Sage Monarch

'I'm finally here!'

After an extended period of flight, Yang Qi finally reached the island nation that he knew was home to another piece of the Mahātmā Jade. The islands and continents looked almost like enormous sea turtles floating on the water, their backs covered with living beings, countries, civilizations, and destiny.

There were too many landmasses to count, all of them connected by shipping networks that facilitated various businesses. There were countless experts of all sorts, gods of every type that flew back and forth. And there were countless temples, allowing the faith and destiny of the various lands to surge.

Yang Qi even saw quite a few experts from buddhist schools. There were people from the dao of devils and confucian scholars, although the former were hiding their devilish auras.

CRASH!

A blood-red streak of light descended, which was none other than a peak Perfect God, someone from the dao of devils whose cultivation base was no weaker than that of Grand Eunuch Nie Yinyang. As the person landed on the continent, their aura turned from blood-red to a more mellow reddish color, indicating that they hadn't come for killing, but rather, to do business.

The destiny on this continent burned so hotly that it actually affected the climate.

There were no storms here like there were out over the water. The destiny suppressed the vital energy that could lead to such meteorological phenomena.

The weather in the god world was fickle. Sometimes ice ages would come that could last for a thousand years, followed by heat waves that baked and broiled everything in existence. Sometimes rain would fall for years on end, or storms would batter the lands, leaving nothing behind but wreckage and craters.

Of course, it was worse on the open ocean. If a traveler wasn't careful, they might get caught up in a storm and be ripped to shreds before they could find a safe place to hunker down.

Sometimes, islands would appear overnight. Other times, inhabited lands would vanish in the night, destroyed by tempests of unimaginable ferocity. Such storms couldn't be suppressed by Perfect Gods; only Paramount Gods could possibly deal with them.

But the continent Yang Qi had just arrived at didn't give off any sense that such disasters could occur here. Furthermore, there were no spell formations protecting it. It was its destiny alone that made the climate so safe. It begged the question of just how powerful that destiny must be.

Normally speaking, the climate of the god world was so fierce that it couldn't possibly be affected by mere destiny. Even if the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty's destiny were ten times as powerful as it was, it wouldn't be enough to do something like this.

It would require the destiny to climb high into the sky to affect the weather, and even the light, making it impossible for the dangerous storms to be a problem.

It even cleared the surrounded ocean of demonlings.

Obviously, this was a flourishing location that existed in a golden age of peace and prosperity.

'What kind of a place is this?' Yang Qi wondered. Before landing, he reached out into the void, summoning to himself that very same peak Perfect God who had arrived in the blood-colored light. His action caused no spatial ripples at all, and before anyone could notice what he had done, he was holding the man by the throat.

He didn't waste time trying to interrogate him. Instead, he pierced directly into his mind and soul to find all of the information he sought.

As it turned out, this place was called the Deva Dynasty. It was made up of billions of smaller island nations, all connected together into a larger composite continent.

The Deva Dynasty was a huge place. Among the billions of islands that made it up, there were countless sects, clans, and virtually endless amounts of life underwater. There were even places outside of the actual dynasty itself that offered fealty to it.

The founder and patriarch of this Deva Dynasty was none other than Patriarch Deva!

'Patriarch Deva!? I should've known!'

Yang Qi was shaken. He knew exactly what kind of being Patriarch Deva was. He was the very one who had given a talisman to Dragon Floret of the Dragon Society for the purpose of capturing the purrling. Of course, the purrling easily crushed it and Dragon Floret had subsequently left to find Patriarch Deva, only to be killed by Yang Qi along the way.

Despite the years that had passed, there was no way Yang Qi could forget the name.

How could he have guessed that this person would be so inextricably linked with himself?

Patriarch Deva was no small figure. He had lived in the Sovereign Lord's Age, and continued practicing cultivation through the years until he was a peak Paramount God that even other Paramount Gods feared. And normally speaking, Dragon Floret should have been an ant-like nobody that Patriarch Deva would never have dealt with.

