Sage Monarch

After conquering the Crystalline Turtle Shell Kingdom, Yang Qi reached a destiny valuation of one. To him, destiny was a key that could be used to unlock the various 'treasure chests' he owned.

He had many such 'treasure chests', including the Everlit Godlamp, God Legion Seal, and Mahātmā Jade, all of which contained boundless might, but weren't possible to fully tap into without enough destiny.

As a result, as soon as he conquered the Crystalline Turtle Shell Kingdom, the Everlit Godlamp became like his own flesh and blood, and his Great Necropolis form crushed Marquis Three Realms with such force that the man couldn't move. At the same time, the God Legion Seal bored into his mind.

Now Marquis Three Realms was under his control. And of course, there was also Chiliocosm Hegemon and the other experts from the Chiliocosm Dynasty, all of whom now realized that he was the bearer of the God Legion Seal.

'Unfortunately,' Yang Qi thought, 'although I subjugated them, I don't have their destiny. It's tied too closely to the Chiliocosm Dynasty and there's no way for me to take it forcibly.'

It was similar to how, in the impure lands, it wasn't possible to just kill a government official and take over their position. On the contrary, killing that government official would only make one the target of a deadly manhunt.

In fact, not only did Yang Qi not get any destiny after subjugating Marquis Three Realms and the others, but the destiny of the Chiliocosm Dynasty actually fought back against him. Thankfully, that fight was easily negated.

Going forward, though, things would be much easier. With these people working for him, he could get into the Chiliocosm Dynasty much more easily. And Marquis Three Realms would be able to send resources to him in secret.

"You're... you're the bearer of the God Legion Seal? That's what's controlling us? We're now like the ancient legion of gods, who were always under the control of the Sovereign Lord?" All of them had ashen expressions as they realized the unchangeable situation they were in.

"This matter is concluded. Sadly, you lot, especially you, Chiliocosm Hegemon, are going to have to sacrifice yourself so we can put the blame of Dugu Nimou, and get the position of viceroy. Marquis Three Realms, you go back and start fomenting war between the Chiliocosm Dynasty and the House of the Invincible. You also need to send me as many resources as possible, including whatever destiny you can give."

Yang Qi knew that all of these people had slush funds full of resources, like the Crystalline Turtle Shell Kingdom, and that with such destiny, which would be greater than the Deva Dynasty, he could accomplish a lot.

Destiny was everything now.

With the destiny systems of the Cruiser of Civilization to assess it, Yang Qi now knew that, with the addition of the Crystalline Turtle Shell Kingdom, his own destiny valuation was one. As for the House of the Invincible, what was its valuation? Tens of thousands? Millions? Tens of millions? Perhaps even a hundred million?

They had been building it up for billions of years, and could use it to directly ordain gods. It was truly terrifying.

Regardless of the actual number, it was certain that Yang Qi's destiny didn't compare to it at all. He just couldn't have done so in the amount of time he had lived. Destiny and cultivation base were different. One could only advance their cultivation base by breaking through countless difficult bottlenecks. But once they started accumulating destiny, there would be no limits to its growth.

In the impure lands, many royal dynasties were so plagued by corruption that they would collapse. Eventually, a dynasty would reach a point where there was no territory left to expand into, whereupon competing internal factions would ultimately grow too powerful, and everything would fall apart. But the god world was different. There was no limit to the expansion that was possible there. What was more, teleportation portals made immensely large territories possible to navigate.

Back when Yang Qi joined the House of God Ordainment, he had thought it was a large place, until he reached the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

But then he had seen the Deva Dynasty, and realized that a minor magician pales into insignificance in the presence of a great one. And it wasn't until he learned of the Invincible Dynasty that he knew what a truly paragonic organization was like in the god world.

How could he possibly compete with an organization like that, which had been accumulating destiny for billions of years? Right now, his only hope of getting anything like that was infiltrating the place and taking the destiny for his own.

Now that he had people like Marquis Three Realms under control, he could just take from their personal stores. As for Dugu Hong, he would be tasked with taking Dugu Nimou and Chiliocosm Hegemon back for trial.

They couldn't just execute them without risking a strong negative reaction from higher-ups in the sect. They needed to do things by the book for now, and back them up with some bribes with the heaven caliber godstones Yang Qi had given to Dugu Hong for that purpose.

Yang Qi remained behind, directing the sage monarch magistrates in a campaign to conquer more territory in this area and grow his destiny. He also needed to do more research into the profundities of destiny.

For now, he was confident that his enlightenment of daoist techniques was sufficient.

He had fully mastered pill concocting, energy arts, the dao of heaven, and magical laws. But he still didn't understand everything there was to know about destiny.

Before, he had been able to effectively use destiny, but there were many unimaginable aspects that he couldn't utilize. But after seeing how the House of the Invincible worked, he realized that destiny was much more useful than he had ever imagined.

The higher-ups in the sect could take a random chief of police with a nonexistent cultivation base, and directly push them all the way to the peak Consummate God level.

He even suspected that a Quasi-God that was appointed as a viceroy could be made a Paramount God. Of course, it would be a huge waste of destiny.

The Invincible Dynasty wouldn't actually do something like that. According to the ironclad laws of the sect, viceroys had to have a late Paramount God cultivation base before being appointed.

What techniques would be involved in pushing a Quasi-God all the way to the Paramount God level? It was something Yang Qi couldn't possibly do. Rather, it was something one would expect only the old Sovereign Lord to have been capable of.

In the depths of the Cruiser of Civilization, Yang Qi looked out at his immense kingdom, with the sage monarch magistrates there to run things impartially.

They didn't need any of the destiny, which was a very important point.

Normally speaking, government officials would need to tap into the destiny to exercise authority. In other words, the more government officials there were, the more damage it would do to the national destiny.

If there was one thing that could herald doom for any dynasty, it was a proliferation of government officials. It was different with Yang Qi. His government officials were the sage monarch magistrates, and they didn't require even a drop of destiny. It was a mysterious thing. Even demons made of wood who became government officials would still need destiny.

Not even ancient angels were an exception to that.

But with Yang Qi, his government officials were willing to sacrifice selflessly, leading to flourishing growth. Furthermore, because his kingdom was inside the Cruiser of Civilization, it made things even more efficient. The cruiser could produce all sorts of goods as long as there was enough power to keep it running. And that, in turn, fueled further growth.

Looking out, Yang Qi saw the destiny pulsing out. Some of it was chaotic, but he quickly exercised control and cleared it up. In most large empires, there would be plenty of infighting. But in the Cruiser of Civilization, the photonic computers could scan everything, and ensure that the guilty could never escape justice from heaven. No one could escape karma here.

Anyone who tried to plot against an enemy would face the full wrath of the law.

With justice enforced so strictly, no one dared to act unlawfully. The destiny of his dynasty was growing stronger constantly.

All of a sudden, a new thought popped into his head. 'Now I understand the ranking of destiny. At first, destiny like that of the House of God Ordainment will only stir the psyche. But destiny such as that from the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty is different. It can affect the cultivation base, and lead to progress. As for the destiny of the Deva Dynasty, it can interfere with meteorological or astronomical phenomena, and even corporeal objects. The destiny of the House of the Invincible can be used to directly ordain gods, yet it isn't strong enough to affect karma. But when the destiny is so strong that someone who breaks the law will be instantly punished by karma, that's an even higher level. Unfortunately, although my kingdom is reaching that point, the power of the Cruiser of Civilization isn't enough to push it all the way.'