Sage Monarch

"Do you want me to keep a close eye on Patriarch Bloodcloak?" Ser Temple said.

"There's no need," replied Matriarch Yin Xiu. "As long as he has that piece of the Mahātmā Jade, we can track him down wherever he is. We don't want to do anything to tarnish the reputation of the Deva Consortium, so we can't kill him ourselves. But if some other Paramount God from the dao of devils does the deed, it won't have anything to do with us. It's too bad this Patriarch Bloodcloak doesn't understand how to keep a low profile. Buying something like that so flagrantly will only attract attention. It won't be long before some Paramount God comes along to take that jade and the sutra of the Second Devil General."

"I remember hearing that, of the top subordinates of the True Devil, the Second Devil General was known as the best fighter, while the First Devil General was adept at manipulating the workings of heaven and was considered a mahātmā who could produce clouds with one turn of the hand and rain with another. I just hope our surveillance will reveal some of the secrets of that Mahātmā Jade."

"We shouldn't get our hopes up. Even the True Devil himself, the creator of the Mahātmā Jade, never actually understood the totality of its secrets. If he did, he would have broken through to the Annulled level and defeated the Sovereign Lord.

"In any case, the matter is now out of your hands, and will be overseen by the Paramount Gods of the dynasty. There's no need for a viceroy like you to ask further questions about it. And don't send people to Bloodcloak Island to gather information. Patriarch Bloodcloak is an Unbounded expert now, which means you can't deal with him. On the upside, we've profited handsomely, thanks to doing business with him. You'll definitely come out on top in the viceroy rankings this year, which means you'll soon be promoted to head of the secretariat."

"Wonderful!" Ser Temple said. The head of the secretariat was a very lucrative and cushy position, as every year, the viceroys were required to offer tribute. The head of the secretariat also exercised authority over all of the viceroys in general. Ser Temple was going to be very well rewarded for his services.

Ser Temple left, leaving Matriarch Yin Xiu alone. 'This Patriarch Bloodcloak seems to be similar to that young sir from the Proud Clan,' she thought, 'who purchased ten Deva Baptisms then reached the Unbounded level. Somehow, they both managed to slough off the hidden elements that Patriarch Deva himself placed into the baptism. The Proud Clan has immense reserve powers, so that's little wonder. But how did Patriarch Bloodcloak do it?

'The Mahātmā Jade was sealed with the aura of eighteen Paramount Gods from the dao of devils, as well as Patriarch Deva's personal sealing mark. Nobody can unravel that. Let's see how strong this Second Devil General's energy is. Patriarch Deva is a late Paramount God, which means that with one more breakthrough, he'll be like the Lord of Civilization, the Lord of Radiance and Light, and the other God-Lords of the distant past."

Of course, Patriarch Deva, the founder of the Deva Dynasty, was a late Paramount God.

In the modern god world, everyone knew that there were early, mid, late, and peak Paramount Gods. However, the vast majority of Paramount Gods were in the early level. Mid Paramount Gods were as hard to find as phoenix feathers or qilin horns. Those in the late level were potentates among potentates, and those in the peak level were so rare as to be unheard of.

The primary ministers and subordinates of the Sovereign Lord had been peak Paramount Gods, in other words, God-Lords such as the Lord of Civilization, the Lord of the Sword Dao, and the Lord of Radiance and Light. Those who existed at a higher level than the God-Lords were people like King Heaven-Devourer, the Sovereign Lord, the King of Godmammoths, King Immortal-Slayer, the True Devil, Wretch God Ultimate, and the Demon Master.

**

Meanwhile, back on Bloodcloak Island, Yang Qi was holding the piece of the Mahātmā Jade and carefully unleashing the Life-Death Void-Destruction God-Lightning. He knew that there were experts spying on him through the warding magics, and therefore, he had set up a spell formation to obscure their view and pierce through to the truth of things.

'I still can't believe I was able to just buy this thing. I thought it would require some major heist to get it. Instead, they just handed it over me. The only downside is that it's been tightly sealed. The road to happiness is always strewn with setbacks.' He shook his head. He knew it was going to take some effort to undo this sealing. Thankfully, he had a lot of power at his disposal.

