Sage Monarch

Yang Qi had spent three years assimilating three powerful god pills. And as a result, he had finally become a Consummate God. The Consummate God level was a major milestone, and was the point where one could truly pursue grand ambitions. Even in the largest of sects, Consummate Gods commanded immense power and authority. For example, in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty, Consummate Gods would be conferred titles of nobility.

Right now, Yang Qi's will convergence still wasn't in the Unbounded level, but he was confident he would be able to reach that level, even without the Mahātmā Jade.

Three years ago, he had been stuck because he needed more pieces of the Mahātmā Jade.

But during the three years of hard cultivation and deep enlightenment, he had broken through that obstacle. Now, achieving the breakthrough he desired wouldn't be an impossibility.

Furthermore, to rise from the early Consummate God level to the mid level, he needed more medicinal pills. The House of God Ordainment was now useless to him in that regard, as he had already cleared out their treasure storehouse of every useful pill possible.

Right now, anything that wasn't an Unbounded medicinal pill might as well have been trash to him.

Looking at the god kingdom of the House of God Ordainment, he realized that there were no secrets in it any longer. One thing he realized was that the secret reserve power they kept actually wasn't in the god kingdom itself, but somewhere outside.

At this point, Yang Qi was far too big a fish to remain in the pond that was the House of God Ordainment. Never could he have guessed that he would progress so rapidly in his cultivation.

His friends and family were all Greater Gods, and in another eight to ten years, they would all be Consummate Gods. Right now, he and Jadefall were both already Consummate Gods. All they had to do now was use their status as children of primeval chaos to enact the next phase of their plan.

With his half Unbounded will convergence, Consummate God monarch godhood, and God Legion Seal, Yang Qi could definitely crush all of the experts in the sect. Not even the houselord, who was a peak Consummate God, was anything to worry about. The only thing he wasn't sure about was the reserve power they had.

The only thing that could currently cause a problem for him would be a Paramount God with Unbounded will.

Without any fanfare, he returned to the god kingdom and headed directly to the Hall of Promotions.

When the disciples there caught sight of him, some called out enthusiastic greetings, while others looked at him with hard expressions and hurried off to report the matter to others. Approaching one of the disciples in charge, he released some of his Consummate God aura.

In response, the disciple, who was a Lesser God, immediately dropped to his knees. "Spare me, Elder Brother, spare me!"

"I'm here for a promotion," Yang Qi said. "As you can see, my godhood has reached the level of a Consummate God. Therefore, I want to be a child of primeval chaos. Please go report the matter to the chief elders."

"Yes, of course," the disciple said, crawling to his feet and hurrying away.

Yang Qi waited patiently as the hours ticked by. He knew that news of him being a Consummate God would spread, and that the chief elders would be calling a meeting of other Consummate Gods to discuss the matter.

The Sage Monarch Society had been rising in power rapidly over the past three years, with its members completing all sorts of missions and earning many merit points. Further, the Sage Monarch Consortium had also been growing.

Now that Yang Qi was a Consummate God, it meant the Sage Monarch Society very well might surpass the Mystery Society.

Ding dong. Ding dong.

Bells rang in the Hall of Promotions, filling the god kingdom and announcing to all disciples that a new child of primeval chaos had arrived.

Then, several Consummate God elder kings approached. "Please enter the hall. To become a child of primeval chaos, you'll have to pass some tests administered by the Perfect God chief elders."

"Alright," Yang Qi said, nodding. He had no idea what discussions might have gone on over the past few hours, and wasn't interested in knowing any details. Whatever tricks anyone might be planning, he was now strong enough to deal with them.

The Hall of Promotions had several floors, and the disciples and elders that worked there were considered very lucky. He walked up to the highest floor, entering a spacious room that overlooked many of the other palaces in the god kingdom.

There were a handful of Consummate God elder kings present, along with eight Perfect God chief elders. Yang Qi recognized the chief elders; only three of them actually worked in the Hall of Promotions, so the fact that there were others present seemed to indicate that something fishy was going on.

Not that Yang Qi cared.

After he walked in and took his place, one of the chief elders said, "So, Yang Qi, you want to be a child of primeval chaos? Is your cultivation base in the Consummate God level?"

"Yes," Yang Qi said, releasing the aura of a Consummate God.

"Excellent. You really are a Consummate God." Nodding, the chief elder glanced at his fellow chief elders, then said, "Unfortunately, it's also possible that you're using some unknown magical object to fabricate a Consummate God aura. Therefore, we need to do our routine inspection to rule that out."

