Sage Monarch

Three moves.

Sage as the Master.

Monarch Invincible.

Hegemon Without Bounds.

They were moves Yang Qi had gained enlightenment of during his three thousand years of contemplation. Each move built on the previous, creating a cycle of explosive power as bright as the sun and moon, and a momentum akin to primal-chaos itself.

The first move shoved the houselord back. The second caused him to cough up blood. And third ripped the War God Commander's Tally out of his grasp, provoking a howl of rage.

Then, Yang Qi made a grasping gesture and said, "God Without Limit!"

It was a move that defied description, containing the marvels of creation and the good fortune of nature. It was a consummate move that related to God himself.

Sage, Monarch, Hegemon, God. They were four moves from the Sage Monarch Grand Magic!

"No!" screamed the houselord, blood spraying out of his mouth as he tried to keep control of the War God Commander's Tally. Unfortunately for him, Yang Qi simply grabbed it, causing a violent tempest to sweep about, provoking wails of grief from the forty-eight thousand war gods.

The houselord was completely powerless to fight back, and could only watch as the war god kingdom was sealed and the commander's tally landed on Yang Qi's palm.

Next, Yang Qi spat out some blood, causing white steam to rise up off of the tally as it lost its connection to the houselord.

Then he threw it into his bag.

As a peak Perfect God with Unbounded will, who was just on the verge of becoming a Paramount God, he could easily use the Sage Monarch Grand Magic to break the bindings of magical treasures.

With the commander's tally in hand, he had control over the souls of the numerous puppet war gods within it. Meanwhile, within Yang Qi, it was possible to see a host of glittering stones, all of them perfect in every aspect.

Houselord God Ordainment had never seen so many perfect caliber godstones in his entire life, and the sight left him completely shocked.

"What do you think?" Yang Qi said. "Your commander's tally doesn't really do you much good. Your cultivation base isn't high enough to use it properly, and when you're not using it, you need to burn a lot of godstones to maintain the spell formation within it. Without that, the war gods held within it would quickly wither away into nothing. Beings that existed in the true primeval times have all died, with the exception of Paramount Gods. Something like this surpasses your ability to comprehend. And I'm the only one who can unleash its true powers, thanks to my stock of perfect caliber godstones."

Of course, to unleash its ultimate potential, he would need to spend some time refining it and binding it to himself. Regardless, with this commander's tally, he didn't need to fear early Paramount Gods.

The houselord sagged listlessly. Without the War God Commander's Tally, he was completely incapable of resisting Yang Qi.

"W-what... what are you going to do to me?"

"Nothing," Yang Qi said. "I just want you under my control. As long as you don't reveal the fact that I'm an Unbounded expert, you can continue on as the houselord."

"You're saying you want me to be your puppet?" the houselord said, his face falling.

"Are you valuable enough for me to do anything else? I could kill you on a whim and take all of the resources of the House of God Ordainment for my own. Perhaps start my own sect. But of course, that would attract the attention of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. So keeping you alive does have some advantages."

"I'd rather you kill me than turn me into a puppet," the houselord grated.

"In that case, I suppose I'll have to kill your son," Yang Qi said.

"Wait!" the houselord blurted. "Don't kill my son! Let him go. I swear that I'll serve you faithfully. I only ask that you let my son leave the House of God Ordainment, and that you don't turn me into a puppet."

"And what if your son goes and raises an army to come back and save you? No. This is how things are going to work: you acknowledge allegiance to me. Either that, or you die. There are no other options. And don't look for loopholes. Remember, even the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty is going to end up conquered by my hand eventually. If you want, I can allow your son to be a puppet too. Just make sure he understands he mustn't do anything rash. Otherwise I'll do something truly lacking in mercy."

Yang Qi wanted control of the House of God Ordainment, but he didn't want to cause a scene that would attract the attention of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

The houselord thought about the proposal for a long moment, then said, "Fine, as long as you don't kill my son, I'll follow your orders."

"Hmph!"

Yang Qi thrust out his palm, sending a seed from the God Legion Seal into the houselord. A moment later, another golden throne appeared within the seal.

The houselord actually didn't know the details. He assumed Yang Qi had put some sort of powerful warding magic inside of him to control him.

