Sage Monarch

Just like that, Yang Qi had forced two emissaries to submit, and taken their faith. And thanks to absorbing the nascent divinity sealing marks in them, his psychic scale rose higher, making it more and more likely that he would soon reach the Terrifying level.

Whoever had placed the nascent divinity sealing marks on them obviously possessed Terrifying will. However, thanks to the power of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, Yang Qi was able to conceal the effects of what had just occurred.

If he hadn't, then that Terrifying expert would have realized what happened and come to destroy Yang Qi. And this expert was truly in the Terrifying level, unlike Empress Joyflower, who was merely on the cusp of it.

Dead silence reigned after Yang Qi took out two top experts with seemingly no effort. Even as the shockwaves continued rolling out, a huge vortex popped into being and prepared to swallow the Profound House of Battle Energy.

When Yang Qi said he was going to do something, he did it. After all, he could take the Profound House of Battle Energy into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart on his own. Considering he now had two top experts working for him, that task would be even easier. He immediately set the two emissaries to work powering certain god formations in the chart.

Even in the Joyflower Palace, there were few people as strong as these two emissaries. In fact, other than the empress herself, there were none.

Considering the advances Yang Qi had made with his cultivation base, he had a feeling that it would soon be time to go back and tangle with Empress Joyflower again. Of course, he wasn't confident that he could defeat her right now.

He needed to get just a bit stronger. Then, unless she had somehow broken through to the Terrifying level, there would be no way she could beat him.

"So, Battle Kilomountain, what do you think of my friend here?" Battle Resister said. Considering that he and Yang Qi had fought so bitterly together against Empress Joyflower, and that Yang Qi had rescued him, the two of them now had a strong friendship born from battle.

"Y-y-you.... Where did you find someone this strong? He actually defeated the emissaries of the Immortal House of Supreme Preeminence and forced them to work for him? I can't believe this! Do you know how dangerous it is to offend them?"

Considering that Battle Kilomountain couldn't even fight one of those two emissaries, it was obvious he couldn't do a thing to Yang Qi. If he tried, he would only end up destroyed.

"Battle Resister, old pal, it seems this Junior Brother of yours is a real scoundrel. Very treacherous. You definitely can't keep people like this around. Shall I take care of him for you? Things are only going to get more complicated going forward, and considering how untrustworthy he is, I don't want him in my Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart causing trouble. Obviously, he has to be executed before he causes problems."

"Hold on," Battle Resister said. "After all, he is my Junior Brother. However, he did defy authority, and if I don't punish him it'll be difficult to maintain control of the disciples in the Profound House of Battle Energy. I'll be the one to administer justice!"

RUMBLE!

Battle Resister thrust his hand out in a devastating palm move.

Gong!

Shocked, Battle Kilomountain began fighting back. However, it had already been proven that he wasn't a match for Battle Resister. And he had been injured in their previous clash. Although Preeminence Boost had healed him to some extent, his true energy was still in chaos. Furthermore, he was mentally shaken after seeing Yang Qi in action.

RIP!

A palm hit him and his meridians exploded, causing blood to spray out of him.

"First palm: You Defy Rules!"

RIP!

The palm slammed into Battle Kilomountain's stomach.

"Second palm: You Incite Rebellion!"

"Third Palm: You Resort to Demagoguery!"

"Fourth Palm: You...."

One after another, Battle Resister let loose a torrent of attacks that slammed into Battle Kilomountain and sent blood spraying everywhere. Previously, the prime elders had been Battle Kilomountain's diehard followers, but thanks to the threat provided by Yang Qi, none of them dared to do anything other than look on and tremble.

Yang Qi had his eye on them, and all of them knew that if they made a move, he could strike like lightning and put an end to them.

Battle Kilomountain was struck by eighteen palm attacks, forcing him to his knees, his martial arts leaking out of him. True energy spread out, leaving him forever and making him a complete cripple.

"My... my energy arts!" he wailed. "I worked so hard on them. Now they're gone? I hate you, Battle Resister! How could you treat me like this?!"

"I'll spare your life," Battle Resister roared, "but you're going to remain in prison. Disciples!"

"Here!" Upon seeing the leader of the sect putting on such an impressive display of might, numerous disciples hurried forward and grabbed Battle Kilomountain. Binding him in chains, they dragged him away.

Yang Qi gave an inward nod of satisfaction at the way Battle Resister handled Battle Kilomountain. Battle Resister was clearly not blindly merciful. When the time came to kill, he could do so without hesitation. Of course, it was little wonder. On the Ancient Road to the Gods, those who showed mercy would inevitably be devoured by others.

The only exception could possibly be Star Swordlife, who cultivated a dao of life. That said, not even Star Swordlife would simply let an enemy kill him.

'That Star Swordlife is a real genius,' Yang Qi thought. 'I wonder when I'll finally subdue his sect and force him to work for me. He could be useful.'

Back when they had first met, Star Swordlife's power index had been around a hundred. Although it had seemed powerful at the time, it was actually quite weak. That being said, he had a lot of potential, and if he continued to cultivate his sword technique it was entirely possible he could reach godly ascension. After all, he followed his own dao with unswerving determination.

"And now, what to do with you prime elders?" Yang Qi asked.

"We were in the wrong!" one of the prime elders said, dropping to his knees. "Houselord, we understand the error of our ways. Please, show us lenience! Don't cripple our energy arts!"

"Perhaps I can spare your energy arts," Battle Resister said, "but you need to truly repent. In your hearts! At the moment, you're just weaklings who fear being punished. Therefore, I'm going to demote you from the position of prime elder and place warding spells in your nascent divinities. Henceforth, you will all work as conduit teachers, got it? Your main job is to train warriors for the sect!"

In large sects, there were often people called conduit teachers, or thralls. They would work hard on their cultivation, then, when certain crack disciples came along who had earned a reward, they would be forced to transfer their energy arts to that student. It was a miserable existence, similar to fishing cormorants who could catch fish but not actually eat them. [1]

When the prime elders heard that they were to be thralls, their faces turned ashen. However, they didn't dare to argue. If they did, they knew they would end up with crippled energy arts, and virtually no hope of ever recovering.

"Disciples, take the conduit teachers away," Battle Resister said. "Brother Yang Qi, could I prevail on you to place warding magics on these criminals? My energy arts probably aren't enough to keep them in check, should they decide to fight back."

"No problem. They might as well be baby chickens, as far as I'm concerned." Yang Qi flicked his finger, and several streams of sagelight flew out, entering the entire group before they could react. In the blink of an eye, they were secured.

RUMBLE!

The disciples of the Profound House of Battle Energy looked up as the enormous vortex began to swallow their entire sect, making it almost seem like the end of the world had come.

Yang Qi used both the power of the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart and King Heaven-Devourer's talismans. If anyone had been watching from a distance, it would have looked like an enormous primal-chaos elder-snake was slowly swallowing up the entire Profound House of Battle Energy.

In the blink of an eye, the entire sect was gone.

"Brother Battle Resister, please take some time to restore order to your Profound House of Battle Energy. I'll give you plenty of cultivation resources to work with, and you're free to interact with my followers. Just remember that fighting is prohibited." Truth be told, Yang Qi was feeling a bit winded. The Profound House of Battle Energy was enormous. Perhaps it wasn't as large as the Passionless God Flower, but if Yang Qi hadn't recently improved his immortal-slaying clone and acquired the two emissaries, it would have been a difficult task to deal with it.

In the end, he was almost completely drained of true energy, to the point where it was probably going to take a few days to recover.

"Of course," Battle Resister said. "And don't worry, Brother Yang Qi. Considering I'm relying on your help, there's no way my disciples will cause any problems. Besides, after the show you just put on, they view you like a heaven-god! There's no way they'll insult your people!"

Yang Qi could sense that, now that Battle Resister was truly relying on him, a burning flow of destiny that surpassed anything from the Dao Defense League was now his.

The Profound House of Battle Energy was truly one of the top sects from the Ancient Road to the Gods. It had numerous disciples, and now he was benefitting from their destiny. Perhaps that universal fortune was what he could use to reach a higher level.

Unfortunately, his version of the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth did not have any technique suitable for manipulating universal fortune.

1. Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing method in which the bird's throat is tied to prevent it from swallowing the fish. Info here.