Sage Monarch

It was time for another monthly session of the imperial court in the Titan Emperor Heaven.

The previous session of court had been filled with the most shocking of events, things which all of the ministers recalled vividly. Yang Qi had seemed completely domineering, only to have emissaries come from the Brahman Society and arrest him. Then, just as the crown prince prepared to hit him when he was down, Yang Qi sent a clone back to oppose him, which kept the equilibrium.

Strangely, as the ministers arrived for the latest session of court, they found that neither the crown prince, Princess Jadefall, nor Proud Warpatience were present.

And the emperor seemed very out of sorts as he sat on his throne.

"Ladies and gentlemen, ministers," the emperor began, "the Titan Emperor Heaven is in extreme danger. What are your opinions on the situation with the Brahman Society and Titan Dragonguard?"

One of the ministers stepped forward. "Your Majesty, no one has seen Titan Dragonguard's clone since he first made his appearance. I'm afraid it was simply a bluff. There's no way he's strong enough to stand up to the Brahman Society. Your humble servant believes that we need to seize Titan Dragonguard's mansion and search it thoroughly. Supposedly, he has troops hidden in there waiting to launch a rebellion, so we can't let the situation drag on any longer. Furthermore, Titan Dragonguard openly cursed ministers and threatened officials during the last session of court. He didn't abide by any of the court etiquette. If we don't get rid of him, how can we possibly maintain law and order?"

"That's right," said one of the generals from the army, stepping forward and taking a knee. "Your Majesty, that Titan Dragonguard is obviously a revolutionary at heart, and cares nothing at all for the dynasty. Your humble servant would be more than willing to lead some troops over to his mansion and purge it from top to bottom!"

The moment this general stepped out in the open, jaws dropped.

As it turned out, he was one of Generalissimo Proud Warpatience's top subordinates, Seven Scourges Huang. He had once been a notorious bandit and killer and had roved from immortal world to immortal world, committing all sorts of crimes. Eventually, Emperor Titan captured him and somehow earned his loyalty. Now he led the fiendslave battalions and was himself an enigmatic and fierce fighter. Normally speaking, he stuck to the sidelines and just followed the emperor's orders, never talking about politics. But now here he was, offering to plunder Titan Dragonguard's mansion. It seemed obvious that he was acting on the behalf of the emperor in this.

As soon as Seven Scourges Huang finished speaking, many of the other officials began clamoring for Yang Qi to be officially accused of misconduct. And there were plenty of people willing to list out his crimes.

"Well, in that case," the emperor said, "I suppose I have no choice. Seven Scourges Huang, purge Titan Dragonguard's mansion. And pass orders to the Department of the Imperial Clan to strip him of his title and demote him to commoner. Arrest all of his henchmen and interrogate them to find out where his power stones are hidden."

"Yes sir!" Seven Scourges Huang said, turning to leave.

However, that was when a new voice rang out.

"Hold on!" The sound of a teleportation portal filled the air as Princess Jadefall appeared. "Your Majesty, it's quite inappropriate to talk about punishing Titan Dragonguard."

Spinning, Seven Scourges Huang shouted, "How dare you! You might be the eminent princess, but you must still abide by His Majesty's imperial edicts! How dare you challenge him! Don't tell me this is some sort of rebellion?"

"That's exactly what it is," she said. "Rebellion."

Even as her voice rang out, Yang Qi walked out into the open, his eyes flickering. He was flanked by Hu Latu, the terrifying emissary from the Brahman Society.

Striding forward, he spoke in a loud voice. "Considering you just made the decision to oppose me, Emperor, I'd say there's no reason for you to continue serving in your position here in the Titan Emperor Heaven. Please. Abdicate."

Before anyone else could say anything, Hu Latu said, "I'm the Brahman Society emissary Hu Latu. Henceforth, I work for Titan Dragonguard. Incidentally, the Brahman Society has named him as the new prime minister of the Titan Emperor Heaven, and supports Princess Jadefall as the new empress! Who here dares to defy the commands of the Brahman Society?! If you do, you're asking to be killed, and I'd be happy to oblige!"

The ministers and officials were so taken aback that they weren't sure how to react.

"What?"

"How did this guy convince the Brahman Society to back him?"

"That emissary is no joke."

"What's going on here? I don't even understand what's happening!"

Eyes blazing as if with fire, Seven Scourges Huang shot into the air. "Rebels and traitors! Eminent Princess Jadefall, I honestly can't believe that you're calling for revolution! Fine, I'll take all of you into custody and cut the head off of this rebellion before it even starts! DIE!"

RUMBLE!

Seven Scourges Huang was just as famous as Proud Warpatience, and the truth was, his energy arts were even more advanced. He had been powerful as a bandit, but after throwing his loyalties in with the Titan Emperor Heaven, his cultivation base had advanced and he could fight with heaven-rending, earth-crushing force.

