Sage Monarch

"Young Sir Dragon Proudheaven, was that really a nascent divinity projection of one of your Dragonfolk elders? It was definitely at the level of an eighth division expert!"

"Yeah, was that really the aura of you Dragonfolk? You're not from some random immortal world, are you? You're from the Eight Tribes Heaven!"

"So someone in the Eight Tribes Heaven actually combined the Eight Tribes Godfist? Young Sir Proudheaven, could the power of that fist technique have come from a talisman given to you by one of your elders?"

Things had calmed down, and Yang Cauldron and Yang Rainbow's impression of Yang Qi had changed dramatically. As Shattered Gods, they normally wouldn't pay the slightest attention to people who weren't even Godmyths. But now their change in attitude was clear.

Things had changed in a heaven-shaking, earth-toppling way, and they were convinced that Yang Qi wasn't exaggerating; he really was backed by immensely powerful forces.

The illusion cast by the Cruiser of Civilization had frightened them deep in their hearts.

At the same time, they were deeply ashamed that they hadn't managed to keep him safe. If he had been kidnapped, and then Dragonfolk elders came from the Eight Tribes Heaven to ask questions, what would they have done? Would the Nine Yangs God Sect even have survived?

The Eight Tribes Heaven was a thirty-third ranked immortal world just like the Tusita Heaven. In fact, the Eight Tribes Heaven was actually a bit stronger than the Tusita Heaven. After all, their immortal world was inhabited not by humans, but by heaven dragons! Dragons in general were divine creatures second only to the legion of gods.

"You're right," Yang Qi said. "The power I unleashed just now came from a talisman given me by an elder in my clan. As for whether or not anyone has cultivated the Eight Tribes Godfist to completion, I don't really know." Obviously, Yang Qi gave answers filled with half-truths. There was no way he would reveal any of his own secrets.

"From here on out, we'll do everything possible to ensure your safety, Young Sir. Don't worry. Nothing like this will ever happen again. We'll immediately report the matter to the elder kings and punish the Immortal-Slayer's Sect for their deeds! Men! Come take Young Sir Dragon Proudheaven into the main hall of our Nine Yangs God Sect. The elder kings will come soon, and we'll see who dares to cause problems then!"

After the event which had just played out, it was obvious that Yang Qi would begin rapidly rising through the ranks. He had already been invited into the inner parts of the sect where an enormous plane of existence held invincible god items, countless warding magics, and numerous expressions of divine will. If anyone from the Immortal-Slayer's Sect tried to get into this place, it would be very difficult.

Before long, an old man who had the demeanor of a transcendent being appeared. He introduced himself as Yang Heaven-Bracer, and he was a Revisionist God who was one of the old-timers in the Nine Yangs God Sect, an elder king. He was one of the true leaders of the sect, and he was the one who was formally receiving Yang Qi.

They had a pleasant chat, in which Yang Qi drew heavily upon information about the Dragonfolk that he had acquired from the Cruiser of Civilization. He released some of the aura of the dragons, and the man was soon convinced that Yang Qi really was an elite young one from the Dragonfolk.

After all, the genetic systems of the Cruiser of Civilization were based on the science and technology of the ancient mechanical civilization, and such systems could not have been created without input from the Dragonfolk. Dragonfolk genes were extremely mysterious and very close to the genes of the legion of gods.

After all of the discussions were over, the Nine Yangs God Sect opened a hospital for Yang Qi to treat morphblight victims. Before long, experts were flocking in to get treatment. In some cases, he could transform them back to being immortals. In other cases, the infections were too severe to counteract.

Most of the people who came looking for treatment were powerful and important people. Weaker individuals who ended up infected would usually be killed in combat, not captured and locked up. After all, morphlings were dangerous and had all sorts of abilities and powers. Any who were taken captive, but subsequently escaped, would cause huge problems and rapidly spread infection.

Thus, the victims Yang Qi treated were usually important and could always provide ample payment. The Nine Yangs God Sect also assigned some top disciples to assist Yang Qi. Eventually, he began imbuing energy into medicinal pills and elixirs that could be administered by the disciples, otherwise he would never have been able to keep up with demand. The true aim of the sect was to have the disciples learn some of his secrets. Unfortunately, no one could reproduce the results.

Despite that, the sect still lavished him with all sorts of rewards. Most of them, he secretly sent into the Cruiser of Civilization for his family and friends to use in cultivation or to give out as rewards to his followers.

Several months passed, and Yang Qi was famous in the Dao Defense League. Plus, he was incredibly rich. Everyone knew that the Nine Yangs God Sect was working with a young man from the Dragonfolk, someone named Dragon Proudheaven who could heal morphblight infections.

And of course, more and more people came to seek treatment. They seemed to come without end.

In addition to working in the hospital, Yang Qi worked on his cultivation and tried to keep tabs on Young Master Leaf. Of course, he had a master plan that he was slowly unfolding.

There were obviously people from the Immortal-Slayer's Sect who ended up being struck with morphblight, who then came to seek treatment. However, Yang Qi refused to treat them unless they left their sect and swore an oath to never have dealings with it again. Thus he slowly ate away at the membership of the Immortal-Slayer's Sect.

