Sage Monarch

by Stayrr

Yang Qi was the son of the patriarch of a wealthy family from a small town. Believing himself to be in love, he stole a pill for his lover, only to have the girl betray him, by taking the pill and leaving him behind. Caught, his dantian was crippled and left to die under the lightning. This lightning helped him to recover his lost martial arts and also helped him gain a new, divi

38. 1193

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Chapter 1193: Demon-Gods

The large-scale demonling invasion was finally starting, and they were using the cover of darkness to gain an advantage.

Yang Qi's disciples were all waiting in combat readiness, as they knew that night was the optimal time for demonlings. Humans couldn't see properly in the dark, but the wild demonlings were used to it, and some of them were even nocturnal.

That was why, when they had first arrived in the god world, Brahma had instructed them to build a shelter as quickly as possible. Of course, a cabin like that wouldn't have done any good against a huge invasion like this. Even stone structures would be destroyed. The only way to fend off this many demonlings was to use a spell formation or a god kingdom.

There wasn't any need to consider a god kingdom; the only gods who could create things like that were Consummate, Perfect, and Paramount Gods.

Humans who could reside in god kingdoms were considered truly blessed.

"This is bad, Elder Brother!" Zhang Jufang said, rushing in with a few other disciples. "The demonlings are finally invading! They're all completely fierce, and there are even hordes of flying ones!"

"Calm down and make sure everyone is ready to fight," Yang Qi said. "A horde of demonlings like this isn't going to break my spell formation."

"But these demonlings seem to have been well-trained. And they even have some Quasi-Gods among them. When they unleash their power, it's definitely going to damage the spell formation. If you don't believe me, Elder Brother, just look up in the sky."

"Fine," Yang Qi said. Flicking his sleeve, he walked out into the open, looked up, and sent a burning column of flame up into the air. Screams rang out, then vanished as enemies were transformed into ash.

Up above were flocks of owls, each of them as large as an ordinary human, with wingspans of nine meters, soaring back and forth just waiting for an opportunity to dive down and kill someone.

RUUUUUMBLE!

There were over a hundred of them, and all of them could use godpower. In fact, they were actually flying in formation, which allowed them to pool that godpower. Every flap of their wings would summon an energy saber that slashed toward the spell formation, causing it to shake violently.

Before, the spell formation had been able to cut down as many demonlings as rushed against it. Unfortunately, there were Quasi-God demonlings on the attack now, and their combined energy arts were terrifying to say the least.

Normally, Quasi-God demonlings wouldn't appear in the presence of humans, but instead preferred to stay in hiding in the deep mountains and forests, maintaining contact only with their own people as they tried to cultivate their way to demon-godly ascension.

But in this invasion, they were attacking the humans with full force, hoping to plunder, not just flesh and blood, but also godstones, medicinal pills, wealth, and other items.

This was how war was waged between demonlings and humans.

Of course, the humans would never launch large-scale raids of the demonlings' lairs. Instead, they would sometimes send disciples out to hunt demonlings for training purposes, or perhaps in order to harvest their internal pellets and hides.

And the demonlings would occasionally launch large-scale invasions in the hopes of destroying the humans and their bases.

"What are you scared of? They're only a few owls. Get out there and kill them! This is going to be great training. The spell formation will hold against the ordinary demonlings, so get out there and fight those Quasi-Gods! Bitter, dangerous training like this is how you become part of the legion of gods!"

The Great Classic of God Ordainment contained many strategies for dealing with demonling invasions, and the simplest was to use a spell formation to block the ordinary demonlings and send out elite fighters to kill the Quasi-Gods.

"Yes sir!" Zhang Jufang said. He and a group of disciples quickly flew up and started fighting the owls.

At the same time, some of the official disciples who had sided with Yang Qi also went out to fight the Quasi-God demonlings. The demonlings rushed across the ground like a tide. Some of them looked like lions, tigers, or monkeys, while others had the faces of ghosts, or bodies covered with fur or scales. The demonlings of the god world were very strange in appearance.

RUMBLE!

There was one group of about a thousand monkeys with the faces of ghosts who, despite looking somewhat emaciated, were all Quasi-Gods. There were a thousand of them, and they were very intelligent, having set up an altar that they were powering by feeding it godpower.

A huge ghost face suddenly appeared, howling with piercing loudness as it transformed into a spear that slammed into the spell formation, causing it to tremble.

These were the ghostface monkeys of the god world, called such because of their horrific appearance that resembled that of an evil ghost. They were licentious by nature, and would often kidnap pretty young women, take them back to their lair, and rape them. Such young women ended up living lives worse than death, and would often hope to die.

Unfortunately, the ghostface monkeys were extremely powerful, and could advance through their demonic cultivation with incredible speed. As such, they were considered one of the most powerful types of Demonfolk. And right now there were a thousand of them, all Quasi-Gods, and all of them powering a magical altar.

"Quite impressive," Yang Qi murmured. However, with a mere glance, he activated the spell formation, sending out hundreds of streams of thunderous sword energy to slam into the ghostface monkeys. Instantly, the monkeys' vital energy was thrown into chaos and blood sprayed out of their mouths as they screeched in pain. One person had vanquished a thousand.

The ghostface monkeys were the main force in this wave, so with their ghost face crushed, there was a lot less pressure. Immediately, disciples rushed out of the spell formation in small groups to slaughter the demonlings.

There were countless demonlings in the invasion, but the majority weren't Quasi-Gods, which made them easy targets. After all, in the mines of the House of God Ordainment, people under the level of Quasi-Gods virtually didn't exist.

Many of the ghostface monkeys had been killed, and those that hadn't were fleeing in chaotic terror. However, that wasn't the end of the fight. Next came the snakes. Tiny snakes, large snakes, pythons, anacondas, vipers, colorful snakes, flying snakes... Every kind of snake imaginable could be seen, covering the ground and filling the sky. And despite the fact that none of them were gods, their sheer numbers made them formidable, as did their venom.

The mere sight was very impressive.

Even worse, some of the snakes mixed godpower into their venom, and could shoot it at targets many kilometers away. Even rocks would melt if venom like that hit them, much less a human.

The disciples and miners had just experienced a big boost in morale, and had begun slaughtering the demonlings with vigor. But then the snakes appeared, spitting venom, and almost immediately, some of the disciples on the forefront of the battle were killed. The venom was so strong it pierced through their defensive empyrean energy, causing them to melt down into pools of blood.

However, that was when fire dragons appeared on the towers built into the ramparts, which transformed into pillars of flame that shot out into the ranks of the snakes.

"Everyone fall back!" one of the disciples shouted from one of the towers. "That poison is deadly. Thankfully, the foreman prepared a Nine-Flames Fire-Dragon Grand Formation. We can use dragons to suppress snakes, and bury them in mountains of fire!"

As they fell back into the protection of the spell formations, some of the flying snakes shot after them. However, as soon as the snakes reached the border of the spell formation, they burst into flames. As a result, some of the snakes fled.

These demonlings were obviously intelligent, and would flee if they felt they needed to.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi stood atop the mountain, keeping an eye on the entire area. For now, there seemed to be endless hordes of demonlings advancing in their direction. It was a dangerous situation. Over at Mine One, bright lights shone into the sky, which Yang Qi knew was a result of the god powering the spell formation there.

'I think I should take this moment to screw over the Yue Clan elder. If that spell formation falls, he'll definitely be killed by the demonlings.' Yang Qi chuckled coldly. He knew that if an elder died here, the House of God Ordainment would definitely investigate the matter. But it would never be tied to him. Furthermore, if he could divert some of the demonlings toward Mine One, it would take a lot of pressure off his own people.

However, it was right then that a burst of laughter rang out, along with a stream of energy that slammed into his spell formation and opened a hole.

Obviously, a top expert of the Demonfolk was here.

Yang Qi stood on his mountain, hands clasped behind his back. "So, a demon-god has come to this trifling mountain belonging to the House of God Ordainment? I'm honored. I find it interesting that you didn't take part in any of the previous attacks. Unfortunately, this mine doesn't have much of value in it."

A dark chuckle rang out as a beautiful woman appeared, clad in black garments. She seemed like a snake, and was obviously a demon-god.

"You might as well show your face too, Ghostface Monkey-God," she said. "This bastard did just kill a bunch of your people."

As she chuckled, a blast of green fire erupted, shot through the hole in the spell formation, and landed onto the square atop the mountain.

Then an extremely ugly monkey became visible.

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Chapter 1194: Snake, Monkey

A ghostface monkey-god had appeared on the scene.

He was so aggressive and domineering that he was less of a monkey and more of a gorilla. He was burlier than the average monkey, and his fur was thicker. As for his face, it was incredibly ugly, so covered with scars and pockmarks that he looked like an outright monster. He had vicious, yellow teeth that would cause any human who looked at him to get goosebumps.

That said, the godpower he radiated was nothing to look down on, and his godhood gave him control of everything around him.

A beautiful woman. An ugly monkey.

And both were demon-gods.

"What happened, snakewoman? Did this boy destroy your incarnation? How come you seem so weak?" Almost as soon as the monkey appeared, he scanned the entire mountain looking for women, revealing just how depraved he was.

"Bring out all your women, boy, and let me pick my favorite. Wait, no. Give me all of them. The hotter the better.

"Oh really?" Yang Qi said. "What makes you think you've broken my spell formation? How come I didn't notice?"

"What?!"

The two demon-gods swiveled to look at the hole in the formation, only to find that it had stitched back up. Meanwhile, the sound of ancient buddhist chanting could be heard in the air.

"That's a dhāraṇī incantation! A devil-subduing art from the buddhist schools!" The ghostface monkey-god was visibly taken aback. "You're stronger than I imagined. Unfortunately, you're not a god. Did you really think that someone as weak as you could trap two demon-gods like us?"

"That's right. I lured the two of you in here on purpose. Now that you're on my mountain, you won't be leaving. I can earn good merit points by simply killing your disciples. Do you know how much two living demon-gods will get me?" He opened up his Great Classic of God Ordainment and flipped to the pages describing the merit point rewards.

As it turned out, killing a demon-god and bringing the corpse to the sect would give a reward of ten merit points.

And a living demon-god would be worth a hundred.

That meant that these two demon-gods were worth two hundred merit points. Of course, if Yang Qi wanted merit points, he could simply create imperial caliber godstones. That said, he couldn't do that continuously without attracting attention.

Handing in two living demon-gods would also attract attention of some sort, but Yang Qi wasn't just going to pass on the opportunity.

"You're a lunatic, boy," the snake goddess said. "A raving lunatic." Her eyes were as cold as ice, making her seem like the picture of a cold-blooded animal.

"I'm not crazy at all," Yang Qi said. "Come on, you two. I know that one of you has a godhood rating of one and the other has a rating of two. You might be able to slaughter hundreds, or even thousands of Quasi-Gods, but sadly, you're still weak as gods go."

The atmosphere quickly became very tense. As for the disciples, they didn't dare to show their faces, and remained hidden in locations further down the mountain. They knew how deadly a fight between gods could be.

Quasi-Gods were like martial arts experts in the impure lands, who could come and go as they wished among the ordinary people. But actual gods had the power to move mountains and fill in seas, could manipulate space, alter astrological phenomena, and change the weather.

And of course, gods could easily suppress Quasi-Gods. Never before had two gods actually shown up in the mines. Normally speaking, it would have led to everyone present being slaughtered.

"In that case, let's see how strong you are. You've certainly talked yourself up." Gods maintained a certain level of dignity, even demon-gods.

The ghostface monkey-god lashed out with his palm, causing the image of a ghost face to appear, almost like that of the masked face Yang Qi had encountered some time ago. However, it couldn't match up to the boundless nature of that original masked face. That said, it was powerful, and in the blink of an eye, it opened its mouth and emitted a howl that transformed into countless threads that shot toward Yang Qi's acupoints.

"When the ghost face appears, a thousand ghosts illuminate the night!"

RIP!

Yang Qi hardly looked at it. He thrust his hand out, five fingers in the shape of a lotus, causing the head of a buddha to appear. The buddha was chanting zen songs, and when the power hit the ghost face, the face shattered and its godpower dissipated.

Backing up, the ghostface monkey-god stabbed his fingers out in front of him. "Ghost-God Strike!"

The finger contained flames of demon energy that shot out and engulfed the buddha head. However, the buddha head didn't dissipate, but continued through the flames, even sucking them in. And its zen chant grew louder. "Daga-yaya... jili-gulu... lobo-miloba..."

Crack!

The buddha head exerted such immense pressure on the ghostface monkey-god that he couldn't move at all. His hands flashed out as he drew on another demonic divine ability, causing streams of smoke to shoot out and attack the buddha head. However, the buddha head seemed as mighty as a mountain, and didn't even budge.

"Prepare to die!" the snake goddess shouted. "Heaven-Snake Sword Technique; Heaven-Snake Circles the Mountain; Heaven-Snake Leaves the Sea; Heaven-Snake Diverts Rivers; Heaven-Snake Devours the World; Heaven-Snake Consumes the Sun!" She attacked, an incredibly sharp sword appearing in her hand. As she unleashed her deadly sword technique, an enormous heaven-snake appeared, swirling through the air before shooting toward Yang Qi.

Yang Qi hardly even looked at the incoming attack. In fact, he sent out a snake-like stream of energy that immediately began contending with the heaven-snake sword technique. Of course, it was a consummate technique from King Heaven-Devourer's energy arts, which was now completely a part of Yang Qi, so much so that even the original King Heaven-Devourer wouldn't have recognized it.

The snake goddess' sword technique slashed back and forth in the form of a snake as she attempted to relieve some of the pressure on the monkey-god. Unfortunately for them, her efforts had no effect, and in fact, it only seemed to increase the pressure. Yang Qi just seemed to be getting stronger, while they were already gasping for breath.

When it came to godpower, it was obvious that gods were superior to Quasi-Gods, with the former being like steel, and the latter, cotton. But Yang Qi had developed his godpower with the God Legion Seal, making him vastly beyond an ordinary god.

In fact, his godpower would actually be superior to most Lesser Gods and could rival that of Common Gods.

RUMBLE!

The snake goddess thrust out her palm, and energy spat out like a spirit snake, twisting and writhing as it headed directly toward Yang Qi's back. In response, Yang Qi threw his hand behind him to meet it. There was a bang, and Yang Qi didn't move a muscle. In contrast, the snake goddess' godpower collapsed.

It was now more than obvious that the quality of this snake goddess' godpower was far below Yang Qi's.

"You're... you're really a Quasi-God?" she said, shocked. "How can your godpower be so strong? How is the quality so high?"

Instead of responding, Yang Qi launched another palm strike. Their two palms collided again, and a mountain-toppling, sea-draining shock wave rolled out, causing everything to tremble as the snake goddess staggered backward.

SPLAT!

Blood sprayed from the mouth of the ghostface monkey-god. Throwing his palms out toward the buddha head above him, he finally managed to break free. Leaping over to stand in front of the snake goddess, he glared at Yang Qi and said, "Who exactly are you? Why would someone like you agree to be a measly official disciple of the House of God Ordainment? Your cultivation base is definitely good enough to make you an elite disciple. And once you become a god, you'll be even more terrifying."

"Why are you asking so many questions?" Yang Qi said coolly, his hands clasped behind his back as he strolled forward. "The only thing you need to know is that you won't be returning from this little attack on my mine."

"Hold on!" the snake goddess said. "I have something I want to say."

"Go ahead and say it. I'm more than happy to let you utter a few last words. Although, don't even think of asking me to let you go free."

The ghostface monkey-god snorted coldly. "I admit you're shockingly strong, boy. And I have no idea where a freak like you might have come from. But it's a bit early to be claiming you can kill us."

"There's no point in bantering now," the snake goddess said. "I know that you're not an ordinary person. And there's something suspicious about how you ended up in the House of God Ordainment. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, you're actually not from the god world. You're an Ascendant, aren't you? Only an Ascendant could be as strong and experienced as you."

Yang Qi chuckled. "An Ascendant? Ascended from where, exactly?"

"Admit it or not, I know the truth," she replied. "I know a lot about how the mortal world works. Only mighty Ascendants can reach the top, and only after fighting millions upon millions of battles. And that's what you're like. You must have acquired some magical treasures that trickled down from the god world, and that's why you don't want anyone to know how strong you really are. You want to slowly work your way up through the ranks here in the god world before revealing the truth. However, if you kill us right here, word will spread. And how will you explain it? The answer is you can't. This invasion is just too high profile. So why not turn weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk? We can pretend that none of this ever happened. What do you say?"

"I guess that could work," Yang Qi replied, closing his eyes to think. However, what neither the snake goddess nor the ghostface monkey-god noticed was that a devil embryo had appeared behind each of them. Before they knew what was happening, they were infected with the Heaven-God Hell-Exterminating Devil Embryo.

Now he controlled both of them. Two gods.

One had a godhood rating of one, the other two.

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Chapter 1195: Envoys from the Sect Part 1

"Well, what do you think? Have you considered matters thoroughly? You're definitely strong, and there's no reason for us to cause problems for you. Considering you're an Ascendant, you'll obviously accomplish great things in the future. So why don't we work out a deal?"

The ghostface monkey-god and the snake goddess obviously wanted to buy some time and escape, then come up with some other plan to deal with the situation. From the interchange moments ago, they knew how strong Yang Qi was and could tell that if they kept fighting they would die. Both had only become Lesser Gods fairly recently, and hadn't even had time to earn a reputation as such. So there was no way they wanted to simply throw their lives away here.

One could only imagine how difficult it must have been to struggle up through the ranks of the Demonfolk until they were actual gods.

Despite being gods, they knew how to endure humiliation in order to survive. The Demonfolk were powerful beings, and the fighting among them was fierce. Even gods had to learn to endure certain situations; if they didn't, they would die. Humans were the only ones who liked to protect each other, leading to concepts such as dignity and honor.

"Work together? Work together how? Normally speaking, I would just let you go. As the saying goes, river water shouldn't mix with well water. But here you are, trying to invade my mine. Don't tell me you think you can just walk away after that." Yang Qi's mind was spinning as he tried to decide what to do. He didn't want to kill these two now that he had infected them with devil embryos. If he let them go, it was entirely possible he could eavesdrop on them and learn some of the secrets of the Demonfolk. Furthermore, he could possibly use them to start creating his own personal power structure.

There was nothing in the rules of the House of God Ordainment that prohibited disciples from building power structures. For instance, it was common to establish businesses outside of the sect, which made it easier to acquire items to hand in for merit points. In fact, the sect actually encouraged disciples to do just that. The stronger the disciples were, the stronger the House of God Ordainment would be.

"What, you want us to give you a reward or something?" the ghostface monkey-god said. "If we work together, we can both benefit. As you surely know, these mountains go on forever, and there are all sorts of Demonfolk tribes in them. If we make a deal, you'll profit like a madman. What's the point of working so hard to defend this mine? Are you running short on money? Breaking your back just to get a few merit points seems like a real waste."

"What kind of deal are you proposing?" Yang Qi said.

"You're just doing more to prove you're an Ascendant," the snake goddess laughed. "Any native of the god world would know how profitable it is to do business with Demonfolk. These mountains are full of medicinal ingredients and precious materials that we don't have any use for. But you humans love to collect those kinds of things. Unfortunately, we can't exactly go into your cities to sell them. So you just get some disciples together to form a consortium to do business with us. You'll start earning a huge profit right away."

There were plenty of disciples who would secretly deal with the Demonfolk. The only downside was that it wasn't easy to actually work with Demonfolk. The disciples were often viewed simply as carriers, and thus found it hard to make a profit. For instance, Huang Weilong had struck a deal with the Demonfolk, but had only been able to maintain a very meager profit margin. Most of the profit went to the Demonfolk.

As for Yang Qi, he was strong enough that the Demonfolk couldn't take advantage of him.

"Fine," he said. "What do you want from me? Obviously I can provide godstones. That said, don't even think of trying to pull a fast one on me. Remember, all I have to do is take you captive and hand you over to my sect to earn a huge sum of merit points, enough to reach godly ascension."

"You really think becoming a god will be that easy?" the snake goddess said. "And do you really think turning us into the sect would be such a simple thing? The people in your sect would definitely want to know how you pulled it off, and then your secret would be out. You can still become a god by working with us. Your godpower is plenty strong, you just need the right catalyst. Since you ascended from the mortal world, you have extensive experience. Unfortunately, that experience also creates a barrier that you need to break through. To do that, you need to find a breakthrough point. And we can give that to you."

"What breakthrough point?" Yang Qi asked, his heart starting to pound a bit.

Although he was indeed strong enough to defeat gods in battle, he wasn't in the position to form his own godhood yet. All he knew was that he was missing something, something profoundly mysterious and enigmatic. And thus, the snake goddess' words struck a chord.