'He has Unbounded will convergence without being a Paramount God,' the houselord thought. 'Once I become a Paramount God, I'll just dissolve the warding magic and deal with him as I see fit. For now, I'll pretend to go along. After all, a wise man knows when to back down when the odds are against him."

"You can leave now," Yang Qi said. "Just pretend that you had a big fight with some mysterious person you couldn't defeat. Soon enough, the commotion from today's events will die down."

"Right, of course," the houselord said, not daring to say anything in defiance. Turning, he left.

A moment later, Yang Qi also faded from view.

The god kingdom had returned to a state of calm and quiet as everyone waited to see what happened upon the return of the houselord. When he flew back, the junior houselord delightedly exclaimed, "Father, you drove that expert away? Can we finally get rid of the Sage Monarch Society?"

"Shut your mouth!" the houselord shouted, his expression livid. "Listen everyone, today's events are over. Nobody speak of anything that happened, otherwise you'll be instantly executed! Furthermore, any issues with the Sage Monarch Society are considered a thing of the past. From now on, unity and stability are the most important thing to the House of God Ordainment. Everything else will be resolved in the coming tricentennial election."

With that, he flicked his sleeve. "And the three chief elders from the Law-Enforcement God-Palace will make sure that news of today's events doesn't leak. Anyone who violates that precept will have their clan executed down to the ninth generation!"

"Houselord," said Jadefall, "it seems to me that the Law-Enforcement God-Palace is running short on good officers. Why don't we provide some forces from the Sage Monarch Society to help out? Shepherd. Proud World. Doom. Brahma. Annalist. As peak Consummate Gods who are just on the verge of being Perfect Gods, they'd serve well as leaders there."

"Yes ma'am!" they replied. Of course, the other members of the House of God Ordainment looked on in shock. The fact that Jadefall was issuing orders that the houselord didn't countermand went to show that the Sage Monarch Society had definitely secured a powerful position in the sect.

"Very well, everyone is dismissed," Jadefall said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Hmph!" The houselord flicked his sleeve and vanished.

"Father. Father!" The junior houselord scurried after him, unsure of what had played out, but his heart sinking. One thing was obvious: his father's secret reserve power had failed.

"Let's go," Jadefall said to the other members of the Sage Monarch Society. "This matter is over."

"By the way, Jadefall, what do we do with him?" Yang Memory asked, pointing at Wang Xiantian, the leader of the Preheaven Society.

"For conspiring against you the way he did, he deserves worse than death. Kill him!" The cruel smile on Jadefall's face deeply shocked all of the elder kings and faction leaders present.

"Yes ma'am!" the Shepherd said. Stepping forward, he grabbed Wang Xiantian with both hands and unleashed a powerful devil technique. Wang Xiantian screamed like a pig as his body withered up, his quintessence blood, vital energy, soul, and godhood sucked away until he was nothing more than a desiccated corpse.

The Shepherd chuckled. "As a leader of the Law-Enforcement God-Palace, I have full authority to execute wicked villains like him. And starting today, we're cracking down on the Preheaven Society. All members are hereby ordered to report to the Law-Enforcement God-Palace to confess their crimes and be punished. Any who refuse to comply will be executed immediately!"

The bloodsoaked scene was enough to shake the entire sect down to the core. The Brilliant Radiance Society, Honorable Glory Society, and all the other societies felt the urge to betray the sect and flee. After all, if the rabbit dies, the fox grieves. Wang Xiantian had just been slaughtered in front of their own eyes. He had been just as strong as most of them, so if he could be cut down so easily, then for all they knew, they would be next.

Not even the houselord had been able to stand up to the Sage Monarch Society.

"What do we do next, Yang Qi?" Jadefall asked. "Do we absorb the Preheaven Society to make the Sage Monarch Society stronger? And then slowly take over the rest of the sect? It seems to me the time has come to unify the sect. Remember, the sect's Bloodgore Trials are the perfect time to identify new geniuses. As long as we have enough resources, we could all get some good apprentices."

"I'll handle everything. And going forward, let's ease up a bit. We don't want everyone in the sect feeling terrified all the time. Right now, I need to spend some time working with the War God Commander's Tally. Once I'm finished, I can slaughter any Paramount God who causes problems for us."