And if he succeeded, he could assimilate the jade, whereupon he could vanquish any Paramount Gods who caused a problem for him, even if they teamed up against him.

He could also turn the crown prince into a mere puppet.

There were other pieces of the jade out there, and he could sense them resonating with the pieces inside of him. As a result, he could sense the ultimate majesty of the Supreme True-Devil, and the glory of the countless sages and mahātmās of the dao of devils.

The true meaning of 'devil' was slowly forming in his heart.

'There's no need to rush the situation. For now, I'll worry about sending these resources back to the House of God Ordainment to improve its destiny!' Keeping a bit of attention focused on the jade, he concentrated mostly on sending the ten thousand perfect caliber godstones' worth of items back to the House of God Ordainment. That was more resources than even the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty had, and it begged the question of what exactly it would do to the sect's aura.

Creak. Crunch.

The teleportation portal activated, and he sent the items inside.

At the same time, he waved his hand and caused numerous altars on Bloodcloak Island to flare to life. Blood-colored flags waved, tens of thousands of them, all of which were special items from the dao of devils.

Devil energy surged, creating a bright red canopy that covered the island like a cocoon, making it seem like he was in the middle of cultivating some special divine ability.

Of course, the truth was that he was taking the Mahātmā Jade far away from Bloodcloak Island, to a location deep beneath the surface of the ocean. There, in the unimaginable depths, the currents were as violent as spatial tempests, and the sea beasts were as powerful as Consummate Gods.

The seafloor was a place of extreme danger and violence, where the law of the jungle prevailed in every sense imaginable. However, Yang Qi managed to find an ocean trench that was the perfect place to hide his aura and set up a god kingdom.

"God Legion Paradise...."

It had been a very long time since he'd used the consummate energy art that was the God Legion Paradise. Back in the impure lands, when he was in the mere sixth transformation of the Legendary level, he used it to vanquish the Crown Prince, who was a Great Sage. Now, he had Unbounded will convergence, and was using it to carve out a pure land at the bottom of the ocean.

That pure land was filled with god trees of wisdom, valor, fate, the dao of heaven, and entire worlds. One god tree after another propped up that pure land. Beneath them, Yang Qi could defend against the most vicious of blows.

Not even seven or eight early Paramount Gods would have been able to pierce into it.

Next, Yang Qi waved his hand and summoned a string of text that represented the essence of the dao of devils, which caused an enormous cannon to appear within the pure land. It was the most powerful offensive force from the Unspoiled Body, the Grand Tribulation Cannon. Once unleashed, it would cause its victims to be damned by myriad tribulations!

One main feature of the cannon was that the more time it had to power up, the more devastating the attack that would be unleashed. After all, the True Devil had used it in hell to attack the halls of heaven, and it actually damaged them. Normally speaking, Yang Qi didn't use this cannon when fighting, as it didn't do much good to fire it in the heat of the moment.

But now, he was integrating it into the God Legion Paradise, and giving it plenty of time to power up. If he did unleash its might, it would be completely devastating.

Yang Qi continued drawing on the God Legion Seal, causing power to flow into the cannon and making it more solid and sturdy than ever.

Seven days later, as the cannon was still powering up, Yang Qi aimed it at Bloodcloak Island! Who could possibly guess what he was planning to do?

Creaking and crunching sounds could be heard as the teleportation portal he had set up vanished, then reappeared in his God Legion Paradise. Remaining in its place was a projection of Patriarch Bloodcloak, pulsing with an aura that smacked of immense treasure and resources.

Yang Qi knew full well that there would be experts keeping an eye on him, just waiting to pounce. So he was setting a trap for the first expert that chose to invade Bloodcloak Island. Once the cannon was fired, it would devastate just about any target.

After all, he had been powering it up for seven days straight! There was no way that, in an ordinary fight, any enemy would sit around for seven days waiting for a weapon to be powered up to use against them.

Two more days passed, and the devil energy on Bloodcloak Island seemed to grow stronger.

All of a sudden, a foul wind sprang up over the ocean, kicking up huge waves. Everything trembled as a vortex appeared, through which flowed the boundless aura of a Paramount God.

Someone had come to kill Patriarch Bloodcloak and steal his treasure!