Sage Monarch

Savage. Cruel. Fierce. Ruthless!

Yang Qi's absolutely fearless personality was fully on display. The Invincible Society labeled itself invincible, and yet had never had a member as incredible as this. The three blood-soaked heads spiked to the wall were a testament to that. And then there was the elder king he currently had captive and awaiting execution.

As a result, the Titan Emperor Collegium exploded into action. There were tens of thousands of societies in the collegium, so to say that they exploded was no exaggeration. Some people rushed out to watch the excitement. Some trembled in terror. There were other emotions on display as well, including hatred, jealousy, frustration, regret, and astonishment.

Many people were quite pleased with how things were playing out.

A good number of people believed that the Invincible Society and the Hall of Beheadings and Executions were both insufferably arrogant. However, the main difference between the two was that the eighteen mysterious members of the Invincible Society only acted haughty and despotic to the higher levels of leadership. Normally speaking, they were kind to those who were weaker than themselves. Because of that, most students didn't have particularly negative feelings toward them.

The Hall of Beheadings and Executions was very different.

They had the authority to send students to mining planets in the middle of nowhere, or even execute them outright. When it came to the mining facilities, they were run by disciples of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions, who constantly inflicted the most bitter aspects of the rules on their fellow students.

At one point or another, just about every student ended up angering the Hall of Beheadings and Executions and, because of that, the fact that Yang Qi was causing a big scene—even killing some prime paragon elders—was actually very pleasing to many students.

The leaders of the collegium could only grit their teeth at his open rebelliousness. There were many powerful entities in the depths of the collegium who were now watching the scene play out, trying to figure out who exactly Yang Qi was, and how he had caused such a commotion.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

Hosts of students flew up into the air to observe. There were common students, consecrated students, elite students, noble students, royal students, and even some elysian children. There were so many observers that they began to blot out the sky.

This level of commotion was completely unheard of.

"Th-this… this… this…." Never in his wildest dreams could Sword Seventeen have guessed that his Junior Brother would be this rash. His jaw nearly dropped when he saw him holding up an elder king by the throat for everyone to see. However, after a moment passed he composed himself and took a calm step forward.

"Junior Brother Yang Qi," he said. "You've accomplished a feat that the Invincible Society has never seen before. Don't worry. As long as we hang in there, Master will find out, and he'll definitely reward us." Looking up at the throngs of people who had gathered, Sword Seventeen raised his voice and yelled, "Ladies and gentlemen, we emerged from the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart with plenty of treasure, including some primeval godworm eggs, which we intended to give as a gift to our Master. But the Hall of Beheadings and Executions coveted them and tried to rob us. They cooked up some imaginary charges and even threatened to exterminate our clans. My Junior Brother had no choice but to fight for justice and kill these law-breaking hooligans."

RUMBLE!

Three figures who were far stronger than Kingly Beheader appeared, flanked by a host of prime paragon elders and an army of disciples. All of them held weapons in their hands and bristled with killing intent.

"What incredible gall!"

"Out of the way! Everyone stand back! The invincible experts of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions are here. They're all elder kings! Imperial Beheader, Sovereign Beheader, and Godly Beheader. And look, behind them are the Thirty-Six Empyrean Executioners and the Seventy-Two Baleful Fiends! The former are prime paragon elders, and the latter are prime elders. Their Empyrean Baleful Grand Spell Formation can kill gods and slay immortals. It's impossible to count how many students they've executed over the years."

The students in the area all began backing away.

Imperial Beheader, Sovereign Beheader, and Godly Beheader landed in front of the entrance of the Invincible Society and looked up at the heads on the spikes. As they did, their faces turned white from rage.

"Rebel!" Imperial Beheader shouted, his voice echoing like thunder. "You're a monster among monsters! A devil prince!"

He looked like he was on the verge of smashing the Invincible Society into rubble, except for the fact that Yang Qi had Kingly Beheader captive. Yet again, it was a situation of hesitating to shoot the rat for fear of breaking the vases.

After all, Kingly Beheader was an elder king just like Imperial Beheader.

If Kingly Beheader were killed here, the Hall of Beheadings and Executions would lose every ounce of face they had. Not even killing Yang Qi in revenge could make up for it.

"Kill him!" Kingly Beheader shouted in seemingly righteous indignation. "Forget about me. He's already forged an alliance with the Hell of Mahānata! He's an out-and-out fiend-devil! He gave his soul to the suzerains of hell and dragged us there to be slaughtered by an army of monsters! That's how I ended up in this shape."

Of course, he was twisting his words by trying to make it sound like he had been defeated by an army of fiend-devils, and not Yang Qi. At least that might save him some face. And if he convinced everyone Yang Qi was a devilish monster, it would further that effort.

