Sage Monarch

Of course, Yang Qi was supposed to be Hu Yanmeng, child of Brahma, who had been assigned a mission to acquire two hundred of King Heaven-Devourer's talismans from August Patriarch Fire Dragon.

The three year deadline for the mission was now up, and failure would come with a severe punishment. Thankfully, Yang Qi had long since come up with a plan for how to deal with the situation.

Hu Latu was currently in the Sage Monarch Heaven. He and Yang Qi were both branded with the mark of the Brahman Institute, which meant that no matter where they went, they could be tracked down. Yang Qi's cultivation base was far and away strong enough to remove the branding mark, but he hadn't.

Right now, his plan was to hand over the talismans, then secretly use them to devour more power and feed it to him.

WHOOOOOSH!

Numerous children of Brahma were gathering at the main square, as were the patriarchs.

In the lead was August Patriarch Proud Wing, who was a fourth division Shattered God. He was the kind of person who would be a patriarch even in a fifteenth ranked immortal world, much less a fifth ranked one like the Brahman Immortal World. He would even be considered powerful in a twentieth ranked world.

Once upon a time, Yang Qi had been afraid of him. But not now. With the piece of the Cruiser of Civilization that he had, he could easily crush him.

Brahma Echo-Silk was among the patriarchs, and when she saw Yang Qi she projected a message to him. "Are you ready, Yang Qi? And did you succeed in the mission to get the talismans?"

"Of course I'm ready," he replied. "And yes, I have the talismans. It seems something big is about to happen; most likely they'll lock down this entire area and send future warriors here. I definitely don't want to be stuck on the outside when that happens."

"Good. Remember to stick to the plan. When the power eruption occurs, you get into the Brahman Institute and break that seal and I'll back you up."

"I know," Yang Qi replied, shifting his attention to the Brahman Institute.

'This brat only gets more and more arrogant,' Brahma Echo-Silk thought, and all of a sudden realized that she might not be able to control him after all. 'In any case, the patriarchs of the Glorious Treasure Heaven have pooled their godpower and are ready to take action. As long as he can even loosen that seal, Brahma's heart will attack the future power, and chaos will erupt. He'll die, and I'll finally be able to get my hands on his treasures.'

After everyone was settled, August Patriarch Proud Wing raised his voice and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, as we wait to begin the upgrade of this immortal world, you will report in regarding your missions. Normally, we give a hundred years to finish missions such as this, but this time the deadline was three years. Those who succeeded will be given rewards a hundred times greater than in the past. And when the immortal world is upgraded, you will all become patriarchs sent out to conquer other immortal worlds."

With that, names began to be called out.

"Brahma Fury, you were sent to search for the Flower of Time. Did you succeed?" A rather fat child of Brahma stepped forward nervously and dropped to his knees. "Patriarch, I… I didn't find the flower. But give me three more years and I'll definitely succeed! I dug up some big clues."

"Useless fool! I hereby sentence you to death!"

Dazzling godlight shot out of August Patriarch Proud Wing's eyes, slamming into the fat child of Brahma and causing him to burst into flames. Everything trembled as he was quickly reduced to a glob of power.

Quite a few jaws dropped from shock, and virtually all of the children of Brahma went grey in the face.

"All children of Brahma who failed in their missions are incompetent pieces of garbage. The institute has spent immense amounts of wealth to help them grow, yet they provide no contributions in return? In that case, we'll take back what was given. Any child of Brahma who didn't succeed will be instantly executed!"

Children of Brahma had lofty positions and were very overbearing, but today, those who failed their missions met miserable ends.

One by one, the names were called out. Those who succeeded in their missions were delighted, as they knew they would receive incredible rewards after the immortal world around them was upgraded. Those children of Brahma who failed their missions all hesitated to step forward, and August Patriarch Proud Wing's gaze would reach out and kill them in body and soul.

A few of them would growl something along the lines of, "Forget this. I'm not going out without a fight!"

Howling, they would try to fly away, only to be crushed by the patriarchs.

"Hu Latu. Hu Yanmeng!"

Yang Qi and Hu Latu stepped forward and offered up two hundred of King Heaven-Devourer's talismans.

August Patriarch Proud Wing's eyes glittered as he waved his hand to collect them. As they flew up, they transformed into a primal-chaos elder-snake that immediately began absorbing the immortal world power and transforming it into Heaven-Devouring True Energy. Proud Wing smiled. "Excellent! You two disciples have performed an incredible service. After this immortal world is upgraded, I'll personally reward you with virtual godhood to help you rise to the Godmyth level."

