Sage Monarch

Yan Weiyi warmed up immediately once Yang Qi agreed to join the Invincible Society.

"I'm coming, too," Sword Seventeen said excitedly. "From what I understand, the immortal world held training competitions all over the place to find geniuses to recruit. I'm really curious to see how these people measure up to Yang Qi in the entrance ceremony."

"When master picks a new disciple, he does it by going into a trance and contemplating the movement of the universe," Yan Weiyi said. "Considering that, it's a given that he'll pick the best candidate. That's also why he usually spurns the people everyone else calls geniuses. Come on, let's go!"

"I'm coming also," Elder Sixteenth Sister said. "The entrance ceremony is always a big deal."

"By the way," Yang Qi said, "who are the other members of the Invincible Society? For example Eldest Brother, Elder Second Brother, and the others."

"You want to meet them?" Yan Weiyi asked with an enigmatic smile. "You'll have to wait a bit, but I can give you a quick introduction ahead of time. For example, Eldest Brother is the pride of the Invincible Society, and in fact, he's the best of the best among of all the societies in the Titan Emperor Collegium. Last time there was a big martial arts competition, he destroyed everyone and took first place. He's definitely the strongest student in the Titan Emperor Collegium."

"What? The number one strongest student in the entire collegium?" The mere thought caused Yang Qi to shiver. It was no secret that ever since ancient times, the Titan Emperor Collegium had always produced experts among experts. It was impossible to say what crouching tigers and hidden dragons existed within it, yet the Eldest Brother of the Invincible Society was the best of all of them? What level of energy arts must he cultivate to have reached that level? Apparently, it really was true that the Invincible Dugu picked only the best disciples.

"Eldest Brother is over in the starry sky of the Flood Pond Heaven to kill some Demi-Immortals who challenged our society," Yan Weiyi said casually, "but he should be back soon. The other Elder and Junior Brothers and Sisters are all out on various missions. Right now, the only four people left behind are myself, Junior Sixteenth Sister, Junior Seventeenth Brother, and you, our new Junior Eighteenth Brother."

'That's not many,' Yang Qi thought, inwardly shaking his head. Perhaps it just went to show how amazing the Invincible Society was. Considering what he had seen from Sword Seventeen, he was now very curious to see what the other disciples were like.

As they chatted, the group of four left the ancient palace and began to make their way through the heavenly temple complex that was the Titan Emperor Collegium. The place seemed to go on without end, with the building that housed the Invincible Society like a grain of sand on the seashore.

Off in the distance it was possible to see what existed beyond the heavenly palace complex, which was a host of planets, all of them filled with people. Of course, those planets were the Central Planetary River, which the heavenly palace complex ruled over.

As Yang Qi proceeded along with the Invincible Society disciples, they attracted the attention of other students. There were all sorts of bizarre and intriguing outfits on display, even suits of armor, and all of the students seemed energetic and powerful.

Of course, a buzz of conversation could be heard.

"Look, it's those freaks from the Invincible Society. Whenever they show up, they cause a huge scene! See the one in the lead? That's their tenth disciple, Yan Weiyi. I heard he's only a hundred years old! How could someone that young have already reached the Demi-Immortal level?! It's terrifying. Back when he was a Legendary, he killed Great Sages! And when he was only an eighth step Great Sage, he actually killed a Lesser Demi-Immortal. The man is a myth!"

"You see that young woman? She's Flower Fern, another genius. I heard she's not even human. She was actually born out of a preheaven godflower, and is innately stronger than the average human. She cultivates a deadly technique related to flowers and snow that makes her impossible to beat in a fight. Oh, see the guy in the green clothes and the bamboo hat? That's Sword Seventeen, who was born directly out of preheaven sword energy. Back when he was a kid he would sometimes eat godswords, which was how he developed his old Heaven-Sword Origin-Cultivation Body. They say he's the absolute best of all the sword cultivators. He's only a fifth step Light King Sage, but he can already defeat Epic Saga Sages in battle."

"What about the fourth one? According to the rumors, their society chief the Invincible Dugu only accepted seventeen freakish hellion disciples, all of whom are completely and utterly famous. So who's that guy? He doesn't look like a student of the Titan Emperor Collegium."

"Oh, he must be a newcomer. The immortal world has been recruiting from the Four Wilds, which is why there've been a lot of new students coming in lately. In fact, the entrance ceremony should be starting soon."

"A newcomer? Okay, but that doesn't explain why those three freaks from the Invincible Society would be going with him to the entrance ceremony. Hold on, don't tell me that the Invincible Dugu took in another disciple?"

"The Invincible Dugu accepted a new disciple!? This is incredible!"

