Sage Monarch

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Yang Qi was in a truly dangerous situation.

He had failed to subjugate the three experts from the Dragonfolk and turn them into agents. They had resorted to self-detonation rather than be subjected to subjugation. Word would spread eventually, and it would lead to big complications. The Dragonfolk would definitely come after him in full force, so for the time being, the best option was to gather his valuables and flee.

The Second Devil General chose that moment to ply him with temptation.

If the two of them shared their life force and bodies, Yang Qi would instantly become vastly stronger. Even the Dragonfolk patriarchs would fall to him in combat, as they definitely weren't a match for the Second Devil General. Even years ago, the most elite dragon experts, their most brutal killers, couldn't have done anything to the general. However, there were too many downsides.

"Stow it, Second Devil General," Yang Qi. "Your temptations won't work on me. I can handle this situation with the Cruiser of Civilization; it has more than enough room to take everything away with me. Besides, my sage monarch magistrates have cultivated a divine ability that pushed them into the Unbounded level. Given some time, not even the top Dragonfolk experts will pose a threat to me."

"You might be strong," the Second Devil General replied, "but the Dragonfolk have a lot of amazing resources. In the ancient war that led to the God Legion Tribulation, the dragons managed to avoid the bulk of the destruction. So I'm very curious to see how you plan to evade their wrath. When the critical moment comes, I think that instead of helping you, I'm just going to sit back and watch you struggle. Then, when you truly need me, I'll just devour you and revel in your pleas for mercy. So think this through well. If you wait too long, regret won't do you any good." Having finished his threats, the Second Devil General remained silent for a moment. When he realized that Yang Qi wasn't saying anything in response, he added, "I'll be waiting, boy. Just call out to me at any time."

Yang Qi snorted coldly. "My sage monarch magistrates already have Unbounded will convergence. And my cultivation base has made progress as well. I'll be breaking into the late Paramount God level any time now. Once I'm there, the transformations of the God Legion Seal will make it even easier for me to deal with the Everlit Godlamp. Once I assimilate it, your doomsday will have arrived, Second Devil General. I'll use my Sagely Sacrifice to give you to King Immortal-Slayer. Besides, the more danger I face, and the more pressure I'm under, the better progress my cultivation base makes."

Yang Qi was telling the truth. Once he was a late Paramount God, and the God Legion Seal transformed, he would be in a very different position. And when he took the flesh and blood that was the Everlit Godlamp, and used it to acquire the corporeal husk of the Lord of Radiance and Light, just how strong would he be? It was hard to say. But his cultivation base would definitely reach a peak level.

"What do you want us to do going forward, Young Sir?" Patriarch Deva asked.

"Are we going to subjugate Buddhist Lord Sumeru?" asked Buddha First-King.

"How could I not subjugate him? But I'll be doing it alone. You two gather all of the elites from your respective organizations and tell them a major event has occurred. Clear out all the valuables you have in storage. Understand? Fortify the defenses and raze the fields. Mobilize everything you can and relocate as much of your populace as possible. I'll notify my people of the situation and have them bring the Cruiser of Civilization here to start loading it up. The faster the better."

Yang Qi had big plans underway.

"Right, of course. We'll get to work immediately. Right away."

Yang Qi then sent a message to Jadefall and the others, with an update about the Dragonfolk and instructions to bring the Cruiser of Civilization.

Although they had control of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty, there were other groups to conquer, including the League of Academies, League of Wretch-Gods, and Nacrelight Sageland. As for the League of the Devil-Dao, it was almost at the point of being under control.

However, expanding to conquer other groups wouldn't do any good right now. As such, Yang Qi gave orders to temporarily stop the work in the Nacrelight Sageland. After all, the Nacrelight Sageland had the Destined Marriage God Temple, which had been created by a Fateless One. And the power of the High Priestess was still strong there, which meant it was entirely likely that overt action would provoke a deadly response.

The League of Academies was also a unique situation. They followed the dao of righteousness, not the dao of devils; therefore, Yang Qi didn't want to use excessive violence to deal with them.

