Sage Monarch

Everyone present was shocked to the core. Who could have ever guessed that the chancellor would actually suggest a compromise?

He was backing down, and even letting Yang Qi and the Crown Prince fight it out to become his successor. As such, Yang Qi didn't need to formally leave the Demi-Immortal Institute.

It was absurd. Ridiculously, astonishingly absurd.

However, the crowd also realized that, to some extent, the chancellor's decision made sense. Yang Qi was in a position of incredible power, and had the support of Ghost Emperor Yama. He could already kill Half Sages, and if he could defeat the Crown Prince, then it would prove that he was strong enough to take control of the institute.

The chancellor essentially had two choices. Let Yang Qi leave the institute, and make him an enemy. Or keep him, and potentially benefit the institute. Why wouldn't he pick the latter?

Clicking his tongue, Ghost Emperor Yama said, "Very clever, little chancellor. Bravo on being able to let go of your position so easily. I can't help but admire you for that. Even in the days of the Yore-Wilds, it wasn't common to see someone as young as you reach such heights of cultivation so quickly." At this point, a sinister smile spread out across his face. "However, I don't care what Yang Qi does, I'm going to fight you. I'm very curious to see how you fare under my Six-Daos Yama Godfist."

He didn't mind helping Yang Qi for profit, but was definitely not willing to take orders from him. Therefore, he was not simply going to let the chancellor off the hook.

"Hold on, Ghost Emperor Yama," Yang Qi said. Lowering his voice so the chancellor couldn't hear, he continued, "Listen to my larger plan. I'll give you a mnemonic you can use immediately, regardless of how things play out right now. Not the Infernal Deity Spear, but something perfect for fiend-devils, a sutra of enlightenment from a primeval infernal deity."

"Really?" Ghost Emperor Yama replied quietly, both surprise and greed flickering in his eyes. "Well, in that case, I'll follow your lead. For now. However, if you don't give me that sutra of enlightenment, then don't blame me for killing you and everyone else in the Rich-Lush Continent."

"Don't worry. I always keep my word." He looked back at the chancellor. "Don't try to tempt me with the position of chancellor. I'm not interested. That said, I do want to fight the Crown Prince. You say that he's coming back in a hundred days? Well, regardless of where I am, he's going to come looking for me. And if I beat him, then I'll take control of the Demi-Immortal Institute, change its name, and put an end to the old ways. Understand?"

"You can do whatever you want," the chancellor said, seemingly without a care in the world. "If you beat the Crown Prince, then I'll retire and hand over all authority to you. I have matters of my own to attend to, so you can deal with the Rich-Lush Continent after I'm gone."

"Fine. So be it. I'm leaving; when the Crown Prince returns, he and I will fight to the death!" Without any further ado, Yang Qi shot up into the air in a beam of light, and disappeared. Everyone else remained behind, exchanging awkward glances.

"He's crazy," the Young Lady said, her voice trembling with rage. "Ridiculously arrogant. Father, he's a hundred times worse than the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince will break the rules, but he won't go so far as to eliminate them. Just now, Yang Qi was talking about exterminating everyone in the institute. Disgraceful, rebellious behavior like that simply defies description."

"When all of this is over, I'll take you out into the void," the chancellor said, "to look for the ancient people of the Starlight Body. We just need to wait for a hundred days to see who comes out on top, the Crown Prince, or Yang Qi."

"Yang Qi is only a Legendary. How could he possibly beat the Crown Prince? Considering that the Crown Prince is a god from heaven descended into the mortal world, now that he's a Great Sage, his blood will be even more active. Yang Qi won't stand a chance against him."

"That's not necessarily true. Didn't you notice that Yang Qi and Ghost Emperor Yama seemed to be working out some sort of deal? Considering what Yang Qi is capable of, the fact that he agreed to wait for a hundred days, it seems he's confident in being able to win. Most likely, Ghost Emperor Yama is going to do something to increase Yang Qi's cultivation base like crazy."

All of a sudden, the chancellor's eyes narrowed, as if he had just realized something.

Raising his voice, he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we must reconstruct the Demi-Immortal Institute. Remove the rubble and relocate the students to new facilities." He waved his sleeve, sending a host of giants flying out of it, who immediately set to work.

"Chancellor," one of the prime elders said, "a mere clash between you and Ghost Emperor Yama destroyed virtually all of the structures in the institute. What would have happened if you truly fought each other?"

"The continent would have descended into ruin, and countless living beings would have been destroyed. And even if I won, I would have been the only survivor. We can never allow something like that to happen."

"Chancellor," another prime elder said, "are you really sure that we prime elders couldn't have teamed up to take out Yang Qi? With you keeping Ghost Emperor Yama busy, and with so many of us Half Sages and Never-Dying Legendaries on our side, we definitely could have killed him."