"He's definitely a brilliant fighter and an enormous freak. That's the only kind of people the Invincible Dugu likes. Hurry up, let's follow and see what happens. This entrance ceremony is definitely going to be interesting."

"The Invincible Dugu picked his new disciple ahead of time? That's definitely going to cause a scene with the other societies. And I bet it's going to cause a lot of the other new students to target this guy."

"Yeah, that's probably why Yan Weiyi and the others are escorting him. The freaks of the Invincible Society have bad relationships with basically all of the other societies in the collegium. There are plenty of people who would love to teach this new disciple a lesson, although I doubt it will be easy."

Many of the conversations reached Yang Qi's ears, giving him a much better understanding of what the Invincible Society was like.

They definitely did their own thing within the Titan Emperor Collegium. Unfortunately, the tallest tree attracts the most wind, and would often accumulate the most enemies. Wherever people existed, it was inevitable that cliques and factions would form and power structures would emerge. It had been like that in the Demi-Immortal Institute, and it was the same in the Titan Emperor Collegium.

Yang Qi had assumed that his path in the Titan Emperor Collegium would be similar to his rise through the Demi-Immortal Institute, that he would start out as a lowly recruit, and then slowly rise through the outer and inner campus to become an elite student, a conclave student, and eventually a holy neophyte.

Instead, a group of powerful individuals had recruited him right from the get-go. So far it didn't seem like Yan Weiyi, Sword Seventeen, and Flower Fern were crafty and deceitful individuals who were conspiring against him. And in the end, he really had made a big scene back in the training competition, slaughtering numerous experts inside before killing Chief Lion afterward.

He really was that 'tallest tree'. Unfortunately, it could very likely put the Sage Monarch Continent in the crosshairs of certain overly-ambitious and ruthless individuals. Hopefully, he was now famous and powerful enough that not even ninth step Great Sages would consider causing problems back in his home.

"We're here!" Yan Weiyi said as they reached an enormous public square filled with thousands of stone pillars. People sat beneath many of the pillars, unmoving and apparently meditating.

"Those are the pre-registered students," Yan Weiyi said. "Before the official entrance ceremony, they have no rank, so they have to wait here in the Auspicious Titan Hall. By the way, those pillars are made from a special type of godstone which makes one day of meditation as good as a week or more. Some of these people have been meditating here for months. If you had come earlier you could have benefited quite a bit, Junior Brother."

As they neared the entrance, one of the student guards stepped forward and said, "Only authorized personnel are allowed in the Auspicious Titan Hall!"

"Show him your Titan Emperor Medallion, Yang Qi," Yan Weiyi said.

Yang Qi pulled it out and handed it over. The student guard looked at it and then smiled.

"Sorry, Elder Brother Yan. I'm in charge of guarding this entrance to the Auspicious Titan Hall, so I have no choice but to stop everyone at this point. Please don't take offense at me carrying out my duties."

"It's fine," Yan Weiyi said coolly. "Could you take care of this little Junior Brother of mine? He plans to join the Invincible Society after the ceremony is over."

"What? Senior Invincible is taking an eighteenth disciple!?" The guard was visibly shocked and couldn't help but look over at Yang Qi, almost like he was some three-headed six-armed superhuman. "Well in that case, I'll take care of everything. Everyone who joins the Invincible Society is a spectacular individual."

The guard was a first step Great Sage and could tell that Yang Qi was only in the second step, making him just a bit stronger than himself.

In the Titan Emperor Collegium, first through fourth step Great Sages weren't a very big deal. Usually they acted as guards, did odd jobs, took care of spirit beasts, or handled other menial tasks.

It was only when students reached the fifth step that they began to earn a bit of respect. And it was only the Demi-Immortals who were truly admired. The original founder of the Demi-Immortal Institute had been a student here, and thus it was little wonder that he modeled his own educational establishment in a similar way.

"After you, Junior Brother," the guard said, extending his hand in a welcoming fashion. "Go ahead and pick a pillar to meditate under. Although, it won't be long before the ceremony begins. Generally speaking, rewards will be handed out based on the level of your cultivation base. The elders will observe, hoping to identify who the top geniuses are. Those who are favored will achieve incredible progress. Those who don't will be relegated to menial positions in the collegium and will have to wait for further opportunities in the future."

1. I would like to point out that the descriptions of Sword Seventeen and Flower Fern are from character dialogue, and you cannot always trust character dialogue. I'm not saying the stories are false, I'm just saying that you need to take them with a grain of salt. Maybe they're true, maybe they're exaggerations, maybe they're fabrications. Don't forget about how, not too long ago, plenty of in-character dialogue was about Yang Qi's "mysterious backer" or the fact that he "definitely had King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallion".