Sage Monarch

"The seventy-one of them lost all sense of shame! I can't believe they betrayed me. After I came out of seclusion, there didn't seem to be any problem with them at all. But as it turned out, that punk Yang Qi somehow manipulated them to turn on me. Now I have nothing left! My plan to restore King Immortal-Slayer and the seventy-one brethren is destroyed! It's all because of those bastard double-crossers. And Yang Qi even took my legacy medallions! I hate him! I hate heaven! I hate earth!"

Leaf Dao-Denier threw his head back and howled in rage.

"If I had known this was what was going on, I would have pushed my energy arts to the ultimate level before going to take him on. I could have waited until Yang Qi and the ten magisters were on their last legs. Or I could have just destroyed the seventy-one patriarchs and assimilated them. Instead, my soft-heartedness led to a huge catastrophe!

"Damnation! I'm going to defy heaven and turn all of this back around! I'm going to kill all ten magisters from the future world! I'll destroy them!"

Unfortunately, no amount of howling to heaven and earth had any effect.

Suddenly, laughter rang out. "So, Leaf Dao-Denier, you've finally come to understand first-hand how much of a clever fox that boy is."

An old man appeared, clad in an imperial robe, with an imperial crown on his head. This was the owner of the Live Forever God Tree, the emperor of the Tusita Heaven, who Young Master Leaf had only just recently been in conflict with.

Of course, Young Master Leaf was gradually gaining the approval of the core essence of the Tusita Heaven, which meant that eventually he would control the entire place. And unless the immortal world was completely destroyed, he would be impossible to kill.

Young Master Leaf looked up. "Well, if it isn't Emperor Tusita. So you know about the battle I just lost? Are you here to mock me?"

The emperor snorted coldly. "I sensed the agitation of the essence of our Tusita heaven, so I came to investigate. And thanks to your little monologue, I know exactly what happened. You were blinded by greed. You lost big to that brat, and were betrayed by your seventy-one patriarchs. If you hadn't been so rapacious, you could've worked with the Tusita Dynasty. With us, victory would have been assured. And you most surely wouldn't be in this miserable state."

"You're right," Young Master Leaf said. Of course, inwardly, he was thinking different thoughts. 'If I'd asked for help from the emperor and the other old-timers from the imperial house, I definitely could have defeated Yang Qi and the wills of the ten magisters. But how could I stoop to such a level? It's not like they're any friends of mine, and eventually, they all have to die. I need to get back to the Sea of Despair and take full control of the essence. Then I'll set up a huge spell formation to trap all of them and take their energy arts. I'll kill them all one by one. For now, though, I'll just pretend to want to work with them.'

"Emperor Tusita, that Yang Qi is too much for us to handle right now. He has seven of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, which makes him just as terrifying as a demigod patriarch. And he can come and go with no warning whatsoever. How do you think you can deal with that?"

Emperor Tusita chuckled coldly. "Leaf Dao-Denier, ah, Leaf Dao-Denier. You should really stop underestimating us. Do you really think you're invincible? Do you really think your destiny is superior to everyone else's? It's true, you're a top genius. You have one of the most coveted of the three thousand special constitutions. You're a Fortuned One, but unfortunately there are still a lot of people out there who surpass you. I've known for a long time that this brat was going to be tough to deal with. We have to have an ironclad plan in place before trying to take him down. Right now, the biggest difficulty is that any attempt to kill him could be foiled by him just jumping into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Thankfully, we already have a plan to stop that."

"What plan?" Leaf Dao-Denier asked.

"In about two months, he has a duel scheduled with Sectlord Nine Yangs in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple of the Dao Defense League. It's a formal thing, and word has already spread far and wide. Lots of old-timers will be going to watch, including demigods. It's going to be quite the affair. We have a god formation that can temporarily suppress the power of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions. In other words, he won't be able to escape into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Once we have him in that formation, we can easily kill him. So. What do you think, Leaf Dao-Denier? Work with us and you can have your revenge."

"Alright. I'll work with you!" Right now, Leaf Dao-Denier was definitely a general with no troops under his command, therefore, he didn't hesitate to agree to the offer.

"Excellent," replied Emperor Tusita. "Working together, we can definitely create a new heaven and earth. What we need to do now is get in touch with all the most powerful old-timers and lure them into our plan. We can just tell them about Yang Qi's legacy medallions, and claim that he's working with the future world. Make the old-timers fearful of him. When the time comes to make our move, the entire Dao Defense League will be out for him." He chuckled darkly. "And in the end, we can use our spell formation to win big. By the way, I want the true godhood back that he took, and half of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions. Everything else will go to you."

