Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The fact that the immortal-slaying clone had surpassed Yang Qi’s true self in cultivation was something of a danger.

Usually, clones would never surpass the true self. Even if they were stronger for some reason, they shared the thoughts of the true self, and as such, shared the same enlightenment.

But Yang Qi had done something that defied common sense. Now, thanks to King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions and the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, the clone's thoughts were actually starting to separate from his true self’s.

To most ordinary cultivators, losing control of a clone would be very dangerous and could easily lead to cultivation deviation.

Unfortunately, there was more to the situation that Yang Qi had to consider. He knew that, eventually, King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions would try to turn on him. King Immortal-Slayer was a mighty individual who was not completely dead. His hope was to be resurrected, and he used his legacy medallions as part of the plot to make that happen.

Yang Qi actually wanted his immortal-slaying clone to think independently as a precaution against that outcome.

King Immortal-Slayer had been the rare type of genius who could be considered favored by heaven, someone that even the ancient legion of gods feared. Although Yang Qi had a lot of lofty ambitions, he knew that he was far from the level of King Immortal-Slayer.

Therefore, he would make all the preparations he possibly could.

The end goal was to completely break free from the control of King Immortal-Slayer, benefiting handsomely as a result.

The Heaven Beyond Heaven was surrounded by such powerful energy flows that not even Chaos Gods would be able to easily pierce through them. It was normally a very quiet place, but at the same time, it was a location where all sorts of divine medicines naturally grew. As a result, the immortal-slaying clone was making astounding progress in terms of his will and physique. He worked on his cultivation, hunted powerful beasts, and improved his battle prowess. By this point, he could easily defeat people who were in a higher cultivation level than himself, and was always striving for further breakthroughs.

If he was able to break free from being bound to Yang Qi, he would rise to even higher heights.

After all, a kite could only fly as high as the length of string held in the hand of he who flew it. If that string broke, one possibility was that the kite would fall to the ground. But there was a chance the wind would push it even higher than before.

At the moment, the faith provided by six top experts was the wind pushing at the clone, transforming him in profound and mysterious ways.

Yang Qi watched, more convinced than ever that he was doing the right thing.

“Excellent. Now that the five of you have given over all of your faith, your next task is to help me convert more of our associates. We want Young Master Leaf to be a general with no troops under his command, got it?” Green Merchant was now like the leader of this group of five.

“Where are the rest of them?” Yang Qi asked. “Can we lure more of them here? I want to strip Young Master Leaf of as many of his followers as possible.”

“We’ll do our best!” the six new converts said loudly.

“Excellent,” Yang Qi replied.

The six of them pulled out their command medallions, which had been fashioned in imitation of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions. They were used for communication, as well as issuing distress calls.

After working with the medallions for a moment, one of the six said, “Milord, the other patriarchs are all heading to the imperial palace of the Tusita Dynasty with the goal of dealing with you. Milord, you really have to be careful. We should probably head over there now to avoid arousing suspicion, although that’s your decision.”

“Oh? So you don’t think you can lure the rest of them into a trap here? Fine. I'm going to go kill Sectlord Nine Yangs, then take a look around the Tusita Dynasty to get a feel for how strong they really are.”

With that, he laid his hands on all six of his new followers, which caused them to shiver as if with shock as golden true energy spread into them. “Although the six of you started out with incredible martial arts, when you fused with the energy of the other patriarchs it created some nasty side-effects. Are you even fully aware of how miraculous those seventy-two constitutions are? They conflict with each other, and creating a harmony isn’t an easy thing. Young Master Leaf is smart, but he lacks enlightenment regarding the great dao of the legion of gods. I’ll help you negate the negative aspects of the fusion progress, which will unlock some of the potential within you and help you advance your cultivation bases. You’ll become at least ten times stronger than before, which should put you in the position to deal with any of the rest of those patriarchs. I’ll also bless you with some primeval god skills, making you even more powerful.”

Bzzzzzzzz!

Thousands upon thousands of halos appeared, which then shrank down into tiny seeds that entered the Jade Pillow acupuncture point on the backs of the heads of the six patriarchs.

