Sage Monarch

"Yes, that's exactly right..." said the leader of the White Clan. All forty of the brothers were trembling in fear. "Wang Xiantian came to visit and said he wanted us to kill you. He said something about you breaking the rules of the game and causing a lot of chaos on the open seas. We never reached an agreement, though. You showed up, arrested us, and brought us here. None of this has anything to do with us! It's all Wang Xiantian's doing! We were talking about what he wanted, but never agreed to do anything!"

Yang Memory nodded. "That's fine, I forgive you. But this vile Wang Xiantian needs to be punished. Otherwise the disciples of the sect as a whole will be furious."

"Hold on!" said one of the chief elders from the Law-Enforcement God-Palace. "What do you mean the disciples as a whole will be furious? Do you speak for all the disciples? Forget about whether Wang Xiantian really did conspire to harm you, Yang Memory. You struck the Punishment Bell without authorization, which is itself a huge crime. You should be the one being punished right now!"

This chief elder was clearly enraged at Yang Memory's behavior, and how she had broken the rules by sounding the bell. Normally, that bell was only struck when all the chief elders agreed to do so. Not even the children of primeval chaos would strike it, for fear of being executed.

Countless disciples were already present, and they saw how shocked the numerous elders and elder kings were by what was happening. Meanwhile, some of the chief elders were high above, conferring with each other. "Why was the Punishment Bell sounded? It shouldn't be sounded casually, does she not know that? It's only to be struck when all the chief elders agree."

"Chief Elders," Wang Xiantian shouted, "this Yang Memory arrested me for no reason! You have to punish her! I didn't do anything. She's not even a child of primeval chaos, so she has no right to take me captive, much less ring the Punishment Bell! She deserves the strictest punishment there is!"

"Yang Memory, release Wang Xiantian immediately," said one of the chief elders. "We'll further investigate the matter of the Punishment Bell, and as long as you admit your crime, you can escape the death penalty. But if you do the wrong thing, then every last member of the Sage Monarch Society is going to be dragged into this."

"In my opinion, this already involves most of the Sage Monarch Society," another chief elder shouted. "They're always sticking their noses into sect business, so I say it's time to crack down on them."

More and more chief elders were gathering, and many of them were already siding against Yang Memory.

"Who just said they want to crack down on the Sage Monarch Society!?"

A voice rang out that caused everything to tremble, whereupon Jadefall appeared, flanked by Yang Qi and the other key members of the Sage Monarch Society. Counting the ordinary members they led, there was a crowd of several tens of thousands. That said, the Law-Enforcement God-Palace was a huge place, and its public square could hold hundreds of thousands of people.

Jadefall's cultivation base was already at the peak Perfect God level, and she had peak Paramount will. She was roughly on the same level as Summer Soundfyre and Summer Vastcold. Those three thousand years of cultivation in the Cruiser of Civilization weren't in vain.

Unfortunately, her breakthrough to the Unbounded level was going to be very difficult, and she wouldn't succeed unless she came across the right good fortune.

"You...."

The chief elders and elder kings were all shocked by Jadefall's aura. "How did your cultivation base improve so much? You're at the peak of the Perfect God level?"

"That's right. I'm a peak Perfect God. And my will is at the peak Paramount level. Without some cultivation base to back it up, why would I ask Yang Memory to ring the Punishment Bell? Am I right, brethren and disciples of the Sage Monarch Society?"

"Yes ma'am!" the tens of thousands of disciples chorused. "Sage Monarch invincible! Sage Monarch invincible! Bring about punishment! Bring about punishment!"

As the disciples shouted in unison, they released their auras, revealing that all of them were peak Greater Gods! The only exceptions were those that pulsed with the aura of Consummate Gods!

In the House of God Ordainment, there were about a hundred thousand Greater Gods, and most were prime elders, not disciples. Because of that, most such gods weren't members of the various factions. After all, it would be hard to maintain balance among the factions if that happened.

Even the Mystery Society didn't have ten thousand Greater Gods as members.

But here the Sage Monarch Society had a full fifty thousand Greater Gods, something the likes of which the House of God Ordainment had never been seen before. For unimportant people to achieve such monumental progress in such a short time was shocking. What level of resources had been put into this?

Everyone was so stunned by the development that silence reigned.

After a long moment passed, a new chief elder appeared, eyes blazing as he glared at the Sage Monarch Society and shouted, "What do you people think you're doing? This is rebellion!"