The Immortal-Slayer's Sect was already champing at the bit to make a move on Yang Qi, but their hands were tied. Yang Qi was locked away deep in the Nine Yangs God Sect, and they couldn't afford to launch a full scale assault just to get at him.

After all, there were numerous top experts in the interior of the Nine Yangs God Sect.

It was said that Sectlord Nine Yangs was a spectacular Chaos God who understood the dao of primordial chaos. Even in the Tusita Heaven, he would be respected and feared.

Yang Qi was doing his best to draw the snakes out of their holes.

As the war between the Dao Defense League and the future world wore on, it got more intense. The future world was constantly trying to expand its borders, and as they infected more people with morphblight, Yang Qi had more and more business at the hospital. Because of him, the Immortal-Slayer's Sect was becoming more and more isolated within the alliance.

Everyone knew that stemmed back to how the Immortal-Slayer's Sect had tried to kidnap him and turn him into a slave. In fact, whenever Yang Qi saw a patient, he would find out if they had anything to do with the Immortal-Slayer's Sect. If they did, he would refuse to treat them!

Everyone agreed that the Immortal-Slayer's Sect had been acting far too rude and aggressive. It was really outrageous that they would just show up at some other sect, try to take someone's treasures, then force them into servitude to earn their own sect profit. No one would be able to tolerate such behavior.

And so Yang Qi was slowly but surely eroding the reputation and majesty of the Immortal-Slayer's Sect.

**

"Dammit! Failed again!"

POP!

A morphling screamed and exploded into a shower of blood, which was quickly burned away by intense fire. A young patriarch stood by, clad in a green garment, a sinister expression on his face. Next to him stood several other young men, one of whom was the vicious fellow who had tried to kidnap Yang Qi some time back.

Upon seeing that the young patriarch in green had failed to cure the morphling, the vicious young man dropped to his knees and said, "Patriarch Green Merchant, this is all my fault. Because I didn't get my hands on that Dragon Proudheaven, our Immortal-Slayer's Sect is in a passive position and has sustained serious losses. Not only that, we can't get healing services from the Nine Yangs God Sect."

"It's fine," replied the young patriarch named Green Merchant, who was one of the seventy-two brethren. He emanated a powerful aura that contained the unique constitution of a Berserk One, which meant he had berserk and crazy genes that contained the mysteries of primal-chaos. When he got mad, he would become as crazy as a devil and exterminate everything in sight. Of course, in that state he would have access to tenfold power.

At the moment, his eyes glittered with profound violence. "It doesn't matter how many disciples get infected with morphblight. Let them die. They don't deserve to be saved by us. Don't forget, Young Master Leaf and me, and the rest of the seventy-two brethren, arrived in the Dao Defense League with absolutely nothing. It didn't take long for us to establish the Immortal-Slayer's Sect and start growing. So what are we afraid of? That punk Dragon Proudheaven won't live out the year. He defied the Immortal-Slayer's Sect, so he deserves to die!"

"Yes, yes of course…." the vicious young man replied. Although he felt cold at heart, he didn't dare to question Patriarch Green Merchant. Instead, he said, "These trashy disciples definitely don't deserve our attention. But at the same time, we have to be careful about morale. If we can't save our disciples, recruitment is going to drop to nothing."

"Hmph! Young Master Leaf is completely focused on the boundless technique he's cultivating. He's in seclusion and has left the Immortal-Slayer's Sect in the hands of the rest of us seventy-one brethren. I can't believe this punk is causing problems like this. He's not even a Godmyth, yet he's openly challenging us! If we don't get rid of him, we're going to become a laughingstock." He suddenly shot to his feet. "If we're going to kill him, we have to capture him first. Keep him under surveillance. If he comes out into the open, we can easily surround him. Can you think of any way to lure him out? Well? I refuse to believe that he'll stay in hiding forever. He can't reach the Godmyth level without coming out to do some training!"

"Right, right. You're completely correct, Young Master Green. Don't worry, we already sent people to keep an eye on him. If he comes out, they'll instantly surround him! The only downside is that he has a talisman given him by some Dragonfolk expert. He's probably going to be hard to kill. It'll probably take one of you seventy-two patriarchs to take him down. At the very least, Young Master Green, you'll need to join in."

Young Master Green nodded. "I'm aware of how strong he is. Don't worry. As long as he comes out in the open I'll step through the void and strike at him like lightning. I'll definitely kill him. Let's see if those old fogies from the Dragonfolk can save him if I do that!"

All of a sudden, a disciple rushed in. "Patriarch! I have an urgent report. Some more disciples contracted morphblight, and there's one who hasn't completely transformed into a morphling. There's still a chance to save him."

Several more disciples appeared, carrying one of their comrades, who was only half-transformed into a morphling and still using his energy arts to stave off the final bits of the transformation.

"Scum! You want us to save you? Just die!"

Young Master Green lashed out with his palm, transforming the disciple into ash. The display of savagery caused the other disciples' hearts to grow cold.