Sage Monarch

One fist strike.

One simple fist strike.

That was all it took for Yang Qi to destroy the meridians and sea of energy of a Master of Energy from the Sea God Institute.

Afterward, the blue-robed man flopped onto the ground, where he lay gurgling, a look of complete incredulity on his face. Never in his wildest imaginations could he have guessed that a nobody like this would unleash power like that of a devil-god.

After all, the attack he had just unleashed should have been enough to crush even a Lifeseizer.

"How could you be so strong?!" Despite his current condition, the young man in blue seemed just as wildly arrogant as before. Struggling to his feet, he continued, "I'm from the Sea God Institute! I'm famous there, and all the professors told me that I would be a match for any Lifeseizers I encountered. How could I possibly have been defeated by a nobody like you? Just who are you? Talk to me, punk! What's your name? You just wait till I get back to the Sea God Institute. Things aren't going to turn out the same when we have a rematch!"

Yang Qi chuckled. "Where do you think you are, back home at that institute of yours? You think you can make a comeback after being beaten like this? We're in the jianghu, the home of danger and viciousness. You seriously think I'm going to just tell you my name and let you go, so that you can return to the Sea God Institute and get some more powerful people to get revenge for you? Well, I can tell you, that's not going to happen."

He was by no means boasting. With the flick of a finger, he sent a stream of true energy directly into the young man's forehead.

The young man screamed, then flopped back onto the ground, dead.

A moment later, Yang Qi flew up into the air, sending out countless threads from Silk Rain of the Spring Silkworm. In the blink of an eye, all of the soldiers from Yundale-by-the-Sea who had remained alive in the area were killed.

Obviously, there was no way that he would leave any of the enemy soldiers alive.

If they returned and informed the Sea God Institute of what he had done, the Yang Clan would be wiped off the map.

Even more pertinent, considering the troops from Yundale-by-the-Sea were pillaging and murdering everything in their path, killing them would ease a bit of the pressure on Yanhaven. And it would also give the common people a better shot at escaping the turmoil.

Several hundred fierce soldiers were all simultaneously struck by the sword energy of Silk Rain of the Spring Silkworm.

The Four Seasons Swordplay was a royal-class energy art, and thus it was no surprise that a single move from it could kill so many people that quickly.

If the other aspects of the technique were unleashed, the summer lightning, autumn frost, and winter snow, it would be even more formidable. At the moment, Yang Qi was stuck in the eighth phase, but when he reached the ninth, and became a Master of Energy, then even many top experts in the House of Spring and Autumn would blush with shame upon watching him use their Four Seasons Swordplay.

In one fell swoop, Yang Qi wiped out all the enemy troops, leaving the ground littered with corpses of soldiers from Yundale-by-the-Sea. There were also a handful of individuals wearing blue armor that identified them as Seafolk.

"Yundale-by-the-Sea is working with the Seafolk? So that's why a student from the Sea God Institute was here." After considering the matter for a moment, Yang Qi looked over at the blue-robed young man he had killed. Stepping over, he began to search him. Considering his identity, Yang Qi was fairly certain that he would be carrying a lot of riches. And since Yang Qi was about to enter the Demi-Immortal Institute, having some extra funds on hand would surely be useful.

Unfortunately, he was wrong. After searching the young man quite thoroughly, he didn't find anything on him. No banknotes. No energy convergence pills. No weapons. No energy art manuals. Nothing.

Apparently, he was completely penniless.

'Impossible! How could a student from the Sea God Institute be completely broke? He doesn't have anything on him? Not even some weapons?'

He even searched the body with true energy, and yet, couldn't find anything.

Eventually, his gaze came to rest on the finger of the corpse, and a thumb-ring of blue jade.

It looked completely ordinary in nature, like a common piece of jewelry. However, there was something about it that piqued Yang Qi's interest, so he sent a stream of true energy into it.

After all, once one entered the eighth phase, one's true energy would be able to pierce large objects and see what was inside of them.

However, when he sent his true energy into the blue jade thumb-ring, it was like dropping a pebble into the ocean.

He couldn't sense anything inside the ring, but could tell that it was as large as an ocean. Obviously, this was no ordinary item.

Although this blue-robed young man had not possessed any weapons or magical items, his thumb-ring was definitely extraordinary.

Yang Qi took the ring and then leaped into the sky like a bird, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

The sooner he got away from this place, the better.

After all, the death of a student from the Sea God Institute would be no small matter. Soon, people would be coming to investigate, and if he stuck around, he would surely be suspected of being involved.

Sure enough, only a few hours after Yang Qi left, as evening began to fall, an autumn wind swept across the lands, stirring the leaves that had already begun to cover the corpses.

