Sage Monarch

"The Eternal-Life God-Dynasty has some of the Mahātmā Jade?"

Yang Qi ignored Bai Yin's drooling over the God Legion Seal. There was no way that Bai Yin could possibly even dream that the most coveted item in all of the god world was actually right in front of him.

He knew that Yang Qi's energy arts were unfathomably high, but there were plenty of details he wasn't privy to. For example, he had no idea that Yang Qi had already reached Paramount will convergence and begun working on monarch godhood. And it was a given that he had no idea about Yang Qi's God Legion Seal or Mahātmā Jade.

In the end, Bai Yin was still on the lower scale of impressiveness in relation to the god world as a whole. There was no end to the number of people in the god world who came across good fortune, so from Bai Yin's perspective, Yang Qi, despite being somewhat mysterious, still wasn't some heaven-shaking, earth-shattering figure. Otherwise, Yang Qi wouldn't be skulking in the shadows and hiding from the Dragon Society.

Yang Qi closed the bronze-bound Book of Mahātmā. As for the other books about the dao of devils, he ignored them; he was already familiar enough with hell that he didn't need more information.

The only thing that mattered to him now was the Mahātmā Jade.

If it was true that the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty had some of the Mahātmā Jade, he definitely had to go investigate. He already possessed the sheepskin scroll, and as such, was the only person who could cultivate the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. By extension, there was no one else who could unlock the profundities of the Mahātmā Jade.

Besides, with the God Legion Seal, it was possible to keep the Mahātmā Jade under control without hurting himself in the process.

Considering he was in the early Paramount level, making progress was going to be hard. In fact, not even thousands upon thousands of years of cultivation could necessarily lead him to the mid Paramount level.

But with the Mahātmā Jade, he could achieve breakthroughs instantly. In the future, he might even be able to seek enlightenment of the Annulled level of will convergence.

Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be easy to get that Mahātmā Jade from the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

The Eternal-Life God-Dynasty was actually more powerful than the House of God Ordainment. After all, sects like the House of God Ordainment offered them fealty, and actually boasted the presence of a Paramount God.

Paramount Gods generally had Unbounded will.

And how terrifying was that? All of heaven and earth could exist within the thoughts of a person like that, and their mind could contain the past, present, and future, plus the god world and the void. Such an entity could rip apart the space of the god world and create god kingdoms with ease. They could control reincarnation, and all of the transformations of the void.

'It seems I don't have many options here. It's lunacy to think I could get that Mahātmā Jade right now.' When Yang Qi had desired some treasure in the impure lands, he could just infiltrate whatever organization possessed it, then eventually steal it. But that wasn't possible here in the god world. Given the level of his cultivation base, he couldn't sneak into god kingdoms, much less steal things within them.

In the god world, he was a weakling.

After thinking about the matter for a while, he decided to worry about it later. He would surely have other opportunities to find pieces of the Mahātmā Jade. And the more pieces he collected, the easier it would be to find the others. Eventually, he might even be able to create a spell formation or altar that he could use to summon other pieces directly to him.

"I really don't get you," Bai Yin said. Guzzling some alcohol, he stretched lazily and continued, "Considering how strong you are, not even you can form monarch godhood. It's actually a bit depressing. I guess if I can't form monarch godhood within three years, it'll prove I'm destined to fail. At that point, I'll just become a god. I suppose people just need to abide by the restrictions set upon them by heaven and earth. Apparently, I'm not supposed to be the main character of this heaven and earth." Murmuring to himself, he slowly fell asleep.

Yang Qi looked at him and shook his head. No matter how much Bai Yin wanted monarch godhood, it simply couldn't happen. Even Yang Qi's immortal-slaying clone, with the help of King Immortal-Slayer's will, only had a slight chance of succeeding.

Things had finally calmed down, and Yang Qi wasn't in any danger. He could finally rest a bit. He hadn't needed sleep since he had arrived in the god world. But upon seeing Bai Yin laying there comfortably on the book shelf, Yang Qi decided that he had earned some relaxation. Allowing the God Legion Seal to automatically function on its own, he sank into rest.

His psychic fluctuations reached a perfect resonance, and he slept.

A day later, when the light was bright, he opened his eyes and saw Bai Yin's face right in front of him.

"What are you doing?!" Yang Qi blurted, scrambling back and jumping to his feet.

"I thought you didn't need to sleep," Bai Yin said suspiciously. "During the entire time you've worked at the Scripture Pavilion, I've never once seen you sleep. So what were you doing just now?"

