Sage Monarch

Yang Qi was very excited to be in the Cloud Palace.

He was absolutely certain Sprite Susu was Yang Susu, and he was very curious to find out how she managed to ascend to the god world. Had she encountered some sort of good fortune in the immortal worlds? That didn't seem likely. So had she been taken to the god world by Proud Heaven? But if she had, how did she slip free from his control and get the Spritely Sage Grail?

There were too many unanswered questions for Yang Qi to piece together a theory. He wasn't worried about this being a trap. He had always been a fan of the saying when soldiers come, send a general to stop them; when floodwaters come, use earth to block them.

'I need to lock on to the aura of the Spritely Sage Grail.'

The Cloud Palace was huge, and all of the handmaidens were Spritefolk women. There were some experts present, but they were all irrelevant, so Yang Qi wasn't interested in subjugating them. Instead, he focused on locating the aura of the Spritely Sage Grail, which was the most powerful item the Spritefolk possessed.

Supposedly, it had existed back in the days of the preheaven primal-chaos, and it was what had given birth to the Spritefolk. Furthermore, it possessed a preheaven will of its own, making it vastly superior to ordinary preheaven treasures. In other words, it was similar to the Dragon Compendium and the Myriad Dragons Lair.

Sprite Susu being fused with the Spritely Sage Grail was like Yang Qi being fused with the Myriad Dragons Lair, and he took that to be a sign that she was trying to unify the destiny of the Spritefolk.

After all, every faction within the Spritefolk would offer yearly sacrifices to the Spritely Sage Grail. And it was certain that Sprite Susu possessing the grail meant that she was constantly improving her cultivation base.

Yang Qi was very curious to see what the situation was all about.

WHOOSH!

Eventually, he reached a delicately decorated bedchamber deep in the palace. There was no one present; apparently, Sprite Susu liked things quiet.

Eyes flashing, Yang Qi looked inside and saw a young woman dressed in violet garments. If it wasn't Yang Susu, then who could it be?

Swish!

He entered, and was now standing behind the woman.

She could sense that someone had entered, as she said, "We're not married yet, Dugu Yunkong. So why exactly are you sneaking around in my palace? This is against the rules, and if the leaders found out, you'll be punished."

"I'm not that piece of trash Dugu Yunkong. I trust you've been well since we last met, Aunt Susu. After we parted ways in the Demi-Immortal Institute, we never saw each other again. You disappeared like a wisp of smoke. Now here we are together in the god world. It's almost as if this was foreordained. As if nothing could have stopped this from happening."

When the woman in violet heard his words, she spun around. Visibly trembling, she said, "Y-y-you... Yang Qi?! Am I dreaming or something?"

Yang Qi didn't look at all like he had in the past, having experienced far too many transformations. But at this point, physical appearance wasn't very important. What mattered was the mind, spirit, soul, and substructure. Yang Susu looked very different physically. However, in terms of her life force, thoughts, and substructure, she was the same person.

He sighed. "That's right, Aunt Susu. It's me. It's a strange thing for us to be meeting here. I can calculate the workings of heaven and manipulate the cosmos. I can even create god kingdoms. But I couldn't ever have calculated that we would meet like this."

"Yang Qi... you...." She seemed to be so excited she was at a loss for words. Then she made as if to lean forward and hug him, only to suddenly hold back. "Yang Qi, this is a very dangerous place. How'd you get into the House of the Invincible with a cultivation base like that?"

Yang Susu had advanced her cultivation, so the first thing she thought about was the matter of safety. Consummate experts had to get rid of their normal emotions to be able to maintain a cool and collected demeanor.

"Don't worry. The cultivation base I'm revealing is fake. I'm actually on the very verge of stepping halfway into the Annulled level. Few people in the god world could be a threat to me." He took a step forward and embraced her, allowing him to sense her aura and soul even more deeply.

She trembled as she hugged him back. "How did you get your cultivation base that high, Yang Qi? What's going on here?"

