Sage Monarch

Yang Qi had seized an opportunity, using twenty billion godnotes to win the favor of Summer Vastcold, thus earning a way into the Nacrelight Sageland as a guest.

Of course, those twenty billion godnotes hadn't earned him Summer Vastcold's trust. But he didn't care. As long as he could establish the relationship, he could work on getting her to trust him later.

With that, they left the Truth Academy and headed toward the Nacrelight Sageland.

"You still haven't told me where you're from, Mr. Void Qi."

'Void Qi' was the alias Yang Qi was using.

"I learned some of the core teachings and doctrines of the Lord of Civilization, which was how I came to be a scholar. But I never formally joined any particular institute. I did infiltrate some of them in disguise to learn what I could, but I've spent most of my time wandering, teaching people about history and virtue, and propagating the righteous energy of the confucian schools. The truth is that my wealth is from the legacy of the Lord of Civilization that I discovered, not my own merit. Please, don't laugh at me for that, Miss Vastcold."

Yang Qi had no trouble spinning a believable tale. After all, there were too many confucian scholars in the god world to possibly count, and it was the same with confucian institutes. There was no way the Nacrelight Sageland could ever corroborate or refute his story, so he simply made up a tale, not worrying at all whether Summer Vastcold believed him or not.

The Lord of Civilization was one of the subordinates of the Sovereign Lord. In fact, he was one of his most competent generals. And everyone knew that his core teachings and doctrines had never been handed down, so how could this random person know of them?

Expression flickering, Summer Vastcold said, "Young Sir Void Qi, it's said that the Lord of Civilization had an extremely powerful energy art known as the Imperial-Heaven Pre-Beginning Art. It was shockingly powerful and completely domineering. Do you mind giving us a demonstration?"

Obviously it was a test to see if he really knew of the teachings of the Lord of Civilization. If he did, it seemed a given he would found a school that would ultimately become extremely powerful. But if he was just blithely making up a fake story, then he would be someone to guard against. It was obvious that he had used the twenty billion godnotes to get close to her, and as the saying went, one who is unaccountably generous is hiding evil intentions.

Many of the other young women were looking closely at Yang Qi. Some were Consummate Gods, while others were Perfect Gods, yet none of them could assess his cultivation base. Of course, the reason was that he wasn't using his own fleshly body at the moment, but was instead using the body of the mysterious scholar he had discovered. Were it not for that, his status as a mid Consummate God would have been hard to hide.

"Of course, no problem!" Yang Qi said. Obviously, he knew that Summer Vastcold wouldn't be easily fooled.

Waving his hand, he summoned a complex image in the form of a long scroll that pulsed with an ancient aura and the shocking power of civilization.

"Very impressive," Summer Vastcold said, looking a bit surprised. "So you do have some imperial-heaven pre-beginning powers. What a surprise to see a daoist technique like that finally making its reappearance. You're clearly a successor of the Lord of Civilization, Young Sir. I have no choice but to believe you. Your cultivation base will reach unfathomable heights, and you'll surely establish your own school to educate the masses."

"Not necessarily," Yang Qi said. "I prefer freedom and simple living. Besides, I actually had a school in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty, but after offending the crown prince, it was destroyed, and all of my disciples were massacred. As for me, I had to flee with my life. That's why I hate them down to the core of my being, and won't rest until they're wiped out." By the end of his speech, his voice was fairly dripping with animosity.

Slowly but surely, he was winning Summer Vastcold's trust.

"So, that's how it is," she said. By this point, she trusted him by about sixty percent. After all, the imperial-heaven pre-beginning powers he had shown indicated that he was a successor of the Lord of Civilization.

Getting him on her side would provide major benefits, not to mention the fact that he was extremely wealthy.

"Young Sir Void Qi," said an early Consummate God, "given your incredible cultivation base and immense psyche and will, you're surely on the verge of reaching the Unbounded level. Considering how much you've helped out, does it mean you're looking to share some of the spoils? For instance, some pill formulas from the Nacrelight Sageland? Or some valuable ingredients? Unfortunately, the flower of wisdom can only be used to make a single pill, which can only be used by one person. Furthermore, I don't even know if I can successfully concoct it."

"A Wisdom and Knowledge God Pill wouldn't do me any good," Yang Qi replied casually. "And it definitely wouldn't push me to the Unbounded level. I have no intention of trying to take something Miss Summer Vastcold so needs. That said, I wouldn't mind studying such a pill. Miss Summer Vastcold, how do you intend to concoct it?"