Suddenly, the thunderous sound of galloping warhorses could be heard, and the acrid odor of some sort of beast filled the air, as though an army of demonlings were approaching.

Before long, torchlight could be seen, illuminating the road.

Then, an army of horses appeared, tall and strong, mighty to the extreme. Unexpectedly, these were all flood stallions! Thousands and thousands of them.

It had only been by a fluke that the Yang Clan managed to get twenty-eight flood stallions, and yet here, there were thousands. If a force like this attacked a city, its walls would collapse instantly. No fortification would be able to resist a force like this, and in fact, any defending soldiers who saw it coming would collapse mentally before the fight began.

The ground trembled under the hooves of these furious creatures, whose passage caused the trees to tremble so violently, that many split apart and even crashed to the ground.

Furthermore, the wind that sprang up because of them instantly blew away all the leaves that had piled up, revealing the corpses on the ground.

When the corpse of the blue-robed young man was revealed, one of the riders, a burly, middle-aged man, leaped off of his horse in shock. Rumbling sounds could be heard as his true energy was unleashed, propelling him through the air toward the corpse, which he lifted up into his arms.

Unsure of his current state, he tried to pour true energy into the young man in the hopes of reviving him, but sadly, he was already dead.

Looking like the picture of astonishment, the man said, "How could you be dead, Gu Che? How? You were a top student at the Sea God Institute, with energy arts invincible to anyone under the Lifeseizing level. Even if you were attacked by a Master of Energy, you should have been able to escape. How could you have died? And who killed you? How is the State of Yun going to explain this to the Sea God Institute!?"

A soldier stepped forward. "Supreme Leader," he said, "we must get to the bottom of this immediately. We need to find out who killed Gu Che, and then report the matter to the sergeant major of the Seafolk, and of course the Sea God Institute."

As it turned out, the burly man who was now holding Gu Che's corpse was none other than the supreme leader of the State of Yun, Yun Zhonglong, who was also the father of Yun Hailan.

"Look at the wounds," Yun Zhonglong said. "See how fine they are? It's almost like he was hit by silk threads, or raindrops. There's also a lingering sensation of the life that blooms during spring…." He suddenly shivered. "Gu Che was killed by the Four Seasons Swordplay from the House of Spring and Autumn. It must have been a Lifeseizer. But what would such an expert from the House of Spring and Autumn be doing here?"

"Supreme Leader, we've already counted up the corpses. There are a few hundred of our men here, all of them killed by sword energy that pierced through them like silk threads. It looks like they were all killed at the same time. Only someone with profound energy arts could do something like that!"

"Huh? Didn't Gu Che have the Heart of the Sea thumb-ring? How could it be gone? Don't tell me someone robbed him?" At this point, Yun Zhonglong was bristling with anger. After all, he knew how valuable that thumb-ring was; it was more important than Gu Che himself.

An eighth phase expert off to the side said, "Supreme Leader, there's no need to be anxious. Everyone's dead, so it makes sense that his valuables were taken."

"You don't understand. Gu Che's most valuable possession was the Heart of the Sea. Supposedly, it is crafted from godly jade, and contains a minor plane that can be used to store large amounts of items. People like us can't even conceive of how valuable that ring was. Gu Che borrowed it from the Sea God Institute, and now it's lost! His death probably isn't very important; there are plenty of exceptional students there. But for that precious treasure to have been lost is no joking matter! It could likely cause a war between the House of Spring and Autumn and the Sea God Institute!"

Looking exceptionally grave, Yun Zhonglong said, "Let's go. We'll head back to the capital. For now, our expansion stops here. Pour all of our resources into uncovering the truth of Gu Che's death. Afterward, we'll return to our border expansion initiative."

"Yes, Supreme Leader. Considering we've already absorbed several dozen cities, and now control lands with a population of millions upon millions, we should be able to clear the matter up. And that's especially true since we can assign so many aristocratic clans to the case."

With that, the horses and men turned and prepared to leave.

"Supreme Leader, Gu Che's death doesn't really matter. He was only a Master of Energy, and his clan isn't very influential among the Seafolk. Besides, considering that Young Miss Yun Hailan got that Latent Dragon Pill, and awoke the blood of the Sea God inside her, she has already far surpassed Gu Che."

"You're right. Lan'er is in the Demi-Immortal Institute now, and a certain member of the senior generation has already taken a liking to her. From now on, her cultivation will advance with breathtaking speed."

1. There is a logic error that I'm leaving out. Yang Qi uses Silk Rain of the Spring Silkworm to kill any surviving enemy soldiers. Then the narrative justifies that action by saying that if the House of Spring and Autumn found out about him using the technique, the Yang Clan would be finished. Except that he didn't use the technique before. So that doesn't really make sense.