Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

As Proud Ethics and his men left, Jade Nightqueen let out an angry hiss.

‘The future world really is truly powerful,’ she thought. ‘Those ten magisters are like god-spirits in human form. They actually have one of the God Legion Seals? Damnation! Even the legion of gods would fight viciously for something like that, and they have one? Just think of the powers it could provide. According to the rumors, it contains a boundless energy art known as the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, which contains the majestic power of ancient godmammoths. The quintessence of that energy art is to crush hells, and if you cultivate it, your every move will be filled with endless strength. Someone with an energy art like that could easily crush anyone in their path on the Ancient Road to the Gods….’

At this point, a young woman who looked as pure and fair as a snow lotus walked into the room. She seemed completely untainted by the imperfections of the world, and was surrounded by the same sea of misty white clouds that would wreath a snow-capped peak. [1]

Anyone who looked at her would likely recall the line of poetry: The bright moon rises above the Heavenly Mountain, from amidst the vast ocean of clouds. It made her seem elegant, transcendent, and holy, separate from the world in all ways. [2]

She was another of the ten flower goddesses.

“What do you think the future world is up to here, Serene Snowlotus?” Jade Nightqueen asked. “If they weren’t projections, I would’ve detained them and forced them into slavery. Maybe even made them all eunuchs!”

“Don’t get too hasty, Junior Sister Jade Nightqueen,” replied Serene Snowlotus. “The future world is trying to get their hands on some godhood from the Great Necropolis. Unfortunately, they’re not strong enough at the moment. The only thing they have going for them are those ten magisters that are currently caught up fighting the experts from the Primeval Age for the God Legion Seal. In any case, they won’t be coming here any time soon. If they were able to come here, their minions wouldn’t be wasting time trying to get our help.”

“So what should we do? Don’t tell me you think we should hand some godhood over to them?”

“Calm down,” Serene Snowlotus said coolly. “First we need to get the empress’ opinion. And we also need to see if the future world has any other plans or goals. For now, things haven’t even begun to take shape. By the way, I heard that Orchid Purity went to the Immortal Dao Age and has already started to build a strong foundation there! The fact that she's building up universal fortune has earned the admiration of many of the elders. The destiny she's sending to the empress will allow the dao of heaven to give birth to an intense dao of slaughter. With that, our attempts to acquire godhood will reach an even higher level, and we’ll soon be the dominant force both in the Great Necropolis and the Ancient Road to the Gods! Of course, all of this is going to make Orchid Purity both more important and more dangerous.” [3]

“I think we need to subvert Orchid Purity’s efforts, although not too obviously. Do you have any good ideas, Elder Sister?”

“From what I've heard, they’re able to gather the universal fortune mainly because they took over something called the Dao Defense League. They also arrested the league-lord, someone named Yang Qi, and imprisoned him as a god-general. Perhaps we can cause problems for the Dao Defense League to advance our own position. Either way, we definitely can’t let Orchid Purity gain any traction.”

“Agreed.”

“Let's find an appropriate opportunity to summon Yang Qi and assess his temperament and skills. Maybe we can recruit him to our side. Orchid Purity and her people use trickery to enslave people, which always leaves them angry and thirsting for revenge. People like that make the perfect pawns….”

With that, they continued discussing Yang Qi.

Of course, he heard everything they were saying and couldn’t help but laugh coldly as a result. ‘So, even in the Joyflower Palace, there’s scheming and infighting. It’s just as bad as the palace intrigue in the mortal world. I guess it's just human nature. The only way to avoid this would be to have forces made up only of fanatically loyal angels. Well, at least I can use this to my advantage.’

At a certain point, Flower Goddess Jade Nightqueen said, “Let’s not rush into anything, Elder Sister Snowlotus. We can always finalize the plan later. For now, let’s take this gift from the future world and seal it in the treasure storehouse. When the empress returns, she can unseal it herself, and we won't be responsible for it. Of course, if we end up making a good deal with the future world, I want my share of the credit.” With that, she picked up the box with King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallion and rose to her feet.

“Agreed,” said Serene Snowlotus, also standing up. “Only the empress herself should have anything to do with this gift. If we touch it, she would likely become suspicious of us, and the last thing we need is to have the empress angry at us. If it weren’t for that, though, I would be very curious what King Immortal-Slayer’s legacy medallions are like. Think about it. King Immortal-Slayer! According to legend, he devastated the god world, killing countless gods in the process. Even Paramount Gods fled from him! His legacy medallions are virtually mythological.”