"We Demonfolk have all sorts of medicinal pills that we use for godly ascension, as well as certain secret magics. In particular, we have the Psychic Devil-Raising Demon-Sacrificing Heaven-Defying Grand Magic. By feeding a heart-devil with your own psyche, you can grow it to the point where it can control your psyche. When it parasitizes you, you'll become half human and half devil. And in that moment of extreme danger and potential death, you summon your valor and fight yourself. If you defeat that heart-devil, then no matter what obstacle you face in your cultivation, or what bottleneck you're in, you'll achieve a breakthrough. All of that comes from defeating your heart-devil.

"So, what do you think? If you want, I can find a way to give you this secret magic of the most ancient arch-patriarch of the dao of demons. With it, maybe you can become a god."

Yang Qi smiled. "I can tell just from the name what that technique is all about. It's obviously extremely dangerous. I'd bet that out of a hundred million people who use it, only one or two will succeed, with the rest suffering cultivation deviation and either being possessed by their heart-devils, or dying as lunatics. The Psychic Devil-Raising Demon-Sacrificing Heaven-Defying Grand Magic. Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm definitely interested in seeing it. It's a technique that runs counter to the norm. It obviously had to have been created by a boundless patriarch of the Demonfolk."

All the cultivation techniques and daoist magics in existence, even those cultivated by actual devils, involved expelling heart-devils, knowledge-devils, wisdom-devils, ambition-devils, greed-devils, lust-devils, and the like. Only by removing them completely was it possible to cleanse the sea of consciousness, develop true understanding, and control one's vital energy.

Devils who cultivated devil arts would seem to abound with devil energy, but that was because their power thrived on things related to darkness and gloom, not because of inner devils.

If they actually had inner devils, their cultivation would eventually reach an end, and they would die.

Cultivation involved using one's wisdom and strength to subjugate the inner devils, while also subjugating oneself.

But this Demonfolk secret magic seemed to function completely contrary to the norm. It involved growing the inner devil until it surpassed the self and tried to take over. Only in the final climactic battle would one subjugate it. And that would be a complete and utter subjugation of the self.

There was only one way to describe something like that: heaven-defying. Yang Qi had to admire whoever it was that had developed the technique. It was a technique that didn't relate to fighting prowess at all, and was extremely dangerous, to the point where one's chances of survival would be minimal at best.

Generally speaking, people who had the most trouble achieving breakthroughs were those who were far stronger than average. And people like that would have particularly formidable heart-devils.

Defeating enemies in battle was an easy thing, but defeating oneself was the opposite. Even the most amazing people would have trouble in that regard.

It had been the same for the Sovereign Lord.

Truth be told, now that Yang Qi knew of this technique, he could make his own version if he wanted to. However, that would take time, effort, and systematic study. If he could get a perfected version and study it instead, it could provide a big boost to his Sage Monarch Grand Magic.

"Alright," Yang Qi said, "if you can get me that technique, then I'll let bygones be bygones."

"It's a very formidable technique," the snake goddess said, "so it's going to be very expensive to get it. Alright? If you agree, we can seal the deal."

"That's fine. The deal is sealed. Later on, I'll send people to get our business going. For now, the two of you can leave. I've opened the spell formation. And don't even think of trying anything funny. Even if you send more demonlings against me, I'll just wipe them all out." With that, he waved his hand, causing a wind to spring up around the two Demonfolk that sent them outside the spell formation.

Once outside, they exchanged an awkward glance before shooting up into the sky and disappearing. Down below, the other Demonfolk backed down and retreated.

Within moments, the area around the mine was completely empty.

Later, deep in the mountains, the snake goddess said, "Where did that brat actually come from? He's definitely an Ascendant. And why did he let us go so easily? Do you think he has some trick up his sleeve?"

"A boy like that can't have much experience, er—" the ghostface monkey-god actually cut himself off. Now that they knew he was an Ascendant, it would be ridiculous to claim that he had no experience. And it was a given that any Ascendant would be adept with crafty plots and machinations. He shivered. "There's no way he did anything to us. Isn't he worried about us causing more problems?"

"That's what I was thinking." She shook her head. "All I know is that I have a very strange feeling when dealing with him. Like I have no idea what he's really thinking. There was something very odd about the whole thing. Should we just go ahead and do business with him? Maybe we should just give him the Psychic Devil-Raising Demon-Sacrificing Heaven-Defying Grand Magic and let him cultivate it."

"It's the most taboo art among us Demonfolk, with an almost one hundred percent rate of cultivation deviation. Not even we would dare to look at the thing lest we start cultivating it automatically. So how are we supposed to give it to him?" The ghostface monkey-god shivered.

"I guess we have to take him to the Demon Master's jade disc collection to look for himself."

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Chapter 1196: Envoys from the Sect Part 2

"Right. The jade discs left behind by the Demon Master are inscribed with numerous taboo arts, and only Demonfolk gods can study them. Most of those techniques will cause cultivation deviation and death for those who look at them. Considering that brat is human, he'll definitely die if he looks at them."

The ghostface monkey-god burst out laughing.

The Demon Master had left behind a technique to develop a heart-devil and then defeat it. That was one way to achieve a breakthrough when faced with a barrier. Unfortunately, no one had ever successfully cultivated the technique to completion.

Many Demonfolk believed it was nothing more than a pipe dream created by the Demon Master. After all, even he hadn't succeeded in cultivating it, and ended up perishing after cultivation deviation.

Neither the snake goddess nor the ghostface monkey-god would dare to look at that jade disc in order to give the information to Yang Qi. However, if they could get him to look at the disc, and he died as a result, they would be able to take whatever precious items he had.

It was a given that an Ascendant would have some treasures. At least, that was what they thought.

There were plenty of precious treasures from the god world that, because they had been caught up in the tribulations of whoever possessed them, ended up falling down into the mortal worlds. And Ascendants were peak entities from the mortal world, who would surely come across treasures like that and keep them for later use in the god world.

"Remember the seventy-two monarchs? I heard that a lot of their items ended up in the impure lands. Especially King Heaven-Devourer's talismans. They all ended up there. If this kid is an Ascendant, maybe he has them. If so, I could use them to become completely domineering and invincible in all heaven and earth! Sadly, people in the impure lands couldn't possibly unlock the full mysteries of King Heaven-Devourer's talismans. Only we Snakefolk can do that. After all, we have the quintessence blood of King Heaven-Devourer in our veins." The snake goddess sighed. "It's too bad we can't descend to the lower worlds."

"Quit dreaming," the ghostface monkey-god said. "It's a lot easier to ascend to here than to descend to there. In fact, it's impossible. That is one of the most important magical laws governing humans and gods. In any case, it's true that Ascendants tend to have treasures from the god world, and it's usually a factor in why they can ascend to begin with. So that means this boy definitely has some sort of treasure. However, I suspect it's something related to the buddhist schools. Remember, he used that buddha head against me, and that's definitely something from a buddhist school."

"I'd be happy to get a treasure from a buddhist school. Allowing things like that to remain in the hands of someone from the impure lands would be like throwing a bright pearl out into the darkness."

The two demon-gods left, taking the hordes of demonlings with them into the night. In the blink of an eye, the storm became calm and the invasion was a thing of the past.

Back in Mine One, the Yue Clan elder sensed the pressure fading away from his spell formation, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried the whole time that some demon-gods might show up, which would have been a problem. Now the armies were leaving, for no apparent reason.

He had no idea why it was happening, but it was a good thing nonetheless.

Rushing over, Elder Brother Yue said, "Uncle, Uncle! The demonling armies are retreating! We're safe!"

"Don't let your guard down," the elder said. "Send orders to the disciples to remain in combat readiness until daybreak. If the demonlings are still nowhere to be seen by then, we can consider ourselves safe."

Demonlings wouldn't launch invasions in the middle of the day when the heat could be deadly; they preferred the darkness of night.

Everyone waited as the hours ticked by. At a certain point, light flared into existence, causing burning heat to press down.

The demonling army was really gone, and the danger had passed. No one had any idea it was all because of Yang Qi. If the sect knew it was him, they would have rewarded him with merit points. But since he had no way to prove that he was responsible, he said nothing.

"Alright, I'm going to call it a day," the Yue Clan elder said, visibly relieved. "Don't let the sect know about any of this. They'll send envoys soon to inquire about what happened, and you just tell them that you worked in unison with the other foremen to repel the invasion. I'll go back and try to find some information about which envoys will be coming. Unfortunately, the envoys are usually lone wolves without any clan affiliations. They're impartial and incorruptible, and live to serve the sect. Make sure to prepare plenty of money to offer as a gift, got it?"

"Yes sir!" Elder Brother Yue said. "But what about Yang Qi...?"

"He's not important. Just let him do whatever he wants to do for now. When the right moment arrives, I'll activate the godpower seed and force his energy arts to regress. Remember: for now, all of his cultivation will benefit you. So there's no reason to fear him."

"Right, thanks for the reminder, Uncle." Elder Brother Yue watched with a smile on his face as the elder entered the teleportation portal and vanished.

"You're dead, Yang Qi! I'm going to reach godly ascension soon. And as for you... you never will!"

'He's confused about who's going to end up dead,' Yang Qi thought. He had seen enough of what was going on in Mine One. In front of him on the wall was a rippling screen that allowed him to see everything the Yue Clan elder was doing and even thinking.

The two demon-gods were also visible there.

That said, it was a bit draining to be using the Heaven-God Hell-Exterminating Devil Embryo on three Lesser Gods at the same time. After all, Yang Qi wasn't a god himself yet, and these Lesser Gods had godhood ratings of one, two, and three.

'I'm done observing for now. I'll just let the devil embryos grow.'

He dispelled the screen and sent orders to Zhang Jufang to send all the other foremen back to their respective mines. And he emphasized to let them take all of their ore and wealth with them, and not take a bit.

Then he sank into a trance of cultivation.

For now, he wasn't going to attempt to intentionally foster a heart-devil. After all, he wasn't sure he could get rid of it. And in cultivation, one of the most important things was to maintain a mind free of extraneous impurities.

Distracting thoughts in one's heart was an easy way to slip into cultivation deviation.

His current cultivation consisted of working on the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth and the Sage Monarch Grand Magic, as well as seeking enlightenment of the Mahātmā Jade and the Unspoiled Body. In addition to cultivating, he took care of some other tasks. For instance, he ordered some of his people to go meet with the demon-god people and start doing business.

He also gave some divine abilities to Cherry, enabling her to be as competent an assistant as Zhang Jufang. He was in charge of overseeing the male miners and disciples, while she supervised the female miners and disciples.

The mine was now operating at peak efficiency, and the business with the Demonfolk was bringing in plenty of extra wealth. Eventually, Yang Qi selected some of the most reliable disciples to become part of what he called the Sage Monarch Consortium. Such disciples were then sent out to the surrounding cities to establish business relations. Usually, big business consortiums were only taken seriously if they had an impressive backer, and thankfully Yang Qi and his followers were disciples of the House of God Ordainment. As long as they didn't cause any conflicts with the other consortiums, no one would cause problems for them.

The rules of the House of God Ordainment were very strict. Disciples weren't allowed to fight and kill each other. However, if outsiders caused major problems for them, they were permitted to react with lethal force. And they always knew that the sect was there to provide backup. Everyone knew that causing problems for any disciple of the House of God Ordainment was like poking a hornet's nest, and anyone who did so would risk their sect or clan being wiped out. In fact, the reason there were always new slaves being sent to the mines was partly because of situations like that.

Three months passed. Yang Qi watched as his mining operations expanded, and his subordinates made advancements in their cultivation. It was a glorious feeling.

In fact, he was finally starting to understand what it must feel like to be one of the legion of gods.

Unfortunately, his cultivation was stuck in a bottleneck.

He couldn't reach godly ascension, nor could he reach Paramount will convergence. Without that breakthrough, his energy arts couldn't progress, and any further attempts at enlightenment would be in vain. He never would have guessed that this step would be so hard.

At a certain point, he thought about his father, Jadefall, Brahma, Doom, the Shepherd and even his immortal-slaying clone. Where were they? How were they doing? He had lost contact with them after entering the House of God Ordainment. Any previous communication methods didn't seem to work, thanks to being in such an immense god kingdom.

That said, he wasn't worried. They had all been looked upon with favor by important people. Considering how intelligent they all were, they were sure to have made names for themselves. It was likely that Brahma was already a god, and the others would most likely succeed as well. They shouldn't have as hard a time as Yang Qi was having.

Even as everything seemed to be going perfectly, the sound of bells could be heard from Mine One.

They were bells that rang when welcoming visitors, which seemed to indicate that envoys from the sect would be arriving shortly.

The envoys would be tasked with inspecting the mines, and would also check the quotas. Those who met the quota or exceeded it would be rewarded by them.

"You keep an eye on things here in the mine," Yang Qi said. "I'm going to Mine One to meet the envoys." Reaching out, he grabbed a bag full of godsand and ore of high enough quality that it would definitely meet the yearly quota, or possibly even exceed it.

In addition to the main stockpile, he kept some imperial caliber godstones in reserve in case the envoys were initially unhappy.

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Chapter 1197: Envoys from the Sect Part 3

By the time Yang Qi got to Mine One, there were already plenty of other foremen there, waiting nervously for the teleportation portal to activate.

Elder Brother Yue was there, and quite a few disciples were clustered around him.

There were also disciples who gathered by Yang Qi, until the two groups were very clearly separated. Over the last three months, Yang Qi had been making efforts to get more people on his side. Of the fifty-six total foremen, thirty were currently loyal to Yang Qi, while the rest had stuck with Elder Brother Yue.

Elder Brother Yue looked at Yang Qi with open killing intent in his eyes.

His cultivation base had improved recently, but that was because Yang Qi let it happen to lull him into a false sense of security. He had allowed Elder Brother Yue to absorb energy from his godpower clone, yet it was all a trap. With a mere thought, Yang Qi could instantly drain him dry and turn him into a puppet.

As they waited for the envoys to arrive, Elder Brother Yue chuckled darkly and said, "So you recruited a lot of disciples, eh Yang Qi? You've done well."

"What makes you think you have the right to talk to me, scum? Want me to smack you around again so you can cough up more blood?" Yang Qi obviously wasn't in the mood to give any face to Elder Brother Yue.

"You!" Elder Brother Yue shouted furiously, and was about to launch an attack when intense rumbling sounds filled the area and a group of people emerged from the teleportation portal.

"Respectful greetings, Envoy!" Elder Brother Yue said loudly, obviously trying to make a good impression on the envoys.

Yang Qi and the others watched as six people emerged. The highest ranking among them was a woman in beautiful clothing, whose face was cold and calculating.

No one in this group had a godhood rating as low as one or two. All of them were either four or five, and the woman in the lead had a rating of nine. That meant she was just on the verge of becoming a Common God, causing anyone present who even looked at her to feel an urge to kneel.

Everyone in this group was an envoy sent to inspect the mines.

"Are all fifty-six foremen present?" asked one of the envoys, a man.

Joining voices in the prescribed response, the fifty-six foremen replied, "Present! Please, inspectors, begin your work!"

"Excellent," the male envoy replied. "We heard there was a major demonling invasion recently, yet none of you disciples died. Furthermore, the casualty rate among the miners was low. That's a big improvement from the past. The sect is very pleased, and will not only reward you, but will also make an official note of this in the sect records."

"Many thanks, Envoy!" All of the disciples were visibly pleased. It was a big matter to have an official record made of an event like this. Whenever major figures in the sect considered taking in new apprentices, they would always consult the record and give a lot of weight to past loyalty and service.

Although it didn't involve a reward of merit points, it was still very valuable.

For example, in the case of a martial arts competition in the sect in which two opponents fought to a draw, the judges would usually consult the official records and give the victory to whoever had the most impressive record.

It wasn't a rare occurrence, as draws were common among people with the same godhood rating and similar sets of equipment.

"As you all know," another envoy said, "the main purpose of our inspection is to see if you've met the ore quota. Remember, we don't want any low-quality ore. Only greater godstones will be accepted. Those are the rules, as I'm sure you're aware. You should've taken any shoddy or normal godstones to trade with outside consortiums and converted the profits to greater godstones."

"Yes, we understand!" Elder Brother Yue said. He waved his hand, and his subordinates brought out some cases of glittering ore. The quality was very high. Obviously, some of it had been personally mined, but the rest had been purchased with normal godstones.

"Count it up!" said the woman with the godhood rating of nine. Another envoy hurried forward and extended her hand, revealing a ring. Light shot from the ring, wrapped around the godstones, and pulled them inside. A moment later, she said, "Excellent. Greater godstones, all of them. And you have enough to meet the quota."

A broad smile appeared on Elder Brother Yue's face.

Looking at him, the envoy said, "You've met the quota for this year already, and you need to keep it up going forward. Understand? Do you have any other treasures you plan to offer to the sect? We can appraise them and compensate you with merit points. And with enough merit points, you can choose to leave this place and go somewhere else to further your cultivation. What do you say?"

"Many thanks!" Elder Brother Yue said, looking very pleased. At the same time, he produced a small box and handed it out toward the envoys.

"This box contains a medicinal plant that I would like to donate to the sect. It's a three-hundred-thousand-year-old Redblood God Ginseng. I heard that a certain exalted figure in the sect needs to concoct a medicinal pill using a Redblood God Ginseng of at least a hundred thousand years of age, for the purpose of achieving a breakthrough. It's for that reason that I procured the ginseng."

He opened the lid of the box, whereupon a blood-colored light emerged, along with a strong medicinal aroma.

"Amazing, nothing short of amazing!" said the woman with the godhood rating of nine as she accepted the box.

Then she smiled, and it was hard to tell if it was a cold smile, or some other sort of smile. "You know, the Yue Clan has been part of the House of God Ordainment for many years. And all of a sudden you're coming to us with a gift like this? Isn't that peculiar..."

"Allow me to explain more, exalted Envoy!" Elder Brother Yue gushed. "You see—"

"No explanation required," the woman interrupted. "I'm not interested in any of the backstory. All that matters is that you're offering this as a donation. If there's anything fishy about where this came from, it's the responsibility of the Hall of Law Enforcement to investigate. Not mine. Since you're the one donating the Redblood God Ginseng, you'll be rewarded for it. The normal reward for a Redblood God Ginseng is ten merit points, but since this one is three hundred thousand years old, you'll receive fifteen."

"Many thanks, exalted Envoy!" Elder Brother Yue said, looking visibly pleased.

Next, the other disciples took their turns turning in their ore stockpiles. Most of them weren't exactly rich, and had struggled to gather the ore they needed to meet their quota, much less acquire impressive gifts. As a result, none of them earned any extra merit points.

Luckily for them, they had all managed to meet their quota, so none of them were punished.

Eventually, it was Yang Qi's turn.

When he handed over his bag of godsand, the envoy reached in, pulled out a handful, and was visibly shocked at the glittering, sand-like stones. "Noble caliber godstones?!"

The envoys were all completely taken aback.

"Noble caliber godstones? Where did he get them? The mines here can't produce that. We usually just get shoddy and normal godstones. No one has ever dug up anything noble caliber!"

"Alright," said the woman with the rating of nine. "Check to see if they're really noble caliber godstones."

A moment later, one of the other envoys nodded. "They're real. Very high quality! This godsand goes so far beyond the quota that it's worth an additional reward of two merit points."

"Fine, give him the merit points." The woman looked at Yang Qi, a faint smile on her face. "You're Yang Qi, right? You did well to meet the quota. No wonder Junior Sister Jadefall spoke so highly of you. However, you being her friend doesn't mean that I'll give you any special treatment. You'll be rewarded with exactly what you should be rewarded. Now, do you have any other donations you'd like to make to the sect? If so, please produce them now. You'll be rewarded fairly, and if your donation is worth enough merit points, you'll be allowed to go further your cultivation in the sect headquarters."

"What? Jadefall?" Yang Qi instantly realized that this woman with a godhood rating of nine was an Elder Sister of Jadefall. And although she made a point of being impartial, it was obvious that she had a favorable impression of him already. It seemed that Jadefall had made some progress in the past few months and was already rising through the ranks.

If Yang Qi had shown his true strength early on, and entered the sect that way, he would have advanced in the ranks much faster than Jadefall or any of the others. But the risk of someone finding out about his God Legion Seal was simply too great.

Instead, he kept low and quiet.

"After Junior Sister Jadefall entered Master's care, she quickly reached godly ascension. She now has a godhood rating of four. And in a trial last month, she acquired a precious treasure which helped Master rise from being a Greater God to a Consummate God and be promoted to elder king. The sect has really come to value Junior Sister Jadefall. I'm sure she'll soon become more important and powerful than me. These are all things that Junior Sister asked me to tell you. That said, your current cultivation base, despite being impressive, can't compare to Junior Sister's, and that disparity will only continue to grow. However, she has full faith in you. Although I'm uncertain how she knew, she said that you would provide an impressive donation to the sect, something worth a lot of merit points. So, I'm curious to see what it is. What donation have you prepared?"