"It's a long story, Aunt Susu. So, your psychic scale and godhood rating are beyond nine billion. It won't take much to reach ten billion, except it seems your stuck in a bottleneck." Looking more closely, Yang Qi saw that Yang Susu pulsed with destiny. Inside her was the Sage Grail, which continuously absorbed the destiny sacrificed by the Spritefolk. Although it was somewhat weak, it was still impressive.

However, she hadn't yet fully fused with it. In other words, most of the destiny went to the Sage Grail, instead of Yang Susu.

'The Spritely Sage Grail actually resembles a tree,' he thought. Even more surprising, that tree had spritefruit on it. He remembered from his encounter years ago that the Spritefolk actually lived in enormous trees.

Waving his hand, he quickly created a replica of the Spritely Sage Grail, which he sent into Yang Susu. At the same time, he said, "I call upon the power of my name to appoint Yang Susu as the senior princess of the Sage Monarch Empire."

RUMBLE!

He spoke with a golden mouth and jade words, instantly causing a stream of destiny to pierce into her. She trembled, and the Sage Grail inside of her merged with her life force and genes. In that moment, she became the Sage Grail, and the Sage Grail became her.

She was now the Holy Mother of all the Spritefolk.

At the same time, her psychic scale and godhood rating burst into the level of ten billion, making her like the God-Lords of old.

"I can't believe you founded an empire like that, Yang Qi!"

"I recently took over the Myriad Dragons Lair and used it as the foundation of my empire. It's not quite complete, though. When I heard the news about your wedding, I had to come here and help you take over as the leader of the Spritefolk. I want the Spritefolk as part of my Sage Monarch Empire. It'll make me the fourth great dynasty here. Eventually, I'll take over the other three and control the entire god world."

"Amazing," she said excitedly. "You're completely amazing. I can definitely help you, now that I've fused with the Sage Grail and achieved a breakthrough. However, there's something else you need to help me with."

"Is it Dugu Yunkong? All I have to do is subjugate him to take care of the situation. Unfortunately, his cultivation base is very impressive. And I don't think I can overcome him while inside the House of the Invincible. It needs to happen outside."

"There's no rush. Now that I've achieved this breakthrough, I'll have a much higher position among the Spritefolk. Yang Qi, what happened after we parted so long ago? I'm dying to hear."

"Alright." They sat down on the bed and started chatting, and it was the most natural conversation possible. He recounted everything about the Demi-Immortal Institute, killing the Crown Prince, unifying the Rich-Lush Continent, going to the Hanging Mountain, joining the Titan Emperor Collegium, ascending to the immortal worlds, reaching the Titan Emperor Heaven, the invasion of the future world, the formation of the Dao Defense League, the appearance of the Great Necropolis, his conquering of the impure lands, ascending to the god world, entering the House of God Ordainment, and all the other things that had led to the current point.

His story already sounded like the stuff of legend, and Yang Susu couldn't help but be excited and impressed.

He could have used divine will to simply impart the information to her, but talking seemed like a better choice. And it had been a long time since he'd just enjoyed a good conversation. It was a nice break from all of the conquering and killing he usually did. And it actually led to some further enlightenment regarding the Annulled level.

Their conversation lasted all day and then through the night.

When he finished, he said, "Now, Aunt Susu, I'm curious how you got to the god world."

"It's not that complicated. A powerful force pulled me up into the immortal worlds, and once I got there, I realized it was Proud Heaven. He wanted to use me to get at your God Legion Seal. However, in the process of trying to imprison me, he provoked a reaction from a sealing mark inside me. It caused a brilliant shaft of light to shoot down from the god world, grab me, and pull me up. Once I was here, I found myself inside the Spritely Sage Grail, which was where I continued my cultivation for a number of years. When I finally got out, I was among the Spritefolk, who named me a holy daughter with the divine right to accept the power of sacrifice."

Although it was a fairly simple story, Yang Qi picked up on some important aspects.

"It seems you're a fated individual among the Spritefolk, Aunt Susu. Unfortunately, while you have the divine authority of sacrifice, you don't have official royal authority, so you haven't been able to unify your people."

Yang Susu was a princess and holy daughter. She had been given the ability to tap into the sacrifices of her people using the Sage Grail; however, what she had access to was minimal at best.