Sage Monarch

After killing Wilds Everlasting, Yang Qi made sure that the blame would be shifted onto the Quake-Dawn Cathedral.

Waving his hand, he shattered all of the command medallions he had just tossed about, ensuring that the dust from them filled the area. Ordinary individuals would never notice the evidence, but any powerful experts who investigated the area would pick up on the clues.

If he made things too obvious, then anyone would be able to tell that the Quake-Dawn Cathedral was being framed.

The best thing to do was make sure the investigators were forced to work hard to uncover the evidence. Once the Quake-Dawn Cathedral was implicated, and they couldn't provide a good explanation, it would hopefully lead to enough tension between them and the Grand-Wilds Mansion that any plans to invade the Rich-Lush Continent would be put on hold.

Yang Qi also benefited in that he now had access to Wilds Everlasting's wealth, which included over a hundred sagely-grade spirit stones, and five heavenly-grade.

Those would be of great help in improving his cultivation base. At the moment, he was still building up his reserves. After all, he needed a huge stockpile to progress through the eighth, and ninth transformations, then become a Half Sage, and finally, a Great Sage.

And it would take a terrifying level of force to succeed at that final breakthrough.

'Heavenking thistle….' Nie Chaoguang thought. The sight of Yang Qi cutting down Wilds Everlasting had left him both shocked and envious.

Although some people might not know much about Wilds Everlasting, Nie Chaoguang was very familiar with him. He had been a profoundly gifted individual, who, from a very young age, progressed rapidly through his cultivation. He cultivated the Grand-Wilds Everlasting True Energy, which led to the Everlasting Heaven Bow and the Sun-Felling God Arrows. Although such weapons couldn't compare to the Infernal Deity Spear, they were still mighty.

According to the rumors, when Wilds Everlasting was only a Half Sage, he had used his Everlasting Heaven Bow and Sun-Felling God Arrows to kill a Great Sage.

Of course, it had been an ambush, not a proper fight like the kind Yang Qi had won. But even still, it was a glorious thing considering that few Half Sages could match up to Great Sages.

Later, when he became a Great Sage, he won even more amazing battles, and was considered invincible among people of his own level.

There were countless experts in the Quake-Dawn Continent who were favored by the heavens, and they were constantly fighting amongst themselves for dominance. And yet, Wilds Everlasting was considered the best of the best even among them.

But just now, Yang Qi had cut him down with seemingly no effort. How strong must Yang Qi be to have accomplished that? To Nie Chaoguang, Yang Qi just seemed to get stronger with each moment that passed.

Wilds Everlasting had been just on the verge of becoming a fifth step Great Sage, so considering that, it was almost impossible to imagine how many enemies Yang Qi would be able to defeat as a Great Sage.

The mere thought caused Nie Chaoguang to shiver physically. It almost seemed like he was living in a nightmare.

"Come on, let's go," Yang Qi said. "There are already some powerful auras heading in this direction." He took a step forward, and vanished into thin air.

About an hour later, numerous space-time wormholes opened up, out of which emerged a host of Great Sages. Most were first, second, or third step, but there were some who were stronger. One of them, a terrifyingly powerful man with snow-white hair and beard, said, "That's an aura of death. I can sense it clearly. So, it's true. The fact that Wilds Everlasting's animadestiny identity medallion exploded back at the Grand-Wilds Mansion was evidence of him being killed. Not even his soul or will managed to escape, otherwise we could have resurrected him. But now, he'll never come back to life. Look around and see if you can find his remains."

The Great Sages immediately began to scour the area. As for the sage with the white beard, he opened a rift in space to look for more deeply hidden evidence.

"Damnation. I refuse to believe that the culprit can evade my Cosmic Surveillance technique." The old man suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood which transformed into a floating eye, with a most profoundly ancient aura to it.

"What's this?" the old man said. Waving his hand, he caused a trace of powder to emerge from an aspect of space-time, which he took and sniffed.

Suddenly, various expressions flashed across his face, and he shouted, "The Quake-Dawn Cathedral! I can't believe they killed Wilds Everlasting!"

"What did you find?"

"It's a command medallion from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral. It was crushed into powder, most likely in the final moment before Wilds Everlasting was killed."

"Damn that Quake-Dawn Cathedral. They've just declared war on the Grand-Wilds Mansion!"

"Wilds Everlasting was one of the Wilds God's most cherished sons. Why would they do something like this? Don't tell me they really want to wipe out the Grand-Wilds Mansion? Dammit! They all deserve to die!"

"If it's war they want, then it's war they'll get!"

"Let's go. This is important news. We need to call a general meeting, and notify the Wilds God himself."

"Isn't he in secluded meditation in the Nightmare Black Hole?"

