Sage Monarch

'The Mountains of Radiance.' Yang Qi looked over with anticipation, and soon realized that there were conglomerations of sagelight in the mountains. Furthermore, the mountains actually weren't made from rock, but were instead a crystallized manifestation of radiant godpower. It was something that seemed to originate with two of the Sovereign Lord's main generals, the Lord of Radiance and Light and the Lord of Civilization.

Unfortunately, both of them had eventually perished.

That said, the godpower of the Sovereign Lord was known for its radiance and light, and according to the stories, he had been the actual sun of the god world. He emitted endless light, and it wasn't until after he vanished that the god world had lost its sun, although it remained bright and well-lit.

The Sovereign Lord was radiance, and was in fact the origin of all radiance.

Anyone filled with the holy light of the halls of heaven would obviously be able to cultivate at a much faster speed. Their substructure would become vastly more holy, and as the impurities within them were melted away, the streams of true energy within them would cause their god vitality to improve and their energy arts to abound.

Yang Qi was truly impressed. 'Heaven's helping me!' he thought. 'After all, my God Legion Seal controls the Sovereign Lord's Holy and Far-Reaching Consummate Omnicurse, which has innate control over radiance and light. In other words, that radiance and light might as well be my own home. Now I'm more confident than ever in my search for that piece of the Mahātmā Jade.'

Jadefall could tell what he was thinking just by the look on his face, and she nodded.

They flew into the mountains and eventually touched down in a certain square. The soldiers weren't allowed to disembark, but a contingent of eunuchs had been sent in advance to wait for them, all of them Greater Gods. Of course, while technically eunuchs, they were also gods, and the gods didn't care very much about distinguishing between the sexes. In fact, the high-level gods could change their bodies to become male or female whenever they wanted.

That said, these eunuchs had followed the pattern of the ancient angels, and didn't have any specific sex, thanks to a unique cultivation technique of the sect.

Because of that, they were completely different from the eunuchs from the Joyflower Palace in the impure lands.

The eunuchs of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty weren't wretched and vile. Instead, they were cold and calculating, almost as if they had been molded from ice. They followed orders without question and were very much like hardened killers.

"Princess, the supreme concubine has asked you to come inside," one of the eunuchs said, stepping forward and offering a salute.

"Lead the way," Jadefall replied. Yang Qi followed along, not bothering to look left and right, but instead sending his psychic power out to examine his surroundings. He soon realized that there was a lot of feminine energy in the area, indicating that this was indeed the imperial harem.

Palaces of radiance and light filled the area, and the mountains seemed almost like a world of their own. They were filled with unending numbers of beautiful women, down to the palace maids and handmaidens. They all seemed to live happy, careful lives, with the eunuchs constantly there to wait on them. Not a man was in sight.

In fact, it was only because Yang Qi and the other men in the party were under strict watch by the eunuchs that they were allowed inside at all.

These mountains weren't the treasure storehouse of the dynasty. Yang Qi resolved to make contact with Nie Yinyang from the Crown Prince Society and see if he could get more information.

Of course, as soon as he was in the mountains, he secretly drew on the God Legion Seal to see if he could absorb the power of the radiance and light.

The godpower of radiance and light that he could personally cultivate wasn't completely pure. In contrast, the godpower here was from the ancient halls of heaven, which meant that absorbing it was like getting a personal gift from the Sovereign Lord.

Furthermore, he soon realized that those who practiced cultivation here could only use that godpower to temper their bodies. They couldn't actually absorb it and make it part of their godhood.

It was almost like how, on a cold winter day, people could huddle around a fire to get warm, but couldn't actually consume the flames. On the other hand, Yang Qi could absorb it into his godhood.

His monarch godhood was like a ravenous gobblewock, devouring the godpower of radiance and light, revealing aspects of darkness that were impurities. Godhood was supposed to be transparent, pure, and holy, without any taint of mortality. Eventually, striations would appear on its surface, conforming to the dao of heaven. They were almost like spell formation charts describing the primitive lineaments of the beginning of the universe. In the face of godpower like this, the aura of humanity and the impure lands would shrink away.

Yang Qi's monarch godhood was virtually leaping with excitement.