'So that's what happened,' Yang Qi thought, nodding inwardly. 'Jadefall is already a god, and has been accomplishing missions for the sect. She really is talented. I bet it has to do with the purrling. And the hidden meaning behind her words is that because of her high position, she's already secure in the sect and can offer me protection. In other words, I can offer a big contribution without worrying about being investigated.'

Jadefall helping her new Master become a Consummate God was no small feat.

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Chapter 1198: Merit Points

'Considering I have some backup in the sect now, I guess I can feel free to do something a bit more impressive.' Yang Qi wasn't surprised at all that Jadefall had already started climbing the ranks; it was all part of his plan anyway. He had known all along that she and her purrling would accomplish shocking things.

Back in the mortal world, the purrling had shown how domineering it could be, and that wouldn't be any different in the god world.

Meanwhile, Elder Brother Yue was struggling to maintain a neutral facial expression. Never could he have guessed that Yang Qi would have the backing of someone as important as a Consummate God. Even the patriarch of his Yue Clan was nothing more than a Greater God who could only hope to one day become a Consummate God.

Furthermore, there was no way that he could ever hope to even be noticed by that patriarch, and wouldn't even be able to get an audience with him if he tried.

'What am I supposed to do now? ' he thought. 'I have to report this matter to the clan. And no matter what, I have to figure out a way to get Yang Qi killed.'

Meanwhile, the woman with the rating of nine said, "What's your contribution to the sect, Yang Qi? I'm curious to see if Junior Sister knows what she's talking about. Are you really worth helping? I can tell how much she cares for you, so I hope you don't let me down."

"Of course I won't let you down, exalted Envoy!" Yang Qi said. He waved his hand and produced a cloth bag, which emanated sounds that resembled thunder. "These are some imperial caliber godstones that I would like to give to the sect. Please take a look, Envoy."

Before he even finished speaking, he was opening the bag. Instantly, flickering light like that of lightning spilled out, filling the area with dazzling brightness. There was also a burst of preheaven vital energy that felt like spring lightning.

"What's this? Are those really imperial caliber godstones?!" One of the envoy's nearly ripped the bag out of Yang Qi's hand and turned it over to pour some godstones out into his hand. They looked almost like śarīras that were pulsing with lightning-like light and thunderous rumbling.

"Completely incredible!" said the woman with the godhood rating of nine. Reaching out, she grabbed one of the pearl-like godstones and looked at it closely, then smiled. "Not bad. Not bad at all. These things are amazing. They really are imperial caliber godstones, and high quality at that. Considering that the vital energy in them is almost on the verge of making god embryos, they're almost holy caliber. Where did you get them?"

"I happened to venture into the surrounding mountains and kill some demonlings. They had this stash in their cave, and while I have to admit I considered keeping them for myself, in the end I decided I should hand them in to the sect." Yang Qi wasn't too worried about coming up with a believable story, as he knew that he wouldn't be investigated either way.

'Are they really imperial caliber godstones?' Elder Brother Yue thought, his eyes wide. 'I heard rumors that he had godstones like that, but I didn't believe they were true. But now... how many merit points will that be worth? You can't even find imperial caliber godstones for sale in the markets. They only show up in the big auctions, and even then, most people are lucky just to catch a glimpse of them.'

"How much are imperial caliber godstones worth in merit points?" asked the woman with the godhood rating of nine.

"This bag is definitely worth fifty merit points at the minimum," one of the other envoys replied.

"Fine, let's stick with fifty. Yang Qi, I hope you don't mind the sect taking advantage of you by offering so few merit points."

"Don't be silly. Fifty is plenty. I would hand those godstones over even if I didn't get any reward." Of course, Yang Qi knew that there was no way the sect would refuse to reward him. Matters such as this were written into the sect rules. In fact, even if he refused to accept the reward, the sect might demand that he do. After all, it would be a bad precedent. If word spread among the disciples that the sect took things without offering rewards, in direct violation of the Great Classic of God Ordainment, it could lead to very bad results.

Yang Qi couldn't help but admire the sect for that.

"Envoys, I also have some gifts for you personally." He gave a meaningful look to some of his subordinate disciples, who brought forth a box he had arranged for just this purpose.

The box opened, and more imperial caliber godstones could be seen inside. However, these had been carved into beads and strung into a bracelet.

"They aren't for the sect," he said. "They're just a little something interesting for you. Jewelry, that's all." He waved his hand and the disciple walked over and handed out the box.

If he handed this box in to the sect, he would get a merit point reward. Instead, he was giving it to the envoys, and in turn, that meant they would owe him a favor. Sometimes, favors could be a lot more valuable than things like merit points, especially if it meant getting help from people like this.

"Er..." The other envoys looked at their leader, the woman with the godhood rating of nine. Although it wasn't against the rules to accept gifts, they weren't sure if they should accept such an incredible gift right in the open.

"It's fine, take them," the leader said. "Even if word spreads, we can count on Junior Sister Jadefall to smooth things over. She's like the sun climbing in the sky. Before long, she'll be so important that no one would ever dare to offend her."

The envoys accepted the gift. A bracelet made of imperial caliber godstones could be used to power a huge spell formation, and would make anyone who wore it incredibly stronger.

The envoys' attitude toward Yang Qi changed as soon as they accepted the gifts. One of them even said, "Yang Qi, do you want to leave this place? These mines are virtually barren. They produce shoddy and normal godstones, but hardly ever produce greater godstones. With the fifty merit points you just earned, why not go work at the Scripture Pavilion? What do you say?"

"Work at the Scripture Pavilion?" Yang Qi couldn't help but feel a bit excited. According to the Great Classic of God Ordainment, the Scripture Pavilion was basically a storehouse for ancient records and secret documents. Any official disciple would love to have a position there. First of all, it would give them easy access to the books and records there. Second, disciples who wanted to borrow books from the pavilion had to pay merit points for the honor. Third, there were ancient scrolls in the depths of the pavilion that could very well contain immense good fortune.

It would be considered a windfall for any official disciple to work in the Scripture Pavilion. It was almost on par with being picked as an apprentice by an important person in the sect. Best of all, there was no danger involved.

Although there were benefits that came with being a foreman at the mines, it was a very dangerous job, whether because of the infighting or the demonlings.

And there was no way the opportunities in the mines could surpass the opportunities in the Scripture Pavilion. After all, the Scripture Pavilion was a common destination for very important people, including the top disciples. And they would always come with gifts when they wanted to come inside to study.

Of course, there were other positions that were superior to the Scripture Pavilion. There was the Administration Vault, the Spirit Medicine Warehouse, the Spirit Pill Repository, and other such places. The disciples who worked in places like those received indescribable benefits.

And there were even disciples who could use thralls, which meant their cultivation bases would rise rapidly.

"Many thanks for the advice, Envoy," Yang Qi said with a smile. "I agree."

"In that case," said the leader, "we'll take the fifty merit points and give you a jade medallion instead. Take it and go check in at the Scripture Pavilion. As for matters here, don't worry, we'll send another official disciple to take over your position."

"Yes sir!" Yang Qi said with a salute.

"Very well, the inspection is over. You've all done very well." Before leaving, the leader looked deeply into Yang Qi's eyes and said, "You need to reach godly ascension as quickly as possible. Understand? Don't disappoint Junior Sister Jadefall. I can tell that she cares about you, except that she's already vastly beyond you. She's a god, and you are not, which means that your paths will soon separate. And there's no shortage of disciples seeking to woo her."

With that, she led the envoys toward the teleportation portal.

Yang Qi's eyes glittered as she left. Of course, he didn't take her words to heart. Obviously, she had no idea of the details of his relationship with Jadefall or the truth about the difference between their cultivation levels. And she had no idea how terrifying Yang Qi really was.

With the jade medallion, Yang Qi could go to the Scripture Pavilion. However, he would still secretly keep an eye on the mines. After all, he had his business deal with the Demonfolk. And if he simply left, it was a given that Elder Brother Yue would end up taking over.

After the envoys were gone, Elder Brother Yue finally exploded. "You villain, Yang Qi! If I were you, I wouldn't celebrate yet. You'll get your comeuppance one of these days."

"Is that so? I guess we'll have to just wait and see." Turning, Yang Qi left, taking many of the disciples with him.

Back on his mountain peak, he called over Zhang Jufang and Cherry. "I'm leaving, and the sect will send a new disciple to take over my position. Make sure he's nothing but a puppet, got it? Keep carrying on according to my plans. And now, I'll make you even stronger than before. Be seated."

"Yes sir!"

As they sat down, Yang Qi extended his hands. "Unrivaled God-King; Heaven-Toppling God-Dao; Invincible Sun and Moon; Yin-Yang Transformation!"

Something like a burning sun appeared in his left hand, shining with a dazzling golden light. And in his left hand was a moon, stark and glowing. When he sent them into his two followers, they were blessed and anointed with godpower.

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Chapter 1199: Scripture Pavilion

Five days passed before Yang Qi finished his work. Both Zhang Jufang and Cherry now had cultivation bases so advanced that they could defeat multiple official disciples in battle.

Yang Qi didn't just give them godpower, but also fighting experience. Among people of the same level as them, they were essentially invincible.

They had been working with Yang Qi for nearly half a year by this point, and were very loyal. They could now be like lieutenants to him, and would also be helpful in dealing with the ghostface monkey-god and the snake goddess.

Even though he was leaving, he would still have some level of control in the mine. After all, the last thing he wanted was for things to go bad, then get investigated as a result.

"I have the feeling we'll be reaching godly ascension soon," Zhang Jufang said. He kowtowed. "Many thanks for your magnanimity, Elder Brother."

Cherry also kowtowed. "Young Sir, not only did you save me from Huang Weilong's dirty hands, but you also blessed me with boundless energy arts. I know that you're more than just an official disciple, but don't worry, I'll do everything in my power to carry out your work. Whoever comes in to replace you will either have to fall in line, or die."

"Just don't do anything over the top, alright?" Yang Qi replied. "If any of the other official disciples get out of hand, you can always have the Demonfolk deal with them. Make sure you aren't implicated. We don't want the law enforcement team coming to investigate."

"Yes sir!"

"Another thing. After I'm gone, you can do whatever necessary to erode the Yue Clan's power here in the mines. That Elder Brother Yue will definitely try taking advantage of my absence to take over. But don't worry. Before I leave, I'll make sure to take some preventative measures."

Yang Qi had changed his mining district as surely as if he had molded it out of clay. Things were changing slowly but surely. He was starting with this tiny mining district, but would eventually continue on until he controlled the entire House of God Ordainment.

Having made all necessary preparations, he stepped into the teleportation portal and headed to the main headquarters.

He didn't actually know where the headquarters was located. From what he could tell, it wasn't on a continent or city, but in a god kingdom created by some unknown god. Because of that, searching the continent for their headquarters would be useless. One had to teleport in. And only official disciples could use the teleportation portals; anyone else who tried would be severely punished.

Stepping out of the portal, Yang Qi immediately felt cold air on his face.

It was quite a difference from the intense heat outside.

He was in a minor world, a standalone god kingdom that didn't have the same horrible weather as the god world in general.

The air was fresh and carried a fragrant aroma, and although there was light, it was soft and gentle, instead of intense and burning hot like outside.

And unlike the god world in general, he saw a sun up above, a glowing ball of pure power. This god kingdom had a cycle of night and day very much like the impure lands, and also had the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

It was a big contrast to the god world, which had a chaotic climate and seasons that could last for decades or even centuries.

Of course, while winter or summer could last for years, it was the same with spring. And when spring came for centuries, life would flourish, and the god world looked exactly as one would expect.

As soon as Yang Qi stepped out of the teleportation portal, he felt safe and free.

Looking around, he saw mountains covered with palaces of crystal and jade, and beautiful waterfalls that made rainbow-filled mists.

Obviously, whoever had made this place had godhood strong enough to change reality.

It made Yang Qi wonder if the House of God Ordainment actually had a Paramount God in it.

This god kingdom was so huge he couldn't see the ends of it; it simply faded into misty depths that were obviously restricted areas. He was standing in a wide-open square filled with numerous teleportation portals, where disciples of all levels were coming and going. Some were returning from missions, some had come to hand in items to get merit points, and some had fled back to the sect in fear after offending important people on the outside.

And of course some were like Yang Qi, here to accept cushy positions.

'Where exactly is the Scripture Pavilion?' he thought. He leafed through the Great Classic of God Ordainment until he found the information he sought, then headed in that direction.

Before long, he was standing at the base of a towering mountain covered with huge buildings. The entire mountain smelled like books, although, not the aroma of books penned with ink. After all, they didn't use ink to write books in the god world. Instead, they inscribed them with psychic power. However, these books contained daoist texts and sutras that had stood the test of time and eventually come to emanate an aura of civilization.

Because Yang Qi cultivated the Civilization Founding Grand Magic, and knew a lot about ancient civilizations, this wasn't lost on him.

He had visited a library in the Brahman Immortal World in which the books had their own minds and wills, and had become book-demons. It seemed likely that this Scripture Pavilion would be even more impressive than that.

As he stepped toward the main entrance that led up the mountain, two official disciples blocked his way. "Where are you from, disciple? Are you trying to trespass on the Scripture Pavilion?"

"I'm here to check in," Yang Qi said, pulling out his medallion. "I've been given a post here." The disciples looked at his medallion, then one of them said, "Wait here. I'll notify them that you've arrived."

He hurried back about an hour later with a smile on his face. "I had no idea it was you, Elder Brother Yang Qi. As a friend of Junior Sister Jadefall, it was a big mistake on my part to be so rude earlier. I hope you can forgive me."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qi was once again impressed by what Jadefall had accomplished. Nodding, he said, "Not a problem at all. So, what am I supposed to do now?"

"I'll take you inside to meet the elders. Then I'll get you your new identity medallion as well as your assignment. From now on, you're a member of the Scripture Pavilion!" The disciple led Yang Qi through a maze of corridors. There were bookshelves filled with ancient records everywhere, seemingly without end. There were books about the history of the god world, its people and customs, and just about everything else. What continents were in the god world? In those continents, how many royal dynasties were there? How many nations? How many civilizations existed? Such information was recorded in the books here. Of course, they couldn't contain all of the information about the god world.

Seeing Yang Qi's interest, the disciple said, "These are records penned by disciples of the House of God Ordainment, describing their travels and detailing the information and enlightenment they gathered. If you hand in reports such as this with valuable information, you can earn merit points. And if you read them, you'll find out about missions that disciples accomplished in the past, what daoist texts they acquired, and other such data. All of it is audited and merit points are rewarded accordingly." It seemed he was trying to get on Yang Qi's good side.

Eventually, they reached a certain room. "Elder, Yang Qi is here!"

"Send him in and then be off!" Yang Qi looked in to see an old man with a stooped back. The man beckoned, wrapping up Yang Qi in a stream of power that pulled him into the room.

"My respects, Elder," Yang Qi said. He could sense that the man was a Common God, although he wasn't sure what his godhood rating was. At the moment, he could only determine the godhood ratings of Lesser Gods.

"So, you're Yang Qi? Impressive cultivation base. I heard you donated some imperial caliber godstones, is that right?"

"I was lucky and came across them by random chance, that's all," Yang Qi said quietly. This man was so strong that, if he attacked Yang Qi, it would be a tricky situation. Although Yang Qi wasn't afraid of him, there was no way he could kill him quietly. And of course, infecting him with a devil embryo was completely out of the question.

"Well, I hope you can make more contributions to the sect. Here's your identity medallion, which identifies you as a disciple of the Scripture Pavilion. Your daily tasks are to tend to the books and go on patrol. Make sure no disciples sneak in to look at the ancient energy arts records. For the moment, you can have access up to the second floor of the pavilion. The first floor contains information about the peoples and customs of the god world, but the second floor contains countless cultivation information, and insights into godly ascension. It also has books detailing the pill concocting and cultivation techniques of members of the senior generation."

"Yes sir," Yang Qi said. "Thank you for your consideration, Senior. I'll remember all of this."

He knew that, normally speaking, he would have been limited to the first floor.

And although he didn't need any information about energy arts, having access to the experiences of members of the senior generation about godly ascension would be very useful.

Of course, the highest levels of the Scripture Pavilion definitely had all sorts of information about powerful techniques.

With that, Yang Qi produced a gift, which was none other than an imperial caliber godstone the size of an egg.

The old man smiled. "The boy is worth teaching," he thought.

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Chapter 1200: Personal Records

As of this moment, Yang Qi was one of the disciples in charge of caring for the House of God Ordainment's Scripture Pavilion.

One of the main benefits was that when others came to peruse the personal records of previous members of the sect, they had to spend merit points to do so. As for the second floor that Yang Qi was assigned to, it contained information regarding senior members of the sect who attempted breakthroughs as gods. Some were records of Paramount will convergence breakthroughs, and whether such attempts were successes or failures, the details were kept here in order to help future generations.

There were even instances in which a top expert would have a thousand disciples all attempt a breakthrough at the same time and compare the results.

Of course, the Scripture Pavilion had more than just two floors. There were actually nine in total, and they contained all sorts of amazing secrets. For now, Yang Qi had no way to access any of the higher floors. Such secrets would require huge amounts of merit points to gain access to.

According to rumor, the ninth floor had the ancient records of the primeval halls of heaven. In other words, it was the Sovereign Lord's personal collection of books, containing direct information about his actions and failures. There were even books personally penned by him.

There were also records regarding gods in the Paramount level who had attempted breakthroughs.

That included some in the Paramount level who had successfully reached the Unbounded level, and even some in the Unbounded level who had attempted to reach the Annulled level.

Such records were incomparably priceless, and weren't things that ordinary disciples could study. Even the grand elders and elder kings of the sect would have to pay merit points for the opportunity. And not just a handful of merit points, but tens, or even hundreds of thousands.

Of course, Yang Qi couldn't even go to the third floor, let alone the ninth. Right now he was limited to the second floor. That said, the bookshelves stretched high overhead, to the point where even he was shocked. The books seemed to go on and on without end.

Most of them were made of paper that was inscribed with an expression of will instead of ink. Because of that, there were all sorts of images on the pages, although flowery text was also common. Apparently, the people who inscribed the text were hoping to impress the reader with their exquisite command of the calligraphy of the god world script.

But not all of the records were paper books. There were also scrolls of beast hide, jade slips, and bamboo slips. Some were even made of rock or metal. It was possible to inscribe just about anything with godpower. In fact, there were some records that weren't physical objects at all, but rather pure conglomerations of godpower. They resembled books, but were pure gold, and weren't even corporeal objects.

After looking around for a bit, Yang Qi couldn't find any other administrators on the second floor. Apparently, he was the only one.

There were so many books that he had no idea where to start in terms of reading them. In fact, there seemed too many to count. And this was just the second floor. It was hard to imagine how many books would be contained in all nine floors.

That said, he wasn't anxious to start reading. He initially just walked amongst the bookshelves, which were almost like a maze. As he walked around, he noticed that the bookshelves were all protected with powerful warding magics. Even if a fight were to break out here, the books wouldn't be damaged.

After some time, he randomly reached out and pulled a book off the shelf. Looking at the cover, it read Treatise on the Differences Between Buddhist School Śarīras and Godhood.

Sending some divine will inside, Yang Qi found that the author was a buddhist cultivator who was a Common God. He had done some very thought-provoking research comparing buddhist school śarīras to godhood. As he read the book, Yang Qi realized that he was gaining some new insight into his Secret-Ensconcing All-World Anything-Everything Fundamental-Law Magic.

He was also coming to understand a bit more about the dao of sages from his Sage Monarch Grand Magic.

After all, buddhas were fundamentally sages. Because of that, many of the concepts taught in the buddhist sects were the same as the dao of sages. And the buddhist sects offered many revelations regarding humanity, so how could Yang Qi possibly pass up information like that?

After finishing the book, he nodded thoughtfully as he mused about how some of his previous ways of thinking had been incorrect.

He put the book back and randomly grabbed another one. This one was entitled Pilgrim Mystico's Discourse on the Deployment of Spell Formations.

As he paged through the book, he saw that the divine will inscriptions depicted an old man setting up various spell formations. The depictions revealed many tips and tricks that could save godpower and make formations more effective.

Upon finishing the book, Yang Qi felt his ability with spell formations had improved a bit.

People from the god world had a different way of looking at things, and the dao of spell formations was boundless and full of unending mysteries. With that, he went on to read a few more books, all of which were about spell formations, and all of which contained very thought-provoking information.

All of a sudden, a voice reached Yang Qi's ears from overhead.

"Are you new here, Brother? And you're already reading?"

He looked up and saw a white-robed disciple with a bottle gourd of alcohol in one hand and a book in the other, sitting on top of one of the bookshelves. It looked like he had just woken from a nap. The title of the book in his hand was Seventy-Two Methods of Crystallizing Godpower.

