Sage Monarch

Dragon Floret's death had caused many of the faction leaders to go on guard. Some people suspected Jadefall was the culprit, but many didn't, and went with the theory that Patriarch Deva was behind it. Regardless, there was a lot of discussion and speculation, and in the end, most people agreed that Dragon Floret had died in vain.

It would be obvious suicide for the House of God Ordainment to try taking revenge on Patriarch Deva, so many people were starting to blame Jadefall using the same 'gangster logic' Heroism had, and suggesting that none of it would have happened without her and the purrling.

Of course, because of the purrling, no one dared to actually make such accusations publicly. Without the purrling, she would probably already have been arrested.

Yang Qi had known all along that this would happen, which was why he had killed Dragon Floret to begin with.

After Dragon Floret died, the Dragon Society started falling apart. As their members fled to other organizations, Jadefall announced the founding of the Sage Monarch Society.

One of the first to join was Goddess Jade Egret, and with her came a large group of former members of the Dragon Society.

Almost overnight, the Sage Monarch Society was a proud and glorious faction in the sect.

They had Greater Gods from the get-go, and in fact, about half of the old Dragon Society ended up as members. The rest of the Dragon Society had gone to other factions.

Everyone wanted a piece of the pie that had been the Dragon Society.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was secretly inviting certain people to meet with Dream Daylily and join the Crown Prince Society. That earned him the praise of Dream Daylily, as well as rewards that, while not useful to him, could be given to his friends and family.

For the most part, Yang Qi didn't care about any of the other societies, with the exception of the Mystery Society. That was especially true when he came to realize that there were members of the Mystery Society joining the Sage Monarch Society.

They did so secretly, but thanks to Yang Qi's devil embryos, such matters couldn't be kept hidden from him. His devil embryos could pry into the thoughts of even Greater Gods, so it was only natural that he could identify the infiltrators from the Mystery Society.

One interesting thing he realized was that almost no one knew who the members of the Mystery Society were. In fact, there were even occasions in which two members would be in each other's presence, but have no idea that they were both in the Mystery Society.

It was just what someone would expect of a secret society founded and run by the junior houselord.

Despite knowing who all the infiltrators were, Yang Qi didn't plan to do anything about them for the moment. All he cared about was expanding his influence and reputation. The current state of affairs would only lead to more opportunities in general, and would help him assess what resources were available in the sect. The House of God Ordainment was an enormous organization, so it was a given that there were all sorts of medicinal pills secreted away here and there.

Truth be told, he didn't feel any sense of belonging in the House of God Ordainment. It was merely a resource to be taken advantage of. Whether it was the Demi-Immortal Institute, the Titan Emperor Collegium, the Titan Emperor Heaven, the Dao Defense League, the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, or the alliance he had created on the Ancient Road to the Gods, all were simply tools to be taken control of.

There was no way that the House of God Ordainment would escape that fate either.

That said, he wasn't in a hurry. He needed to reach a higher level of cultivation, at least the level of a Greater God. At that point, he would be able to kill Perfect Gods.

Of course, if he could get another piece of the Mahātmā Jade and push his will convergence to the Unbounded level, he would easily be able to crush all opposition in the House of God Ordainment.

A year passed. The uproar surrounding Dragon Floret's death finally settled down. At the same time, Yang Qi's cultivation base had improved, although not by much. In contrast, virtually all of his friends and family had become Common Gods.

Jadefall was at the peak of that level, just on the verge of becoming a Greater God.

Unfortunately, there was one of his people who hadn't become a god yet.

It was his immortal-slaying clone, known as Yang Immortal-Slayer.

Yang Immortal-Slayer had been working very hard at forming monarch godhood. His Master in the sect was a Greater God, so in terms of his position, he was formidable. He was roughly on the same level as the White-Haired Boxer King, and furthermore, his position helped him in terms of enlightenment of monarch godhood.

Of course, his Master in the sect wasn't the person he actually relied on for help. Instead, he was being advised by King Immortal-Slayer.

No one knew exactly where King Immortal-Slayer was at the moment, but he was in contact with Yang Immortal-Slayer, communicating to him via will, helping him to improve his cultivation base and form monarch godhood.

Unfortunately, Yang Immortal-Slayer still couldn't achieve that breakthrough.

Monarch godhood was no simple thing, and although Yang Immortal-Slayer's substructure was the same as Yang Qi's, he wasn't a Fateless One.

King Immortal-Slayer was mighty in a way that Yang Qi couldn't even comprehend at the moment, so he was actually very pleased that he was helping Yang Immortal-Slayer.

On one particular day, Yang Qi went to visit Yang Immortal-Slayer in his cultivation chamber, which was when he met his Master.

The man was a Greater God known as Arhat Thousand-Hands, who cultivated an art called the Thousand-Hands Void-Snatching Fist. It could be used to create what appeared to be a thousand projected fists that could all strike at the same time. It was very impressive.

That said, Arhat Thousand-Hands didn't dare to be impolite to Yang Qi. The Sage Monarch Society had already become very influential, and Jadefall was more powerful than ever. Yang Qi was her main 'general', and despite being a Lesser God, he spoke the language of the purrling.

A lot of people whispered that the leader of the Sage Monarch Society wasn't actually Jadefall, but the purrling.

And not a single person dared to do anything to offend it.

The fact that Arhat Thousand-Hands' apprentice, Yang Immortal-Slayer, was a friend of Yang Qi and Jadefall had brought him plenty of benefits as well. That said, he was completely unconvinced that Yang Immortal-Slayer could possibly succeed at forming monarch godhood. As far as Arhat Thousand-Hands was concerned, it was an impossible endeavor.

"How has my brother's cultivation been going, Arhat Thousand-Hands?" Yang Qi asked.

"Ai..." sighed Arhat Thousand-Hands. "Yang Immortal-Slayer is completely obsessed. You really need to have some words with him. If he doesn't give up this idea, he'll become overwhelmed by heart-devils."

"Alright, I'll talk to him," Yang Qi said, heading into the mansion grotto.

Inside, he found Yang Immortal-Slayer seated in the middle of a host of tiny vortexes, within which were items from the seventy-two monarchs, as well as the Cruiser of Civilization. They were all heaven-shaking, earth-shattering treasures, the kind of things that would cause pandemonium in the god world if word spread of their existence. Unfortunately, Yang Immortal-Slayer wasn't strong enough to use them.

He had been in the House of God Ordainment for four years, but his cultivation base hadn't made much progress at all.

Of course, having visited him numerous times over the years, Yang Qi knew that he was incomprehensibly strong. King Immortal-Slayer had rebuilt his body with divine will, giving him a unique constitution that was no weaker than that provided by the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth or the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body.

It was something the god world had never seen before.

"Yang Qi, it's you!" Yang Immortal-Slayer said, opening his eyes.

"How are things? Have you made any progress with your monarch godhood? I understand a bit about your situation, and have a few ideas that might help, but I'm not completely confident in success."

"I'm not very confident either," Yang Immortal-Slayer replied. "But if you can do it, then I'm confident I'll be able to as well. Remember, you're me, and I'm you. I'm your clone after all. For the past few years, King Immortal-Slayer has been communicating with me once per month. Unfortunately, he's not in a very good situation. He's severely suppressed by the Great Necropolis, and can barely protect himself with the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. He's under constant assault by that Paramount God. The upside is that he's gained some enlightenment of the Great Necropolis, and is thus able to hold his own. The reason he's helping me is that he wants to work out a deal with you to help him. Unfortunately, you're not strong enough to be of any help right now. You'll have to wait until you reach the Unbounded level of will convergence."

"You're right," Yang Qi said. If he tried interfering in the standoff between King Immortal-Slayer and that Paramount God, he would only end up dead. That said, he was the bearer of the God Legion Seal, and was certain to become an invincible individual. That was why King Immortal-Slayer was willing to show him some respect.

As for people like Patriarch Deva, they weren't even fit to tie King Immortal-Slayer's shoes.

In ancient times, they had been nothing but weaklings among gods.

Yang Qi and Yang Immortal-Slayer had a long conversation, sharing bits of enlightenment and knowledge with each other.

At the same time, Yang Qi sent the God Legion Seal into Yang Immortal-Slayer, using it to change certain parts of him in the hopes of helping him break through his current bottleneck.

Time passed.

All of a sudden, a powerful expression of will pierced through the void, something so incredible that it could likely overturn the entire god kingdom of the House of God Ordainment. That said, it moved with such stealth that the god kingdom didn't even detect it.

It was half-Annulled, a level higher than the peak of the Unbounded level. To a will convergence like that, even Perfect Gods were like nothing.

Yang Qi's heart thumped as he realized that King Immortal-Slayer's will had come.

A shadowy figure appeared in the mansion grotto. It was illusory, but looked true and real. He was a middle-aged man with a face that seemed both young and ancient at the same time.

"Hello, King Immortal-Slayer," Yang Qi said. Despite how impressive the will projection was, Yang Qi knew it wasn't a true manifestation of King Immortal-Slayer's power, thus he didn't fear it.

King Immortal-Slayer took one look at Yang Qi and said, "Well, well. You formed monarch godhood."