Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Sovereign Black Hand threw his hand out in front of him, drawing on the godly-class energy art that was the Black Hell God-Imprisoning Hand. Darkness and gloom spread everywhere, and the muffled rumble of thunder filled the area as he tried to resist Yang Qi.

He held nothing back. There was no way that he would agree to get on his hands and knees and serve as a mount. He would rather die first.

Sovereign Black Hand was widely regarded as being invincible, the type of person who could destroy the heavens and extinguish the earth, and at the same time create suns and moons. He was the sole commander in chief of an entire immortal world army, so how could he possibly kneel to some other person?

“Is that really a godly-class energy art? As far as I'm concerned, it’s nothing but child’s play. Begone!” Yang Qi flicked his finger and a stream of light shot out that completely dispelled the darkness in the area.

Then he reached out with his hand and forced Sovereign Black Hand down on both knees.

“I hate you!” he howled madly. “I hate this heaven, this earth, and I hate all the people here! I'm going to exterminate the entire Titan Emperor Heaven!” He struggled violently to stand, but could not. After a moment, he collapsed into a pool of blood and gore.

“Become a mount!” Yang Qi said calmly, simultaneously flicking his finger to send out a stream of primal-chaos energy straight from King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans.

It entered the blood and gore, which began to twitch and wriggle as it turned into a freakish creature with a human head and the body of a snake. It was a vicious looking thing, seemingly ancient, and pulsing with a ruthless aura. It was some sort of monster that could serve as another mount!

“Titan Duelbringer!”

“Sir!?” Titan Duelbringer said, stepping forward.

“I'm appointing you as grand prince, and giving you command over the Department of Internal Affairs and the Department of the Imperial Clan. Now that Sovereign Black Hand has become a mount, he’s stronger than before, but at the same time will serve you loyally. Use him to keep the imperial house under strict control. I’ll be going to conquer these six immortal worlds, expand the empire, and grow the power of the two departments you lead. Don’t use your power for personal profit. Understand?”

He waved his finger and the enormous snake that was Sovereign Black Hand slithered over, allowing Titan Duelbringer to climb on his back. Sovereign Black Hand still retained his mind and thoughts, but was completely sealed and infected with a devil seed. As such, he would follow all orders from both Yang Qi and Titan Duelbringer.

“Yes, Milord. I’ll take care of everything.”

Next, Yang Qi pointed at the emissaries from the Five Blooms, Coiling Arc, Megaplexus, and Kestra Mural Heavens. “The rest of you four, don’t even think about trying to leave. You’re all going to become mounts to pull Empress Jadefall’s chariot.”

Coiling Peak, Plexus Jade, Mural Child-Ink, and Reverend Five Willows were all famous sovereigns of heaven and commanders of numerous soldiers. They had all joined forces with the intention of conquering the imperial city of the Titan Emperor Heaven, but unfortunately for them, they had run into Yang Qi.

Moments before, when they saw both Sovereign Black Hand and Mammoth Ninetruths turned into mounts, they were filled with terror and realized that they couldn’t fight back against this level of power.

Thus they had immediately flown up into the air in the hopes of escaping.

But Yang Qi wouldn't let them.

“All of you, get back down here!”

RUMBLE!

As the sound waves rolled out, they crushed the magical laws in their path.

Smack! Thump!

Four top experts fell out of the sky like kites with their strings cut. Then, a wave of Yang Qi’s hand caused them to collapse into piles of blood and gore, which subsequently wriggled and twitched until they looked like snakes with human heads.

Most times, an immortal world would never have more than five sovereigns of heaven, yet here were four that were acting as mere mounts.

“Empress Jadefall, in the future, you’ll have four excellent mounts to pull your chariot when you ride to war!” With that, his Hell Portals appeared again and armies of fiend-devils poured out of them.

Flying up into the air, he said, “Now, we wage war on these six immortal worlds. We’ll take them all out in one fell swoop!”