'Someone was sleeping up there and I didn't notice?' Yang Qi thought. 'He must have a very high cultivation base. Although, I wasn't exactly on guard. I was too focused on all these books.' Because of assuming that no one would attack or try to kill him in the House of God Ordainment's Scripture Pavilion, Yang Qi had indeed let his guard down a bit.

Clasping hands in greeting, Yang Qi said, "Who might you be, Sire? Are you also a disciple of the second floor?"

"Yeah, I am. And you're new, right? I've been assigned here for ten years, so you should call me Elder Brother. You read really fast, don't you? Most of the books here are designed for experts who've already reached godly ascension." Lifting up his bottle gourd, he took a long swig of alcohol. "I have no desire to leave this place. I'd rather stay here, drinking and reading. It's a really leisurely life. That's how gods should live. Would you like a drink?"

He held out the bottle gourd.

"No thanks, but I appreciate the gesture. So how many people are assigned here?"

"How many people?" The young man laughed. "Here on the second floor it's just you and me. Before you came, I was alone."

"You've been here for ten years, but haven't been able to reach godly ascension?" Yang Qi frowned. "It seems to me you're strong enough to beat a Lesser God in combat."

"Godly ascension? I could do that any time I wanted. Right now I'm focusing on studying the basic structure of godpower. You see, I want to be a really impressive person as a god. So before I reach godly ascension, I want to break through to Paramount will convergence. Then, when I form my godhood, it'll be what they call monarch godhood. Check out this book. It was written by a very interesting individual."

Swish!

He threw a book down, which Yang Qi caught. As he did, Yang Qi felt himself shiver from the force of godpower, and nodded in admiration.

The man's eyes went wide. 'How could this guy be so strong? I've been studying the books in here for ten years, and have gained a lot of enlightenment. In fact, my cultivation is unmatched, although nobody knows that. So who is this guy? And how come he hasn't caught the eye of the top figures in the sect?'

Meanwhile, he was keeping an eye on Yang Qi as he read.

Yang Qi read through the Seventy-Two Methods of Crystallizing Godpower and found some interesting information about how to use one's psyche and will to make godpower more stable, then turn it into godhood.

Furthermore, from this information, it was possible to infer that godly ascension was a pivotal moment in which one's life force would completely transform. Past that point, one stopped being human. That was why immense psychic power was required. And it was best to achieve that level before forming one's godhood. If one could reach Paramount will convergence and only form godhood afterward, it was called monarch godhood.

There were other interesting and useful concepts in the book, including tricks on how to crystallize godpower. For example, the Water-Fire Crystallization Technique, which used the opposing forces of yin and yang, and water and fire, to create a tempering effect that strengthened the structure of the godpower.

It also described ways to temper the crystallized godhood, so that it eventually formed a spiral structure. In some ways, it made the process of creating godhood seem very much like the process of forging a sword.

"Whoever wrote this book was extraordinary," Yang Qi said. Looking back at the cover, he saw that the author was the Sword-Grinding Kid.

"The Sword-Grinding Kid was a legend here in the god world. Sadly, he passed away long ago. He was the son of a subordinate of the Lord of the Sword Dao. Although his cultivation base wasn't particularly impressive, his theories were amazing." The young man leaped off the top of the bookshelf and floated down to the ground like a snowflake.

Watching him land, Yang Qi asked, "Brother, what's your name?"

"I'm Bai Yin. At first I assumed you were just an ordinary person, but as it turns out, you're nothing short of incredible."

Considering that Bai Yin had directly offered his name, it would have been impolite for Yang Qi not to do the same. So he said, "I'm Yang Qi. You just mentioned some ideas about reaching the Paramount level, but it seems to me this Sword-Grinding Kid didn't think the whole thing through. Before forming godhood, your fleshly body and life force substructure are weak. If you tried to form Paramount will convergence in that state, your fleshly body wouldn't be able to take it, and your sea of consciousness would collapse. It's like that bottle gourd of yours. If you tried to force more liquid into it after it's full, it would burst."

"Yes, that is an issue," Bai Yin replied. "Otherwise, there would be lots of people who reached the Paramount level before attempting godly ascension. There are a lot of books here on the second floor, and some of them contain speculations on that very subject. For instance, there are ways to strengthen your fleshly body. However, I don't think that's the answer. My current guess is that the information we need is on the third or fourth floor. Or maybe even higher. We need to see the personal records of the real top experts."

1. Bai Yin: Bai is a common surname which also means "white". Yin means "mark, seal, stamp, image".

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Chapter 1201: Monarch Godhood

Yang Qi looked around at the vast second floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

Even working at top speed, it would take him anywhere from three to five years just to look through everything. And that wasn't even factoring in the time spent deciphering all the information.

Before he had a chance to start reading again, the medallion in his hand suddenly flickered with light.

Bai Yin's medallion also flickered.

"Come on," Bai Yin said, "someone just entered the pavilion. We have a chance to get some gifts." He beckoned at Yang Qi, looking very much like a scammer who had just locked eyes on a rich target.

They walked out from the bookshelves into a wide hall filled with prayer mats. It was large enough to hold tens of thousands of people, and was obviously a place where the disciples could study books and seek enlightenment.

A group of a few dozen people had just entered.

Upon seeing Bai Yin and Yang Qi, one of them said, "We're here to study in the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion. We want to pay for six hours of study time."

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen," Bai Yin replied coolly. "According to the rules, disciples aren't allowed to enter inside. You can read quietly here in the reading room. Just tell us what kind of books you'd like and we'll bring them out to you."

A man stepped forward, looked down his nose at Bai Yin, and snorted coldly. "I heard you Scripture Pavilion people have a habit of making things hard for other disciples. I guess it's true. But the Great Classic of God Ordainment doesn't say anything about the supposed rules you just mentioned. Therefore, you have to let us inside. According to the regulations, we can look at any books we want as long as we don't take them outside."

"Well, that's true," Bai Yin replied casually. "But we still have to make sure that no one makes too much noise or damages any books. With a group as large as yours, it would be easy for someone to slip a book out, and then we would be held responsible. So it's simple. You stay here, and we'll bring you the books you want!" As he spoke, he pulled out a jade plaque inscribed with complex designs. "It'll be five merit points each, and the limit is ten books per person."

"So you want a bribe, huh?" another disciple said. "Fine, I have some godnotes that—"

"No, don't give them anything," said their leader, smiling coldly. "We aren't going to support pigs like this. They sit around all day reading whatever ancient records they want. Meanwhile, we work ourselves to the bone to get the merit points we need to study here. And now they're making things deliberately hard on us? I think I'm just going to walk right in and see what they do about it!"

With that, he strode toward the entrance.

"Back the fuck down!" Bai Yin shouted, and all of a sudden a white beam of light swirled out and wrapped around the entire group in front of them.

The other disciples were ready, though, and thrust their palms out as they unleashed all sorts of martial disciplines, energy arts, and godpower. Unfortunately, their efforts were useless. The white light shattered their techniques and plopped them down onto prayer mats, simultaneously rendering them completely immobile.

Then, Bai Yin reached out and grabbed the godnotes the disciple had been about to give him. Counting them out, he found there were twenty. Giving half to Yang Qi, he said, "Brother, you go get the books they need. Ten each. Find records about how to form godhood. Meanwhile, I'm going to teach a lesson to these poorly behaved fools."

The leader of the small group of disciples was furious. He had believed his cultivation base to be extraordinary, only to be easily defeated and sealed by Bai Yin. "Y-you," he spluttered, "my Master said—"

"Shut your mouth!" Bai Yin snapped. "Disturbances aren't allowed in the Scripture Pavilion!" Bai Yin waved his hand, causing godpower to form into a paper talisman that he slapped onto the disciple's head, making it impossible for him to speak.

Yang Qi clicked his tongue in amazement at how domineering Bai Yin was.

Entering the Scripture Pavilion, he collected a group of random books to give to the disciples. Placing the books in front of their various prayer mats, he said, "Please, take a look."

The furious disciples were still immobile, and could only struggle to use their divine will to look at the contents of the books.

"Let's go," Bai Yin said. "When they're finished reading, my White Prism Manacles will release them and send them out."

"Alright!" Yang Qi said. It was a bit amusing to see Bai Yin deal with the disciples in this way. If things went like this every day, he could only imagine how profitable this position would be.

Six hours later, the White Prism Manacles released the disciples, who hurried away. As for the books they had been reading, they flew back into the Scripture Pavilion and returned to their places on the shelves on their own.

At the bottom of the mountain, the group of disciples glared back up at the Scripture Pavilion, and one of them even suggested going back to cause a scene. However, the leader said, "Forget about it. Let's chalk this one up to a loss. But we're not going to forget what happened. Bai Yin is going to get his comeuppance eventually. Come on, let's go."

However, that was when the voice of a woman reached their ears. "Hmph! You're still thinking of getting revenge on Bai Yin? I advise you to put such thoughts to rest. Do you think that just because he hasn't reached godly ascension, you're a match for him?"

A fair-faced woman appeared behind them, clad in a light yellow garment, her hair bound with a phoenix hairpin. When the disciples saw her, none of them dared to say anything out of line.

"Hello, Elder Sister Xue!"

"Leave. And remember, don't bother Bai Yin. It's for your own good. He might not seem impressive, but he's wildly ambitious. Provoke him and you'll end up dead, one way or another."

"Yes, yes of course. We understand, Elder Sister Xue."

The disciples hurried away.

Elder Sister Xue then walked right into the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

"Aha!" Bai Yin exclaimed when he saw her. "Well, if it isn't Elder Sister Xue. Might I ask why you keep spending so many merit points to look at the books on this floor? Why not go to the third floor?"

Elder Sister Xue chuckled. "What. Don't tell me you're fishing for a bribe, Bai Yin."

"I wouldn't dare!" Bai Yin replied. "Anyone who dares to ask for a bribe from Elder Sister Xue would clearly be suicidal. By the way, allow me to introduce Yang Qi. He's new around here. He's a friend of the newly famous Jadefall, and he's no slouch.

"Yang Qi, hurry up and offer greetings to Elder Sister Xue. She's the founder of the Snow Society, and although she isn't a god, she could easily slaughter a Lesser God. She could reach godly ascension at any time, and probably go all the way to the Common God level. No one with a godhood rating of less than ten could possibly stand up to her."

"Well met, Elder Sister Xue," Yang Qi said, nodding. Obviously, she was another formidable figure who wanted to wait until she reached the Paramount level before becoming a god.

Elder Sister Xue looked Yang Qi up and down, and was visibly surprised. "You're a friend of Jadefall? Her cultivation base is amazing. But what's even more amazing is that pet of hers. It's completely invincible, and no one knows exactly what it is. In any case, you seem to be quite amazing in your own right."

Casually reaching out as if to caress Yang Qi, she said, "Come. Let Elder Sister test out your cultivation base."

"You flatter me, Elder Sister. My cultivation base is average at best." Yang Qi was actually quite taken aback. Her casual gesture was actually so profound that it targeted all of the major acupoints on his body, making it impossible to dodge. It was obviously a martial discipline filled with stolen good fortune of heaven and earth.

In response, he simply extended two fingers such that if she continued moving her hand toward him, her palm would be stabbed through.

"Not bad," she said. Her hand shifted directions, cutting an arc through the air as she changed the target of her blow to the Greater Yang acupoint on his temple.

Unfortunately for her, she suddenly realized that Yang Qi's fingers had shifted and were already in the path of her hand.

Eyes glittering, she shifted to another technique that encompassed both yin and yang, her five fingers acting as the five phases. Her hands flowed through hundreds of various moves, a dazzling display that seemed both as slow as a turtle and as fast as lightning. In fact, most people who watched her movements would likely cough up blood.

Yet no matter what she did, Yang Qi would casually adjust to meet her, his two fingers always waiting. It was as if he were trying to tire her out.

Bai Yin watched, nodding in admiration at how unexpectedly formidable Yang Qi was. The truth was that Bai Yin and Elder Sister Xue were both extraordinary people who wanted to eventually form monarch godhood. Few people could possibly evade their wrath, not even Lesser Gods, much less people who hadn't reached godly ascension.

Who could have guessed that another person such as them would suddenly appear?

"That's enough," Elder Sister Xue said, retracting her attack. "I almost can't believe you're this strong. I could even defeat Jadefall, at least, without her pet involved. But you're stronger than her. Why weren't you taken as an apprentice when you became an official disciple? Could it be that you have some secrets you don't want let out?"

Yang Qi laughed heartily. "Very clever of you, Elder Sister Xue. I can see that, just like me, you want to reach the Paramount level before godly ascension, and form monarch godhood. Perhaps we could pool our efforts in that regard?"

The fact that she was the leader of the so-called Snow Society reminded Yang Qi of his old days in the Demi-Immortal Institute, when he led the Sage Monarch Society and had to deal with people like the Five Lightnings Society, Divine Ability Society, and of course, the Crown Prince Society.

Apparently, the House of God Ordainment had a similar arrangement of factions.

"Are you interested in joining my Snow Society?" she asked. "I can help you with whatever goals you have. Bai Yin, tell him who my Master is."

Bai Yin laughed. "Elder Sister Xue's Master is a Consummate God! Although, I have the feeling that Brother Yang Qi is the free and unfettered type who likes to do his own thing. Sort of like me."

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Chapter 1202: Still Alive

Upon seeing how incredible Yang Qi was, Elder Sister Xue tried to recruit him into her Snow Society. Of course, Bai Yin could already tell that Yang Qi wasn't the kind of person who would like to be restricted, and would never agree to join such an organization as an ordinary member.

"He's right," Yang Qi said. "Many thanks for your kindness, Elder Sister Xue, but for the moment, I'd rather not join. I haven't reached the Paramount level of will convergence yet, so I'd prefer to stay here in the Scripture Pavilion increasing my knowledge and furthering my cultivation."

"Oh really?" Elder Sister Xue said, sounding impressed. "You haven't reached godly ascension, but you want to enter the Paramount level? You have some impressive ambitions. Regardless of the sect or clan, people like you are extremely rare. In fact, I haven't heard of anyone who's ever succeeded in such an effort. Aren't you just following in the footsteps of Bai Yin? After all, my Snow Society has done a lot of study and research into this subject, and have come to believe that the best path lies in focusing on cultivating the fleshly body. If you can push your fleshly body to the point of being able to contain Paramount will convergence, you'll succeed."

"I really do appreciate it. And if you're able to provide any direct help, I definitely wouldn't refuse it. But as for joining the Snow Society, I'm still going to have to decline."

"People with ambitions can't be forced to action," Elder Sister Xue said, nodding her head in approval. "That said, the doors of the Snow Society will always be open to you. If you want to join, just say the word."

Yang Qi laughed. "Alright."

"Are you here to do some reading, Elder Sister Xue?" Bai Yin asked. "Did you come to some new understanding recently in your cultivation?"

"I'm still interested in books about developing the fleshly body and filling it with psychic power. I heard that our House of God Ordainment recently wiped out a devil church known as the Asura Hegemon Chapel, and took all of their ancient records. Considering the members of their church were known for their powerful fleshly bodies and their expertise in ancient genetics, I'm very interested in those records."

The House of God Ordainment was an enormous sect that was always wiping out some sect or another and seizing their ancient records. And it was more common for cultivators from the devil churches to develop impressive fleshly bodies. Therefore, it could only be imagined what could be learned from their books.

Chuckling, Bai Yin said, "You're very well informed, Elder Sister. The pontifex of the Asura Hegemon Chapel was originally a devil-god from the Hell of Suras. It was only after he arrived here in the god world that he started his church. And you're right, our House of God Ordainment recently joined forces with the Truth Academy and the Sole Immortal Sect to destroy them. Unfortunately, the ancient records that were taken are all stored in the fifth or sixth floor. In other words, Elder Sister, you won't be able to look at them until after you reach godly ascension."

"Like hell, Bai Yin. There've got to be at least a few books here on the second floor." With a flourish, she revealed over a dozen godnotes. "This should get you plenty of alcohol. Now hurry and get me those books."

Bai Yin coughed dryly. "Many thanks, Elder Sister. Follow me."

With that, he led Elder Sister Xue through the maze of bookshelves. The books on the shelves were all tightly sealed, so that ordinary disciples couldn't just take them, but Bai Yin and Yang Qi had different rights with their identity medallions. And Bai Yin had worked here for ten years, so he knew the place like the back of his hand.

After reaching a certain bookshelf, he waved a hand dismissively, removing the warding magic to reveal a bookshelf made of human bones, that pulsed with immense devil energy.

Most of the books and scrolls on the second floor were made of bamboo, jade, metal, or other similar materials. But on this bookshelf, they were carved from bone, and some of the books had covers that appeared to be crafted from human flesh.

"Alright Elder Sister," Bai Yin said in a serious tone, "this bookshelf contains information from the dao of devils. And you can only read these things here; you're not allowed to take anything away. If you did, we would all be punished by the sect."

"You think I don't know the rules or something?" Elder Sister Xue said, flashing a pearly smile. Looking at the books, she pulled one down that resembled a lotus flower, except made from human flesh. It pulsed with devil energy, as though the words in it were a manifestation of millions upon millions of evil ghosts and vengeful souls.

Yang Qi scanned it with his divine sense and saw that the title was Secrets of the Retroconversion of Dead Flesh.

"Oh, I've read that one," Bai Yin said. "It was written by an outstanding figure among the asuras, who did a lot of research into fleshly bodies. That book has some very interesting revelations in it. In fact, I suspect that the author was also familiar with that most precious classic of the dao of devils, the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. Ah, what a pity. If only I had a chance to learn about that legendary Unspoiled Body, then maybe I could resolve some of my own fleshly body problems, and actually prepare it for Paramount will convergence.

Elder Sister Xue flipped through the book, black mists pouring out of it the entire time. When she was finished reading, she shook her head. "This book talks about theoretical elements, but nothing practical. Although the wording is insightful, I think you're right: it's all based on the basic structure of the Unspoiled Body. Without having studied the Unspoiled Body itself, this book won't do us any good."

Putting the book back, she took something else off the bookshelf, a pile of human skin.

Looking over, Yang Qi saw that the title read The Origins of Devilfolk Genes.

It provided a detailed description and analysis of Devilfolk genetics, and by extent, an explanation of why, when humans cultivated devil arts, they would ultimately become devils, all the way down to their genes and very soul.

It would be impossible to find such detailed information in the impure lands. After all, this information had originally been written down by gods from the Devilfolk.

'This is all incredible information,' Yang Qi thought. Even just having looked over Elder Sister Xue's shoulder as she looked through the records, he had gained new understandings of his Unspoiled Body.

Elder Sister Xue and Bai Yin might not understand the information, but he did. After arriving in the god world with the completed God Legion Seal, he'd gained further enlightenment of his Sage Monarch Grand Magic, and had temporarily given up on the Unspoiled Body. But now he was suddenly presented with more information about its secrets.

Reaching out, he took a book made of human bones and paged through it to find information about fleshly bodies from the dao of devils, and how they related to tribulation clouds. It was another book penned by a god.

The things that gods could perceive surpassed the vision of mortals by many times over. And the information they could provide was proving immensely beneficial to Yang Qi.

Within him, the sheepskin scroll stirred and tribulation energy brewed. Whether it was his fleshly body, his soul, or his sea of consciousness, tiny transformations were occurring everywhere within him.

Looking at these ancient records from the dao of devils, enlightenment from devil-gods poured through him relentlessly. In fact, he quickly became lost in study.

Over the next few days, Elder Sister Xue came back every day and spent a few hours studying. It was hard to say where she came up with so many merit points. Meanwhile, Yang Qi was so focused on studying that soon, a month had gone by and he had read several thousand ancient records from the dao of devils. Most disciples wouldn't be able to read so many records without experiencing a fundamental shift in their dao and worldview. And most would have a hard time resisting the pull into devilry.

After all, knowledge-devils were powerful, and could easily lead to cultivation deviation. In fact, there were many sages and gurus who had transformed into devils after spending too much time in study. But Yang Qi had conquered knowledge-devils even when he was in the impure lands, so he wasn't worried.

After reading, he simply crushed the knowledge-devils and focused on improving his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth and Unspoiled Body.

Life in the Scripture Pavilion was very casual and relaxed. Disciples would occasionally come to study, which would only lead to further profit. There was no danger or difficulty like in the mines, and he was slowly building up a collection of medicinal pills, talismans, and godstones...

Life was wonderful. Yang Qi almost felt like a fancy government official living in luxury.

One particularly bright day, the light of the god world pierced into the bookshelves, waking up Bai Yin, who stretched lazily. Pulling out a medicinal pill from his robe, he dropped it into his alcohol, which fizzed loudly for a moment before he chugged it all down.

