Sage Monarch

Even Yang Qi's ears pricked upon hearing of this Deva Baptism. It involved nine Paramount Gods reaching out into the void, using the most powerful of divine will to initiate a baptism that would both purify the beneficiary and push them to unimaginable heights. It could even lead to breakthroughs. And it was so amazing they charged a hundred perfect caliber godstones for a single session.

Not even the House of God Ordainment could produce a hundred perfect caliber godstones.

Perhaps the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty could, but if they did, their savings would take a devastating hit. As a result, the Deva Baptism was such an incredible luxury that not even the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty's crown prince could consider taking advantage of it.

As for this Proud Void, it was almost unthinkable that he had paid a thousand godstones for the service. That would have completely bankrupted the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

That made it obvious how superior the Proud Clan was to the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

"The Deva Baptism originated in ancient halls of heaven," Ser Temple said, going into even more detail, "among the gods who traveled to offer worship to the Sovereign Lord. The Sovereign Lord would personally officiate the silent and majestic ceremony of those most pious of the gods. You see, even other sects that are as large as our Deva Dynasty, and have nine powerful Paramount Gods who could theoretically perform the baptism, actually can't do it. You have to know the proper ceremonies as well as be able to create both silent and majestic formations. The spell formations themselves take fifty perfect caliber godstones to operate, with the rest being set aside as profit for us. Patriarch Bloodcloak, if you experience this baptism, it's entirely likely that you could reach the Unbounded level of will convergence."

"Is there a hundred percent chance of success in achieving a breakthrough?" Yang Qi asked.

Ser Temple shook his head. "Unfortunately no. How could there be a one hundred percent chance of success in anything? In any case, Patriarch Bloodcloak, if you want to go through with it, I can go into more detail about the benefits. Suffice it to say, the Deva Baptism will definitely be worth it. What do you say? It's completely up to you."

"I do have a hundred perfect caliber godstones. It's a fortune, but it'll be worth it if I can achieve a breakthrough."

He wasn't sure if this Deva Baptism was real or not. But if it was true that someone from the Proud Clan had gone through with it recently, it seemed unlikely to be some sort of trap. In terms of the so-called sterling reputation of the Deva Consortium, Yang Qi didn't trust that at all. Anyone would sacrifice their reputation if there was enough profit on the line.

For example, if word leaked that he had the God Legion Seal, there was no question that hordes of people would do everything in their power to kill him, even sacrificing the greatest reputation to succeed.

That said, this Deva Baptism did seem enticing. If nothing else, it must be superior to Summer Soundfyre's sacrificial technique. Although Yang Qi didn't need it at the moment, if he could redirect the power of the baptism to Jadefall, and maybe do it twenty or thirty times, she might even be able to reach the Unbounded level.

And he could possibly help out others among his friends and family.

Of course, he wasn't ready to do it now. He needed to put more thought into the matter, and do some more business with the Deva Dynasty in preparation for plundering its destiny.

"I'll take some time to think about it later," Yang Qi said. "I'll be back in a month. I hope that when I return, you can give me some good information about the Mahātmā Jade and the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body."

Smiling, Ser Temple said, "That's fine, Patriarch Bloodcloak. Take care. Men, escort him out."

As an honored customer, Yang Qi was escorted out with full ceremony. Once outside, he turned into a blood-colored streak of light and vanished without a trace.

"Viceroy," said A'ling, "this was a very large transaction. When you report that you earned a profit of dozens of perfect caliber godstones, our continent is going to rise in the ranks, and you'll be personally rewarded."

"Patriarch Bloodcloak is a very formidable person from the dao of devils. However, he's not so impressive that he should be throwing around perfect caliber godstones. Where did he get them? It's quite suspicious."

"Should we just take him out, Viceroy? He has a huge amount of wealth. And nobody will notice if we betray him, as long as we're careful about it. If you took his treasure trove, you could use the godstones to partake in a Deva Baptism and possibly reach the Unbounded level."

"Forget about it. That would be too dangerous. The guilty can never escape justice from heaven, and if we were found out, the imperial court would never agree to pardon us. No amount of wealth is worth breaking the rules like that. Even if there was no chance of error, it would still be dangerous. No, let's just send some people to keep an eye on Patriarch Bloodcloak. Let's see what he does going forward. Our superiors are aware of the situation, so if he dies, they'll definitely come to us looking for answers."

"Yes sir." A'ling shivered at the realization that she had said something very inappropriate in front of Ser Temple.

**

Using what he had gleaned from Patriarch Bloodcloak's memories, Yang Qi flew for three days straight. Eventually, he left the continents of the Deva Dynasty and reached a collection of several million islands that seemed to be made from bright red stone. They looked like they had been painted with fresh blood, and the palaces that covered them were the same color. It was obvious that Patriarch Bloodcloak had killed countless demonlings and humans to create these islands.

Blood had special power in it, which was why people from the dao of devils loved to use it for their devil arts.

Upon landing, Yang Qi saw numerous disciples offering him worshipful greetings, all of them Common Gods. It went to show that Patriarch Bloodcloak wasn't very good at running his Bloodcloak Assembly. Actually, that was a common thing in the dao of devils, and a major downside to such sects. Patriarchs in the dao of devils were always out for their own benefit and would never trust their own disciples. And of course, the disciples were ferocious, cunning murderers who would often turn on their superiors as soon as they got strong enough.

Individual experts from the dao of devils were often impressive, but they always had a very difficult time running large organizations.

It was a given that these disciples wouldn't realize Yang Qi was an imposter. Heading to the middle of the island, he started working on a teleportation portal. As he did, he could sense experts watching him, which were definitely agents from the Deva Dynasty. Thankfully, his Life-Death Void-Destruction Lightning ensured that no one would learn his secret.

It took three days to finish the formation, whereupon he inserted some perfect caliber godstones to begin the activation process.

The Deva Dynasty was far, far away from the House of God Ordainment, which would normally make it difficult to establish a teleportation portal. But he could connect to the Cruiser of Civilization, which made the task a bit easier. Even so, the actual act of teleporting was difficult and would take a full seven days.

Seven days might seem like a long time, but not really when considering that a Paramount God would need to fly for three years to go from the Deva Dynasty to the House of God Ordainment. That was one reason why people from the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty or Nacrelight Sageland didn't come here to do business.

With the teleportation portal established, Yang Qi had a way to make huge profits back home.

But that wasn't his goal. Instead, he would send resources back to his people in the Sage Monarch Society, helping to create even more top experts.

RUMBLE!

The teleportation portal activated.

Seven days later, the Cruiser of Civilization flickered with bright light as a huge bundle of resources was sent over. Immediately, Jadefall and the others smiled broadly.

"Such incredible resources!" said Yang Immortal-Slayer. "We could never find any of these things. Where is Yang Qi that he could collect all of these items? Now we can use the Cruiser of Civilization to make new fleshly bodies for all the disciples. And there are rare ores here that we can use to make robotic soldiers, battleships, mechas, and the like."

**

Meanwhile, in the Harvestland, Eternal Millennium's eyes snapped open, and he looked over in the direction of the House of God Ordainment.

"What? The House of God Ordainment's destiny just increased by thirty percent!" Smiling, he continued, "The Sage Monarch Society is doing marvelously. Before long, their destiny will rival that of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. Sadly, all of it will go to me."

**

After sending the shipment of goods, Yang Qi waited until it was time to go back and meet Ser Temple.

"Viceroy," he said, "I've made my decision. I want to go through with the Deva Baptism. And I also want to buy some more goods!"

With that, he held out another list.