Sage Monarch

In quite a few circles, Yang Qi's defeat of Qiao Yihang from the True Dragon Institute caused a major commotion.

Qiao Yihang was a relatively famous person, and was widely regarded to be a genius. He had benefited from marvelous good fortune in his life, and eventually had entered the mysterious Myriad Dragon Cistern of the True Dragon Institute. Instead of dying inside, which was the usual outcome, he acquired the blessing of Myriad Dragons Divine Blood. From then on, his energy arts had advanced rapidly, and his true energy had quickly surpassed that of ordinary individuals.

Although he had just entered the Lifeseizing level, he had already defeated several conclave students in combat.

He was definitely a rising star.

The True Dragon Institute had put a lot of hope in him, and yet, he was defeated in the second round. And not just defeated. Completely and utterly decimated. One sword strike destroyed his identity medallion, and if Yang Qi hadn't shown mercy, he would have been killed.

"What? Qiao Yihang lost?"

To the Legendary elders on the observation deck, it was a huge shock. And that was especially true when it came to the various elders from the True Dragon Institute. Looks of complete disbelief covered their faces.

"What happened?" one of the Demi-Immortal Institute elders asked quietly. Neither he nor any of the other elders were quite sure what was going on. After demanding explanations, reports came in. "An elite student named Yang Qi easily defeated Qiao Yihang. This stone contains a recording of the event."

Soon, the elders from the Demi-Immortal Institute were able to personally watch the scene in which Qiao Yihang lost.

Yang Qi calmly unleashed his sword stroke, and destroyed Qiao Yihang's identity medallion before he could even react. The casual nature of the victory left the elders shocked.

'I can't believe it's that brat.' The Patriarchs Wind and Cloud were particularly taken aback. It hadn't been long since Holy Daughter Manyflowers brought Yang Qi to them in the hopes that they would take him as an apprentice. Instead, they had defied her by accepting Yun Hailan instead.

Of course, Holy Daughter Manyflowers was also present in the group. Chuckling, she said, "What, pray tell, are you thinking, Patriarchs Wind and Cloud? Could it be that you realize you made a mistake? I offered him to you as an apprentice, and not only did you ignore my advice, you also insulted me. Now that Yang Qi is basking in glory, are you having second thoughts?"

The derision in her eyes couldn't have been clearer. Now that she was a Legendary, she was on equal footing with Patriarchs Wind and Cloud. Back when they outranked her, she might not have spoken so sharply, but right now, she was simply too pleased with Yang Qi's performance.

After all, he was already earning her some face.

Patriarch Wind snorted. "So what. Presumably you infused him with your Moonset Hyperlunar Sword, right? Now his sword technique is a combination of that and the Cosmic Sunflare Sword. By the way, that apprentice of yours got lucky. After activating her Seven Apertures Sprite Body, she was taken in by the chancellor, and thus won't participate in the competition. If she did, then our apprentice Yun Hailan would definitely mop the floor with her."

Holy Daughter Manyflowers chuckled coldly. "All I did was teach Yang Qi the Moonset Hyperlunar Sword technique. I didn't infuse him with anything. He encountered good fortune of his own, the Ice-Soul God-Sword left behind by Guru Ice-Soul."

"What? The Ice-Soul God-Sword?" Patriarchs Wind and Cloud looked more closely, and sure enough, saw a faint blue figure within Yang Qi's animadestiny true energy. However, the figure disappeared after he finished his blow, making it impossible to see its true form.

"I can't believe he cultivated the Ice-Soul God-Sword to that level," Patriarch Cloud said. "He fused it with his own internal sword energy? He became one with the Ice-Soul God-Sword? Should have known the brat would do something like this. How dare he hide his true strength all this time and refuse to help our institute!"

"What was that? Our institute has a new genius, and you're not happy? Could it be that you're jealous? Could it be you wish you'd accepted him as an apprentice?" Holy Daughter Manyflowers simply couldn't hold back from rubbing salt into the wounds of Patriarchs Wind and Cloud. How could she not after the vicious things they'd said in their previous meeting?

At this point, another of the elders from the Demi-Immortal Institute spoke up. "He's still nothing. So what if he won because of a divine sword? There are plenty of hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the competition. He might think he'll sweep the competition with a single magical treasure, but in the end, someone will come along and cut him down to size."

This old man wore a jade-colored robe, and was one of the Three Pure Yang Elders, Master Jade-Yang.

Holy Daughter Manyflowers' eyes flashed. After all, Master Jade-Yang's nephew was a conclave student and a member of the Crown Prince Society. He was a powerful Nonary Lifeseizer, roughly as prestigious as Xie Feng.

Obviously, Master Jade-Yang was on good terms with both the Crown Prince and Patriarchs Wind and Cloud, and thus, was coming to their aid.

"So, Master Jade-Yang, you think that Yang Qi will meet defeat?" Holy Daughter Manyflowers asked.

"Of course," he replied. "He might last for another ten rounds or so, but once he starts facing conclave students, he'll definitely end up losing."

