Sage Monarch

"Matters of cost aren't anything you need to consider," Yang Qi said. "The miners are people, and godstones are just rocks. Sparing life is a heavenly ideal, so get whatever medicinal items we need to keep those miners alive." Yang Qi was attempting to govern with morality and benevolence, and it continued providing benefits for his Sage Monarch Grand Magic.

Of course, no one dared to defy his orders.

The disciples immediately headed out with resources from the mines to purchase medicinal items. Purchasing hundreds of thousands of medicines was a huge expense that could very well have thrown the entire mine into dire financial straits. However, Yang Qi wasn't worried about that.

With the wave of a hand, he could produce godsand and high-quality godstones.

"Let's go. I want to see exactly what kind of living conditions these miners have to deal with."

"You really don't need to do that, Elder Brother," Zhang Jufang said. "The actual mines are very dangerous. Not only are cave-ins a constant concern, but a lot of the miners are angry over Huang Weilong's death. Everything is peaceful now, and they're scared to do anything, but a riot could break out at any moment. You're far too important to put yourself in danger, Elder Brother."

"I'll be fine," Yang Qi said. "If I don't impress the miners with a show of force, they'll definitely riot eventually." Yang Qi knew that governing with morality and benevolence was crucial to preventing riots. However, he also needed to make it clear that there was a threat of military force to back it all up. Besides, he really did want to see what the miners' lives were like, and assess the state of the mineral deposits. Although he could create godsand and godstones, it would definitely benefit his cultivation to see how the ores developed in their natural state. And that would surely help him in his efforts to make godnotes.

"Your remarkable abilities are unrivaled and matchless, Elder Brother," one of the disciples fawned. "The miners won't dare to lift a finger against you."

With that, they headed deeper into the mine.

They saw quite a few miners along the way, most of them struggling with heavy loads of ore. Some looked over at Yang Qi with ingratiating expressions, while others barely hid the hatred that flickered in their eyes.

There was quite a contrast between Yang Qi and his group, who were walking around casually and uninhibited, and the miners, who carried such heavy loads on their backs.

The further down they went, the more miners they saw. As for the tunnels, they were like enormous caves stretching off in all directions.

"Get on your knees, you scum miners!" one of the disciples shouted. "The foreman is here!"

Some of the miners slowly got to their knees, but others just disappeared into the tunnels, seemingly numb to the presence of Yang Qi and the disciples.

"What the fuck!?" another disciple said. "These miners really did think of Huang Weilong as their leader. With him dead, they aren't listening to us! And they're even complaining constantly. I think we should just kill them all and get some new blood in here!"

"No, they'll fall in line," Zhang Jufang said. He already could tell how Yang Qi was planning to handle things.

Just when he was about to call all the miners together, a deep rumbling sound reached their ears, and the ground beneath their feet began to shake. At the same time, something like a gravitational force rose up from below.

"Cave-in! It's a cave-in!"

The miners immediately scattered in all directions, looks of terror on their faces.

The gravitational force was so immense that even gods would be incapable of escaping it. In the blink of an eye, Yang Qi and the disciples seemed to be in danger of being sucked in.

However, Yang Qi simply chuckled coldly.

He thrust his palm out and used his godpower to stop the cave-in. The ground instantly stabilized. In the mortal world, a move like that might not have been impressive, but in the god world, it would require a huge amount of godpower to pull off successfully.

"Cave-in?" Yang Qi said. "More like a trap. Get over here!" He made a grasping gesture, which resulted in a shriek from down below as something enormous was dragged up. It looked almost like a pangolin, except it was as large as an elephant.

RUMBLE!

As it shrieked, the miners looked on in shock. "That's a delvebrute, a powerful type of demonling. I can't believe one of them is here in our mine. They burrow tunnels through the earth and use subterranean baleful energy to create vortexes to capture prey!"

It was a demonling in the Quasi-God level, with pulsing demon-god power that made it capable of cutting down even dozens of human Quasi-Gods. It was obviously a leader among the Demonfolk, and had been lying in wait to kill Yang Qi and his subordinates.

"Put me down immediately, boy!" the delvebrute shouted as it struggled. "I'm a subordinate of the Flame Phoenix, an important general. According to our deal with Foreman Huang Weilong, you're supposed to give us a tribute of ore every month, but you reneged! If you don't let me go, then we'll raze Mine Thirteen to the ground during the next demonling invasion!"