"Alright," Yang Qi said. "How exactly will the inspection work?"

"Simple," another chief elder said. "We'll directly inspect your godhood to make sure it's actually in the Consummate God level."

"Sounds fine." He knew something unusual was going on, but true confidence stems from superb skill, and he wasn't worried about whatever games the chief elders might be playing.

"Then we'll begin." Vaguely sinister expressions flitted across the faces of the other five chief elders.

"Hold on a moment!" Yang Qi suddenly said.

"What are you doing?" one of the chief elders said.

"What's the meaning of this, Yang Qi?" said another.

"According to the Great Classic of God Ordainment, when being promoted to child of primeval chaos, the inspection will be carried out by three chief elders. If the subject's godhood is in the Consummate God level, he'll pass the test. So why exactly do you need eight chief elders instead of three?" Yang Qi even pulled out his Great Classic of God Ordainment and flipped to the specific passage he was referring to.

"The Hall of Promotions has changed its policies," one of the chief elders replied immediately, as if he had anticipated this might happen. Smiling coldly, he continued, "Corruption has become a big problem here. For instance, certain members of the Sage Monarch Society have been promoted even though they clearly don't meet the cultivation requirements, by bribing disciples here. And there are some disciples who haven't actually reached godly ascension, but claim to have done so in the hopes of gaining access to better resources. Therefore, the council of chief elders has issued orders that more chief elders supervise the inspection process. We have to eliminate this problem of cheating. Understand?"

"So that's how it is. In that case, I suppose there's nothing more I can say."

"Good. Then we'll begin now." The eight Consummate God chief elders exchanged glances, then waved their fingers out, causing brilliant light to shoot into Yang Qi's sea of energy and the godhood therein.

In reaction, his godhood began to rotate rapidly.

Yang Qi immediately felt pain in his godhood. And from the vicious grins on the faces of the five chief elders, it was obvious they were jointly using some powerful technique to try forcing his godhood down to a lower level.

It was a very vicious move, and it begged the question of who was behind it.

If he were an ordinary Consummate God, he would have been powerless to fight back. The five chief elders working together could have wrested away the power of his godhood, and forced him back down to the peak Greater God level. It would have been a grievous injury, and worse, he would then have been accused of a crime in the sect. It would most likely have resulted in him being imprisoned, which would force Jadefall to make major concessions to get him out.

There was no way that a plot such as this could be less than sinister.

All of a sudden, Yang Qi's face fell and he said, "You—"

SPLAT!

Blood spewed out of his mouth, and his aura suddenly declined, dropping from the Consummate God level to the peak Greater God level.

Staggering backward, he pointed an accusing finger at the eight chief elders and said, "You actually forced my level down! You villains!"

One of the chief elders shot to his feet. "How dare you, Yang Qi! We discovered your ruse and destroyed the treasure that made it seem like you were a Consummate God. The truth is that you're only a Greater God! As it turns out, the Sage Monarch Society really is full of cheaters and con artists who egotistically take advantage of the rules of the sect! And now we have our proof. Next, we'll do a full inspection of the Sage Monarch Society and see how many of your members have lied to the sect."

RUMBLE!

"That's exactly right!" said another chief elder. "The Sage Monarch Society is wicked to the core, and has lied directly to our faces. This Yang Qi brazenly pretended to be a Consummate God in the hopes of gaining the title of child of primeval chaos. How villainous! Take him into custody, and call a meeting to interrogate all the key members of the Sage Monarch Society!"

The other chief elders were all smiling as they looked on, confident that their villainous plan had succeeded.

They had removed Yang Qi as a threat, and would now be able to threaten Jadefall. They could accuse all of the key members of the Sage Monarch Society of being frauds, which would be such a heavy blow that the society would definitely fall apart.

After all, with the key members arrested, how could anyone trust that Jadefall could deal with the junior houselord?

It was no wonder they had kept Yang Qi waiting for several hours outside.

That was when they had come up with their evil plan.

Seeing that Yang Qi wasn't saying a word, not even refuting their accusations, the chief elders were sure that they had succeeded. "Guards, arrest Yang Qi and throw him into Heaven Penitentiary. Summon the other chief elders to a meeting. We're going to finally get to the bottom of the Sage Monarch Society's lies!"

They had their 'irrefutable' evidence.