Without any hesitation, he unleashed seven stances of his fist technique. The stances had names such as White Tiger, Rapacious Wolf, Formation Destruction, and the like. When they were all used together, the seven moves created a battle array that could destroy countless opponents.

"Feeling pretty cocky, huh?" Yang Qi said. Then he exhaled and a stream of white light shot out, destroying anything it touched.

"Aaaiiiieee!" Seven Scourges Huang, a ninth stage Dao-Demolisher and leader of the fiendslave battalions, could only watch in wide-eyed shock as Yang Qi's mere exhalation destroyed all of his energy arts. Then he crumbled into powder, right there in midair.

"Rebels… and… trait—" Before he could even finish speaking, he was gone, completely wiped out of existence.

All of the ministers, officials, and grand princes were so terrified that they were physically trembling.

Yang Qi hadn't stopped walking. Before anyone could do anything else, he strode up to the throne and reached out toward the emperor as if to grab him by the neck.

Gripped by a sensation of profound danger, the emperor shot to his feet. "Jadefall, after how well I treated you, how dare you ally with an outsider in this conspiracy!"

Princess Jadefall didn't do a single thing. Sighing, she said, "Father, the time has come for you to step aside. Under your leadership, the Titan Emperor Heaven has gone downhill. If things keep going the way they are, it will disappear soon. I had no choice but to rebel in this way. Please, just abdicate and live out the rest of your life in comfort."

"You think you can force me to abdicate, just like that? Immortal World Essence! Eye of Titan!"

RUMBLE!

The essence of the immortal world swirled out, surrounding the emperor in the form of an enormous eye and causing everything to tremble violently.

It was the most formidable god item in the entire Titan Emperor Heaven, something that wasn't a god item, but rather an actual body part belonging to an ancient god. It surpassed the level of a god item. Although it had lost much of its godliness through the years, it was more than enough to shake a Godmyth. And it was because of this very item that the Titan Emperor Heaven had been able to hold out for so long against all of the other aggressive immortal worlds in the area.

Yang Qi hardly even looked at the eye.

"Be sealed!" he said. Shoving his hand out, he sent a host of sealing marks flying out, which converged on the eye of Titan. Even as all of the ministers, officials, grand princes, dukes, and other important people watched, the emperor and his eye of Titan were surrounded by an enormous cage.

"Enough, Emperor," Yang Qi said. "This is all pointless. I'm strong enough now that nobody in your pitiful immortal world can match up to me. Incidentally, I already killed the crown prince."

"What? You killed my son?" The emperor's eyes went wide with fury. "Who are you? You're not really from the imperial house!"

Crack!

Yang Qi didn't bother to reply. He reached out, placed his hand on top of the emperor's head, and extracted his dao heart, which had five lineaments on it. Obviously, the emperor was a very powerful individual, even stronger than Hu Latu. All along, he had been keeping his true strength hidden.

Yang Qi crushed the dao heart, causing a stream of true energy to flow into him. As for the emperor, he collapsed onto the ground like a diseased dog. His energy arts had been crippled.

"Now you can abdicate, Emperor. Ladies and gentlemen, officials and ministers, Eminent Princess Jadefall is the new empress!" He waved his hand, causing a stream of light to surround the emperor, who vanished a moment later, taken away to some unknown location. "Well? Do you agree or not? Does anyone oppose Princess Jadefall? Yang Warpatience, come out here."

"Yes, Milord!" Yang Warpatience stepped out of the teleportation portal and knelt in front of Yang Qi. "Whatever orders you have, I will follow. My army is at your command."

Considering all of this, who present would possibly voice a word of dissent? It was just like the saying, when the emperor wanted silence, not even the horses would neigh.

One by one, they dropped to their knees. "Your humble servant offers congratulations to Eminent Princess Jadefall on her ascension to the throne."

Henceforth, Jadefall would serve as the empress of the Titan Emperor Heaven.

"I will take the throne today to prevent the Titan Emperor Heaven from ultimately being destroyed," she said. "Starting today, we begin preparations for war. For conquest! Our first target is the Hanging Heaven, then we'll move on to other weak immortal worlds such as the Black Sand Heaven. We will wipe them out and take their power and resources for our own."

"What? No!" one of the officials said. "Your Highness, ma'am, that's just going to get us destroyed! Our armed forces are too weak, and conquering an entire immortal world is no small task. It's hard enough for us to hold our own! If other immortal worlds join forces against us, we won't stand a chance."

"He's right, Your Highness. We can't afford any wars of aggression."

"We're essentially the weakest of all the immortal worlds right now."

"This isn't the right course of action."

POP!

Empress Jadefall smacked the arm of the throne and glared around with burning eyes. "What are you people sniveling about? I obviously have a reason for deploying troops. Brother Dragonguard?"

Empress Jadefall was still calling Yang Qi 'Titan Dragonguard' for safety purposes.

"Listen up, everyone. Your armies are going to have a helping hand from me. Fiend-devil armies, come forth!" Then, the Hell Portals opened.