"Even teaming up against him would be courting death. He's mastered all sorts of powerful energy arts, and can summon armies of fiend-devils from the void. With an army like that, he could take out the whole continent. As long as there are fiend-devils in hell, he would never run out of troops." The chancellor shook his head. "Back when he repaired the damage to heaven, he summoned a Personal-Domain bronzeblaze fiend-devil. And he's even stronger now than he was back then. Think about it. What if he summoned a bunch of asuras in the eighth or ninth transformation? How would you defend against something like that?"

"That's impossible! Since when did a summoning magic like that even exist? In the ancient era of the Yore-Wilds, there were supposedly people who could summon immortal-spirits from the immortal planes. But such entities would always be the same level as the person who summoned them. Otherwise, how could they be controlled? Summoning fiend-devils of a higher level than yourself wouldn't make any sense."

"It doesn't matter if you don't believe it. Perhaps Yang Qi can do it because he has the help of that mysterious backer. Enough. Discussing the matter won't help. Going forward, nobody is allowed to provoke Yang Qi. In a hundred days, when matters between the Crown Prince and Great Sage Shroud-Heaven are settled, we can put this issue to rest once and for all. I'll inform the other four Great Sages from our lands to attend, as well as the six Great Sages from the Western Continent."

"We'll follow your brilliant instructions as usual, Chancellor."

Meanwhile, high above the sea of clouds, Ghost Emperor Yama flew alongside Yang Qi. "So, where's this sutra of enlightenment, Yang Qi? Hand it over."

"Hold on a moment," Yang Qi said. "There's one more thing I need you to do."

Ghost Emperor Yama's expression flickered. "Are you kidding me? My patience has a limit, you know. Are you just messing around with me?"

"No, no, it's a simple thing. I need your help to get back the soul of a friend of mine, a member of the senior generation. He was a Never-Dying Legendary who was killed recently. If you promise to help me bring him back to life, I'll give you a third of the mnemonic right now. Agreed."

Ghost Emperor Yama thought for a moment and then said. "Alright, fine."

"Good. Now listen carefully."

In addition to the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, Yang Qi had a lot of other information about hell.

Back when he had been branded with the God Legion Seal, he not only acquired the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, but other bits of enlightenment, scriptures, and lower-level energy arts. One of them was the Primeval Infernal Deity Sutra.

"In the chaos of prehistory, the netherworld was dark; devil-banes abounded, and darkness intertwined with light; monarchs were born…." As Yang Qi spoke, enlightenment entered Ghost Emperor Yama's mind, and he even saw the written script of the primeval infernal deities. His eyes went slack with astonishment, and streams of devil energy began to pulse inside of him. Apparently, he was receiving major revelations in terms of cultivation understanding.

"Amazing. It really is a sutra from primeval times, containing enlightenment from the depths of hell. Meditating on this is definitely my key to reaching a higher level. Unfortunately, it's not the Infernal Deity Spear. That thing is the key to true enlightenment from the legion of gods. For that spear to be stuck with you is a real waste."

He sighed, his eyes narrowing with pleasure. It almost looked like he was on drugs of some sort.

But then, only a moment later, Yang Qi stopped talking.

"What about the rest? Tell me the rest!" Eyes flashing with rage, he said, "Give me the rest of the sutra, Yang Qi. I was just reaching some major enlightenment! Why would you cut me off right then? Don't tell me you're trying to force me into cultivation deviation?!"

Upon seeing Ghost Emperor Yama so flustered and exasperated, Yang Qi chuckled. Obviously, he had him hooked, and just needed to slowly reel him in. "That's the first third of the sutra. If you want the rest, you need to help me bring my friend back to life. By the way, I have other sutras just like this one, all of them from hell. Let's see. I have some from the Hell of Ceaseless Pain, the Hell of Never-Ending, the Hell of Mud Pits. Some really great stuff. They're not techniques from the legion of gods, but I'd bet that you could use them to cultivate your way into the Demi-Immortal level."

"Excellent…." Ghost Emperor Yama said, rubbing his hands together in delight. "Alright, where did this friend of yours get killed? As long as his corpse remains, or a discarnate soul, I can use some devil arts to bring him back to life. That's especially true considering he's a Never-Dying Legendary. As long as he isn't completely dead, we can restore his soul"

"Alright then. We're going to the Sun Moon Institute."

Yang Qi had never believed that Hua Tianxiong had been fully killed by the Crown Prince. After all, the talisman he had given Yang Qi still flickered with a bit of light, indicating that there was still a chance to restore his soul.

Unfortunately, that was something Yang Qi couldn't do on his own. He needed the terrifying power of a Great Sage to do that.