Sage Monarch

The elder from the Missions Sanctuary was clearly trying to intimidate Yang Qi by the mere tone of his voice.

However, Yang Qi's expression remained the same as ever as he calmly said, "This medicinal pill is worth at least twenty thousand merit points. If you want to skim some off the top, fine. After all, we do the same in the Scripture Pavilion. But you're not skimming off the top, you're outright robbing me. That's definitely against the rules of the game."

Yang Qi knew the rules, and ever since joining the House of God Ordainment, he had been careful to follow them. Otherwise, he would have long since killed the people from the Yue Clan instead of simply infecting them with devil embryos.

"Game? Rules? What are you talking about?" The elder with the godhood rating of six laughed coldly. "In the Missions Sanctuary, I make the rules. If I say it's worth two thousand, then that's what it's worth. Although, I've actually changed my mind. We're not going to give you anything for the pill. That's your reward for talking back to elders."

"Talking back to elders is a crime which can't be forgiven," another elder said. "It only stands to reason we won't accept that pill of yours. Furthermore, if you continue to talk back to us, we'll throw you into prison and ensure you live a life of torment. See? We actually do know how to play by the rules. Considering you got that pill, we'll count your mission as having been completed. But you won't get any merit point reward. Now begone."

They were counting the mission as complete, because if they didn't, word could spread that they were extorting disciples.

"You three..." Yang Qi said, his eyes glittering coldly.

"What!?" the third elder said. Slapping the table, he rose to his feet. "Not willing to back down? Thinking about making a scene here? Who do you think you are, a king or something?"

"Fine, fine," Yang Qi said, smiling. "I understand what's going on. I'll admit defeat this time around. Alright?" With that, he turned to leave.

"Wait," one of the elders said, "for talking back to elders you need to get on your knees and apologize for—"

But Yang Qi just walked out.

"You two, leave," the elder said to the other two disciples. "And you're not permitted to speak of any of this. Otherwise, you know what will happen."

"Right, of course." The two disciples nodded and promptly forgot about everything.

"That brat sure ran off quickly," said the elder with the godhood of six. Looking at the antidotal pill, he said, "This thing is worth a lot. But I think we should put this into our personal stash instead of handing it over to the sect. We can sell it at auction later for an even higher price. Antidotal pills from the Pill-King's temple ruins will definitely be extremely effective, and there are always experts out there who have been poisoned somehow. People will part with their entire fortunes to save their lives in situations like that."

"Good idea," another elder said. "Except, considering the boy handed in the mission, aren't we supposed to turn it over no matter how we assess it? I guess we'll just have to break the rules a bit."

"Replace it with some sort of defective medicinal pill. Toss a bit of powder into it that has Paramount will and pretend that's what he handed in. I honestly can't believe the brat just chose to grin and bear it. Apparently, he's not easily fooled. After all, the whole point of this was to goad him into attacking us so that we would be able to arrest him and bring charges against him."

"That's what the emissary from that person told us to do," said the other elder with a nod. "The medicinal pill is secondary. The main task was to get him thrown in prison, which would give that person the leverage needed to negotiate with Jadefall and get some blood from that pet of hers."

"That person has a very high position in the House of God Ordainment. Shouldn't it be an easy thing to control a brat like this? Why get help from us?"

"Simple," said the elder with the godhood of six. "That person can't risk resorting to crafty plots and machinations. Besides, for him to directly make a move on Yang Qi would be like using a god item to kill an ant. If word spread, it would be a big loss of reputation. I was originally planning to have Yang Qi kneel, just to see if he would accept the humiliation. But he got away too quickly."

"Let's just go and grab him!"

"No, we can't do that. We can't do things so openly. It's not as if we're members of the law enforcement team, so we have no right to arrest him. Even if we accused him of being rude to elders, we'd need proof. If he lost his temper, we could've done something, but we can't now. There would definitely be an investigation, and if we were found to have broken any rules, it would cause big trouble for us."

The rules in the House of God Ordainment were strict. Considering that these elders were extorting disciples, if they were found out, they wouldn't meet a good end.