"Oh? Well, if that's what you think, why don't we have a little wager? I bet that Yang Qi will end up in the top three!" Holy Daughter Manyflowers' words caused a small-scale uproar among the surrounding elders.

Snorting disdainfully, Patriarch Wind said, "What? Are you addled in the brain, Holy Daughter Manyflowers? The four institutes are filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. Experts emerge constantly, and in fact, there are several Nonary Lifeseizers who are right on the verge of becoming Legendaries. People like that could probably hold their own against full Legendaries. You think that because Yang Qi got his hands on some Ice-Soul God-Sword, he could trounce people like that? What a joke!"

Master Jade-Yang shook his head, and the other elders also began to rebuke Holy Daughter Manyflowers.

"He's nothing but a paltry elite student. Maybe he's hiding some of his true strength, but he's still a nobody. How dare you compare him to the cream of the crop of the four institutes? There are plenty of near-Legendaries, and that's not even to mention the full Legendaries who he couldn't even touch. He definitely won't get into the finals."

The elders from the True Dragon, Sun Moon, and Sea God Institutes were also turning their noses up at her.

"This Holy Daughter Manyflowers is really an arrogant grandstander. She thinks that because she's a Legendary now she can play to the gallery with ridiculous claptrap?"

"Just ignore her. Look. All the important people from the Demi-Immortal Institute are denouncing her."

"Hmph!" Holy Daughter Manyflowers looked around, then snapped her finger, causing a burst of power to surge out through the observation deck they all occupied. Then, to the shock of everyone present, a fist-sized flower appeared in her hand.

The presence of that flower instantly caused the entire area to fall into shades of white and gray.

Immense power rolled out from the flower, which was pure gold in color, almost as if it were made from metal. And yet, the color seemed soft and warm, to the point where anyone who looked at it would feel like they were about to transcend to a higher level of existence.

And in the middle of the petals of the flower, it looked like there was an entire world in embryonic form.

Patriarchs Wind and Cloud instantly shot to their feet.

"That's a fabled pāraka godflower!" Patriarch Wind said. "How did you get one? Long ago, such flowers would be watered with the blood of gods, and after blooming, would contain the power of a god-spirit."

"You're right," Holy Daughter Manyflowers said, "this is a pāraka godflower. I acquired it some time ago when I happened upon some immense good fortune. If I put this up as the stakes, would you take up my wager? I'm serious when I say that Yang Qi will get into the top three."

Before anyone else could react, one of the Legendary elders from the Sea God Institute said, "Fine! I'll take your bet!"

With that, he pulled out a powerful magical treasure to put up as stakes.

"We'll take the bet too," Patriarch Cloud said, expression flickering with greed. "We'll put up our Wind and Cloud Flag…."

"I'm in too…." other elders said. All of them seemed determined to get their hands on Holy Daughter Manyflowers' pāraka godflower.

"Wonderful. Well, considering how many witnesses there are, I'm sure none of you will back out if you lose." With that, Holy Daughter Manyflowers turned her attention back to the fighting below.

Of course, Yang Qi had no idea what was happening because of his performance. He was focused fully on the competition.

POP!

Ji Haifeng, a student from the Sun Moon Institute, was defeated by a single, bloody sword strike.

Bam!

Dong Yuting, a Quaternary Lifeseizer from the Sea God Institute was struck so badly by a single sword blow that she immediately forfeited the match.

Next was Cheng Yiche from the Demi-Immortal Institute, also a Quaternary Lifeseizer, and a member of the Gentlemen's Society. As soon as he saw that his opponent was Yang Qi, he launched into a speech demanding that he forfeit, and reminded him that the Gentlemen's Society would never forgive him for how he had insulted them. Yang Qi nearly destroyed his meridians with a sword strike, leaving him lying on the fighting platform moaning.

Round after round went by, until it was well into the night. And yet, the competition continued to rage in the Central Battle Arena. As time went by, more and more students found themselves out of the competition.

Yang Qi watched many miraculous events play out. There were even Masters of Energy from among the inner campus students who were so mighty that they managed to defeat Lifeseizers. There were some who managed to last until they started facing the conclave students.

Such individuals were able to earn particular glory for themselves.

Of course, it was only natural for things like this to happen. Yang Qi actually saw quite a few near-Lifeseizers defeat their opponents with such speed that no one could see what happened.

Through the course of the night, his four sworn brothers were eventually eliminated. However, they earned plenty of merit points, and were clearly recognized as being above average. Not only was it great training, but they also earned glory for their clans.

As for Yang Qi, not a single opponent could last for more than one move against him.

"Report ready! Yang Qi has reached conclave student opponents. He just fought a Senary Lifeseizer and knocked him unconscious with a single sword slash!"

Of course, thanks to Holy Daughter Manyflowers' performance from before, plenty of elders from the four institutes were watching Yang Qi closely.

An unsightly expression could be seen on the faces of Patriarchs Wind and Cloud. During the night of fighting, Yang Qi had defeated dozens of opponents, and every single one fell after a single blow.

His sword was crushing the opposition as easily as dried weeds, making him seem invincible.