'So the Deva Dynasty was created by Patriarch Deva. I obviously have to be careful here. He must have a reason for having created a place like this. The destiny here is strong enough to change the climate and weather. I wonder what would happen if it were given to the martial-god soldier-kings. What would they become? It would definitely nurture them to completion. And assimilating it would also make it possible to push the destiny of the House of God Ordainment to the highest level imaginable. I could then consume both the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty and Nacrelight Sageland. In any case, there are plenty of resources that I could acquire here to take home. Even that could be considered lucky.'

Yang Qi looked around at the billions of islands that made up the dynasty, and couldn't help but sigh in admiration, and simultaneously start thinking of a way to take this destiny.

It only took a moment to come up with several plans. The most obvious and direct way would be killing Patriarch Deva. But at the moment, he could only accomplish something like that in his dreams. He wasn't King Immortal-Slayer, after all. Another option would be to sneak in and stealthily steal the destiny, which seemed a bit more realistic. The third method would be to mount an invasion. That seemed even less realistic.

'First, I need to track down that piece of the Mahātmā Jade. Then I can figure out my next move.' Once he found that Mahātmā Jade, he could use it to reach the mid Unbounded level, whereupon he could definitely kill Paramount Gods.

After all, each subsection of the Unbounded level—early, mid, late, and peak—involved heaven-shaking, earth-toppling increases in power.

The Eternal-Life God-Dynasty mostly had early Paramount Gods, with only a few mid Paramount God patriarchs. People like that could shake chiliocosms of worlds, suppress destiny, create spectacular treasures, and give orders to mobilize the entire sect.

If Yang Qi reached the mid level, he could definitely overwhelm the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty, vanquish the crown prince, and take the martial-god soldier-kings.

'This fellow from the dao of devils is called Patriarch Bloodcloak. His Bloodcloak God Art involves soaking himself in blood that then turns into a holy garment similar to my God Legion Battle Robe. It makes him impervious to all sorts of weapons, and even natural substances like fire or water. His cultivation base is clearly superior to anyone in the House of God Ordainment.' After rifling through Patriarch Bloodcloak's thoughts, Yang Qi had no intention of simply letting him go.

Clenching his fist, he forced him to shrink down and be surrounded by a spatial crystal. Cleansing his mind, Yang Qi turned him into a thrall that he could use to strengthen his sect.

For a small sect to have a peak Perfect God under their control would ensure that no one could easily invade them.

When rifling through Patriarch Bloodcloak's memories, Yang Qi had found that he was an important person from the dao of devils, someone who had committed unimaginable crimes. For instance, he had repeatedly massacred entire cities, using their blood to enhance his own quintessence.

Considering that Yang Qi couldn't use the Cruiser of Civilization to create Perfect Gods yet, getting some as thralls was his best option now. If he could reach the mid Unbounded level, he would definitely be able to create morphlings at the Perfect God level. At that point, conquering the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty and Nacrelight Sageland would be a matter of course.

WHOOSH!

After sealing Patriarch Bloodcloak, he assumed his appearance and snuck into one of the major cities in the dynasty.

Patriarch Bloodcloak was a well-known figure in the Deva Dynasty, where he did a lot of business. Therefore, his presence wasn't anything to be suspicious of. Normally speaking, when outsiders came to the Deva Dynasty, they were questioned thoroughly before being allowed in. If Yang Qi had shown up as himself, a person with Unbounded will convergence, he would have attracted far too much attention.

As for Patriarch Bloodcloak, he came from a distant island, where he led the Bloodcloak Assembly, a sect of his own creation. He would come to the Deva Dynasty to purchase blood śarīras left behind by buddhist gods, which he would then use to advance his Bloodcloak God Art, all in the hopes of eventually reaching the Unbounded level.

Using the identity of Patriarch Bloodcloak to track down the Mahātmā Jade seemed like the perfect plan.

Looking around, Yang Qi saw numerous buildings and businesses, and countless experts, including Consummate and Perfect Gods. Even the common people were generally stronger than those from the capital city of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

In the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty, Consummate Gods were important people, while Perfect Gods were generally elite leaders like God-King Ruthless and Nie Yinyang.

But here, they were as common as bok choy!

Yang Qi did a quick test to see if he could locate the Mahātmā Jade, and sure enough, he quickly pinpointed its general location.

This was all because his cultivation base was so advanced. Even ordinary Unbounded experts, like Mother Voidwalker, who came here would be devoured by the destiny.