"So what? We just let it all drop? That person's emissary gave us this task, and told us that person absolutely had to get the blood of Jadefall's pet during the upcoming negotiations."

"There's nothing we can do about that," said the elder with the godhood of six. "We just have to report what happened here. You wait here while I go talk to that person's emissary."

"Alright," the other elders said as the one with the godhood rating of six hurried away.

After leaving the Missions Sanctuary, he headed to a teleportation portal that whirred to life, whisking him out of the god kingdom.

'Now I get it,' Yang Qi thought. He was currently on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, a slight smile on his face. 'No wonder they tried so openly to extort me. I wonder whose emissary this is. Thankfully I didn't make a scene in the Missions Sanctuary, otherwise I would've fallen right for their little plot. Sadly for them, plots won't work against me. I've already destroyed any heart-devils of arrogance, ego, and hysteria that once existed in me. The only thing left is the cool and collected version of myself. In the past, I might've escalated the situation into a fight. But now....' He chuckled. 'I'll make sure they die without any idea how they were killed.'

He had truly become much more calm and calculating after the events in Demon Master Valley, making it much more difficult for people to lure him into traps.

In fact, he was actually luring the three elders into a trap of his own. He had left behind devil embryos on all of them, so he knew everything that was going on with them.

As the elder from the Missions Sanctuary stepped onto the teleportation portal, Yang Qi left a godpower clone behind and made himself invisible, then followed the elder.

The portal led to another location in the House of God Ordainment.

However, the elder didn't stay in the city. Instead, he flew out to a distant location in the mountains that no one ever paid attention to.

He waited there for a few hours until the night had turned cold and pitch black.

Some time later, a dot of light appeared, piercing through the mountains and landing in front of him. It was a middle-aged man with chiseled, distinguished features, his hands clasped behind his back. He was unsmiling, and radiated the air of a superior meeting a subordinate.

"My respects, Grand Elder Meng Guo," said the elder, clasping hands in greeting.

"Did you finish the task I assigned you?" Meng Guo said. His aura placed him as a Common God, which meant he definitely had a high position within the House of God Ordainment. Common Gods were grand elders, and wielded a lot more power and authority than ordinary elders. Of course, Greater Gods didn't even need to be mentioned, as they were usually prime elders.

"That brat was too crafty. After we tried to extort him, he offered a few words of dispute, but in the end, he didn't make a big fuss. And before I could get him to kneel in apology, he left. At that point, we couldn't do anything without getting the law enforcement team involved. Normally speaking, a person wouldn't possibly tolerate that treatment. Furthermore, I investigated him. During the year or more that he's been a member of the House of God Ordainment, he's always acted arrogant and domineering. He definitely has some secret weapons that makes him incredibly powerful, probably around the same level as Bai Yin. I'd even say he's strong enough to beat Lesser Gods in a fight. I really never could've imagined that he'd have so much restraint."

"Restraint?" Meng Guo said, keeping his hands clasped behind his back. "Well, it seems he really is extraordinary to have done something like that. I suppose the situation calls for more drastic measures now."

"Might you be able to help us in some way? Considering how badly we extorted him, there's no way he'll take another mission from the Missions Sanctuary. Furthermore, he's friends with Jadefall. If he tells her about this, or even starts working with her... it could be problematic."

"Don't worry about it. As long as you work for my lord, he'll make sure nothing bad happens to you." Meng Guo laughed. "You might not have succeeded at the task at hand, but you did your best. Now we just have to think of a way to pull the wool over Yang Qi's eyes. My lord is absolutely determined to get the blood of Jadefall's pet! He's already learned some very interesting things about it!"

"I know," said the elder with the godhood rating of six. " Why don't we send some books to the Scripture Pavilion? He'll definitely try to rip us off, and we can use that as an excuse to take action!"

"That's a good idea! Considering you just ripped him off, if you deliver some books, he'll obviously take advantage of the situation to get revenge. And then we can grab him. There's no way he'll slip out of our hands this time!"

1. Meng Guo: Meng is a common surname that also means "first, principal, pristine". Yes, it's the same surname shared by Meng Hao of ISSTH. Guo means "country, nation."