“King Immortal-Slayer is an inauspicious figure, and so are his legacy medallions. In fact, it seems to me this gift might be some sort of plot. I guess we’ll have to wait for the empress to return and make a decision about it. We can only warn her to be careful.” The two flower goddesses continued their conversation as they walked through the garden toward the exit.

Yang Qi crept along behind them, unseen. Thankfully he had Flower Mildcloud’s aura, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to do that even with the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and the Cruiser of Civilization combined.

As he walked along, he continued absorbing the vital energies of the Joyflower Palace and using the genetic systems to fuse with them even further. With those systems, he could be like a parasite, becoming one with the vital energy of his surroundings wherever he was.

The longer he remained in the Joyflower Palace, the more he became intertwined with it, until the warding spells didn’t even notice him, much less harm him. As long as he didn't pose too much of a threat, that is.

‘They’re leading me right to the treasure storehouses. You really can wear out iron shoes in a fruitless search, then find what you're looking for without even trying. There couldn’t be a better opportunity for me. Is this really a gift from heaven?’ He almost wanted to personally thank the people from the future world for choosing to make their visit now.

Soon, it seemed he would have a chance, not only to get one of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, but also to clear out the Joyflower Palace as a whole.

He unhesitatingly followed the two flower goddesses through the corridors, which twisted and turned into the depths of the Joyflower Palace. They walked along for a long time, passing through countless warding spells with Yang Qi trailing them the entire time.

For true members of the Joyflower Palace, it would be just an ordinary path. But for an infiltrator like Yang Qi, it would be like passing through mountains of daggers and seas of flames. It was only by pushing his energy arts to the limits, and calling deeply on the parasitic powers of the genetic systems, that he was able to proceed safely.

Every step he took was one that risked death itself. Of course, as part of the process, he was learning a lot about the vital energy and spell formations of the palace, which meant that things got easier as he went along.

Eventually, the two women reached an enormous pagoda that was guarded by several old women, all of whom radiated power. They sat there cross-legged and unmoving, seemingly bereft of any life force or aura. However, with a mere glance, Yang Qi could tell that they cultivated something which gave them boundless psychic powers and immense true energy.

After the two flower goddesses stopped in front of them, the old women opened their eyes.

“Why might you two flower goddesses have come to the treasure storehouse?” one of them asked.

“We wish to deposit an item,” Jade Nightqueen said. “The future world brought a gift for the empress, and now is not the time to unseal it. We would like you ladies to bear witness to the fact that we are depositing this item unopened.”

“We understand,” another of the old women said. Looking at the box, she assessed its vital energy and said, “That’s a very powerful aura. What exactly is it?”

“The future world gifted us with one of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions,” Jade Nightqueen explained. “It also includes a letter from Magister Proud Heaven to the empress. We wouldn't dare to open either. We want to deposit the gift as soon as possible to avoid any problems!”

“Very well.” The old women produced a host of silver objects, which they pieced together to form a key. Moments later, light shone from the key and caused the door to open.

As they entered, Yang Qi carefully followed.

The inside was filled with a mist of vital energy so thick it was almost liquid, seemingly designed for the express purpose of storing powerful objects.

There were bookcases, racks of weapons, shelves of medicinal pills, and even enormous kingdoms of crystals with god souls sealed within. There were altars, banners, terracotta armies, and other treasures. Everything here was vastly stronger than the treasures in the Aeonic God Temple, and were clearly items that the Joyflower Palace had collected from the Ancient Road to the Gods and the Great Necropolis. It was impossible to tell how many millions upon millions of years it would take to build up a collection like this, or how much it would be worth. Not even Yang Qi had any clue.

1. The flower referenced here is the real-life flower saussurea involucrata, some variations of which are bright white and resemble lotus flowers. If you scroll down in the wikipedia article, you can see that there’s even an entry regarding how the flower is used in martial arts literature.

2. The line of poetry here is from the (arguably) most famous Chinese poet of all time, Li Bai. A cursory search only pulled up one translation online, so this version is my own translation. Incidentally, the ‘Heavenly Mountain’ technically refers to the real-life Tian Shan mountain range in China. However, considering the context, I'm going with the more literal translation of Heavenly Mountain.

3. I usually try to work the literal translations of the Chinese idioms and sayings, for flavor purposes. In this case, I felt it didn't work. The literal translation of things haven’t even begun to take shape is actually there is not even the first stroke of the character 八. In this case I didn’t think using the literal translation on its own would convey the meaning, and trying to work both the translation and the explanation into the dialogue seemed too clunky.