Of course, no one had any idea what was going on, or that he was absorbing the godpower of radiance and light. Not even Perfect Gods could do what he was doing; they could only use the godpower to temper their fleshly bodies.

Anyone who tried to do anything other than that would be playing with fire, and would risk killing themselves.

Yang Qi was already benefiting from this trip to see the supreme concubine, almost as much as he had benefited from God-King Ruthless and the Nation-Fate God Pill.

They spent four days working their way through the mountains, and although Yang Qi kept completely silent, to him it was like he had spent a thousand years working on his cultivation. In fact, he had already climbed from the early Common God level to the mid level. The godpower of radiance and light was just as good as any boundless medicinal pill.

Halfway up one of the mountains was a palace. Stopping outside, one of the eunuchs turned and said, "The rest of you wait here, and don't cause any problems. No striking up conversations with any of the palace maids. Understand? The princess will go see the supreme concubine now." Yang Qi and the other obviously couldn't say anything, and simply waited while the eunuch led Jadefall inside.

Seeing there were some of the eunuchs who remained to stand guard, Brahma lowered his voice and said to Yang Qi, "This is all very impressive. Back then, I could never do anything like this. It's too bad I died, otherwise it wouldn't be so difficult for me to become a Paramount God."

Years ago, Brahma had never been anything more than a Consummate God.

"Stop worrying about it," laughed the Shepherd. "You were only a Consummate God, so there's no telling how long it'll take you to make any serious progress. Anyway, there's got to be some benefit to us accompanying Jadefall to see the supreme concubine. We're the backbone of the Sage Monarch Society, so if the supreme concubine wants to gain some influence in the House of God Ordainment, what better way than to help us?"

"We'll benefit somehow," Proud World said. "We're not quite strong enough to call the wind and summon the rain in the House of God Ordainment right now, but if we become Consummate Gods, we'll finally be able to make a difference."

Before they could say anything else, a eunuch stepped over and said, "Consummate Gods? Forget about. You'd best be content to be Greater Gods. The supreme concubine has asked you in to see her."

"Yes sir!" they said, and followed him inside. They walked for a full hour through the winding palace corridors until they reached an audience hall, where two people were waiting for them. One was Jadefall, and the other was a woman who sat behind a pearl screen. Yang Qi couldn't see her, and she didn't emanate any power fluctuations at all, yet Yang Qi was certain that she had reached an immense and terrifying level of strength.

"Our respects, Supreme Concubine!" they said, dropping to their knees.

"Jadefall, are these the key members of your Sage Monarch Society that you mentioned?" All of a sudden, everyone felt a gaze land on them that seemed capable of piercing into the depths of their being.

Eventually, that gaze rested on Yang Qi for a long moment before finally being retracted. "They're all geniuses. Wise, resolute, and filled with immense experience. Forget about the House of God Ordainment, they'd be rare even in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. I heard one of your brethren was even taken as an apprentice by Lord of the True Void. Yang Immortal-Slayer?"

"Yes, that's right, Concubine," Yang Qi replied. "Yang Immortal-Slayer is my blood brother."

"It must have been some time since you ascended to the god world," the supreme concubine replied.

They exchanged awkward glances.

"Don't worry," she continued, "I'm no fool. I know that only Ascendants could make progress like this. In the past millions upon millions of years, there have been quite a few Ascendants from the impure lands. That said, the Ancient Road to the Gods vanished, and afterward, we haven't been able to pry into the affairs of the lower worlds."

Yang Qi knew that, in the distant past, it hadn't been as much of a rarity for old-timers to ascend to the god world. After all, that was why the ten magisters of the future world had been able to seize control. And if the Ancient Road to the Gods hadn't disappeared from the future world, they wouldn't have had any need to invade the Immortal Dao Age.

"What are things like in the impure lands now?" asked the supreme concubine. "By the way, I'm an Ascendant too, so you don't have to feel nervous talking about it."

"What? Supreme Concubine, you're an Ascendant?!" Yang Qi was deeply shocked.

"Yes, I ascended a long time ago," she replied. "The fighting and killing on the Ancient Road to the Gods can be brutal. I'm curious to hear how things are now."

"Of course!" Yang Qi said, then went into a completely fabricated tale about the chaos in the impure lands, and how he and his people had bitterly fought with the Executors of the Ancient Road before finally secretly ascending.