Sage Monarch

With the wave of a hand, Goddess Idlecloud sent godpower out to fill the room, and all of the female disciples immediately sensed her inspecting them. A moment later, it was to Jadefall's shock that she felt herself fly up into the air.

"Excellent aptitude! I'll take this girl. The rest, you can have."

With a beckoning gesture, Goddess Idlecloud pulled Jadefall to her side. "And with that, I'll take my leave."

One of the other Greater Gods chuckled. "Oh? You're only taking a single apprentice this time, Goddess Idlecloud?"

"That's right. Quality over quantity." Looking at Jadefall, she said, "Come, let's go. With my help, you'll reach godly ascension sooner rather than later. Afterward, you'll truly be able to reach new heights of glory."

Jadefall gave Yang Qi a meaningful look and he nodded in return. Obviously, Jadefall would achieve a rapid rise through the ranks under the tutelage of a Greater God. And Yang Qi could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that she wouldn't be unfairly bullied by anyone.

Taking hold of Jadefall, Goddess Idlecloud sent out a stream of godpower that wrapped the both of them up, whereupon they vanished via some spatial jumping technique. It was something that Greater Gods could do in the god world, but not Lesser Gods.

Lesser Gods could pierce through space to launch attacks, but only understood some of the profundities of space-time in the god world. Only Common Gods or higher could understand the transformations of space-time.

With that, the Greater Gods went on to select various apprentices. Of Yang Qi's group, Brahma became an apprentice, as did Eldest Brother, Sword Seventeen, Patriarch Annalist, Doom, and the Shepherd.... The Greater Gods were clearly very perceptive, and could sense that they had particularly amazing aptitude.

Yang Qi was keeping his own substructure tightly under wraps, as he wasn't interested in taking a Master. He had too many secrets, including the fact that he was the bearer of the God Legion Seal. If word of that leaked, it would cause tumult.

In the end, all of his followers attained high positions, which he was very happy about. Not only would they become very powerful, but he trusted that they wouldn't reveal his secrets.

As for Lightning Dragonriser, he wasn't privy to any of their true secrets.

Furthermore, none of the almighty beings took him as an apprentice.

After the selection of apprentices ended, the people left behind were the disciples with average talent who would be given various missions and assignments outside the sect. Not only would they be rewarded with resources for accomplishing those missions, but they could also further their cultivation. And if they reached godly ascension, it could change everything for them.

Of course, Yang Qi was in that group.

"Those of you who weren't selected to be apprentices, losing the chance to immediately rise through the ranks, are still going to be very powerful people. You'll be given tasks to accomplish for the House of God Ordainment and will be well-rewarded for success. Also, you can advance your cultivation bases. Now, all of you will be given a copy of the Great Classic of God Ordainment, which contains the history of the sect, as well as its rules. Afterward, you'll be assigned your specific tasks."

Yang Qi got his copy of the Great Classic of God Ordainment, which was a huge book filled with enough information that it couldn't be perused in a short time.

"You, stand off to the side," one of the Lesser Gods said. "You three, come over here. The rest of you...."

Yang Qi followed the instructions that were given and found himself in a small team standing in front of one of the Lesser Gods. "Your mission is to go to a mountainous mining district controlled by the House of God Ordainment. The Guardian Mines. Got it?"

"Guardian Mines?" said one of the other disciples. "Are we supposed to stand guard there, Elder?"

"Cut the chatter," the elder snapped. "You'll understand when you get there. You disciples might be Quasi-Gods, but you're still frogs in a well. You have no idea about the true profundities of the god world. The House of God Ordainment has plenty of mines where we harvest godstones. That means we have miners in our employ. Of course, you're not being sent to be miners, but foremen. Remember, it's not easy to work as a foreman. A lot of the miners are vicious characters, criminals, and even monsters that we've captured and forced into labor. You'll be in charge of managing them. You'll learn the rest of the details when you get to the mines."

"Yes sir," everyone replied. Including Yang Qi, there were a few dozen members in the group.