She chuckled. "You think I have the ability to concoct a pill like that? Only a Paramount God can do so. I plan to ask help from my Master, as well as my Sect Uncles. Together, they probably have a fifty percent chance of succeeding."

"Oh, I see," Yang Qi said. Of course, the truth was that he really wasn't interested in the flower of wisdom, only the Mahātmā Jade.

As the group was chatting, a burst of strange cackling rang out, laughter that contained weeping and wailing. In fact, it was hard to tell if it was really laughter, and it made everyone who heard it feel very uncomfortable.

"It's an ambush!" Summer Vastcold said. "Junior Sisters, man the turrets!"

They weren't simply flying through the air, but in a nine-decked ship that was a god item crafted by a Paramount God. It was made from a colorful type of metal, and covered with magical inscriptions that made it capable of incredible speed. And of course, it had spell formations that required high-level godstones to operate.

As soon as the orders left her mouth, the women of the Nacrelight Sageland burst into motion, heading to the various guns that were located throughout the ship and putting imperial caliber godstones into them to power them up. Moments later, brilliant shafts of light were shooting this way and that as they targeted the enemy.

'It's too bad they don't have holy caliber godstones to power those weapons,' Yang Qi thought, shaking his head. Unfortunately, such godstones were far too rare and valuable. Each one would be as precious as an entire city.

Furthermore, these women had just purchased a flower of wisdom, cleaning out their wealth in the process. How could they have anything left after that?

The sky outside was dark and leaden, as if the entire area had been sealed down. Black clouds roiled and lightning flashed, as though doomsday had come.

"Natural Disaster Secret Magic!? These are wretch-gods from the Natural Disaster Sect!"

Summer Vastcold's expression flickered as she led Yang Qi to the main deck of the ship. Looking out, they saw that the dark clouds were so thick that it was obvious the ship wasn't going to be able to pierce through them easily.

Suddenly, laughter burst out as dozens upon dozens of Perfect Gods descended from the clouds. In fact, Yang Qi counted, and found that there were a hundred and eight of them, and they were organized in a formation. No wonder they were so confident in springing a successful trap. When Yang Qi had faced fifteen Perfect Gods who used the Wretched Brain God Art, it had been tricky to deal with. Here there were a hundred and eight such opponents, all working together.

"The Natural Disaster Sect from the League of Wretch-Gods," Summer Vastcold said, her voice icy. "What do you people think you're doing? Don't tell me you're declaring war on the Nacrelight Sageland!?"

More laughter rang out as a young man took the forefront. He had a very fair face, almost feminine, but he pulsed with killing intent. "We're here for your money. Let me explain, Summer Vastcold. Certain people from the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty want you dead, and they hired us to do the job. But the truth is we don't have to kill you. Just give us that flower of wisdom, and we'll spare your lives."

"You want the flower of wisdom? You don't have the pill formula or the other medicinal ingredients. What good would it do you?"

"Simple," replied the feminine young man. "If we capture you, the Nacrelight Sageland will give us the pill formula and the ingredients. Then we can definitely make that Wisdom and Knowledge God Pill. And if I can reach the Unbounded level because of this, it'll all be worth it, don't you think? That's why I put together this group of a hundred and eight Perfect Gods. With the Natural Disaster Cyclical Formation Magic in play, you'll never escape. So either surrender, or die."

"Damnation," Summer Vastcold said. Looking at Yang Qi, she said, "Young Sir Void Qi, it looks like we're in a very troublesome situation here. This guy is named Disaster Trek, and he's a top expert from the Natural Disaster Sect. He's no weaker than me, and he's obviously been planning this trap for a long time."

"We can't break free?" Yang Qi asked. "This ship of yours was created by a Paramount God. With the right godstones, it should be able to unleash the power of a Paramount God. That should be enough to blast through their formation."

"I thought of that," Summer Vastcold said with a wry smile. "Unfortunately, we'd need holy caliber godstones. And where are we going to get anything like that? We have nothing better than imperial caliber. I did have some better godstones, but I traded them in so I could afford the flower of wisdom."

"Oh?" Yang Qi smiled. "Thankfully, I happen to have some right here."

He flicked his sleeve, and clinking sounds rang out as a host of holy caliber godstones tumbled out onto the deck, flashing like tiny suns.

"This...." Summer Vastcold was temporarily at a loss for words. "Where did you get so many holy caliber godstones? Don't tell me the Lord of Civilization's treasure trove was this incredible! I can't believe you just casually poured out what must be ten billion godnotes worth of godstones!"