He watched Patriarch Deva and Buddha First-King leave, then nodded to himself as he turned and headed in the direction of the Sumeru Temple.

Of course, he already had some of their monks under his control, so he knew exactly where their headquarters was. And considering his recent gains and advancements, subjugating them wouldn't be a big problem.

Using his Tribulation Wings and Myriad Worlds Greater Teleportation, he easily pierced through space with a speed that surpassed anything that Paramount Gods were capable of. Soon, he reached a continent filled with golden clouds and rippling buddha power. It was a paradise filled with temples and buddhist statues. It also contained innumerable countries and civilizations, all of them flourishing buddhist states, from the commoners to the rulers.

As Yang Qi approached, he sensed the immense faith at work, and saw how it could transform space, land, and even the meteorological phenomena. Everything seemed to glow with golden light.

'That's an incredible convergence of faith.' Glancing around, he saw that the numerous countries all had temples that were connected to each other with teleportation portals. Although it wasn't as expansive as the Deva Dynasty, it was tightly connected in a way that made it a very difficult place to invade. There would be no wretch-devils sneaking into this place to cause trouble.

As for the Deva Dynasty, it was extremely powerful, and although wretch-devils wouldn't outright invade, they would definitely infiltrate it.

But there was no way any wretch energy could enter a place as pure as this.

'Very impressive,' Yang Qi thought, nodding. After reaching out and making connections to the various pawns he had put in place here, he turned his attention to a temple hovering high above everything else in the golden clouds. It almost looked like a mirage, and it was none other than the headquarters of the Sumeru Temple.

It took the faith of trillions of citizens to create a power strong enough to levitate that temple headquarters high into the sky.

Yang Qi quickly summoned some vital energy from the Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic, which was a consummate technique from the buddhist schools. As a result, he felt no force of expulsion pushing against him. Instead, he felt right at home as he flew toward the headquarters.

The headquarters was huge, and was made up of countless magical treasures. There were buddhist masters working on their cultivation inside, including old-timers who were roughly on the same level as Patriarch Deva.

These experts had no way to evade Yang Qi's detection. As late Paramount Gods, they burned in his sight as surely as signal fires.

'Hm? There are actually two of them?'

Yang Qi's sharp senses easily detected the fact that there were two specific auras. One of them belonged to Buddhist Lord Sumeru; he glowed with buddhist light, and seemed tranquil, as though he could entice anyone to be purified. The other aura was twisted, distorted, mysterious, and impermanent. It was coiled like a snake, and hidden in a way that made it almost impossible to detect. However, it pulsed with power that either met or exceeded that of Buddhist Lord Sumeru.

Not daring to do anything that would attract too much attention, Yang Qi carefully entered the temple complex.

Eventually, he caught sight of two people seated cross-legged in the temple hall. One was an old, emaciated monk whose skin flickered with faint, golden light. Sitting opposite him was a tall, arrogant-looking man with a profound and mysterious aura. At a glance, Yang Qi could tell that he was one of the Spritefolk. After all, he had become very familiar with their aura during his spritefruit heist.

Furthermore, his aunt, Yang Susu, was one of the Spritefolk. Over the years that had passed, he had been focused fully on his cultivation, and his efforts to get stronger. So he had never gone to the Spritefolk to search for his Aunt Susu. However, he was confident that she was among them in the god world.

Unfortunately, the Spritefolk had many subsidiary branches, and searching through all of them wouldn't be an easy task.

'This man's psychic scale and godhood rating are at three hundred million! Even if I got the jump on him, I wouldn't be able to beat him. I have to be very careful here.'

"Buddhist Lord Sumeru, I came here today as a representative of the royal branch of the Spritefolk. I'd like to invite you to the wedding of one of our princesses to one of the elite young ones of the Dugu Clan's House of the Invincible. His name is Dugu Yunkong. Although your Sumeru Temple isn't particularly impressive, you were an apprentice of the ancient Buddhist King Clearsky, and you've carried on his core teachings and doctrines. Therefore, I've come to give you this formal invitation card. Will you accept?"

1. The spritefruit heist happened in .