"He who rises early gains the deepest enlightenment," he murmured. "Ah, what a life. Reading, sleeping, drinking, getting a tan. This is how gods are supposed to live. What's the point of all the fighting and death all the other disciples participate in?"

Looking over, he saw Yang Qi reading a book. From the look of it, he had been in that same spot all night, reading.

"Hmm? Don't go too crazy, Yang Qi. You've already been here a few months and all you do is read, cultivate, and seek enlightenment. You don't even sleep! Remember, it's important to balance work and leisure. It's not good for you to just sit around studying."

Closing the book, Yang Qi laughed and said, "You have your dao, I have mine. And as they say, all daos can lead to godly ascension."

Bai Yin nodded. "I really don't get it, though. What's your trick? The fact that you don't need to sleep is incredible. Even gods get tired and need to rest. Mind letting me in on the secret?"

Yang Qi shook his head. "You wouldn't be able to master it, so what would be the point in telling you?"

"Pshh!" Bai Yin pointed a finger at Yang Qi as if to start cursing him, only to then look down toward the bottom of the mountain. Then he leaped to his feet. "Come on, Brother. Some more wealth is headed our way. Looks like they wiped out another sect and are bringing some books up. And of course, we have to appraise them to see how many merit points they're worth."

Appraising books was another part of their job in the Scripture Pavilion, and it left them a lot of room for shenanigans. After all, they were entirely in charge of whether a book was worth one merit point, or five.

In other words, they decided how many merit points people got for handing in books. Although it seemed like a small responsibility, it was enough to cause most people to fawn obsequiously to them. And of course, it could be a great source of wealth.

Walking out of the Scripture Pavilion, they met a group of several dozen disciples hauling some books toward the second floor.

When Yang Qi looked over the group, the first person that stood out was Elder Brother Yue, who apparently wasn't working in the mines anymore.

He was still alive!

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Chapter 1203: A Visit from the Demonfolk

"Yang Qi!? It's you!" The moment Elder Brother Yue caught sight of Yang Qi, his eyes flared with intense hatred.

He had originally assumed that, after Yang Qi left, he would be able to take control of the mines. Never could he have imagined that Yang Qi's subordinates would be so fierce. They unified all of Yang Qi's allies against Elder Brother Yue, which made his mine extremely inefficient. Even worse, the Demonfolk seemingly targeted him alone. And the new disciple sent to take charge of Mine Thirteen was little more than a puppet who followed the orders of his subordinates.

On one occasion, disciples of the dao of devils ambushed Elder Brother Yue and severely injured him.

After recovering, he stormed over to Mine Thirteen to make a scene and take control. However, to his complete surprise, he was soundly beaten by Zhang Jufang and had to crawl away in humiliation.

Returning to his own mine, he bitterly submitted an application to relinquish his position as foreman. It took a lot of bribes, but he finally managed to get himself a relatively good position as a manager of sect thralls.

Thralls were essentially slaves, and they were much easier to deal with than miners. They were given plenty of good food and alcohol, and were allowed to focus fully on their cultivation. The only downside was that all the godpower they built up would eventually have to be given to weaker disciples.

And of course, the techniques given to the thralls to cultivate were pure and focused on beneficial elements. They weren't combat arts, which ensured that the thralls weren't particularly dangerous.

Miners never lasted very long; they all died. As for thralls, they would also eventually run out of stamina and wither up into death.

Both experienced miserable fates.

Thrall managers would benefit from the energy arts of the thralls, much the same way that disciples who managed the Scripture Pavilion could read any books they wanted.

Both were very cushy positions.

In fact, most people considered the position of thrall manager better than being posted in the Scripture Pavilion. After all, the disciples who came to benefit from the thralls also had to show their "filial piety", otherwise matters would turn difficult for them. The House of God Ordainment was a veritable empire, so it was a given that there would be some corruption here and there.

Elder Brother Yue's cultivation base had clearly increased dramatically. His godpower thrummed with power, so much so that, as he faced Yang Qi, he looked like he was about ready to start fighting.

Before he could do anything, though, a young man reached out to block his path.

"Calm down, Tianlin. You'll get your chance for revenge. Remember, we're here to turn in books and get merit points, there's no need to start a fight." From the look of it, he was another member of the Yue Clan. Taking a step forward, he looked at Yang Qi and said, "I heard that you're a friend of Jadefall. Unfortunately, you're a bit too arrogant. You're a disciple of the Scripture Pavilion, but you still try to manipulate things back at the mines, stuffing your pockets as a result. Maybe I should report you to the parliament of elders. Then you'll really get what's coming to you."

The one to reply wasn't Yang Qi, but Bai Yin. "Well, look who the cat dragged in. Yue He of the Yue Clan. Look, this is the Scripture Pavilion, so don't you dare make a scene here! If you don't calm down immediately, I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Don't try to act tough, Bai Yin!" one of the other disciples shouted. "Everybody knows that you won't become a god because you want Paramount will convergence first. But even people favored by the heavens fail when they try to do that. They either experience cultivation deviation, or they die. Who do you think you are? You'd better not take the Yue Clan lightly!"

"Oh really?" Bai Yin waved his hand, sending out a white streak of light.

Yue He smiled coldly and stepped forward. "I've long heard it said that Brother Bai Yin is unparalleled under heaven, with a profoundly mysterious cultivation base. You know, I've always wanted to see what you're capable of."

Thrusting his palm out, he sent a stream of godpower flying at Bai Yin.

BAM!

Both of them shivered, making it seem as though they were completely evenly matched.

"Hmm?" Bai Yin frowned. "Since when did your cultivation base advance so much, Yue He?"

"You think you're the only one who wants monarch godhood, Bai Yin? Truly ambitious disciples aren't quick to form their godhood. They take their time. So what do you think? How does your stockpile compare to mine?" Looking over at Yang Qi, he said, "Presumably, you also want monarch godhood."

"Enough of this," Yang Qi said. Waving his hand, he sent out a surging stream of energy that forced Yue He to step back a few paces.

Looking at Yang Qi in shock, he said, "Your energy arts, they—"

"You're here to hand in some books, right?" Yang Qi said. "Not try to resolve personal grudges. If you want to seek revenge, you can seek me out personally. Hand over those books and let us have a look."

Even as the words left his mouth, he made a grasping gesture.

The carts full of books and records flew over, and one plopped onto the ground.

"Not worth anything," he said. "It's just someone's record of the tribulations and vital energy transformations they experienced when forming godhood."

The fact that Yang Qi had read the book so quickly caused Yue Tianlin and Yue He to react with visible shock.

Before long, Yang Qi had looked through all of the books. "Only ten of them are worth anything. The rest can go down to the first floor. We'll give you three merit points apiece, for a total of thirty. What do you say?"

"Like hell!" Yue Tianlin said, taking a step forward. "You're going to take all of these books, and you're going to give us five merit points apiece for them. If you don't, I'll make sure you're kicked out of here by tomorrow, believe me."

Clicking his tongue and sighing, Bai Yin said, "You people from the Yue Clan really have a lot of nerve to stir things up at the Scripture Pavilion. Yue He, the fact that your Yue Clan produces disciples like this is just a guarantee that you'll eventually end up getting wiped out."

"Shut your mouth!" Yue He growled at Yue Tianlin. He knew that now wasn't the time for altercations. "Fine. I see how it is. We'll accept your terms this time. But next time you come to the Thrall Camp to get some godpower, we'll see how things go for you."

"You think we want godpower from thralls?" Bai Yin burst out laughing. "People who advance their cultivation base that way are complete morons."

"Maybe, maybe not," Yue He replied. "You'll need a lot of godpower to reach the Paramount level, and it's the same for forming godhood. Considering the level of your cultivation base, I'd say you'll have no choice but to come to the Thrall Camp eventually! I guess we'll just have to wait and see!"

"Bye. You can see yourselves out. Here's a talisman with your merit points." Bai Yin tossed out a paper talisman.

With that, the people from the Yue Clan left.

"Those people don't know the height of the heavens and the breadth of the earth!" Bai Yin said, a grim expression on his face. "The Yue Clan has a really bad reputation in the House of God Ordainment. Unfortunately, they also have a lot of power, so we have to watch our backs."

"What did he mean about kicking us out of the Scripture Pavilion?" Yang Qi asked. "Could they do that?"

"No way," Bai Yin replied with a smile. "They don't have that much influence. The elders in the Scripture Pavilion are well aware of the broader situation. If a faction like the Yue Clan could remove disciples from the Scripture Pavilion, what else could they do? Besides, Jadefall is your friend, and her Master recently became a Consummate God, whose words carry enormous weight."

All of a sudden, one of Yang Qi's command medallions started buzzing. Pulling it out, he said, "Brother Bai, I have a matter to take care of. It shouldn't take more than a few days. Can you keep an eye on the Scripture Pavilion while I'm away?"

"No problem." Bai Yin wasn't inclined to pry into Yang Qi's business. Besides, his responsibilities in the Scripture Pavilion were so easy that he had handled them by himself for ten full years.

Yang Qi hurried to the main teleportation portal in the House of God Ordainment's headquarters. It whirred to life, and he stepped out into the god world at large, finding himself in a boundless mountainous region. He was back in the Guardian Mines.

Having been inside a god kingdom for several months, he was suddenly reminded why so many people preferred living in a place like that; the weather in the god world really was horrible.

He sped into motion, and before long, was at Mine One.

Zhang Jufang was there waiting for him with a retinue of disciples including the new foreman. He was an official disciple, but living under Yang Qi's shadow, he had no choice but to fall in line.

"My respects, Elder Brother Yang Qi!" said the new foreman, offering a polite salute.

He knew that Yang Qi was the true power in the mines.

"You're doing well," Yang Qi said. "Keep working hard and I'll make sure you go a long way. I always take care of my people." Pleased that the disciple knew his place, Yang Qi waved his hand, causing a pile of godsand to appear in front of them all. "This is noble caliber godsand. Take it. First, use it to expand the defensive spell formations to encompass the entire mining district. Second, buy all the medicinal pills you need to strengthen yourself. And third, use what's left to meet the yearly quota. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" the disciples all replied, looking at Yang Qi as if he were an actual god.

"I'm going into the mountains to talk things over with the Demonfolk. Stay busy while I'm gone." With that, he flew into the air, blurring into motion and leaving behind afterimages as he achieved a flight speed far beyond what the demonlings were capable of.

Soon, he was deep in the mountains.

He had been called to a meeting by the snake goddess and the ghostface monkey-god, in order to go to visit the jade discs left behind by the Demon Master. He had made a lot of advancement in the Scripture Pavilion, and was considering taking advantage of his time among the Demonfolk to achieve his breakthrough to the Paramount level.

If he acquired monarch godhood, he would definitely come to be viewed as a genius among geniuses in the sect.

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Chapter 1204: Demon Master

In the wild mountains, demon energy filled the forests and rose high into the sky. There were obviously countless demonlings lurking about; the trees were the best place for them to keep safe from the scorching light. The canopy overhead kept the brightness from seeping down into the cool, shady sections below.

The trees of the god world were tenacious and filled with life. They could absorb frigid energy, scorching energy, and even the strikes of lightning. They were tenacious, and those that weren't strong enough to survive were quickly weeded out in a very direct display of survival of the fittest.

Some trees were even able to build collections of godpower, turning themselves into murderous things that could kill and assimilate demonlings and human cultivators alike.

Just about all of the plant life in the god world was unique.

In fact, if one were to create a record of all the types of plants and trees, it would surely fill a billion volumes of text. Of course, in addition to the towering trees, there were all sorts of rare medicinal plants. Some such plants were able to use godpower to take the form of imps that could walk about and actively evade pursuit.

Yang Qi wasn't interested in studying such medicinal plants. Thanks to his deal with the Demonfolk, he got lots of medicinal plants on a monthly basis. After all, the demonlings were much better equipped to collect such plants. And the ghostface monkey-god's people weren't just adept at collecting medicinal plants, but also knew how to brew amazing alcohol.

Whooosh!

Yang Qi flew for so long that eventually, he didn't feel like he was in the world of humans anymore. He was surrounded by towering mountain peaks and primitive forests. Occasionally, flying demonlings would appear, but he would simply make himself invisible and fly past them to avoid trouble.

He flew for about six hours until he was in an immense valley, quiet and peaceful.

Landing, he waved his sleeve, and a sound like sabers and swords echoed out as numerous areas on the surrounding cliff walls exploded. All of them were spell formation nodes.

"Ghostface monkey-god! Snake goddess. You sent a message for me to meet you here to look at the Demon Master's jade discs. Instead, you set up spell formations to ambush me?" He threw his head back and laughed, and the sound reverberated out with such explosive force that it seemed the cliffs might collapse.

"Your cultivation base only gets more and more impressive, Yang Qi."

The ghostface monkey-god and the snake goddess appeared, both of them looking a bit chagrined. They really had hoped to trap Yang Qi in a spell formation, only to have him destroy it with casual ease.

"We were just testing out your cultivation base," the snake goddess said. "Please, don't take offense."

"You'd best not stir up trouble," Yang Qi said. "Your lives are directly in my hands!" All of a sudden, both the ghostface monkey-god and the snake goddess felt power thrumming within their hearts. Instantly, looks of shock appeared on their faces as they realized they couldn't control their own godpower.

"W-what... what did you do to us?" the snake goddess stammered.

"Oh nothing. Just planted some devil embryos in you. You've had them inside you for months now. I can use them to control your godpower, and even read your thoughts." Yang Qi chuckled. "Did you really think I would just casually let you leave the day we met? No, the truth is that I could have killed you any time I wanted. And I know exactly what you've been thinking all along. You really are planning to open Demon Master Valley and join forces with other Demonfolk experts to try to unlock its secrets. However, some of the other Demonfolk gods have it out for me. For example, that moon-eating lion king and the ox god. The former has a godhood rating of eight, and the latter, nine. Did you really think they'd be enough to deal with me?"

The two demon-gods looked at Yang Qi with ashen faces.

"You..."

"Can you really spy on our thoughts?"

"Of course I can." He flicked his finger. "For example, right now you're trying to think of ways to expel the devil embryos. You're hoping that the other Demonfolk experts will be able to save you. Sadly, that won't work. Now lead the way. Take me into Demon Master Valley."

"What?" the snake goddess said. "You know how dangerous Demon Master Valley is, but you want to just walk right inside?"

"Of course," Yang Qi replied. "Now quit jabbering and lead the way."

"Yes, of course..." The two demon-gods had no choice but to comply. Flying into the air, they led Yang Qi over a few mountain peaks until they reached an immense valley with a waterfall spilling into it, filling it with mist. In the depths of that valley was an enormous door that was currently tightly closed. The door itself was as big as a mountain, and engraved with calligraphy as flamboyant as dancing dragons and swirling phoenixes. Of course, it was the script of the Demonfolk.

Numerous demon-gods were converging on the area, most of them looking expectantly at the huge door.

There was a subterranean river below the surface of the earth, and the pulsing power of heaven and earth that flowed up from it was being gathered to use in a spell formation to open the door.

This place was none other than Demon Master Valley.

It was the location where the boundless Demon Master had left behind jade discs inscribed with all sorts of energy arts, spell formation instructions, pill concocting formulas, and the like. One of the discs even contained the Psychic Devil-Raising Demon-Sacrificing Heaven-Defying Grand Magic.

Whenever the power of heaven and earth was unleashed in Demon Master Valley, the local demon-gods would gather in hopes of gaining new enlightenment.

Yang Qi stood with the ghostface monkey-god and the snake goddess, looking around at all the other demon-gods flying into the valley. While some just quietly sat down, others were engaged in conversation.

A few of them called out greetings to the snake goddess and ghostface monkey-god. "Monkey, Snake, who's that Junior Brother with you? Which demon tribe does he come from? And considering he hasn't reached godly ascension, why did you bring him here? Does he actually want to get himself killed?"

"Oh, this is just a friend of ours from a distant tribe."

However, before anything else could be said, a burly man with golden hair appeared, flanked by a similarly burly man in black.

Yang Qi could instantly see that they had godhood ratings of nine and eight respectively.

One was the moon-eating lion king, the other was the ox god.

They were the very same gods that the ghostface monkey-god and snake goddess had asked to help deal with Yang Qi. Now that they had caught sight of Yang Qi alive, they were obviously going to attempt to do something to him.

"Don't do anything!" the snake goddess said to the burly man in black. "This has all been just a misunderstanding, Big Bro Ox."

"A misunderstanding? Seems to me you're under his control!" The ox god stepped forward and reached out toward the snake goddess, sending out a stream of godpower that entered her and caused cracking sounds to ring out from the godhood in her sea of energy.

Yang Qi looked over at the ox.

Although he didn't say a word, an enormous, devilish specter appeared behind the ox god, which entered him and caused him to shiver. All of a sudden, he realized that his godpower was flowing only in fits and starts.

"What did you just do to me, boy!?" the ox god bellowed angrily.

"Oh, nothing. Just made you a bit more obedient. And helped you understand how strong I am." Yang Qi had secretly used the Heaven-God Hell-Exterminating Devil Embryo to infect him. Although the ox god was able to suppress the effects, it was causing problems for his godpower, and had already reduced his fighting prowess.

"Where exactly are you from, brat?" said the burly man with the golden hair. Although he was glaring at Yang Qi, he didn't dare to make a move against him.

"That doesn't matter. I came to seek enlightenment from the Demon Master's jade disc. Considering that has nothing to do with you, and we don't have any grudge, there's no need to get into any life-or-death struggle." Yang Qi waved his hand and retracted the devil embryo.

Instantly, the ox god's godpower flows returned to normal, although he was still soaked with sweat.

"Incredible. Nothing short of incredible. I understand, Sire. You clearly have grand ambitions, and want to reach the Paramount level. So you came to acquire one of the Demon Master's techniques, the one pertaining to developing inner devils. I was coerced into causing problems for you, so please, let's turn weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk." The ox god clasped hands respectfully.

The truth was that they didn't have any personal grudge with Yang Qi, and they could see that he wasn't interested in causing problems for them. Even Demonfolk knew of the axiom, dismount a donkey on favorable terrain, in other words, take advantage of favorable conditions. For the Demonfolk, survival came first, and dignity second. It was actually the opposite of humans. Because humans often lived comfortable lives, they could afford to put dignity ahead of survival.

Yang Qi gave a vague nod and sat down cross-legged.

Their small altercation hadn't attracted the attention of other demon-gods. This was another difference between demons and humans. Demons' interest in self-preservation made them different from humans, who loved to watch a big scene.

A few hours passed, and the sky turned dark. At that point, a strange glow rose up from the subterranean river, gathering above the valley in the shape of a crescent moon that cast soft light everywhere.

As the enormous stone door slowly opened, a voice echoed out. "Demon Master Valley will be open for three days and three nights. Take care. If you don't leave before the door closes, you never will."

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

Numerous demon-gods flew forward in streaks of light.

As for Yang Qi, he slapped his palm on the ground and instantly disappeared, giving quite a shock to the moon-eating lion king and the ox god. He really could come and go like the wind. In fact, even the wind would marvel at his methods.

He flew past the door into the valley, and saw that the area was roughly shaped like a gourd. It was huge, and the cliffs were covered with numerous jade discs, all of which emanated immense demon energy. The floor was littered with the bones of those who had entered in times past, but hadn't left before the door closed.

The Demon Master was a legendary figure among the Demonfolk, and his secrets were here in this valley, left behind for his people to gain enlightenment of.

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Chapter 1205: Psychic Devil-Raising

Upon entering Demon Master Valley, Yang Qi looked around at the jade discs and saw that every single one had text inscribed on it using a demon energy secret magic. Some were sword techniques, some were energy arts charts, and some were even methods of using godpower to become Demonfolk. The energy arts were all extremely profound and advanced, and not the type that could be easily understood or mastered.

These were energy arts that would be on the third floor of the House of God Ordainment's Scripture Pavilion, or even higher than that.

The only difference was that they were all out in the open for anyone present to study. Clearly, the legendary Demon Master had grand aspirations for the Demonfolk, and wanted his people to understand his most secret techniques.

The Demon Master was truly a boundlessly mighty figure, similar to the Sovereign Lord or the True Devil. He was the god of the Demonfolk and the master of myriad worlds. No one knew whether or not he had perished, but what was known was that he had established versions of his valley in different parts of the god world. Each of them were unique, and each was the subject of much anticipation on the part of the Demonfolk when it came time to open them.

In the past, there had been humans who did what Yang Qi was doing now. They had entered one of the Demon Master Valleys to study, but in the end, they always met with inauspicious events.

In other words, they had all died.

Yang Qi knew that, and was aware that humans who entered Demon Master Valley would generally meet bad ends. However, to him, it was simply a challenge, one that would hopefully improve his cultivation base and substructure.

