Sage Monarch

Bloodcurdling screams filled the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple.

Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven begged and pleaded, offering to open his heart and soul to Yang Qi, to give him faith, to become a believer. The power of faith provided by a Grand Emperor like him would be incredible, far beyond any other Chaos God.

At a certain point, Yang Qi held back his hand. Voice cool, he said, "I'd originally planned to whip you to death. However, if you're really willing to open your soul, then perhaps I can show some leniency. Fine. Allow my Light of Faith to enter you. And do nothing to resist, otherwise, I won't show you any mercy."

"Yes, yes of course…."

After the agony of the Hell Scourge, the mere absence of pain made Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven feel like he was in the halls of heaven. As of now, he would rather die than ever suffer those lashings again.

Even losing face in front of a whole crowd of people was preferable.

Yang Qi waved his hand and a beam of sagelight shot into the Grand Emperor's head, filled with numerous majestic magical laws as well as the doctrines of radiance and light that Yang Qi had created upon founding the Sage Monarch Society. Normally speaking, Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven could crush such things easily. But once he accepted them into him, his destiny, his fortune, his mind, his soul, and his very substructure would all belong to Yang Qi.

Soon, the light faded away and he was a pious believer. Getting on his knees, he said, "Milord, I, Ragefire Broilheaven, your staunchest believer, hereby kowtow to you!"

He had even stopped calling himself a Grand Emperor.

RUMBLE!

As he kowtowed, Yang Qi felt immense destiny flowing into him, like a raging fire.

Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven was a very important person when it came to the dao of heaven. Now, Yang Qi had forced him into submission, providing him with a very valuable and also powerful minion. It was the kind of good fortune that could be encountered by chance, but never searched for and found.

It was just like the old saying, it is simpler by far to raise a thousand troops than to find a single general to lead them. This man's destiny reached back to the days of the ancient Heavenly Court, and he was now a loyal servant who couldn't possibly rebel.

At that moment, everyone present was convinced of Yang Qi's position of superiority and power, and none of them dared to oppose him. The Dao Defense League's power structure was stabilized, and it would soon lead the immortal dao civilization into a golden age.

Of course, even though the Dao Defense League was the biggest alliance, there were simply too many immortal worlds to count. There were even some who were unaware of the invasion of the future world and remained aloof to the larger affairs around them. And that wasn't to mention the endless primal-chaos that existed, which still contained many old-timers, as well as the experts who had long since focused their efforts on reaching the Ancient Road to the Gods.

All things considered, the population of the Dao Defense League was probably only one percent of the immortal dao civilization as a whole. That said, it was still an incredibly large and powerful alliance. And right now, Yang Qi was the leader of that alliance, making him like an emperor in a mortal empire.

He had consolidated his power, prepared defenses against outside incursions, and could now ponder his next step: reaching the Deathless Throne.

"Very well, Ragefire Broilheaven," Yang Qi said. "You've seen the error in your ways, and made a change for the better. I hereby appoint you as the Emissary of Righteousness. You will bear my creeds and doctrines, and use them to completely and utterly transform any and all wretch-devils. Attend well to your tasks, understand? Henceforth, you have no need for your previous term of address, Ragefire Broilheaven. You will now join the Yang Clan and bear the name Yang Righteousness."

"Thank you for blessing me with this name, Milord," the newly renamed Yang Righteousness said, repeatedly knocking his forehead to the ground like a faithful servant should. The onlookers all sighed and inwardly shook their heads. For all intents and purposes, the famous Grand Emperor of the past was now dead, replaced by a mindless zealot.

"You four suzerains, step forward," Yang Qi said. Up to this point, he hadn't truly forced the suzerains into submission. But now that he had them in his clutches, there was no way he would just let them go.

"Y-Young… Young Sir… what are you doing?"

"We didn't do anything to betray you! We served you well. Don't tell me you're going to take our destiny and force us to exercise faith in you!"

