re marked for death now. Just wait and see.”

RUMBLE!

His divine will spread out, causing his words to rumble like thunder in the ears and seas of consciousness of everyone in the imperial city, causing many a face to turn ashen in shock.

‘This…’ Proud Warpatience murmured to himself, his face falling. ‘He’s so incredibly arrogant….’

Everyone in the secret meeting had been watching events play out, and contrary to all expectations, Yang Qi was actually strong enough to fight back.

They had hoped that the situation would develop in a way that would let them crush him. But in the end, the attack had failed miserably.

‘His energy arts are even more terrifying than they were the last time we clashed.’ Even when he had fought Yang Qi back in the Hanging Heaven, he had been incapable of getting the upper hand. And now Yang Qi seemed many times stronger than that. He had so much deathly godliness that he could probably take control of the immortal world essence in the imperial city. Right now, Proud Warpatience had no confidence at all that he could take out Yang Qi.

In fact, he was certain that he would lose.

‘Impossible! I'm a ninth stage Dao-Demolisher! I'm already close to becoming a Godmyth. With the right good fortune, I could break through immediately. How could I be so helpless against this guy? And how could the imperial house turn out a person like this? Is he the ghost of the great god Titan himself? Or is this going to turn into a common thing among the coming generations? No, there’s no way. The bloodline of Titan is definitely about to fade away for all time.’

Proud Warpatience wasn’t happy at all. He was a person who defied all laws and principles, even of those of the heavens, and he viewed himself as the top figure in this immortal world.

Yet Yang Qi had thoroughly surpassed him and there was nothing he could do about it.

At this point, he looked at the enigmatic leader of their group and said, “Crown Prince, what are you going to do now? It seems the only way to keep Titan Dragonguard in check will be for you to handle the matter personally. If he develops much further, he’ll be completely impossible to deal with.”

A grim expression could be seen on the crown prince’s face. Never in his wildest dreams could he have guessed that something like this would happen. Yang Qi was vastly stronger than anyone had imagined.

“This Titan Dragonguard is too reckless and arrogant. He must die, or else—”

Even as the words left his mouth…

RUMBLE!

A burst of vital energy filled the entire meeting hall, pulsing with Yang Qi’s aura. Then Yang Qi’s voice spoke, “I see you hiding in there, Crown Prince, plotting and scheming against me. Sadly for you, you’re not a match for me. If you don't believe me, come out and we can fight a bit. But if you do, there’ll be no going back. I’ll strip you of all face as well, and depose you. After all, there are plenty of competent individuals in the imperial house. If one crown prince is lost, another will take his place. It’s up to you—do you feel like testing me?” He burst out laughing.

The group gathered in the secret meeting all heard his words and were visibly shocked.

“You!” the crown prince growled, shooting to his feet, visibly fuming with rage. It almost looked like he was about to take action. However, as soon as he was out of his chair he got himself under control. Although his face was still crimson, he simply stood there unmoving.

He knew that if he attacked Yang Qi, the ramifications would be severe and the outcome would not be favorable for himself. After all, if Yang Qi himself had caused this much of a ruckus, what would happen if Eminent Princess Jadefall got involved?

Even if the crown prince somehow managed to get Yang Qi under control, the downsides would be too immense. Furthermore, the fact that Yang Qi was openly challenging him seemed to indicate that he had some trump card to rely on to win if a fight broke out.

The crown prince had backup plans of his own, and unfortunately the current situation was like the two old sayings if you ride a tiger, it's hard to get off and once you nock the arrow to the bow, one cannot but shoot it. If he let Yang Qi come out of this interaction with the upper hand, it would be a big blow to his reputation. The emperor had many sons and daughters, more than even Proud Warpatience, all of whom wished to win the title of crown prince or princess for their own.

Some of those sons and daughters were too weak to even mention, but some of them were incredibly powerful. And quite a few had him in their sights like a tiger eyeing its prey.

‘I can't back down now,’ the crown prince thought. ‘If I do, I’ll become a laughingstock, and no one will ever dare to work for me again. A loss of face here could be fatal. Even father would come to think of me as weak and incompetent.’

Even as the crown prince was trying to decide whether or not to fight to the death to protect his reputation, a new figure flew onto the scene, an extremely handsome man in a white garment.

“You’d better think this through, Crown Prince,” he said.

Quite a few people recognized him.

“It’s the Superintendent of the Imperial Clan!”

The Superintendent of the Imperial Clan was a grand prince, and, at the same time, a very mysterious figure.

“What are you doing here, Superintendent?” the crown prince asked coldly, his heart burning with fury.

“My respects, Crown Prince,” the superintendent said politely. “This Titan Dragonguard is a lunatic, but at the same time is incredibly tough. Furthermore, he has a whole host of top experts in his mansion. In fact, I heard he has an army of tens of thousands of soldiers, all of them immortal marquises or higher!”

“What?” the crown prince said, looking visibly shocked. “Tens of thousands of troops? All of them immortal marquises or higher?”

Even Proud Warpatience leapt to his feet in astonishment. “How could that even be possible? Immortal marquises are all landed gentry here in the Titan Emperor Heaven! They run cities or other important locations. How could anyone amass an army of them? Tens of thousands? It's impossible!”

“According to my sources, Titan Dragonguard recently concluded a transaction with the Mechfolk at the Lost Civilization Consortium. He paid them huge sums of money for a group of mechas all at the immortal marquis level or higher. And they had a whole bunch of experts from his mansion come to pick up the goods. His Imperial Majesty ordered me to place warding magics in Titan Dragonguard’s mansion to surveil him, but he created an illusory region which negates their effects.”

At this point, the superintendent produced a scroll case. Upon opening it, light filled the entire meeting hall.

“This is a god item, the Heaven’s Net Profound Netherworld Scroll!” The crown prince’s eyes glittered.

“Titan Dragonguard cannot be taken lightly. The fact that his will can reach this place means that he can listen in on our conversations. Therefore, His Imperial Majesty gave me this Heaven’s Net Profound Netherworld Scroll so that we can have some privacy. You see, although Titan Dragonguard set up that illusory region in his mansion, the imperial house has access to powerful god items. For example, we have the eye of Titan, which is the literal eyeball of a god. It’s the foundation of our imperial house, and its protection will ensure that we’re never exterminated. Only a Godmyth can unleash the full might of the eye, but we can still use some of its true energy. It can pierce through all sorts of illusory regions, thus we’ve seen what’s in his mansion. He has all sorts of powerful experts standing guard there. It's a virtual hornet's nest that could explode at the slightest provocation. If it did, it would be a complete catastrophe for the imperial city.”

“What? My father knows about all this?” the crown prince said, his fury simmering dangerously.

The superintendent smiled. “How could someone that deadly exist in the imperial house without us being aware of him? Of course the emperor knows. And in order to prevent you from doing something rash, he sent me here to tell you to stand down and come see him in the palace!”

“Yes sir!”

The crown prince had his excuse to extricate himself from the potentially embarrassing situation. He immediately departed with the superintendent, leaving behind a host of officials and ministers exchanging awkward glances.