Of course, the ghostface monkey-god and the snake goddess knew full well that humans who entered the valley would die, but there was no way they would give that information to Yang Qi. They wanted him to suffer the consequences of his actions.

Thump. Swish. Rustle.

Sword energy swirled on the surface of one of the jade discs as a group of demon-gods closely studied it. It was obviously a profound sword technique that could be used to slaughter one's enemies.

There were also jade discs with fist techniques, leg techniques, movement techniques, and internal energy circulation diagrams.

Yang Qi skipped all of those and headed deeper into the valley to look for the Psychic Devil-Raising Demon-Sacrificing Heaven-Defying Grand Magic. He was very curious to see what it was like.

When the other demon-gods saw where he was going, they shook their heads.

"So someone is feeling really suicidal today. The jade discs in that area have taboo arts passed down by the Demon Master. You have to stand head and shoulders above all other Demonfolk to seek enlightenment there, otherwise you'll die."

"Maybe he thinks he's an exception. Every year there are people like this. The Demon Master dominated all creation, and even led the Demonfolk to fight against the boundless Sovereign Lord. He also had his own share of the destiny of the god world, so who wouldn't want to have his best secret magics?"

"That's right. Supposedly, the Demon Master left behind one billion eight hundred million taboo arts, and the one in this valley is the Psychic Devil-Raising Demon-Sacrificing Heaven-Defying Grand Magic. But cultivating that is only good for getting yourself killed."

"Forget about this guy. People die every year here. Let's just focus on this particular martial arts fist technique." Everyone knew that there was a time limit of three days, and that those who got stuck inside would die.

Eventually, Yang Qi reached what appeared to be the end of the valley, where he caught sight of a jade disc whose surface flickered with numerous devilish specters.

At first, it looked like complete chaos. But as he focused his mind, he could tell that heart-devils were flourishing within his soul and sea of consciousness.

And they weren't illusions. They were very real.

Suddenly, he heard a voice speaking in his ears. "Heart-devils are born to feed on the psyche. The stronger the person, the stronger the heart-devils inside them. You truly have no idea how powerful the evil inside you could be. Stimulate it, then defeat it, and you can gain the eternal. Afterward, both the evil you and the righteous you will vanish and become nothing. And that is the strongest state you can enter, in which you can grasp at Annulled will convergence..."

It was none other than the voice of the Demon Master.

'Wait, how come that voice sounds familiar?' Yang Qi thought. To his shock, that voice sounded extremely familiar to him, as if it had been accompanying him throughout his entire life.

'Is it just my imagination?' Remaining fully on guard, he continued looking at the jade disc. As he did, he saw countless streams of devilishness swirling together into the form of a person, who demonstrated how to unleash the evil version of oneself.

The devil will in his sea of consciousness was getting so abundant he could hardly control it.

Devilish specters danced on the Demon Master's jade disc, howling and shrieking to stimulate devilishness. Yang Qi reached the point where he felt like he couldn't endure it all and howled, his voice thrumming with wretched evil and ruthless violence. Not even he had any idea what was happening.

He felt as though his psyche had split into two versions of himself. One was cold, empty, and in control of everything. The other was a howling mass of destruction and insanity.

Crack. Crunch.

A dramatic transformation was occurring within him. The structure of his godpower spun as a faint figure split off of him. It wasn't a psychic projection, but an actual split in his humanity and godhood.

His vital energy, flesh, blood, and all the particles that made him were transforming according to what he was seeing on the Demon Master's jade disc. The new version was filled with wretched evil, and his true self's vital energy was growing weak as a result.

Two versions of himself were taking shape.

'Is it really this bad? I was just looking at the technique, and didn't even try cultivating it. But my nascent divinity and sea of consciousness have already split, and my true energy doesn't seem to be responding to my thoughts.'

The truth was that the psychic split that was happening was being caused by his wretched, evil side. The "Psychic Devil-Raising" aspect operated upon merely seeing the technique, which would cause devilishness to appear, take over the body, then split it apart and ultimately devour it.

Yang Qi was now looking at another version of himself, a version that resembled him in every way and contained all of his energy arts and power.

The evil version had black hair that whipped around his head, making him look like a devil-god. "This is the real me, Yang Qi! I'm you, and you're me. But sadly, you're too weak. I'm the only one who can unite heaven and earth, not a piece of trash like you. Even with the God Legion Seal, you run around scared all the time. You even joined that so-called House of God Ordainment. It seems to me you don't deserve the God Legion Seal. In fact, I'm going to kill you and take it for my own."

However, the God Legion Seal still remained within Yang Qi. He couldn't use it on the evil version of himself, because after all, that version was still part of him.

"The evil version of me," he murmured. "You split off from me, and you think you can beat me? Very funny!"

"I'm just as strong as you, but more ruthless," the evil version replied. "So how could you possibly compare to me? All I have to do is kill you to become completely wretched and evil. Then I can become the True Devil, conquer the world, and become unparalleled under heaven."

"Bring it on! Let's fight!" Yang Qi clenched his hands into fists. "I'm curious to see how strong the evil version of me is."

"And I'm curious how strong the calm version of me is!" Chuckling in sinister fashion, the evil version of Yang Qi flicked his finger, unleashing the unmatchable Purrfect God Art.

Yang Qi did exactly the same thing in response!

"Die!"

The evil version stretched out his hand to use the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. He held nothing back, and the shock wave of vital energy caused the entire valley to tremble violently.

In fact, some of the demon-gods were caught off guard and were sent tumbling in the opposite direction.

"What just happened?" A demon-god who had cultivated up from the form of an eagle, and had a godhood rating of eight, couldn't stand up to the force and was flung backward.

"It's that kid who went in there. He actually split his psyche and created two versions of himself. Now they're fighting. Fuck! He's screwing with our enlightenment! We only have three days in here, and he's ruining things. Join forces and kill him!" It was a burly man from the Horsefolk, who rushed forward and unleashed a palm strike backed by a godhood rating of five.

Crack!

Even as the attack rumbled into the depths of the valley, a mountain-toppling, sea-draining force shot out from therein. The burly horse demon-god was caught completely unprepared and was ripped to shreds, causing gore to fill the air. His godhood appeared, but before it could do anything, a blood-red mouth appeared and gobbled it up.

Just like that, a demon-god was killed.

"Dear lord!" another demon-god shouted. "That kid hasn't even reached godly ascension, but he's already this strong? Considering he's split in two, shouldn't he be weak right now?"

"Everyone join forces and crush him!" another demon-god said. "We can't let his fighting ruin our own enlightenment."

"Alright!"

Several dozen demon-gods joined forces, sending out incredible waves of godpower to create a sealing mark that shot toward the depths of the valley.

However, an even greater energy art met it, composed of countless golden hands which crushed everything in their path.

Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam!

All of the demon-gods had godhood ratings of five, yet they screamed horribly as they died.

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Chapter 1206: Split Psyche

The demon-gods joined forces, but couldn't do anything to get the situation under control. In fact, the explosive godpower Yang Qi was unleashing had them all stumbling backward.

Ever since he'd come to the god world, Yang Qi had been holding back. But now there were two versions of him, one calm and collected while the other was evil and full of devilishness. Both had the same immense fighting experience, so it was a given that a conflict between them would be heaven-topping and earth-shaking.

Thankfully, the fight was taking place in Demon Master Valley, ensuring that the shockwaves of energy couldn't escape to the outside and draw wider attention.

As for the demon-gods inside, they quickly realized that they couldn't do anything, and one by one, they just left the valley. After all, every single one of them was a Lesser God, so there was no way they could deal with two versions of Yang Qi.

"I don't know where this kid came from, but he's definitely seeking enlightenment of the Demon Master's Psychic Devil-Raising Demon-Sacrificing Heaven-Defying Grand Magic! But considering he's split apart his psyche, he won't last for much longer. Ai..."

"He's basically gone crazy and is experiencing cultivation deviation. He'll definitely blow up in the end. I guess we're just screwed. There's no point in worrying about plotting against someone who's going to die anyway."

"Well, that's true. If it weren't for the fact that he's going to die anyway, we definitely wouldn't let him off the hook."

The demon-gods were furious, but there was nothing they could do. In any case, they were sure that he would soon die.

Intense rumblings continued rolling out from inside the valley.

It was a sound of such explosive power that it could give birth to god lightning, and was so strong it could pull the souls of those who heard it into deep trances.

"Don't listen to that sound!" said one of the demon-gods, who happened to be a wolf god. "It's a deadly resonance from the Demon Master's psychic secret magics. That guy is already losing control!"

The fight between Yang Qi and his evil version was reaching a fever pitch. In fact, it was a fight more desperate than any he had ever fought. His opponent was an exact copy of himself, and knew all of his flaws. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure what his enemy's flaws were.

Even worse, he didn't have any secret weapons to unleash unexpectedly.

His evil version laughed darkly. "I'm the real Yang Qi, Fateless One. You're just my weak spot. Once I get rid of you, heart-devil, I'll be what I've always been meant to be! You're weak!"

"Bullcrap!" Yang Qi said, completely unfazed by what he was hearing. It was strange to hear the evil version of himself calling his true self a heart-devil and a weakness. Although it made sense in some ways, he wouldn't be easily shaken by such words. And he knew that if he allowed himself to be swayed, he would meet a dismal end. He would definitely lose his senses and become an actual devil king.

Right now he needed to destroy his evil will and restore himself to normal.

"Die!" the evil version howled, furious that his weak version wasn't giving in. Reaching up, he summoned a huge sword and slashed it down toward Yang Qi.

"Prepare to die!" the evil version shouted, his black hair swirling about, black energy pulsing at his feet, almost like the eternal sands of hell. "I'm Yang Qi, and I won't be weak again. I don't need any negative emotions, just strength and power. Weak human feelings won't do me any good. I don't need friendship. I don't need family. I just need to be as cold and hard as iron."

His sword was as red as blood and filled with cruelty to dominate the far corners of reality.

To the evil version, Yang Qi was calm and had feelings, so he was a heart-devil. But to Yang Qi, the evil version was the heart-devil.

"Heart-Devil Submission!"

A pious expression appeared on Yang Qi's face, and he began thrumming with empyrean energy as he drew on his Sage Monarch Grand Magic. Pooling all of his energy, he summoned a sword of morality that was the perfect opposite of his evil version's weapon.

CLANG!

They slammed into each other, then rocketed apart, slamming into opposite cliff faces before rushing right back into battle.

Energy arts and sword energy were being unleashed in grand fashion. Obviously, this was a very important fight, more important than any he had ever fought.

It was a battle of the self.

Evil Yang Qi's godpower flowed without end, and with the backing of the God Legion Seal it didn't seem like he would ever run out.

Clearly, Yang Qi himself was in the same position, though.

"Tribulation!" Evil Yang Qi unleashed tribulations from the Unspoiled Body, while pure Yang Qi launched a move from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

Both of them were protected by bubbles that would cause huge shockwaves of godpower to roll out when they clashed.

"I don't need your wretched, devil will. I need clarity, wisdom, valor, and nothingness. I need not evil, ruthlessness, distortion, ferocity..." Yang Qi was speaking such things as he fought, filling him with a sense of happiness, fighting spirit, and confidence.

"Bah! You're weak, and it's all your fault! That's why I haven't been able to flex my muscles in the god world. If it weren't for me, you would've been nothing but a hedonistic silkpants in the lands of mortals. You would've been a woman's plaything, only to be thrown to the side. I'm the one who got you your revenge. I killed Yun Hailan. I helped you kill the Crown Prince! Without me, you're nothing but a weak piece of trash! How many times have I helped you? Apparently not enough, and that's why I'm finally going to kill you today!"

The evil Yang Qi seemed to be getting fiercer and more ruthless, until he pulsed with so much killing intent that it seemed as if he were fully entrenched in the dao of wretch-devils.

"Wrong. I used wisdom, clarity, and emptiness in the impure lands. That's how I ended up here. I don't need your insanity. With you, I'm nothing but an ignorant madman. In fact, the time has come for you to begone."

RUMBLE!

Their fists collided and a deafening shock wave rolled out.

The fighting was reaching a peak. As it did, Yang Qi was gaining further enlightenment, yet his evil self also benefited from all of it.

"Hey, you!" his evil version said. "As we fight, our cultivation bases improve. And it doesn't look like either of us can beat the other. How about we just go our separate ways, work on our cultivation for ten years, then have a rematch?"

"Yeah right. I have the God Legion Seal, and you might have split from me, but you can't take it away. Nor can you take the sheepskin scroll or the Mahātmā Jade. The only way for you to get them is to kill me. Considering how raving mad you are, if you go out into the god world, you'll end up dead sooner rather than later. So quit it with the tricks. I'm also Yang Qi, I know them all. You really think they would work on me? This is a fight of the self; in other words, a contest to see whose will is stronger. Whoever has the calmest heart will beat the other, and what you lack is my calm and clarity!"

Yang Qi's voice was the perfect representation of emptiness and clarity.

"Die!" the evil version screamed. "I'm going to break through, then you won't be able to do anything to me! You may be calm, but I'm strong! We'll see who comes out on top. There will be only one! Fine, I'll show you what it really means to go all out. True-Devil Myriad Tribulations. Tribulations Destroy Everything. I am Nirvanic Rebirth. Enter Destruction, Enter Tribulation!"

RUMBLE!

Over ten thousand tribulations converged on the evil Yang Qi. "I've gained enlightenment of the Unspoiled Body, and I know how to survive tribulations. Once you enter the sea of bitterness, tribulations are born!"

The tribulations exploded, and the evil version lunged forward. "We can also just die together. I'm your hatred, so if you want to get rid of me, I'd rather Yang Qi just cease to exist!"

Yang Qi had the ability to fight with the goal of ending in mutual destruction.

Except this time, it was being used by himself, against himself.

That said, he remained cool and collected, and as the evil version of himself approached, he dodged to the side and drew on the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. Godpower flowed through him like a mighty river bursting out of a dyke.

Thrusting his palm out, he struck directly toward a weakness he had noticed, striking the evil version with heaven-shaking, earth-shattering force.

However, in the end, nothing happened.

"Ready to give up, Yang Qi?" the evil version laughed. "I know you can't do anything to me. And if you don't surrender, we'll both die. I know you want to live, but I don't really care. That's how ruthless I am!"

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Chapter 1207: Defeating Oneself

Contrary to expectation, the evil Yang Qi was threatening to end the fight in mutual destruction, hoping that, in response, Yang Qi would surrender.

He was exerting all his force and putting everything on the line, backing every move with immense levels of godpower. In fact, it didn't matter what the cool and collected Yang Qi did, the evil version struck back with a force that sent him reeling.

Winds screamed in Demon Master Valley, and the godpower fluctuations seemed powerful enough to rip apart space itself. In the god world, space was incredibly tough, so much so that even gods with actual godhood couldn't tear it apart. Only Greater Gods with Paramount will convergence could hope to pierce through it.

But the two versions of Yang Qi were actually doing it. And such an act could only be described using words such as heaven-defying, freakish, abnormal, and terrifying.

Of course, it all pointed to an imminent breakthrough to the Paramount level.

"I'm not worried about ending the fight in mutual destruction," the calm Yang Qi said. "What joy be there in life? What bitterness be there in death? You listen to me. I rose from the impure lands, step by step. Starting from the Energy Arts level, I proceeded through Lifeseizing, Legendary, Great Sage, Demi-Immortal, Demolishing, and Godmyth. Then I stepped on the Deathless Heavenly Stairway to reach my current position. And I didn't do it by relying on brute force alone. I had to show tolerance. I had to have an empty heart, an annulled heart, a heart that exists above nothing. So... bring it on. If we die together, so be it. I'm a Fateless One who was never supposed to exist. So what does it matter if I die? Lifeless and destructionless, annulled and pure..."

At this critical juncture, it seemed that Yang Qi had actually reached a state of truly becoming lifeless and destructionless. Everlasting.

His will had reached a major juncture, causing an eruption that was forcing it toward the threshold of the Paramount level.

"You're breaking through? Sadly, we're one and the same. Whatever enlightenment you get, I get too!" The evil Yang Qi burst out laughing. "Psychic power boost! Annulled Grand Magic!"

RUMBLE!

Psychic shockwaves rolled out in all directions from the two combatants, provoking meteorological phenomena of all sorts. Thunder boomed, rain fell, snow showered down. There was even burning light and freezing ice.

This was definitely the power of the Greater God level.

After all, only Greater Gods could provoke meteorological phenomena like this, thanks to having Paramount will.

As Yang Qi unleashed his most powerful divine abilities, his evil version threw his head back and let loose a long cry. "God Legion Lament. Myriad Tribulations Devil Hand. Five Decays of the Deva!"

Whizz!

A terrifying devil hand appeared, boundless in size and scope, large enough to support the sun, moon, and the void itself, powerful enough to crush mountains and rivers, overturn the cosmos, upend primal-chaos, and shatter universes.

The evil Yang Qi was unleashing all of the devilishness he contained in his heart, including the True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. Thanks to his enlightenment of the secret magic, he could summon thousands of tribulation characters to create this terrifying hand that was now reaching out toward the calm Yang Qi to destroy him.

"Get ready to die, you weakling!" the evil Yang Qi said, laughing maniacally. "How could you possibly prevail over me? Now that I understand how to unleash the Myriad Tribulations Devil Hand, you're going to see what real ferocity is!"

"When I was born, the void was peaceful and quiet. I was free and unconstrained..." Yang Qi didn't seem to be throwing up any defenses at all. It was as if he had gained enlightenment of a higher level. A moment later, the terrifying devil hand hit him, and he shattered into nothing. He dissipated into the void.

Then he appeared directly above the evil Yang Qi, standing inverted, placing their heads almost touching.

"What are you doing?" the evil Yang Qi bellowed.

"Restoring my unified body. Defeating my heart-devil." The calm Yang Qi's voice was cold and seemed to lack anything that could stir the will. And as he spoke, his body turned as translucent as flowing water.

"DIIIEEEE!" the evil Yang Qi howled, his face distorted with rage. "Nobody can beat me! Not even myself! I'll kill myself before I let you subdue me, Yang Qi. We'll both die!"

Immense godpower erupted from the evil Yang Qi, causing his body to begin crumbling. "True Devil Disintegration; Damned by Myriad Tribulations; Sink into Everlasting Oblivion; Aeonic Darkness and Gloom!"

Anyone who heard that evil voice would be chilled to the core.

The hysterical laughter was the kind that could only be heard when someone reached the peak of madness and was ready to end their own life. In the past, many people who had attempted to cultivate the Psychic Devil-Raising Demon-Sacrificing Heaven-Defying Grand Magic would go mad at this point, ultimately exploding in death.

It seemed as though Yang Qi was no exception.

The evil Yang Qi's devilishness erupted with destructive power, engulfing his calm version and ripping him apart.

All of Demon Master Valley reverberated with the sound of the explosion.

Then, after a long moment passed, everything went quiet.

Outside the valley, the demon-gods finally sensed that the energy shockwaves had died down. Looking inside, they saw nothing but ruins and rubble.

"Things finally calmed down."

"The brat experienced cultivation deviation and couldn't extricate himself. He's dead. Ai. How come there are always suicidal people who think they're the main characters of all heaven and earth? Well, this is how they die."

"The brat died, just like all of the other people who study the Demon Master's ultimate taboo jade disc. How tragic..."

Inside the valley, the ghostface monkey-god didn't dare to look at the taboo jade disc. Shaking his head, but with an expression of delight, he said, "I guess we can just assimilate the devil embryos now."

"Yeah," the snake goddess replied. "It would make no sense at all if he survived that. Plenty of elite Demonfolk experts have died here, much less people who aren't Demonfolk. And even if he survived, there's no saying he would benefit at all. Let's look around and see if he left behind any magical treasures worth taking. That was a big explosion. Almost on the same level as the self-detonation of a Common God with a rating of ten or more. I really can't imagine how he caused something like that."

Striding over, the ox god smiled coolly and said, "Considering he didn't achieve godly ascension, he must've had a big stockpile of godpower. He was definitely one of the top geniuses I've ever seen. Better than the top geniuses of any of the major sects. But in the end, he couldn't defy heaven and ended up dead. What a pity."

"He's dead, and that's that," said the moon-eating lion king. "But it doesn't look like he left behind any magical treasures. They were all destroyed in the explosion."

Other demon-gods were there, looking around, but none of them could find any treasures left behind. Apparently, everything had been destroyed in the explosion.

"Forget about it. Some kid died, it's not a big deal. This kind of thing happens millions of times per day in the god world. No one even knows how many top geniuses perish at any given time." Many of the demon-gods turned to leave, not wanting to be close to the taboo jade disc and possibly suffer a similar fate.

However, before they could walk off, an immense force of will suddenly descended from above.

Cries of shock and bellows of rage rang out as the ghostface monkey-god, snake goddess, ox god, and moon-eating lion king were forced down on their hands and knees.