Even as the words left his mouth, he sent some divine will into the talismans to assimilate them. Hu Latu and Yang Qi looked on with ashen faces, as if they were completely dismayed at having lost a valuable treasure.

Looking very pleased, August Patriarch Proud Wing said, "You're dismissed!"

Yang Qi and Hu Latu offered respectful salutes, then stepped back. Just barely visible on Yang Qi's face was a cold, mysterious smile. There was absolutely no way he would allow August Patriarch Proud Wing to take the talismans for his own. The truth was that Yang Qi had taken control of them using his God Legion Seal, thus not even King Heaven-Devourer himself could have taken them away.

August Patriarch Proud Wing only had a surface-level control, but didn't truly own them.

Furthermore, Yang Qi could take them back with a single thought.

For the moment, he wouldn't, though. They were a very important factor in the game he was playing.

Turning to some of the other patriarchs, August Patriarch Proud Wing said, "Hurry up and take these talismans to the area of sealing. Their ability to absorb power will make it easier to keep that thing in check."

The patriarchs accepted the talismans and hurried into the institute to do as they had been told. Eventually, Yang Qi could sense that the talismans had reached an area filled with abundant power flows, power so pure it was virtually crystallized and bordered on godhood. Tapping into the talismans, he sent the energy flowing into the Cruiser of Civilization. Soon, the power reserves there reached the level of six one-hundred-billionths.

By now, the overall power reserves were a hundred times more plentiful than before.

'When the true influx of power begins, I'll use all two thousand of King Heaven-Devourer's talismans. Maybe I can even send the Cruiser of Civilization in through the Flatverse to directly absorb some of the power!'

Yang Qi's master plan was finally starting to take shape.

"The other three children of Brahma who were assigned the mission of finding the talismans obviously deserted," August Patriarch Proud Wing said coldly. "Activate their branding marks and execute them!"

Three patriarchs stepped forward, each of them holding an oil lamp. Those lamps represented the three children of Brahma who had tried to make things hard for Yang Qi, whom he had subsequently sent on a wild goose chase.

POP!

The lamps were extinguished and faint, agonized cries rang out as their three nascent divinities were destroyed.

The observing children of Brahma were so terrified that many of them prostrated themselves on the ground and didn't dare to lift their heads.

Thus, rewards and punishments were handed out to everyone. Of the original group of one hundred thousand, nearly seventy thousand were executed. The weak were culled, leaving behind only the most elite, powerful, and capable.

Soon, silence reigned.

The tense atmosphere made it seem like the Brahman Immortal World was about to face a powerful enemy.

Looks of anticipation could be seen on the faces of all the patriarchs.

RUMBLE!

Time ticked by, and Yang Qi focused on absorbing as much power as he could. The Cruiser of Civilization was inching toward the level of one ten-billionth, which would unlock more abilities of the spacecraft.

Yang Qi was itching to find out what would happen at that point.

But then a rumbling sound rose up, and Yang Qi knew that something big was happening. His Wheel of Fate turned as he observed the dao of heaven and the natural laws around him, and he realized that they were shattering.

Cheering rose up from the children of Brahma.

"My cultivation base is improving!"

"I'm breaking through!"

"I'm actually achieving a breakthrough. I already have nine lineaments on my dao heart, which means I'm going to become a Godmyth! But why isn't there any heavenly tribulation?"

And it wasn't just them. In many areas of the immortal world, ordinary cultivators were rising to a higher level, which should have provoked heavenly tribulation. But no tribulation could be seen.

All of them felt like immense weights had been lifted from their shoulders.

August Patriarch Proud Wing broke out into hearty laughter. "The power of the future world has shattered the dao of heaven here. The dao of heaven's fury and natural laws won't do anything. We're on our way to becoming the overlord of worlds! Not even thirty-third ranked immortal worlds will be able to do anything to us. An amazing future is on the way!"

RIIIIP!

Immense power descended, wrapping up the Brahman Institute and even entering the Brahman River.

To Yang Qi's shock, the god item that was the Brahman River was being activated. As it awoke, it grew larger and larger, crushing all of the spatial tempests it encountered. Soon, it even threatened to overwhelm other immortal worlds.