“My people,” Jadefall said, “the time has come to bring glory to the Titan Emperor Heaven! A new golden age is coming! To war! No longer will we be a weak immortal world. We will become strong, and our glory, splendor, and wealth will never end!”

“Yes, Your Highness!” the officials responded excitedly.

Bugles and drums rang out as wormholes popped into being and the armies flew up into them.

**

The campaign only lasted three months.

Yang Qi had endless fiend-devils, all of them blessed with the primeval god skills of the Eternal Heavenly Aria. Any who stood in their path were crushed like weeds. The armies of the six immortal worlds met defeat after defeat. Countless resources were plundered and innumerable famous generals were killed, or taken captive. Some of the old-timers conspired to assassinate Yang Qi, but all of them ended up becoming mounts. Many captives were sent to the lower world as slaves to help the growth of the planetary systems there.

Eventually, the six immortal worlds sued for peace.

In accordance with Yang Qi’s will, Empress Jadefall agreed to negotiate with them, making strict demands, including massive amounts of resources, as well as god items.

As the spoils of war filled the Titan Emperor Heaven, Yang Clan disciples from the lower world were brought up to hold office in the government and further their cultivation.

By this point, the Sage Monarch planetary system was filled with immortal energy, clearly on the path to becoming an immortal world of its own.

Anyone would be able to tell how different it was from the surrounding planetary systems, and those who wished to enter it would instantly sense the difference in the magical laws of space and time, and the energy flows. On a substructural level, they were completely different from anything else in the mortal world.

**

Eldest Brother stood atop a high tower in the Sage Monarch Collegium, looking out at the planetary system.

He could tell that the planetary system was reaching the point where it would transform. Its magical laws would change and it would develop the aura of an immortal world. All of the god formations that Yang Qi had set up in the past were still fully functional, constantly emitting immortal energy from various immortal worlds.

Yang Qi’s cultivation base had reached a completely unfathomable level, and it was now a simple task for him to set up formations in other immortal worlds to harvest their magical laws and essence.

The largest of the god formations featured a flow of violet energy. Roughly three months earlier, the power flows had changed, flickering with strange light, almost as if they came from magical treasures. Of course, this was the formation linked to the Tusita Heaven.

‘The Tusita Heaven formation has grown larger recently,’ Eldest Brother mused. ‘I wonder why. Don’t tell me that Junior Eighteenth Brother has advanced to an even higher level. The immortal world essence isn’t particularly plentiful, but as it seeps into the Sage Monarch planetary system, it slowly pushes it toward the level of an immortal world. Of course, I know Junior Eighteenth Brother wants to merge the Sage Monarch planetary system with other holy lands of true cultivation and turn them all into a new immortal world. Then, he can use that to reach the Godmyth level.’

The force involved in creating a new immortal world would be enough to push its creator into the Godmyth level. Eldest Brother, Elder Second Brother, and the rest of the Invincible Society, as well as all of the key figures from the Yang Clan, were all working hard to reach the goal of creating an immortal world.

As they expanded through the mortal world, gathering more faith, conquering more holy lands of true cultivation, and taking more godrelics and other resources, the Sage Monarch planetary system was growing stronger and stronger.

Thus, their goal drew nearer and nearer. It was like a caterpillar that was starting to build a cocoon.

Someone like Emperor Titan would never have been able to create an immortal world. In the ancient era, the person who had created the Titan Emperor Heaven only succeeded by using Titan’s Eye. Later, that person had eventually left the immortal world he created. If that person had remained behind, it might not have been possible for Yang Qi to seize power the way he had.

‘Junior Eighteenth Brother is a really important person now. I can’t believe he actually invaded six other immortal worlds and won! We now have immortal slaves here to help us build spell formations and planets. What is it all going to end up like?’

In numerous locations in the planetary system, it was possible to see immortal slaves being commanded by fiend-devil armies, using immortal energy and essence to create spell formations and planets. Spirit energy abounded everywhere.