"Having some nice rest, that's all." Yang Qi examined himself and found, to his surprise, that his psychic power had actually improved a bit.

He truly didn't need to sleep, but apparently, relaxing his heart and mind had helped him to enter a state of nothingness in which, slowly but surely, his psychic power had improved.

From the moment he had achieved Paramount will convergence, his psychic power hadn't grown at all. Therefore, any growth was very welcome.

His time in the god world had been completely spent in tense and dangerous situations, so whenever he had free time, he had always spent it on cultivation. And it was very clear that this increase in psychic power was only because of the rest.

Obviously, resting could be very dangerous. If someone made a move against him when he was asleep, he would be powerless to defend himself. People who cultivated the dao had to be on constant guard, paying attention to even the slightest ripples in vital energy.

That was the only way to prevent being cursed, plotted against, ambushed, or the like. Falling asleep was like putting one's life in the hands of anyone who came along. It was like how people in the impure lands who slept every day were essentially putting their lives in the hands of whatever deities they believed in.

Yang Qi made up something to tell Bai Yin, then chatted a bit. Afterward, he spent more time assessing the changes that had occurred. In the following days, he worked on his cultivation, read books, and generally didn't waste any time. He had a very disciplined way of life in this regard. Thus, the days went by. The Dragon Society never caused any problems; however, in the course of Yang Qi's cultivation he could sense that there were prying eyes trying to spy on him, despite him being in the Scripture Pavilion.

The Dragon Society had suffered a big loss and was now trying to make a move against him from the shadows.

'It's a pity I had to kill Meng Guo,' Yang Qi thought. 'It would've been nice to have him alive to provide a window into what's happening in the Dragon Society.' Thankfully, he had already severed ties with his close companions. Now that the Dragon Society was plotting against him, the last thing he wanted was for them to hurt the people he cared about.

Besides, the Sage Monarch Consortium was already doing well on its own.

Obviously, killing Meng Guo had destroyed the devil embryo as well. Yang Qi had hoped to avoid anyone discovering the devil embryo, so he hadn't activated it. He hadn't been sure of who exactly killed Meng Guo, but he knew the person was strong enough to slaughter a Common God with a single move.

It was only later that he learned that the culprit was a holy child from the Law-Enforcement God-Palace, and also a high-ranking member of the Dragon Society.

As it turned out, the White-Haired Boxer King, a Greater God, wasn't just an elite disciple, but rather a holy child.

In Yang Qi's mind, he had the image of a young man with white hair, his hands clasped casually behind his back, mighty and dignified like an ancient mountain. He was not only extremely strong, but also had a very powerful position. Yang Qi couldn't even use his heavenly workings calculations systems to assess the man.

Nearly two months passed in which Yang Qi was certain he was being watched. However, he never left the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, and thus, his enemies couldn't do anything to him. And he was very careful to follow all the rules and be cautious in anything he did. Because of that, extortion and blackmail were also off the table as weapons to use against him.

Bai Yin knew what was going on as well, and was on his best behavior to ensure there was nothing that could be used against him.

One particular day when Yang Qi was in the middle of a session of cultivation, he felt his godhood vibrating as though it wished to break through. Yang Qi knew that he had reached the extent of the bottleneck, and as a result, he smiled and rose to his feet. "The time has come. Let's see exactly how strong this White-Haired Boxer King is like."

With a whoosh, he flew out of the Scripture Pavilion and headed to a nearby teleportation portal. Taking out a godstone, he activated the formation and disappeared.

When he reappeared, he was on a distant continent filled with pestilential energy, and surrounded by a toxic aura.

It was the Toxic Continent. And of course, he could sense eyes on him.

Smiling faintly, he walked off the teleportation portal and flew out over the bogs of the Toxic Continent. Before long, he had reached the Pill-King's temple ruins. Everything looked familiar.

Meanwhile, there was still some sort of energy following him, and he was very curious to see what it would do.

Stopping in place, he smiled and said, "Why exactly are you following me, Sire? Are you waiting for an invitation or something? You're the White-Haired Boxer King, right? That's my guess. I don't think anyone else would have an aura like this."

Soft clapping sounds could be heard as a majestic figure walked out of the toxic mists, which didn't even come close to touching him; it was the white-haired young man. Staring at Yang Qi, he said, "Very strong. I should've realized there was something fishy about you. How exactly did you know that I was following you?"