Sage Monarch

Yang Qi was finally able to speak his mind after years of keeping his head low in the House of God Ordainment. Before, he had always held back, but now he was violating the greatest of taboos as he directly shook all seven of these chief elders, each of them a Consummate God. Not even the houselord could have easily done something like this.

Each of the chief elders could sense the boundless power flowing through him, and knew it was something they couldn't possibly stand up to.

All they could do was writhe weakly as his energy smashed into them, his godhood exerting such immense pressure that they were nearly crushed where they stood.

"How could you be so powerful? Who are you?" The seven chief elders didn't want to believe what was happening, but they had no choice.

"Hmph! Who am I? I work for the crown prince!" Yang Qi had decided to quit while he was ahead. If he revealed his monarch godhood, it would draw the attention of Paramount Gods, and that would likely end with him suffering a miserable fate.

In response, the seven chief elders stared at Yang Qi.

"You work for the crown prince? The crown prince of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty?"

"Not even someone personally groomed by the crown prince should have a cultivation base like yours."

"There's nothing special about me," Yang Qi replied. "It's just that you fools don't understand how incredible the crown prince is. The only reason I'm as strong as I am is because of him. He knew you were plotting against me, so he used an ensconcement magic to fill me with enough power to devastate you with a single move. Now do you understand?"

The chief elders were at a loss for words. The explanation Yang Qi was providing did make sense in some ways.

"As you likely know," Yang Qi continued, "three years ago I spent some time working on my cultivation in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty, which was when Grand Eunuch Nie Yinyang personally boosted my energy arts. Then I had an audience with the crown prince, who gave me further blessings. So did you really think I wouldn't achieve any breakthroughs in the three years after that? I'd originally considered slaughtering everyone here today, but considering we're from the same sect, I think I'll let you off the hook. By the way, did you think I was ignorant of the fact that the junior houselord is in league with the third prince? And do you really think the third prince is strong enough to deal with the crown prince? If so, you're sadly mistaken. He's just going to end up arrested and executed. And you'll get dragged down with him, unless you side with me. Why not let bygones be bygones, and join the Crown Prince Society? The ship that is the House of God Ordainment is going to sink sooner or later, and if you stick with the third prince, you'll go down with it. But if you side with the crown prince... then you can sail off into the sunset and eventually become Paramount Gods."

Yang Qi's cultivation base had finally reached the point of being able to control Perfect Gods, so he was using his words to slip devil embryos into their seas of consciousness.

These chief elders had originally hoped to pool their strength and kill Yang Qi, but things had quickly spiraled out of control. Upon hearing that he worked for the crown prince, their sails deflated as they understood the larger picture. The junior houselord had sided with the third prince, but unfortunately, the third prince couldn't compare to the crown prince.

And apparently, the crown prince favored Yang Qi so much that he had ensconced some of his nascent divinity within him. That seemed to be the only explanation for how a mere Consummate God like Yang Qi could unleash such devastating force.

In fact, if he hadn't put on such a display of force, they wouldn't have believed that he was actually working with the crown prince. Now, however, they had no choice but to believe.

"I'll join the crown prince!" said the chief elder whose godhood Yang Qi had crippled. "I know that His Majesty the crown prince has amazing abilities, and I can only hope that he might heal my godhood, returning me to the Consummate God level."

Yang Qi nodded. "Excellent. You may join the Crown Prince Society. Considering your status, you'll be rewarded handsomely for joining. Just remember that I'm in charge of all members of the Crown Prince Society in the House of God Ordainment, which means you have to follow my orders. For instance, word of today's events mustn't leak. Everyone who was injured needs to go into temporary seclusion."

"Right, of course." In their eyes, Yang Qi had essentially been possessed by the crown prince, to the point where they weren't even sure who they were actually talking to. So they simply nodded in acquiescence and agreed to join the Crown Prince Society.

In order to solidify their terror of him, Yang Qi laughed heartily as he unleashed a wave of psychic power, filling the area and making them feel like they were being sucked into a vortex. Then, they found themselves in an illusory region from which they couldn't escape.

"What do you think of my psychic power?" Yang Qi said.

"This level of psychic power and will is nothing short of horrifying!" As of this moment, they were convinced that they were actually communicating directly with the crown prince. Who but that almighty figure could unleash psychic power like this?

"I'll join the Crown Prince Society!"