If any of these six ended up having to fight a powerful enemy, those seeds could erupt with thousands upon thousands of halos, boosting their energy arts and making them virtually invincible.

“Go! Meet up with the rest of the patriarchs. I’ll head to the imperial dynasty on my own to find Sectlord Nine Yangs. After killing him, I’ll regroup with you and plan the next move. The best option I can think of is luring them into a teleportation formation that’ll send them into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. When Young Master Leaf comes out, he’ll have no supporters and I’ll be able to ambush him and turn him into a clone!”

“Yeah! Don’t worry, Milord, we won’t let you down. The six of us should easily be able to convince the others to fall into your trap.” Thanks to the help Yang Qi had provided, the impurities within them were cleansed and their energy arts had advanced. With that, they flew in the direction of the imperial dynasty.

Yang Qi had put six more pawns into play, and now he just needed to wait until the right moment to use them.

At the moment, he focused on tracking down Sectlord Nine Yangs’ aura.

The imperial dynasty of the Tusita Heaven maintained an enormous heavenly palace, which consisted of towering buildings that rose out of endless white clouds. Countless suns, moons, and planets filled those clouds, and as they rose and dipped, it almost seemed like someone practicing breathing exercises.

It was a very bustling place, with millions upon millions of teleportations whisking people back and forth every moment. From that, it was possible to guess the immense population of the place.

Yang Qi kept his distance at first. He could sense profound and dangerous auras within the place, making it seem like a dragon’s den that could erupt with deadly force.

Instead of using the teleportation portals, he just directly made his way into the city. The place was made up of numerous spatial manifestations and even entire worlds, some separated and some overlapping, making it something like a labyrinth.

SMACK!

In a mansion located deep in the imperial city, Sectlord Nine Yangs slapped his palm down on the table in front of him. “Preposterous! Outrageous! What ridiculous gall! I can’t believe he had the guts to steal godhood from the Live Forever God Tree here in the Tusita Heaven! Is he looking to get killed? What’s the Tusita Dynasty going to do? They’re going to send some troops down into the Dao Defense League to find him, obviously!”

“You can't afford to underestimate this guy, Sectlord Nine Yangs.”

A handful of older and middle-aged men sat in front of Sectlord Nine Yangs. They were very important people, and the violet-gold crowns they wore revealed them to be grand and vice princes from the dynasty, people who ranked second only to the emperor himself.

Obviously, they were so much more powerful than the grand princes of the Titan Emperor Heaven that the two couldn’t even compare.

The Titan Emperor Heaven was a first ranked immortal world, whereas the Tusita Heaven ranked thirty-third, making it as appropriate to compare the two of them as it was to compare an ant with a dragon.

“I'm not underestimating him,” Sectlord Nine Yangs replied. “He has some of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions and can go hide in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart at any time. But his plot against Dragon King offended the God Dragon Tribe, putting him in mortal peril. And when the time comes for our duel, I’ll kill him. I won't give him a chance to survive.” Although Sectlord Nine Yangs was putting on a very calm front for the royalty of the Tusita Dynasty, deep inside, he was thinking very different thoughts. ‘I can’t believe this kid is so strong. He actually stole their nearly-complete godhood. If he continues his cultivation much further, I won’t be a match for him! What am I supposed to do now? He's definitely not from the Dragonfolk. If I can get the people from the Tusita Heaven to kill him, it would save me a lot of effort. And it would make the Nine Yangs God Sect virtually invincible!’

One of the main reasons Sectlord Nine Yangs had come to the Tusita Heaven to begin with was because of Yang Qi. He knew that Young Master Leaf had some of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, and had wanted to ask him for help. Although he and Young Master Leaf had had their differences in the past, they were now bound together in spirit and action by a common enemy.

He’d even hoped that Young Master Leaf would be able to control the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart.

However upon arriving in the Tusita Heaven, the news he heard had deeply stunned him.

The dynasty’s godhood had been stolen, which meant that Sectlord Nine Yang's opponent would likely get a lot stronger before their appointed duel.

Maybe Sectlord Nine Yangs could still come out alive, but if he lost, he would become a major laughingstock.