With that, they hurried over to one of the teleportation portals and stepped inside. When they emerged, they could instantly tell they were out in the wilds.

Ancient, towering mountains stretched up all around them, covered with primeval jungles and filled with wild demonlings. In fact, intermittent roars reached their ears from the creatures. There were mines visible everywhere, with miners streaming in and out of them like ants.

The god that had led them through the teleportation portal said, "This is only one of the mining districts operated by the House of God Ordainment. And these wild mountain ranges stretch on without end."

There were quite a few novice disciples waiting to meet them, who immediately knelt and said, "Greetings, Elder, Elder Brothers."

"Rise," the god said. "You've done well, considering that your previous superiors are either dead or have become gods. We've heard your repeated requests for assistance and have assigned these official disciples to be your new superiors. Understand?"

"Understood!" the novice disciples said respectfully.

"Good. Now let's make the specific assignments. There are fifty-six mountains being mined, which is why we brought fifty-six disciples. Each disciple will be a foreman for one of the mountains."

With that, Yang Qi and the other disciples stood there waiting to hear their assignment.

"Yue Tianlin, you're assigned to Mine One. Meng Long, you're at Mine Two." One by one, the god went through all the disciples. "Yang Qi, Mine Thirteen.... Ouyang Xin, Mine Fifty-Six."

When all the mines were assigned, the god said, "All of the various mines have assigned production rates that must be strictly maintained. If any of you can surpass the assigned production rate, you'll be rewarded. And anyone who discovers high-quality godstones will also be rewarded. However, don't say that I didn't warn you about the bad news. If large numbers of miners die in a given mine, whether from insurrection or demonling invasion, or if you don't meet your assigned quota, you'll be severely punished, possibly even executed! Understand?"

His voice thrummed with killing intent that caused everyone's hearts to grow cold.

"Every year, inspectors will come to check the circumstances of your mines. You have the authority to kill any miners you see fit, even en masse. But all of that is under the assumption that you continue meeting your quotas. The more godstones you produce, the more seriously the sect will take you. You'll be able to request more resources, or even apply to have female novice disciples come to serve you. And if you earn enough merit points due to your service, you could even use them to pay your way out of a death sentence! Understand?"

"We understand!"

In the end, the rules seemed simple. They had to meet the godstone quotas every year. If they failed, they would be punished; if they succeeded, they would be rewarded.

"Good." The elder stepped back to the teleportation portal. "If you have any other questions about the sect, you can find the answers in the Great Classic of God Ordainment."

"Yes sir! Farewell, Elder!" After the elder left, the fifty-six disciples breathed sighs of relief.

"Let's head to our mines and check them out," someone said. "When we have the time, we can get back together to compare notes. And if any demonlings invade, we definitely have to help each other."

The person who spoke the words was a fair-faced young man who looked like he was a young master from some aristocratic clan.

Although he spoke with a voice of command, it wasn't as if the fifty-six disciples present were the kind of people who would simply accept orders from anyone. Most of them ignored him and flew off before he finished speaking. Yang Qi was one of them. It seemed to him that this assignment was going to be an easy one, and that was especially the case considering he could fabricate high-quality godstones.

'I wonder what assignment Lightning Dragonriser got,' Yang Qi thought. 'Father and the rest were taken in by Greater Gods, so they won't have assignments like this. They'll be given the best resources and plenty of opportunities to work on their cultivation and reach godly ascension.'

Of course, although they had been taken away by Greater Gods, Yang Qi was still their ultimate protector. He was far stronger than any ordinary god could imagine. And once he reached godly ascension, he would surely understand more secrets of the God Legion Seal.

Only a real god could truly use that seal.

Right now, Yang Qi was like a child with a sledgehammer. But once he was strong enough to wield that sledgehammer, he could use it in a very destructive fashion.

Before long, he was at his assigned mine.

It was a huge mountain filled with all sorts of caves and tunnels, almost like an anthill. He had a mansion grotto of his own, located atop a high cliff, from which position he could oversee and issue orders to the entire mine.