"This is beyond Terrifying! This is Paramount! Paramount will convergence!" Many of the demon-gods were being pressed down into the mud because of the force weighing down on them.

The Paramount level was something that countless gods dreamed of reaching, but only Greater Gods could understand.

In other words, gods that didn't reach the Paramount level could only be Lesser Gods.

But now, someone with Paramount will had appeared.

"Who is it?"

Many of the demon-gods didn't even dare to look up or release their divine will to check their surroundings. Thus, few saw the bizarre scene that was playing out. Countless scraps of power were collecting, flying through the air to create a perfect body as tall and strong as a mountain. But at the same time, its vital energy seemed empty and soft, as though it didn't exist at all.

It was Yang Qi's body.

He had exploded, but he'd also reached the Paramount level, whereupon he reformed his body. His previous body had become incomparably strong, but was destroyed. He had died, but his will survived. And after his death, he overcame his evil side, gaining deep enlightenment that allowed him to break through to the Paramount level.

His new body was stronger than the old one, because it had absorbed the spatial power of the god world. After all, he had been unable to manipulate that spatial power in the past. But now his will could spread out into the god world and perceive many things. His eyes were clear, able to perceive the cultivation methods of any type of energy art. He could perceive the secrets of space, and he now saw that the space of the god world wasn't linear. It was a spatial labyrinth, filled with all sorts of dangers. Unfortunately, his cultivation base wasn't at a level that would allow him to pierce through it yet. But he could draw on it to form a new body.

The God Legion Seal, sheepskin scroll, and Mahātmā Jade were hidden deep within the space that made up his body. After all, each particle within him was like its own dimension. They were small, each of them only the size of a bean, and that was after his major cultivation base improvement.

But in the past, they had been the size of dust. As such, the fact that they were now the size of beans went to show how much his godpower reserves had increased.

Now he realized why reaching the Paramount level before becoming a god led to monarch godhood.

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Chapter 1208: Paramount Before Godly Ascension

In the Paramount level, one could absorb the power of space and imbue it into their flesh and blood. That made it possible to store greater levels of godpower, and when one used spatial might to crush it down, it would lead to godhood that surpassed that of ordinary experts by thousands of times over.

Upon closing his eyes, Yang Qi saw that the basic structure of the god world was much different than he had previously assumed. The surface was an ordinary world, but deeper inside were countless dangers, including wild energy flows and dangerous power convergences. And above the highest heavens was incomparable radiance and light, and indescribable darkness and gloom. They rotated in a cycle that created day and night, pulsing with a power that surpassed even the Sovereign Lord. There was no will that could surpass the very will of the god world that made everything turn.

With his body completely reformed, his Paramount will was complete and he radiated an incomparably imposing boldness.

His every move and action were like those of a consummate hegemon whose mere presence made it hard for the surrounding demon-gods to breathe.

Yet Yang Qi still hadn't reached godly ascension. He had reached the Paramount level, but he was still not a god. He was like a furnace that had reached the ultimate level of heat, and all that remained was to pour the iron ore inside to smelt.

It was a given that, with enough time to work on his cultivation, he would easily crush any Greater God who got in his path. After all, while Greater Gods had Paramount will, they lacked monarch godhood. The moment one formed one's godhood, it foreordained what would come for them in the future. And most cultivators needed to become Greater Gods before they could reach the Paramount level.

In the impure lands, it would be like the difference between an eighteen-year-old multi-millionaire, and someone who became a multi-millionaire at age seventy.

The wealth was the same, but the eighteen-year-old would be able to enjoy it more, and accomplish more with it.

Truth be told, although legends spoke of people who had reached the Paramount level before becoming gods, and even talked about the incredible things they were capable of, most people assumed they were just that: legends.

However, the demon-gods present were all here bearing witness to Yang Qi's legendary achievement.

Yet even as they gasped in astonishment, an immense, overwhelming psychic will entered their minds and wiped their memories clean.

With his Paramount will, they couldn't resist him at all and had no choice but to utterly and thoroughly accept his superiority.

Such was Paramount will. It was so far above everything else that there was no second option other than to acknowledge allegiance.

People below the Paramount level who tried to fight Yang Qi wouldn't even be able to lift a hand in their own defense.

WHOOSH!

Yang Qi left Demon Master Valley.

He didn't want word of his accomplishment spreading, as it would surely lead to a disaster. If his sect found out, it was possible they would view him as an invincible person worth helping. They might even give him a powerful position. Or they could denounce him as a freakish hellion and lock him up to experiment on.

At a certain point, one could become so amazing that their fortunes could be reversed. After all, when things reach an extreme, they can only move in the opposite direction. In order to keep his secret, he wiped away the memories of all the demon-gods who had witnessed the event.

Flying up into the sky, he looked down at the mountains and, with a faint smile, sent his will out to fill a five-kilometer area, causing black clouds to form and rain to fall.

Then, with another stir of will, he caused snow to fall and intense coldness to fill the area. With another thought, he made everything turn as calm and refreshing as spring, then thunder rumbled out.

He could use his will to manipulate the meteorological phenomena in the god world. Although he was limited to a five-kilometer area, that would improve with further breakthroughs.

"Open up!" he said, chopping his hand out like a blade. Rumbling sounds echoed out as a rift opened and a wild black wind erupted out from inside.

Swish!

Yang Qi dodged aside and the wind slammed into a nearby mountain, reducing it to rubble.

'It's that incredible?'

Even as Yang Qi looked on in shock, the rift closed up as surely as if he had just used a saber to slash through water. He had just tapped into the spatial power of the god world, similar to how, in the impure lands, the Space-Void Transformation of the Legendary level was when one could pierce through the void.

In the god world, space was too strong, and opening a rift in it would cause destructive tempests to fly out and destroy anything in their path, even mountains. Obviously, if it hit a person, it would destroy them just as well.

Yang Qi performed another experiment, using a finger to slice open a smaller opening.

WHACK!

Wind shot out like a flying sword, hitting him right in the chest.

He was flung backward, eventually slamming into the side of a mountain, a jagged hole in his chest. Shockingly, even his vital energy had been damaged significantly.

'Strong. So strong...' Struggling to his feet, he drew on the God Legion Seal, sending golden light into the charred hole in his chest that sank all the way into his bones, and even his five viscera and six bowels. After roughly an hour, he was healed.

At this point, he realized how powerful the spatial tempests here were. In fact, if he didn't have his initial version of monarch godhood and a deathless body, he wouldn't have survived.

'Right. I wonder how high the sky is in the god world. I think I need to take a look.' Leaping off the ground, he floated up into the sky. Before, he had been able to fly, but only at low altitudes where the energy flows were ordinary, even comfortable. As he rose higher, things changed.

In the god world, it was possible to fly at low altitudes below thirty thousand meters. But above that level, even gods had to proceed with caution.

At thirty thousand meters, the vital energy grew unstable and chaotic. Godwinds blew about wildly and the light was intense, causing hissing sounds to ring out when it touched Yang Qi.

He produced a dagger and threw it out. The dagger was caught up by a gust of wind, and sparks showered down as it was wiped out of existence in the shortest of moments.

'Strong, but roughly on the same level as ordinary spatial tempests.' Climbing higher, he soon reached a height of ninety thousand meters. Here, the winds screamed so loudly that he couldn't hear anything, and the light was blinding.

Whoosh!

His clothes ignited from the heat. Although there was no sun in the god world, the light was still extremely hot, and more so the higher one flew into the sky.

It was almost as if the sky contained both wind and fire.

And wind helped fire burn. All of a sudden, Yang Qi realized that his Heaven and Earth Furnace was aptly named.

He continued climbing higher. One hundred and fifty thousand meters. One hundred and eighty thousand. Three hundred thousand. Three hundred fifty thousand. Six hundred thousand. At that point, everything around him was chaos and fiery rays of light. His clothes were completely burned off, and his vital energy was being eaten away. He could tell that if he flew higher, he would die.

Six hundred thousand meters was his limit.

Yang Qi stopped there and considered waiting a few hours to see what would happen when night fell. In the blink of an eye, everything changed, and when the darkness hit, it became freezing. In fact, in the blink of an eye, he was encased in solid ice and started falling.

He couldn't move and was forced to draw on the true flame inside of him to melt the ice. Cracking sounds could be heard as it collapsed, and he finally stopped his downward motion, hovering at about three thousand meters.

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Chapter 1209: Returning to the Sec

After reaching the Paramount level, Yang Qi flew as high into the sky as he could, then remained there until night fell. The experience gave him a lot of enlightenment. And although he couldn't pierce through the void here, he was at least capable of incredible speed.

It only took an incense stick's worth of time to fly out of the dense mountains and back to the mines. Before, that trip would have taken hours.

As of now, the speeds attainable by Quasi-Gods were snail-like to him.

In fact, compared to him, Quasi-Gods could do little more than glide. Part of that was due to the fact that they couldn't meet the godpower requirement, and also because flying, and dealing with the winds, were fundamentally difficult.

Even ordinary Lesser Gods couldn't fly particularly fast. At best, they might turn into a beam of light that shot off into the distance. As for Yang Qi, he could become a black streak that moved without sound and couldn't be tracked with the naked eye.

After landing back at Mine One, he reined in his energy arts and used the Devil-God Seal to keep the level of his will concealed. To any prying eyes, he would seem like a Terrifying expert, and wouldn't reveal any clues as to the truth.

"Zhang Jufang, Cherry, come here!"

Immediately, Zhang Jufang and Cherry hurried out and dropped to their knees. They were joined by others among Yang Qi's most loyal followers from the mines.

"Brother," Zhang Jufang said, "you're back! Did anything noteworthy happen in your meeting with the Demonfolk?"

"Not really. In fact, things didn't go very well." Yang Qi looked around at the various disciples. Although they were weak Quasi-Gods, they were all loyal. Over the past months, they had done a good job running the Sage Monarch Consortium, and considering the profits they had brought in, it was only natural for him to reward them.

He flicked his finger, sending a bean-sized conglomeration of crystallized godpower into all of them. "You all work for the Sage Monarch Consortium, and I always reward my people for their service. This is some crystallized godpower that will purify you in body and soul, giving you increased hopes of achieving a breakthrough. Going forward, I want to expand the operations of the Sage Monarch Consortium. Focus on the godstone trade, and use this bag of imperial caliber godstones as your initial capital."

"Yes sir," Zhang Jufang said, accepting the bag. "But once these imperial caliber godstones hit the market, it's going to cause a huge stir. A lot of powerful organizations will take a fresh look at our mines, and I'm afraid we aren't strong enough to defend against gods."

"Don't worry. The intention is for you to use those godstones to power your spell formations. I actually have additional plans for the consortium. Got it?"

"Yes!"

"Good. You stay here and work on your cultivation, I'm going into seclusion in the mansion grotto." He entered the mansion grotto of Mine One. It was currently occupied by the new disciple who had been assigned as the foreman, but as soon as he saw Yang Qi approaching, he respectfully let him in.

Entering, Yang Qi sat down and began a session of cultivation. He was worried that if he entered the god kingdom of the House of God Ordainment, his practice of cultivation would attract attention. After all, Bai Yin was no fool, and knew that Yang Qi had secrets. Right now, he wanted to focus on unraveling more mysteries of the godnotes.

His previous efforts had been too flawed, and he hadn't had any way to make up for them. Furthermore, he couldn't place a Paramount God sealing mark on the notes. But now he had replaced hunting rifles with cannons, and considering he had Paramount will convergence, it was entirely possible that he could produce actual godnotes.

He also had no idea how much more powerful the God Legion Seal would be now that he was in the Paramount level.

'Time to make some godnotes!'

He drew on his godpower, causing the God Legion Seal to produce an enormous golden hand. The hand reached out, and god vitality appeared, then began condensing into the form of a godnote.

One note descended onto his palm.

It looked like a piece of metal, and didn't seem like it would dissipate at any time. Yang Qi took out a real godnote to compare them, and confirmed that they were the same. His version even had a Paramount sealing mark on it.

That was the result of the God Legion Seal.

Even a single godnote was worth so much that it could be used to purchase all sorts of things. And now Yang Qi could make them. Rising to his feet, he laughed heartily. 'The Paramount level is extraordinary! I can actually make godnotes now!' Waving his hand, he summoned more notes.

Clink. Clank.

Within moments, godnotes were falling like snowflakes around him, until they covered the floor.

That said, the effort completely drained him of godpower, leaving him totally empty. Creating godnotes took a lot of godpower.

'What an effort,' he thought. With the help of the God Legion Seal, he drew on the godpower around him once again. Thanks to the seal, even if he completely drained himself, he could recover fairly quickly. He had no idea how long it would take, even if he had medicinal pills to help. For all he knew it could take months, or even longer.

The God Legion Seal was proving to be truly useful nowadays.

Even with the help of the seal, he still needed over a month to completely refill his reserves of godpower. His capacity had increased a lot, but that meant that it took longer to recover from draining it.

That said, the month of time he spent bolstering his godpower also resulted in it becoming much more refined.

With Paramount will, he had the perfect balance. If he wanted to erupt with power, he could. If he wanted to hide his power, he could. Sending his godpower into the ground, he reached out to the fifty-six mountains and subtly transformed them, creating numerous hidden spell formations. He also planted numerous high-quality ores in the mines to be extracted later by the miners.

During the month of cultivation, he truly came to understand how different monarch godhood was from ordinary godhood. It required nearly endless amounts of godpower, such that not even the God Legion Seal could keep up with it. At the rate he was going, he would probably need a hundred years before his monarch godhood would actually reach a state of completion.

What he needed now was medicinal pills to boost his godpower.

'A hundred thousand godnotes! I actually have a hundred thousand godnotes!' After replenishing his godpower, he collected the godnotes and counted them.

He shook his head. 'Ai, the only downside is that it drains my godpower so severely. It actually took a whole month to recover. And that's going to push back the date when my monarch godhood is complete. I won't be a dominating force in the god world at this rate.'

Sighing, he decided not to make any more godnotes going forward. The loss of godpower was just too significant, and the delays were too severe.

The most pressing matter at hand was to finish forming his monarch godhood.

After replenishing his godpower, it roiled in his sea of energy and poured into his virtual godhood, which was currently fist-sized. But no matter how much godpower he poured in, it didn't seem to get full. It was as if he was pouring his godpower into a bottomless pit.

The upside was that he could take the godpower back out if he needed to use it. That was why, when forming godhood, one needed to be able to cultivate in seclusion without worrying about fighting or being attacked.

Creating godhood was a very consuming process.

But how could one do anything worthwhile without paying a price?

Thankfully, Yang Qi had the God Legion Seal and could constantly draw on the essence of the god world and turn it into godpower. He also had medicinal pills to help. After all, it required so much resources for a Quasi-God to become a true god that many small clans couldn't even afford to sustain one effort.

'I need the godnotes to help fund the consortium,' he thought. 'It'll be very helpful to have the Sage Monarch Consortium grow larger. For now, I can use them to buy medicinal pills that bolster godpower. As for making more, I'll shelve that idea for now.'

"Zhang Jufang, take these godnotes. There are a hundred thousand. Use them to grow the consortium. If you have any important matters, don't hesitate to let me know."

"Yes sir!" Zhang Jufang said. Although he was shocked, he had been working for Yang Qi long enough that he wasn't completely stunned. And he didn't ask any questions. Oftentimes, knowing too many secrets about one's powerful superiors could be dangerous.

"You've done well in the past months, Zhang Jufang. However, you're still not a god. Right now, I'm going to anoint you with a secret magic that'll give you a solid foundation for godly ascension. If things go as expected, you should make your breakthrough within a year. At that point, with a god in charge of the Sage Monarch Consortium, I'll be much more at ease."

BAM!

Yang Qi placed his hand onto Zhang Jufang's head and sent godpower flowing into him, causing a golden flower to bloom around him.

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Chapter 1210: Returning to the Sect Part 2

Yang Qi was really helping Zhang Jufang, as he wanted him to become a Lesser God as quickly as possible to help run the Sage Monarch Consortium.

In terms of funds, creating godnotes wasn't a viable option right now. Even using godpower to make godstones wouldn't work. He needed every bit of godpower possible to finish his monarch godhood.

With those two options off the table, it seemed impossible for him to become truly wealthy. At best, he could pass as rich in a pinch.

For now, he had to rely on his little Sage Monarch Consortium. And it would be much easier for Zhang Jufang to run the business as a god. After all, as a Quasi-God, he was like a servant or slave to other gods, and would always have to defer to them.

As long as he was god, then other gods, be they Lesser or Common, would at least have to treat him with a modicum of respect.

With his Paramount will, Yang Qi helped Zhang Jufang to form his virtual godhood, causing a golden flower to form around him, sending golden light streaming into his sea of energy.

Eventually, the golden flower was firmly implanted in him.

Zhang Jufang rose to his feet, thrumming with endless power.

"Work hard on your cultivation," Yang Qi said. "Got it? I'm going to give you a godly-class energy art called the Great-Void King-Bodhi Seal, which is perfectly suited for your constitution. Truth be told, before you become a god, there isn't any other energy art that would be more suitable for you." Yang Qi had so many godly-class energy arts at his disposal that it would be an understatement to claim that they were as vast as the open sea. Therefore, he picked the best one for Zhang Jufang. Doing anything else would have led to counterproductive results.

Having accomplished those things, he headed back to the teleportation portal that led to the god kingdom of the House of God Ordainment.

On the second level of the Scripture Pavilion, things were as relaxed as ever, with Bai Yin spending most of his time reading and drinking. Upon seeing Yang Qi return, and not noticing anything unusual about him, he said, "You were gone quite a while. Considering how upbeat you seem, my guess is that your trip was worth it. Did you get a nice magical treasure or something?"

"Actually, no. I went out to the mines and had a meeting with some demon-gods. I have a little business deal with them, that's all. I'm not going to be able to accomplish much without some steady income."

Bai Yin chuckled. "You've got big plans, don't you? Want to make a big scene eventually? Oh, by the way, some new books came in. Our House of God Ordainment got into a fight with the Macrocloud Buddhist Sect, and we ended up wiping them out. A bunch of records came in, including some writings from Monk Great Virtue, describing methods of improving the fleshly body to form Paramount will convergence before godly ascension. Take a look."

Countless people in the god world longed to reach the Paramount level before becoming a god. That included devils, buddhas, gods, geniuses, freakish hellions, and even wild animals. Experts from all walks of life would research the subject, and although no one had yet succeeded, it didn't stop people from trying.

"Is that so?" Yang Qi said, looking over at the bookshelf Bai Yin was laying on top of. It featured numerous sutras inscribed on palm-leaf manuscripts. Taking one at random, he saw that the title was Profundities of Śarīras and Godhood. It didn't contain any cultivation information, but it did have detailed, systematic explanations of the similarities and differences the buddhist schools had identified between śarīras and godhood. Even more noteworthy, it contained a theory about how to strengthen godhood toward the point of becoming monarch godhood.

"That's pure fiction," Yang Qi said. "How could it be that simple?"

He put the book back on the shelf and selected another one. This one was titled A Thesis on Wisdom and the Void. It discussed the correlation between one's wisdom and the void, and mentioned important aspects of improving one's psyche and will, although it was primarily theoretical.

After flipping through it, Yang Qi picked another book, this one entitled The Psyche and Dharma Idols. It talked of how to use psychic power to make dharma idols, and how to absorb the vital energy of heaven and earth to improve one's attack power. It wasn't something that would help with cultivation, but it did contain some good information about the psyche and vital energy. All of the books had been written by gods, and while they might have been helpful to Yang Qi in the past, now that he was in the Paramount level, he understood much more about such matters. Because of that, he wouldn't be able to gain any enlightenment from books like these.

Time passed. Yang Qi spent most of his time gathering godpower and sending it into his virtual godhood with the goal of completing his monarch godhood. Other than that, he just found books to read.

He could read much faster now. While Bai Yin would need to look through one book at a time, Yang Qi could scan entire shelves with his psyche, and read thousands of books at the same time.

Knowledge poured into his sea of consciousness, which he then filtered to find little bits that could help him. In Demon Master Valley, he had defeated himself, and therefore, had even less to fear from knowledge-devils than before.

Days went by, and although he continued working on his cultivation, his virtual monarch godhood wasn't making any significant progress.

His virtual godhood was like a professional eater with a bottomless stomach. At the current rate, it seemed likely that the process would take eighty or even a hundred years. He probably wouldn't notice any significant change in only a year or two.

That said, he wasn't in a rush. For half a year, he read books and worked on his cultivation. He had already read through most of the books in the Scripture Pavilion that were available to him, and the knowledge within them was his.

He knew just about everything there was to know about forming godhood, and as he worked on his monarch godhood, all of that knowledge served as an excellent point of reference.