"It doesn't matter. This is too weighty of a matter, and it pertains to the reputation of the Grand-Wilds Mansion as a whole. If we make the wrong move, the Quake-Dawn Cathedral could gain the upper hand, and wipe us out of existence. After all, we've been at odds with them for over ten thousand years."

Once again, numerous space-time wormholes snapped open, and the furious sages from the Grand-Wilds Mansion left.

Off in the distance, Yang Qi was well-hidden, and had secretly watched everything playing out.

'Their leader is incredible. Definitely beyond me.' He sighed inwardly. 'Whenever I finally reach the Great Sage level, I'll truly be able to unleash the power of the Fist of the Halls of Heaven. And then, the enlightenment from the God Legion Seal will allow me to push it to the next level, and use the Hand of the One God. Unfortunately, getting more sage motes isn't going to help me right now, at least not with the Hand of the One God. Otherwise, I would have been able to turn a lot more than a few kilometers into a crystal ball.'

Just now, Yang Qi's final attack with the Fist of the Halls of Heaven had been a rudimentary version of the Hand of the One God.

It was might that had quickly and cleanly ended Wilds Everlasting.

Unfortunately, it was almost nothing compared to the true power the Hand of the One God was capable of. That technique was like the One God himself descending into the world to end the lives of countless living beings. Conversely, it could give birth to countless creatures with a mere thought.

That power would come only when he was a Great Sage, and had his own sage motes to work with.

'Heavenking thistle…. Well, let's see how effective it is. I wonder if it can push me to the next highest level.' He took the grass out and looked at it for a bit, then circulated his true energy and absorbed it.

Considering that this item was best suited for Great Sages to achieve breakthroughs, it was definitely enough for Yang Qi.

A few days ago, he had been in the middle of breaking through to the Astral-Star Transformation when the assassin from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral had interrupted him. This time, he wouldn't let something like that happen. Instead, he was making his breakthrough in a very remote location in the Quake-Dawn Continent.

**

Meanwhile, back in the Rich-Lush Continent….

The continent was a flourishing place. Having been united under the control of the Sage Monarch Society, there were no formal sects or institutes. And there was a constant flow of spirit stones from the mining districts in the Western Continent.

Yang Zhan currently sat in a private chamber, taking deep breaths after having just broken through to the Legendary level.

The Demi-Immortal Institute and Capital City had been combined and made part of Sage Monarch City, which was filled with primal-chaos paleo-energy, making it like an immortal realm among humans.

Thanks to the abundant resources, all the young ones in the Yang Clan were making significant progress in their cultivation, and virtually all of Yang Qi's sworn siblings were now Legendaries.

At a certain point, a rumbling noise broke out in the sky above the city, almost like numerous voices speaking together at the same time. In response, the primal-chaos paleo-energy parted, and a five-colored space-time wormhole opened up, which emanated countless streams of dazzling light.

All of those shafts of light seemed to contain a person!

The leaders in Sage Monarch City instantly went onto high alert, and Chancellor Sun Moon emerged into the open. After all, he was the only Great Sage other than Ghost Emperor Yama.

"What's that? Why is a space-time wormhole opening up here? Is this an attack from beyond heaven?"

"Ambush! Ambush!"

Expression serious, Chancellor Sun Moon looked at the space-time wormhole and said, "Quickly notify Ghost Emperor Yama that hostile forces have arrived. They've even parted the primal-chaos paleo-energy."

A woman stepped out of the wormhole, a horsetail whisk draped over her arm, red lotuses blooming beneath her feet. She was followed by a retinue of young women, who carried with them incense burners, lanterns, and jade basins.

"I am Emissary Red Lotus, sent by the Holy Mother herself. Why have you not yet offered me formal greetings?"

Chancellor Sun Moon and Yang Zhan stood there with the other leaders of the city, and they were completely stunned by the cultivation level of even just the maidservants. All of them seemed to have power that bordered on that of a Great Sage.

"They're all Half Sages…." Chancellor Sun Moon breathed.

And there was even greater power lurking within the wormhole itself.

All of them felt the urge to drop to their knees to that power.

"So, this is the Rich-Lush Continent? Looks quite different than it did before. It's been twenty years now, and the leadership has finally changed. The Yang Clan has truly become a dominant force, and will surely flourish for a thousand years. Yang Zhan, step forward. I wish to speak with you."

1. The term I'm translating as "One God" is the word commonly used by Christian Chinese for the God of the Bible. The term existed in China before that, and referred to some sort of supreme deity or god. However, when Christianity entered China, this was how the term for God was translated, and nowadays, it is most often associated with Christianity. It literally means the Lord/Emperor that is Above/On High/etc. However, I'm going to translate it as "One God" because, despite not having the common character for "god" in it, that is definitely the meaning behind the term.