A burly man stepped forward from the nearby miners and said, "Foreman, this means there's going to be a demonling invasion in the near future. You absolutely, positively must not take the situation lightly. Delvebrutes are generals among the demonlings, and if we pay them off they'll prevent the invasion. Please, Foreman, sir, you have to take this seriously."

"Elder Brother," said Zhang Jufang, "that's one of the bosses among the miners. He's an obstinate and unruly fellow named Ba Tianxiong. He has a lot of clout among the miners, and had a good relationship with Huang Weilong. He's been here in the mines for more than twenty years, before which he was a fierce bandit. He's very strong, even beyond the level of most of the novice disciples."

"Ba Tianxiong?" Yang Qi looked at the man and all the miners flanking him, and could tell that they were itching to start a riot. Smiling coldly, he said, "You get over here as well!"

He made a grasping motion, sending out a huge flow of godpower.

"Hmph!" Contrary to expectation, Ba Tianxiong actually resisted! Then he clenched his hands into fists and shouted, "Let's kill 'em all! We already work for the Demon Emperor. He calls the shots in this mine, which means we can do whatever we want. Who cares about the House of God Ordainment? The Demonfolk are the truly powerful ones!"

RUMBLE!

He launched a punch, causing godpower to swell, transforming into a lifelike phoenix that flew directly toward Yang Qi with claws bared.

"Flight of the Phoenix!"

It was a formidable energy art of the Demonfolk.

"Is that supposed to be impressive?" Yang Qi said, hardly looking at it. "Be broken!" He flicked his finger and the godpower manifestation of the phoenix exploded. At the same time, a thump was heard as a bloody hole appeared in Ba Tianxiong's chest. Even as a scream escaped his lips, Yang Qi reached out and grabbed his arm.

"You conspired against me with that delvebrute, didn't you?" he said. "It takes a lot of guts for a scummy miner to plot against the foreman himself."

"Attack!" Ba Tianxiong screamed. "Everyone, join forces! It's time to riot!"

"Whoever riots will be executed immediately!" Zhang Jufang shouted, rushing forward and slaughtering a dozen miners who had just been about to start fighting.

Looking around, Yang Qi saw that more miners were starting to go crazy, some of them calling out slogans and catchphrases. Smiling faintly, he let out a cold harrumph.

The noise was like an explosive soundwave that rolled out and sent the miners flying backward. Not a single one could even get close. Many of the miners were powerful Quasi-Gods, and some of them even had weapons. But the sound shattered the weapons and knocked many of the miners unconscious.

"What?!"

Other miners who had been rushing to the scene were terrified by the sight that met their eyes. It was almost like they were in the presence of a god. After all, a single snort had rendered hundreds of powerful Quasi-Gods completely unconscious. How could anyone there deal with force like that?

"Take the unconscious ones and toss them into the furnaces," Yang Qi said. "They're about to become sacrifices."

"What?!" Zhang Jufang said, visibly astonished. "What did you just say, Elder Brother?"

"Weren't you listening? I said to round up the unconscious ones and throw them into the furnaces!" Yang Qi flicked his sleeve. "That's what happens to rebels and traitors."

"Yes sir!"

Without further hesitation, the disciples walked forward and began rounding up the unconscious miners.

However, Yang Qi snorted coldly. "You're far too slow. Forget those orders." He waved his sleeve, and a godwind sprang up that grabbed all of the unconscious miners, then carried them out of the mine and into the furnaces.

Screams immediately rang out as they began to burn. However, the screams eventually faded away. The rest of the miners were shocked, and quickly began dropping to their knees.

"That's what happens to scum who refuse to accept my authority." It was obvious that Yang Qi also understood the dao of tyranny and could use it whenever he wanted. The quintessence of the Sage Monarch Grand Magic was the ability to become a monarch, emperor, sovereign, or sage, all with the same thought.

1. Ba Tianxiong: Ba is a surname which also means "tyrant, bully, hegemon, dominate". Tian means "heaven, sky" and Xiong means "bear". This name is pretty over-the-top, but it still comes across as a legitimate name.