"Bah! Are you really an elder king?" Sword Seventeen shouted. "My Junior Brother went into the Hell of Mahānata to face a tribulation and become a Demi-Immortal. He wiped your lackeys out with no effort at all, then took you captive. And now you're trying to change the story? Are you even human? My Junior Brother is a consummate genius who purifies hells and eradicates fiend-devils. He's the bane of evil! In fact, he has the purest energy art there could be!"

"Shut your mouth!" Sovereign Beheader shouted. "You monsters! Everyone in the Invincible Society is a monster! I can't believe the Invincible Dugu brought horrors like you into his society. Obviously, he has evil intentions and is fully bedeviled. Otherwise, why would he do something like this? Release Kingly Beheader immediately and we might let you live. Remember, we have the Titan Emperor Collegium completely under our control. Even if you were stronger than you are, there's no way you could escape this place."

"I have no intention of trying to escape!" Yang Qi said, visibly sizing up the group. Then he shook his head. "Your Hall of Beheadings and Executions is rotten to the core. Cries of complaint about you echo out everywhere in our collegium, and now you want to try to talk tough? You listen to me: the moment you people threatened my family, your fate was sealed. The three of you show up on my doorstep back with a gang of thugs? You think that's enough to handle me? Sorry, but you're all about to die! But first, I'm going to execute Kingly Beheader for everyone here to see. You want to compete with me in ruthlessness?"

As the words left his mouth, his hand shot out and he dug his fingers deep into Kingly Beheader's skull.

"Aaaiiiieee!" Kingly Beheader had rebuked heaven and earth for countless years, but now he was about to die at the hands of Yang Qi.

"Stay your hand!"

"What outrageous gall you have!"

"How dare you!"

"If you harm him, you monster, I swear to exterminate your entire family!"

Imperial Beheader, Sovereign Beheader, and Godly Beheader all lunged forward, unleashing a bevy of attacks on Yang Qi. He didn't even look at them.

"Superlative Defense!"

Waving his hand, he summoned the glowing defenses of the God Legion Paradise, completely neutralizing the attacks. His cultivation base was now strong enough for him to kill Universal Demi-Immortals, and even hold his own against Paragon Demi-Immortals. So how could he possibly be worried about attacks from these people?

WHIZZZ!

However, there were more experts on the way. Off in the distance, a beam of sword light rocketed forth, pulsing with a most paragon-like aura, as though it existed above all other types of sword will.

A Paragon Demi-Immortal!

The ninth order!

Yang Qi's cheek went taut and he clenched his free hand into a fist, which he used to unleash the Hand of the One God to defend against the sword attack. The golden light of his attack hit the tip of the sword, and in the blink of an eye, massive power was coursing through his meridians toward his sea of energy.

"That's the Cardinal Motionless Sword Zodiac!" Sword Seventeen blurted. "Watch out, Junior Brother. You're about to face one of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions' top students. An elysian child, blessed directly by the immortal world above. He's almost strong enough to become a vice-rector!"

"I'm not worried," Yang Qi said as he diverted the flow of power from the sword into his Hellfire Crucible.

Swish!

When the owner of the sword felt its energy being sucked away, as if into a bottomless pit, he pulled the tip back and landed in front of Imperial Beheader, Sovereign Beheader, and Godly Beheader.

He was a young man in white clothing, his hands empty and weaponless. As he stood there with clasped hands, looking down his nose scornfully at Yang Qi, it was impossible to see any sword on his person.

"Elder Kings," he said, offering a polite salute, "as an elysian child of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions, I came over as quickly as I could. It's truly criminal that this monster is causing problems for us."

"Ascendant Beheader, you came just in time. This monster made a deal with the suzerains of hell, and is using their power to stain our collegium with hellish evil. Hurry up and kill him!"

"Yes, sir. I can definitely sense the power of the suzerains of hell on him. Just now, my Cardinal Motionless Sword Zodiac was stopped in its tracks by his evil energy. It even consumed my sword zodiac energy. He's obviously in league with hell."

"You ignorant fools really love to babble, don't you!" Yang Qi said coldly, staring at the white-garbed Ascendant Beheader. "At first, I assumed you were actually a Paragon Demi-Immortal, but it turns out you're not. Your substructure is actually at the Universal Demi-Immortal level, and you're using an immortal item to push yourself a bit higher. I can't believe that everyone in the Hall of Beheadings and Executions is such complete and utter trash. You're the top genius? Well, I'm going to kill you. But first, I need to execute Kingly Beheader. Can you stop me?"

"I won't let you off the hook even if I die, Yang Qi!" the man screamed. "The Hall of Beheadings and Executions will avenge-"

RIP!

Yang Qi wrenched his hand up, ripping Kingly Beheader's head off of his shoulders.