Sage Monarch

The junior houselord seemed very confident. "Even if she were stronger than she is, she's still just a woman. Besides, she's only a Common God, whereas I should have Unbounded will convergence soon. As a Paramount God, there's no way I'll fail to win her heart. It couldn't be simpler."

"But that's going to be dangerous," Houselord God Ordainment said. "She still has that purrling. What if—"

"That doesn't matter. Once I get on her good side, I'll just slowly win her over. Once she's my woman, there won't be anything to fear. I'll even start by helping her out. Over the past few years, I spent some time with an expert from the dao of devils, a Paramount God who taught me a very powerful divine ability called the Emotion-Devil Six-Desires Heart-Entrance Skill. Using that, I can make sure she's as docile as could be, and jumps at the chance to be my woman."

The junior houselord had clearly thought the matter through.

"Fine," one of the chief elders said. "Since you're not doing anything aggressive, you should be safe. Just don't forget that she already has someone close to her heart. Yang Qi. I've done some digging into the Sage Monarch Society, and although Jadefall is the leader, that Yang Qi pulls a lot of strings. His energy arts aren't very high, but he's very powerful. He's basically her most trusted adviser, and she listens to his suggestions. I'm afraid winning her heart won't be easy with him around."

"I can do it," the junior houselord said. "I've done my own research into that brat Yang Qi. He's clever, but too weak and unimportant. Personal strength is the most important factor here. I know I can't do anything about the purrling, but there's nothing protecting Yang Qi. I'll take him out directly, if I have to."

"What," another chief elder said. "You're going to make a move on Yang Qi? Given the level of your cultivation base, Junior Houselord, dealing with him should be easy. But killing a gnat with a sledgehammer will draw a lot of attention, and could cause unnecessary complications. Remember, the genius that the Lord of the True Void took as an apprentice is also surnamed Yang. He's Yang Immortal-Slayer's close friend, and likely a blood relative."

"I'm obviously not going to kill him personally. First I'll try recruiting him. If that fails, I'll get rid of him. He's one of the most important people in the Sage Monarch Society, so taking him out will be a big blow to them. Of course, I can't do it with my own hands. If Yang Immortal-Slayer reaches a truly high level of cultivation, it'll be easy for him to figure out that I was the culprit. In fact, I don't want anyone from the House of God Ordainment to be involved. Thankfully, in my years outside the sect, I made a lot of friends from the dao of devils that I can get to help. And again, that's only if he refuses to cooperate."

The junior houselord truly believed that he had everything firmly under control.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was working on his cultivation. After Yang Immortal-Slayer left, he felt more than ever that he wasn't strong enough.

At the most, he could kill a mid Consummate God in a fight, but when it came to late or peak experts, he would have no choice but to run away.

And facing any Perfect God, even in the early level, would mean certain death.

He would similarly be slaughtered by anyone with Unbounded will.

Thankfully, he had learned a huge amount from observing the purrling and King Immortal-Slayer working together. Sending his divine will into his monarch godhood, he saw numerous power doubles in the shape of bubbles. At the same time, he summoned a huge bubble to surround himself.

Spatial tempests raged in the void, flowing into his monarch godhood and cleansing it. Then, Yang Qi started to retract his thoughts, causing the fluctuations of his mind to settle, like an insect going into hibernation.

He was slowly heading toward a state of Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana.

He was forgetting about his physical self and entering a new world of miraculous thinking. It was neither thought, nor was it not thought. Empty, but not empty. Existing, but not existing.

It was a miraculous state that caused his physical body to slowly collapse, leaving behind only his godhood, slowly rotating. The fact that his godhood remained showed that he hadn't actually entered Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana. If he had, he would be invincible, and would be able to control all of heaven and earth.

That said, his current state was still incredibly impressive.

He had removed his fleshly body, godpower, and everything else about himself until only his monarch godhood remained. Monarch godhood was simply too impressive. It surpassed all other things in existence.

Because of that, reducing it to a state of nothing was extremely difficult. That said, he didn't need to enter that state right now. As soon as his fleshly body vanished, he felt his thoughts and psychic power stirring and improving.

Doing things like this, it would probably take several hundred years to reach the mid Paramount level.

It was a big improvement from before. Given his previous psychic power, he probably wouldn't ever have achieved the breakthrough. But now, it was a possibility within the next few hundred years. In the god world, hundreds of years could pass in the snap of a finger. It had already been five years since he ascended from the impure lands, and it had gone by in a flash. Almost like a dream.

Next, something very strange happened. Yang Qi took control of his monarch godhood and sent it piercing through space. He left the god kingdom and entered the wild spatial tempests.

When the power of the tempests struck his monarch godhood, nothing happened except that a few sparks flew. It was much like when iron was struck and impurities were removed from it, making it stronger and more complete.

An indeterminable period of time passed before Yang Qi pulled his godhood back to its original position.

Back in his mansion grotto in the god kingdom, he formed his body anew, complete with a sea of energy, dantian region, meridians, and everything else. His psychic power had been boosted significantly. That was when he found that forty-nine days had passed, although he hadn't been aware of the passage of time.

To cultivators, time was often not worth calculating. If anything, time sometimes passed too quickly.

As he came out of his trance, one of his jade medallions buzzed, and he found that it was a message from Dream Daylily of the Crown Prince Society.

Leaving the god kingdom, he headed to the city where she resided.

"Have you been working on your cultivation? It's been awhile since you came to check in." She seemed a bit irritated.

"My apologies, exalted Dream Daylily. I was making use of a medicinal pill given to me by the Lord of the True Void. I fell into a deep trance in which I lost track of everything."

"The Lord of the True Void?" she replied. "That's what I wanted to ask you about. Seven months ago the Lord of the True Void came to the House of God Ordainment and took one of your brethren away with him. Is that right? Yang Immortal-Slayer. I wanted to ask you much earlier about this, except you went into seclusion."

"That's right, he's a brother of mine," Yang Qi said. "He's much more talented than the average person. He's supposed to return for a visit after three years. When he does, I'll try to get him to join the Crown Prince Society."

"Forget about that," Dream Daylily said. "The Lord of the True Void doesn't belong to any particular organization, and is a wanderer. But he can't be taken lightly. If he finds out we're scheming about his apprentice, he may react with extreme violence. The crown prince already has Unbounded will convergence, but isn't a Paramount God yet. He will be, sooner or later, but at the moment, he's not a match for the Lord of the True Void. We don't want to make a fool of ourselves in trying to be clever, so just drop the idea of recruiting his apprentice."

Yang Qi nodded, but inside, he was laughing coldly.

"Your Sage Monarch Society has been growing rapidly," Dream Daylily continued. "I heard that you're the top lieutenant of the leader, Jadefall, and that she listens to everything you say. I've reported this matter up the chain of command, and because of it, the leaders have come to think of you as being very important. They want you to get stronger as fast as possible. In three hundred years, the House of God Ordainment will finally vote to select a new houselord. The old houselord will step down and become a chief elder; either that, or he'll go out to live as a wanderer. The current houselord wants his son to succeed him, which is why the junior houselord founded that Mystery Society of his. At the moment, none of the other factions in the sect can deal with this Mystery Society. Furthermore, I've uncovered information that indicates the Mystery Society is going to take action against your Sage Monarch Society. The junior houselord cultivated a devil technique that he plans to use to win Jadefall's heart. You need to be very careful. Stick close to Jadefall and make sure she doesn't get fooled by him."

"I see..." Yang Qi said. He knew that in the seven months that had passed, the junior houselord had been wining and dining Jadefall, talking about daoist techniques and plying her with gifts. But how could she fall for a trick like that?

She was planning to beat him at his own game in what she viewed as a battle of wits.

"The words of the lowly carry little weight," Yang Qi said, putting an angry, jealous glint into his eyes. He even cracked his knuckles. "And I think Jadefall actually likes the junior houselord."

When Dream Daylily saw his performance, she chuckled inwardly. "That's why we're going to help you get stronger. Incidentally, an emissary from the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty has come to see you. Prepare for the meeting."