"Me too! I can only hope you'll put in a good word for me!"

"Very good," Yang Qi said, laughing. "In that case, I'm now a child of primeval chaos. Please make a note in the records, and bring out my new uniform and identity medallion. Oh wait. You're still in a state of shock from the crown prince's abilities. I'll just handle it myself."

He made a beckoning motion, and a jade medallion and a set of clothing flew over to him. As he did, he felt completely connected to everything around him, as though his destiny had fused with the god kingdom around him.

'So, that's how it is,' he thought, nodding. The children of primeval chaos were top leaders in the House of God Ordainment, and being given that title gave them a connection to the god kingdom's essence, and also immense authority and power.

"This matter is now concluded," Yang Qi said in a cold voice. "Again, don't breathe a word of this to anyone. I'll wipe the memories of the elder kings. The rest of you, go into seclusion and claim that you've experienced cultivation deviation." With that, he turned and left.

After he was gone, the chief elders sagged in defeat, and many of them pulled out medicinal pills that they used to heal themselves.

Then they glanced around at each other awkwardly.

"We suffered a huge defeat here. Who could have guessed that the crown prince had infused Yang Qi with his nascent divinity? He even took the elder kings away."

"How are we supposed to explain this to the junior houselord? He's still waiting for a report about how things turned out."

"We don't say anything. Let's just say something unexpected happened, and then go into secluded cultivation. Then, we wait to see how all of this plays out. And we definitely can't leak the news, otherwise the crown prince will make sure things go badly for us. We won't survive if he comes after us with deadly intent."

The chief elders all went into seclusion, as if nothing had ever happened. The elder kings had their memories wiped by Yang Qi, then went into seclusion where they experienced 'cultivation deviation' and godhood decline. It would be years before they emerged, possibly even a decade.

As for the chief elders, Yang Qi was already devising a way to get them into Dream Daylily's presence to officially join the Crown Prince Society. He was curious to see what kind of reward he would get for the service provided.

Considering they were Perfect Gods, it would make sense for the reward to be something at least as impressive as a Paramount god pill.

And Yang Qi had a feeling that the crown prince would probably want to meet him in person.

That would be a tricky situation to handle. For all he knew, the crown prince might be able to perceive some of his secrets. If he didn't manage to achieve another breakthrough, there was no way he could deal with an Unbounded expert.

'Where are the rest of the pieces of the Mahātmā Jade?' he thought, frowning. His surest bet right now was to reach the Unbounded level.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to set up another spell formation to try to hone in on the locations of the other pieces.

'Right, my energy arts have advanced again. I could probably head into the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty's treasure storehouse again. If I complete the Flower of Time and insert it into my godhood, I'll definitely get a lot stronger. Maybe I could even use that to push my will convergence to Unbounded."

By adding the Flower of Time to his godhood, it would create a closer connection between his godhood and his psychic power, as well as give him a better understanding of time. He would even be able to grasp at understanding the end of time.

At a certain point, Jadefall showed up. "Are you finally a Consummate God, Yang Qi? And a child of primeval chaos? The people from the Hall of Promotions didn't cause any problems for you, did they?"

"They tried to cause problems, but I subjugated them all. In the past three years, I've gotten a lot stronger. Other than the House of God Ordainment's secret reserve power, nobody here can stand up to me." As Yang Qi looked at Jadefall, and the purrling in her arms, he suddenly realized why the purrling didn't seem to have any godpower.

Its godpower had already been annulled, which meant it didn't need godhood or godpower.

In the Annulled level, everything became nothing.

When Yang Qi reached that level, his monarch godhood would be cultivated into nothing. It was like truly returning home to one's original state. Yang Qi thirsted to reach that level.

Purr, purr.... The purrling mewled, as if to praise Yang Qi for his advancement in psychic power. It was as though it knew he would soon reach the Unbounded level, which was a truly major accomplishment in the god world.

Normal. Stupendous. Destabilizing. Terrifying. Paramount. Unbounded. Annulled.

Those were the seven major levels that described one's psyche and essence. Throughout all history, though, no one had ever reached the Annulled level. It was the highest level, and the fact that Yang Qi was heading in that direction meant he had earned the purrling's praise and admiration.

**

"What?!" the junior houselord shouted in rage. "Yang Qi became a child of primeval chaos?! What about our plan? It was flawless! What were the chief elders thinking?!"