"Fine. It's a deal." Leaf Dao-Denier chuckled inwardly. 'This guy has no idea that the true godhood and the legacy medallions aren't even really that important. What's most important is the God Legion Seal. With that seal, I can rule this entire era. Perhaps being free of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions is a good thing, considering how they absorb the user's destiny.'

"Another thing we need to do," said Leaf Dao-Denier, "is make sure Sectlord Nine Yangs gets a bit stronger…."

"There's no need," Emperor Tusita said. "Don't underestimate him. Do you know how difficult it is to become a Chaos God in a twenty-sixth ranked immortal world? Normally speaking, you can only reach the Chaos God in a thirtieth-ranked world or higher."

"He must have some powerful old-timer backing him. But who?"

"I'm not sure of that. But whoever it is, they're very, very strong. It's probably someone close to the level of a god."

"We need to put more thought into the plan in general. We can't let Sectlord Nine Yangs take advantage of us."

As they schemed, Yang Qi returned to the Dao Defense League, and it was with much fanfare. The moment he arrived, an enormous immortal world appeared.

"I am hereby establishing a new immortal world," he said, his voice rumbling out. "This is the Sage Monarch Heaven, and it is run by the Sage Monarch Society. Henceforth, there is no Sage Panacea Sect. Any ambitious individuals out there are welcome to join the Sage Monarch Society. Swear oaths to piously give your faith and protect the society with your lives. If you do, you'll receive unimaginable benefits. I'll personally baptize you, healing you of any hidden energy arts injuries."

The Sage Monarch Heaven was making its debut and would soon be a twentieth ranked immortal world, pulsing with incredible energy.

Yang Qi was now stronger than any of the old-timers, to the point where he could create immortal worlds. Unfortunately, his limit was currently twentieth ranked worlds. Anything beyond that would have to wait until he was stronger.

Of course, among immortal worlds in general, that was still a very high rank. Generally speaking, not even Chaos Gods could create worlds like that. Usually, it was the field of demigods.

Already, the Sage Monarch Heaven swarmed with Godmyths, thanks to all of the god dao seeds Yang Qi had provided.

There were even some people, such as Eldest Brother and Empress Jadefall, who were already second division Tempered Gods.

No longer was the Sage Monarch Heaven a small and pitifully weak force. It was slowly rising into glory.

Obviously, it was the rogue cultivators who were happiest when a new sect was founded or a new immortal world appeared. Normally, they were errand-runners and cannon fodder, but now they would have a chance to have a real home.

"What? The Sage Panacea Sect is an immortal world now? And they're recruiting? We should go take a look."

"Nobody cares at all about rogue cultivators like us here in the Dao Defense League. We get assigned all the most dangerous missions and are basically nothing more than cannon fodder. We can't just keep going on like this. We have to join some sort of big sect."

"The person who created this Sage Monarch Heaven is no ordinary person. I've heard his name is Dragon Proudheaven and he's strong enough to fight Chaos Gods."

"Let's go see if we can curry some favor and get in."

Rejoicing abounded in the Dao Defense League as rogue cultivators came from all over. Initially, there was quite a bit of chaos. After all, even the strongest disciples from the Sage Monarch Heaven were no stronger than Tempered Gods, whereas most of the rogue cultivators were Shattered or Nirvanic Gods.

In the end, the seventy-one patriarchs came and established their authority. As soon as their aura appeared, everyone calmed down.

It was with cold, grim voices that they issued a host of chilling proclamations.

"Anyone who joins the Sage Monarch Society but isn't faithful will be executed!"

"Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be executed!"

"Anyone who betrays us will be executed!"

"Anyone who slanders us… will be executed!"

Quite a few people recognized the seventy-one patriarchs as being the famous brethren of Leaf Dao-Denier, but in a shocking turn of events, they now worked for Yang Qi.

"Seventy-one patriarchs, where is your brother Leaf Dao-Denier? Is he working for Dragon Proudheaven now too?"

"He's not Dragon Proudheaven. He's Yang Qi! He said so himself!"

The old-timers in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple were particularly shocked.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi looked on, nodding in approval.

Three days later, the population of the Sage Monarch Heaven was much larger. With the seventy-one patriarchs there to keep order, Yang Qi decided that the time had come to focus on his cultivation again. But before he could, bells tolled in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple. A meeting was being called.