"I am," Yang Qi said. "Monsters like you don't exercise faith in anyone. You only care about who's strongest. Furthermore, if you get the chance, you'll hit anyone when they're down. If I hadn't been able to hold my own here, you would've definitely turned on me and tried to seize my good fortune. Am I right?"

"We would never dare! Never ever!" The four suzerains were all shaking their heads vigorously, although, they were already sure of what Yang Qi was planning to do next.

"Enough blathering. Open your souls and become believers, just like Yang Righteousness. I'll even transform you into angels, giving you energy arts far more powerful than you currently have." He flicked his sleeve. "You can refuse, but if you do, then you'll either die, or face the pain of my Hell Scourge. And I doubt any of you four could last long under that torment."

All of a sudden, the previous Emissary of Darkness and Gloom, Wave Charm, stepped forward and said, "League-Lord, let my father go and I'll do anything you want."

"Stow your impudence!" Patriarch Annalist barked. "These four monsters will convert. If they don't, they'll only sit around plotting ways to cause trouble. League-Lord, although we've consolidated power here in the alliance, that Eldest Brother Secundus managed to escape with the other three Grand Emperors and Leaf Dao-Denier. These are extraordinary times, therefore, extraordinary measures are required. The generalissimos of the future world will be arriving soon, and the war will truly begin to rage. We absolutely can't allow these four suzerains to cause problems."

"I agree," Yang Qi said with a nod. Truth be told, he had long since decided that he would force the four suzerains into submission, giving him the faith of five experts, all of whom were at the Grand Emperor level.

Not only would that faith benefit his immortal-slaying clone, it would be of much help in probing the mysteries of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, the Engine of the One God, King Heaven-Devourer's talismans, and the beast king clones he had devoured. Thanks to the warnings provided by the dao of heaven, he knew that a grave crisis was coming. The experts of the Primeval and Future Ages would be very difficult to deal with, and that wasn't to mention whatever powerful beings might be lurking on the Ancient Road to the Gods.

It was said that once someone stepped onto the Ancient Road to the Gods, it was impossible to turn back. However, it wouldn't surprise Yang Qi if there actually were people who could descend from there. Besides, there was already some sort of god-spirit who had been backing Sectlord Nine Yangs, someone with a cultivation base far beyond the level of the Grand Emperors.

Considering Yang Qi currently had no way to track that person down, he wanted to be prepared for the worst.

"My time is limited. Are you going to give me your faith? If not, I'll kill you." He flicked his finger, and four streams of the Light of Faith shot toward the suzerains. "Don't even think of fighting back and hoping to get in a lucky shot that wins you a victory. You saw me deal with Eldest Brother Secundus and the others, so you know that killing you lot would be as easy for me as flipping over my hand. And don't forget that my energy arts are specially designed to be the bane of your existence."

The trembling suzerains finally acknowledged allegiance. "We accept your Light of Faith, League-Lord." In the blink of an eye, they became believers who dropped to their knees and kowtowed to Yang Qi.

He sent more light streaming into them, which extruded their devil energy and released the radiance and light that had been eternally sealed within their genes. White wings of pure power sprouted out of their backs and holy hymns echoed around them.

"Lord, thy divine might is immeasurable, and your majesty consummate and perfect…."

The four suzerains of hell were now four angels of untold beauty and might, with incredible fighting prowess and no fear of death.

"I hereby bequeath you with the surname Yang. You will be named Yang Unrestrained, Yang Mahānata, Yang Misery, and Yang Never-Ending. Understand? You will lead the Army of Radiance and Light, er, wait. No. Considering that I'm the league-lord now, the Army of Radiance and Light will have a new name. It will be the Army of Holy Sages." One by one, the old-timers present began kneeling in submission.

It seemed like only yesterday that Yang Qi had arrived at the Dao Defense League and joined the Nine Yangs God Sect. Now he was the league-lord, with more power than the previous leader had ever dreamed of having.