The mere surge of his aura caused all the sound in the area to die down. The Perfect Gods had arrived!

Jadefall's eyes flickered as she looked at this chief elder, whose name was Tian Bubai. He was a very powerful man, and a staunch supporter of the junior houselord. He was so strong that not even fifty thousand Greater Gods working together would be able to best him in combat.

"I knew the Sage Monarch Society was arrogant, but how could I have guessed that it would reach a state like this in such a short time? Very peculiar." Tian Bubai chuckled coldly. "So this little force is what you're relying on? Fifty thousand Greater God disciples? How exactly did they achieve their breakthroughs? You can tell us, Jadefall. You're a member of this sect, so if you have a way to achieve breakthroughs faster than normal, you should hand it over to the sect. We need contributions like that. As for your subordinate Yang Memory, she struck the Punishment Bell without authorization, but we can let that slide. The caveat is that you have three years to ensure a hundred thousand sect disciples become Greater Gods. And you have to disband the Sage Monarch Society."

The other chief elders started weighing in.

"That's right. Hand over all the resources of the Sage Monarch Society. Besides, what good does it do for you to have so many Greater Gods? We chief elders could crush them with ease. The difference between Perfect Gods and Greater Gods is so immense you can hardly calculate it."

"Thankfully, we chief elders are all here today, so we can agree on the matter of disbanding the Sage Monarch Society."

"Exactly. The Sage Monarch Society is way out of line here. They're making too many deals with outsiders, and have even been stealing sect resources. If things keep going on like this, the sect will fall apart. Where's the houselord? Houselord, come grace us with your presence, and help us crush the Sage Monarch Society out of existence!"

If enough of a scene developed, the chief elders and elder kings would all show up. The only higher level of leadership was the houselord, and if he showed up, it would be an easy thing to disband the Sage Monarch Society.

"What's this commotion all about?"

An immense will weighed down as two figures descended from above.

It was the houselord and the junior houselord, and their expressions were grave as they glared at Jadefall and the disciples of the Sage Monarch Society.

The faction leaders present joined their voices in greeting, along with the various elders and important people present.

"Our respects, Houselord, Junior Houselord!"

In contrast, the members of the Sage Monarch Society didn't say a thing, but were in fact ignoring the houselord and junior houselord.

The disciples were completely loyal to their own leader, and couldn't care less about the leaders of the sect at large. In fact, if their leader told them to kill the houselord, they would follow through on the orders without a second thought.

"What incredible gall!" Tian Bubai said furiously. "You people from the Sage Monarch Society are real rebels aren't you? I can't believe you even refuse to greet the houselord!"

The houselord snorted coldly, and everyone could sense his anger. After all, it was a sect rule that everyone had to offer him greetings, so the Sage Monarch Society's refusal to comply went to indicate that they were attempting to seize power.

All of a sudden, Jadefall said something completely shocking to Tian Bubai. "Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you lob accusations at me? Until it's your turn to speak, kindly fuck off!"

RUMBLE!

Unexpectedly, she launched an attack!

She was a peak Perfect God, and also had a Battle Armlet filled with the power of countless holy beasts. Even an Unbounded expert would need two or three moves to get that level of power in check, much less someone like Tian Bubai.

"God Tombstone Palms!"

She launched a consummate technique from the Great Necropolis, which was inferior only to the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. Instantly, a huge tombstone appeared, inscribed with names of buried gods. Its aura contained the grieving and wailing of divine beings, and it made everything seem like a graveyard as it rumbled toward Tian Bubai.

"How dare you attack me, you animal!" Although Tian Bubai had been caught off-guard, his energy arts were extremely profound, so he reacted in the blink of an eye. Shoving his hands out in front of him, he said, "Nine Heavens God Incantation!"

Nine enormous hands shot out to meet the incoming tombstone.

However, the God Tombstone Palms were so powerful that Tian Bubai was thrown backward and slammed into the wall, blood spraying out of his mouth, his bones, sea of energy, and every other part of him devastated and thrown into chaos.

As countless shocked gazes locked onto her, Jadefall said, "How dare scum like you jabber in my presence. Incidentally, if you want to commit suicide, this isn't the best way. Mention disbanding the Sage Monarch Society again, and I'll cripple you. Henceforth, anyone who crosses us will be killed."

1. Tian Bubai: Tian is a common surname which also means "field". Bubai means "undefeatable".