He also knew much more about the local customs of the god world, its geography, and the businesses that operated there. No major events occurred, and life was leisurely. Neither Jadefall, the Shepherd, Doom, his father, nor anyone else he knew ever came to visit the Scripture Pavilion. He wasn't sure why that was. However, after some asking around, he learned that Jadefall was in seclusion working on her cultivation. Besides, she was already so important that ordinary official disciples didn't qualify to see her.

That was what often happened with disciples that were taken in by important people.

Over the months, the Sage Monarch Consortium had finally started growing. Zhang Jufang ended up reaching godly ascension earlier than Yang Qi had estimated. He was now a Lesser God and was doing his best to advance the interests of the business.

One morning, Yang Qi let loose a long, loud yawn. Inside him, godpower was constantly flowing into his sea of energy and the virtual godhood there.

Sensing what seemed like hunger from the godhood, he shook his head. 'Maybe I should go work on some missions for the sect. With merit points to buy the god pills I need, maybe I can form my godhood faster.'

His monarch godpower was so mighty that ordinary god pills wouldn't help him. In fact, they would only add impurities. He needed god pills concocted by Greater Gods with the Paramount will to extrude impurities.

Unfortunately, god pills like that went for astronomical prices, such that ordinary disciples in the House of God Ordainment could never afford them. Although he and Bai Yin could earn some merit points thanks to their duties, to date he had only accumulated a bit over a hundred. And that wasn't even close enough to get god pills concocted by Greater Gods.

Such pills would cost ten thousand merit points at a minimum. It made sense, considering how unimaginably pure they were.

God pills were classified by the will of the gods that made them. Yang Qi needed paramount god pills at the least. Of course, they were normally split into three tiers of quality.

After the paramount version were the unbounded god pills, which were similarly split into three tiers.

The highest quality were the sovereign god pills, which were created by gods who were half a step into the Annulled level. In other words, people like the Sovereign Lord, King Immortal-Slayer, the King of Godmammoths, the True Devil, and the Demon Master. If such pills even appeared in the god world, they would create a tempest of blood as everyone attempted to get their hands on them.

Yang Qi wasn't even thinking in terms of pills like that.

"Hey, Bai Yin, have you ever thought of doing missions for the sect to get merit points? I'm considering trying to get some god pills concocted by Paramount experts."

"Sure, but even low-quality paramount god pills are going to cost ten thousand merit points or more. People like us can't even dream of getting them. What are you trying to do? Have you figured out some way to reach the Paramount level?" Bai Yin's eyes glittered.

"That's right, I have an idea," Yang Qi said. "And I want to do a little experiment."

1. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in ancient times, especially for buddhist scriptures. . In my dictionaries, it specifies that these leaves would come from the "pattra palm" or or .

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Chapter 1211: Taking a Mission

"What?! You want to use paramount god pills for an experiment? Have you gone crazy or something? A single paramount god pill is worth ten thousand merit points. Neither of us have enough to afford even one! If I were you, I wouldn't use a pill like that unless I was absolutely certain it would work. You know, there are a lot of people in the world who want to form monarch godhood. Even junior sect leaders of big sects, who actually have the resources to use paramount god pills. Even the high-quality versions. And none of them have ever succeeded. I'd suggest not wasting your time on that. It isn't going to work."

Yang Qi knew that Bai Yin was just trying to give him some good advice.

And the truth was that he wasn't interested in Paramount will convergence, but rather bolstering his godpower. Compared to the truly rich and powerful experts of the god world, Yang Qi and Bai Yin were ants. There were definitely junior sect leaders from major sects who could afford to snack on paramount god pills, yet none of them had ever formed monarch godhood.

In short, it just wasn't possible for Quasi-Gods to use outside power to acquire Paramount will.

Bai Yin and people like him hoped they could figure out some secret that would lead to success. But could they compete in resources with junior sect leaders?

"I still want to give it a shot," Yang Qi said, smiling.

"Whatever. If you want to waste time being crazy, go ahead. But I'm not coming. I'd rather enjoy my time with my books. Seek enlightenment and improve the compatibility of my psyche and fleshly body. Besides, if you use outside power, you're going to have to deal with dependency-devils and heart-devils." He shook his head. "Just go to the Missions Sanctuary. I'm sure you can find some missions to earn good merit points. But ten thousand? How long will that take? All for a single pill to do an experiment? Is it worth it? If I were to bet, I'd say it'll take you between three to five years to save up that much. And how many years do you have left to live?"

No matter how strong Quasi-Gods were, they had limited longevity, perhaps a few hundred years at most.

For example, if Bai Yin didn't acquire Paramount will within the next few dozen years, he would eventually reach the point where he couldn't hope to succeed. At that point, he would have to form his godhood and become a god, lest he die.

As for Yang Qi, he could actually live a lot longer now that he had reached Paramount will. In the impure lands, Terrifying experts were essentially undying. But in the god world, it required Paramount will to achieve the same thing.

"Go on," Bai Yin said, waving his hand dismissively. "I can handle things in the Scripture Pavilion by myself. I'll just wait till you're done wasting your time, or perhaps crawl back bruised and bloody."

'I like this Bai Yin,' Yang Qi thought, 'although, he's too independent. He can be a friend, but he wouldn't do well as a subordinate.' With such thoughts on his mind, Yang Qi left and headed toward the Missions Sanctuary.

That was the majestic building in the sect where missions could be acquired. Disciples and elders alike would take missions there, then return later to turn them in for merit points, which they could exchange for magical treasures.

The god kingdom was so huge that it seemed almost endless. Thankfully, the Great Classic of God Ordainment contained a map. Furthermore, he had now been a disciple for over a year, so he was much more familiar with the place than he used to be.

He flew for about an hour until he found a sprawling plane, upon which were a host of temples and halls of various sizes. It looked almost like an imperial city from the impure lands, with countless disciples going to and fro. This was the Missions Sanctuary.

Some disciples were gathered in groups of four or five, while others formed teams in the hundreds. Some missions were so difficult that a single person could never accomplish them. Instead, large teams were required.

In fact, that was one way that various halls and factions in the sect were formed.

A good example was Elder Sister Xue's Snow Society, which had many disciples as members, including gods.

Generally speaking, the Quasi-Gods in the House of God Ordainment were official disciples. Ordinary gods were called elite disciples, with higher-ranking ones called holy children. Above them were the children of primeval chaos. That was the ranking system for disciples in the House of God Ordainment.

There were only four ranks, and the differences between them were vast.

Upon arriving, Yang Qi ignored all the people going in and out, and simply went to get a mission. Inside, there were disciples whose job it was to describe the various available missions.

Yang Qi knew the rules. He slipped a few godnotes into the hands of the disciples, who smiled broadly in response. One of them said, "Junior Brother, are you from the Scripture Pavilion? Not bad. Not bad at all. In the future, I hope you can take care of me when I go there. This jade plaque contains all the missions we have right now. Send your divine will inside and pick one."

Yang Qi did just that, and quickly had information streaming through his mind. The missions were broken up into various categories, including Assassinations, Plant Harvesting, Information Gathering, Godly-Class Energy Art Acquisitions, Demonfolk Extermination, Execution of Enemies of the House of God Ordainment, Execution of Devils, Medicinal Pill Concocting, and so on.

"What kind of mission are you looking for, Junior Brother?" one of the disciples asked. He knew that, considering how many countless missions there were, it could be hard to pick. "Given the level of your cultivation base, you should probably stick with one of the simpler ones."

Right now, Yang Qi was only revealing what could be described as an average cultivation base.

"Oh, I'll be fine. Hey, what's this? This looks like a nice mission." Yang Qi tapped on one particular mission, whereupon the details appeared in front of him: Enter the ruined temple of the ancient Pill-King God. Search for lost medicinal pills. Paramount pills will earn a reward of ten thousand merit points. Unbounded pills will earn a hundred million merit points...

It included a map to the very ruins that were mentioned in the mission description.

"I'll take this one," Yang Qi said, pointing.

"What?!" the disciples exclaimed, looking incredulously at Yang Qi. "That's not a mission for ordinary disciples; you'd have to be an elite disciple at the minimum. The ruins of the Pill-King God's temple are very dangerous. Although there are medicinal pills there to be found, there are also incredibly dangerous toxic medicines. There was even a holy child who went in there once, and although he got some pills that he exchanged for some magical treasures, it turned out that he was infected with a poison named Three-Lives Three-Lifetimes Despair Powder. He turned into a madman and started killing people left and right. He was eventually locked up in prison, and hasn't seen the light of day since."

"I still want to give it a try," Yang Qi said as he continued to study the mission details.

The ancient Pill-King God was a Paramount God who excelled in concocting pills. He created his own god kingdom, and even made pills that contained godpower strong enough to support entire worlds. Later, the Pill-King God was killed during the insurrection of the seventy-two monarchs, and his god kingdom was brought to ruin. However, the moment of his death came in a clash with one of the seventy-two monarchs, namely, King Hypertoxin. King Hypertoxin infected his god kingdom with toxins that remain to this day. In other words, even gods can be killed there.

That said, over the years, many people have explored the area and found valuable items inside. Some have been lucky enough to find god pills, although most have come up empty-handed, and others have even been killed by the toxins they encountered. Most noteworthy is that in the depths of the ruins there are experts who transmuted from medicinal pills, and will attack any outsiders.

This mission has a ninety percent death rate.

"You should really think this through, Junior Brother." The truth was that there were a lot of disciples in the House of God Ordainment who didn't pay attention to the facts, believing that they were unparalleled under heaven. They would take the most dangerous missions in the hopes of earning a name for themselves, only to end up dead. Obviously, the disciples in charge of the missions assumed that Yang Qi was like them.

"I have thought it through," Yang Qi said.

"In that case, I'll make note of it." The disciple sighed. "Hand over the five godnote fee, and you can start the mission. This one isn't that bad in that, if you fail, you won't get punished."

"Yeah, well, death is the biggest punishment," another disciple said, shaking his head. "Besides, if you fail the mission and hand it back in, you can't accept another mission. According to the sect rules, you have to finish a mission before you can select another one. The system is designed that way to avoid disorder."

"I know that," Yang Qi said, taking the mission plaque. The truth was that he was more interested in exploring the Pill-King God's ruins in the hopes of finding paramount god pills to bolster his cultivation base. If he could form his monarch godhood that way, it could save seven or eight years. And if he could find an unbounded god pill, it would be even better.

Of course, that was unlikely. Unbounded god pills were filled with so much power that they usually developed spirits that were as strong as Consummate Gods. And that made them almost impossible to deal with.

Following his map, he headed to the teleportation portal that led to the Pill-King's temple ruins.

Some disciples had gathered there, most of them elite disciples. When they caught sight of Yang Qi, one of their number laughed and said, "Well if it isn't the brat Yang Qi. I can't believe you're not a god yet. You're still just an official disciple. What a big disappointment!"

It was none other than 'Elder Brother Yue', Yue Tianlin.

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Chapter 1212: Junior Houselord

Yue Tianlin was still around. Despite having been put in his place on more than one occasion by Yang Qi, he had never learned his lesson. But there was one big difference this time: from the cassock he wore, it was obvious that he now ranked higher than Yang Qi. He was an elite disciple!

In the House of God Ordainment, if you were an elite disciple, then by default, you were a god.

And Yue Tianlin was indeed a god. He had formed his godhood and was now a Lesser God. Considering that only a few months had passed since Yang Qi had encountered him at the Scripture Pavilion, it was obvious how much one could benefit by working at the Thrall Camp.

That was what you would expect when numerous disciples blessed you with godpower on a virtually daily basis. Stepping from the Quasi-God level to the level of an actual god required a lot of godpower, in addition to enlightenment. And Yue Tianlin obviously had plenty of enlightenment, otherwise he wouldn't have become an official disciple.

Only people with a certain level of skill and ability could come out on top in the Bloodgore Trials.

Reaching godly ascension and becoming an elite disciple brought incredible changes. One's word, identity, and mere bearing became far superior to anything from before. After all, there were many official disciples in the House of God Ordainment, while elite disciples were much more in the minority.

And obviously, elite disciples had a lot more formal power than official disciples.

"Well, if it isn't Yue Tianlin. What do you want?" Yang Qi saw that Yue Tianlin was in a group comprised solely of elite disciples, each of them looking very high and mighty. It was hard to say whether they were coming to hand in a mission, or preparing to leave on one. But down to the last disciple, they were all looking at him with unfriendly gazes.

In fact, they almost looked like a pack of wolves staring at a sheep.

"Oh nothing," Yue Tianlin said with a smile. "I'm actually surprised you haven't become a god yet, Yang Qi. I guess you're taking your cues from Bai Yin and are trying to form monarch godhood. Only fools would dream of doing something like that."

"So, it's another delusional disciple, eh?" one of the other elite disciples said. "There are always children of sect leaders who try to form monarch godhood, but none of them ever succeed. And you're trying the same thing on your own? Do you think you're the main character of all heaven and earth or something?"

"Look, I've got business here," Yang Qi said. "So if you don't mind, please get out of my way. I'm not interested in chatting."

"Grandstander!" snapped another disciple. "Haven't you read the sect rules? Don't you know that official disciples have to bow low and make way for elite disciples? In other words, you get out of our way! If you're so stupid you don't understand basic rules like that, perhaps I should teach you a little lesson."

WHOOSH!

The elite disciple thrust out his hand, his godhood thrumming and godpower coursing through him. He was using a profound technique that caused an enormous iron hand to appear, weighing down with force that caused the ground to slowly sink down.

It was a move called Heaven-God's Descending Wrath, and it was a powerful technique designed to take people captive. One's five fingers became like godly pillars that could crush the head of anyone caught within them.

"Screw the hell off!" Yang Qi said, waving his own hand in the air. Unexpectedly, he also used Heaven-God's Descending Wrath, except he unleashed it in the opposite direction. When the two hands met, the elite disciple felt the bones in his hand shattering, forcing him to quickly pull a medicinal pill out of his robe, crush it in his mouth, and spit the content onto his arm to heal the bones.

"Y-you... how do you know the Heaven-God's Descending Wrath?!" the elite disciple said, looking visibly shocked. "When did you steal my martial art?"

Yang Qi laughed. "Very funny. I work in the Scripture Pavilion, so I have access to all sorts of martial arts records. Why would I steal anything from you?"

"Profound-Truth Grand-Millstone Hand!" Another elite disciple had slipped behind Yang Qi and unexpectedly attacked him with both hands, summoning a huge millstone of godpower that rumbled forth to crush him.

Yang Qi didn't even look over his shoulder. He thrust his hand behind him to summon his own millstone, which crushed the original and sent the elite disciple staggering backward three paces, his face draining of blood.

Yang Qi wasn't using any deadly moves, just stopping them in their tracks. He wasn't even doing anything to really hurt them. Giving them ammunition to use against him wouldn't make any sense. In the end, official disciples really were ranked much lower than elite disciples.

All he had to do was unleash his Paramount will and he could detonate all of them instantly.

"I can't believe you know the Profound-Truth Grand-Millstone Hand!" the disciple said in astonishment.

"Get out of my way, all of you," Yang Qi said, waving his hand. "Don't let Yue Tianlin convince you to cause problems for me. None of us have any grudge with each other. It's true that I want to form monarch godhood. Why do you think I can come out on top of a clash with multiple Lesser Gods? Without a strong foundation, I could never form monarch godhood."

The two disciples he had just defeated were no fools. Nor were they rash. Although it was difficult, they suppressed the fury in their hearts. One of them said, "Well done. It seems you're even stronger than Bai Yin. Not even he could casually defeat us like you just did. You never know what you'll see in this small world of ours. Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see if you really can form monarch godhood."

"You got lucky this time, Yang Qi," Yue Tianlin said through gritted teeth. "For your sake, you'd better hope you keep getting lucky." He had been hoping to sow dissension between Yang Qi and his new Elder Brothers, but the elite disciples weren't stupid. Just because they came out on the bottom of a minor clash didn't mean they would then go all out to get revenge. Instead, they were acting quite cool and collected.

"Let's go!" one of the elite disciples said, waving his hand. With that, they headed into the Missions Sanctuary without a single one causing any problems for him. Clearly, they were here to get some dangerous and important mission as a group.

Without further ado, Yang Qi left.

The event hadn't gone unnoticed. For a person with a Quasi-God cultivation base to stand up to actual gods was something that only true geniuses could pull off. It was something that could only happen in the immense sects like the House of God Ordainment, but even then it wasn't anything to be taken lightly.

As such, there were some discerning eyes who had been paying attention to everything that just happened. Among that group were men and women, including one young woman who was none other than Elder Sister Xue.

She was wearing an elite disciple's garment, as were the other disciples. Contrary to expectation, she apparently had the cultivation base of a god. And not a Lesser God, either; she was a Common God with a godhood rating higher than ten.

As for the other disciples, their cultivation bases were no weaker than Elder Sister Xue's. They were all Common Gods. Considering how strong both of them were, it was obvious they weren't ordinary people. People like them generally had a lot of influence in the House of God Ordainment.

"So, Junior Sister Xue, that was the Yang Qi you mentioned?" one of the men said. "He really does have some skill. Why not recruit him into the Snow Society?"

"He's the independent type who won't join up with other factions," she replied. "Also, he's a friend of Jadefall, and she's watching out for him. You're right though, it would be great to recruit him. You saw how strong he is. He dealt with those gods as easily as drinking some water."

"Your incarnation is getting stronger and stronger, Junior Sister Xue," another disciple said. "You already have a Common God cultivation base. It seems your Snow Fills the Cosmos secret magic has already reached the highest level. Your true self is still a Quasi-God. Maybe you really will pull off a miracle and develop Paramount will as a Quasi-God. Maybe you'll be the first person throughout the aeons to cultivate monarch godhood."

"I got lucky, that's all. I found a soul treasure left behind by the ancient Ice-Snow Goddess, which is how I formed this second version of myself. The Ice-Snow Goddess was the wife of the Lord of Civilization, and according to the stories, the two of them formed an unparalleled dao of clones. The truth is that my true self is probably strong enough to equal a Common God. Unfortunately, forming monarch godhood is no easy task. I'm actually planning on pushing this clone to an even higher level of will, then fusing back with my true self. Hopefully that will give me the advantage I need."

"Seems very difficult," one of the other disciples said. "Throughout the years there have been a lot of people who tried similar things, but no one has ever succeeded. I even heard that there are children of leaders here in the House of God Ordainment who have access to unending resources, yet still fail. You're very well informed, Junior Sister Xue. Your Snow Society might not be a top faction in the House of God Ordainment, but even the fabled Preheaven Society shows you courtesy. In fact, their leader Wang Xiantian wooed you unsuccessfully for quite a while before ultimately going after Jadefall. Do you think he'll win her hand?"

"I suspect Jadefall ascended from the lower worlds, which would explain how her cultivation base has advanced by leaps and bounds. But her pet is even more impressive. Wang Xiantian might be strong and have a lot of followers, but there's no way that even he could do anything to Jadefall's pet. In fact, a few days ago, I heard that she firmly turned him down. Then he tried to force her to accept him, and she turned her pet on him. One bubble from that thing, and Wang Xiantian lost nine clones. Lucky for him, his true self was safe in seclusion, otherwise he might have been killed. By now, he's already laid down the flag and stilled the drums. Incidentally, I heard that the junior houselord has his eye on Jadefall, so I doubt Wang Xiantian will cause any more trouble."

"What? The junior houselord?"

Everyone shivered as though she had just mentioned some incredibly terrifying person. "The junior houselord hasn't shown his face in public for years now. Supposedly, he's been seeking enlightenment of some consummate technique of our House of God Ordainment, something from the God-Ordaining Profound-Righteousness Stele. Once he succeeds, he'll be able to dominate everyone. But are you saying he's going to make a public appearance soon?"

"It's all rumor," Elder Sister Xue replied. "We don't count as high-ranking members of the House of God Ordainment. How could mid-tier people like us catch wind of the true secrets of the sect? However, rumors generally have a kernel of truth in them. So that's why I say to avoid causing problems for Yang Qi. If Jadefall links up with the junior houselord, she'll only get more and more powerful."

1. Wang Xiantian: Wang is a very common surname which also means "king, royal". Xiantian literally means "preheaven". Honestly this is probably a contrived name, but translating it literally would be King Preheaven, and I don't see the need to conflate this guy with the seventy-two monarchs, who all have names that follow the pattern of King XYZ. In the case of the monarchs, "king" is a title, whereas this guy is using it as a surname. So for this specific name, I'll transliterate it and treat it as an actual name.

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Chapter 1213: Ruins of the Pill-King God

"It seems Yang Qi is only just starting his rise to the top," one of the other elite disciples said in admiration. "Maybe we ought to go do a bit of brown-nosing."

"You don't need to do that," Elder Sister Xue replied. "Just be friendly with him. I'm very curious about Jadefall's pet, but you have to realize that even the most experienced and knowledgeable elders don't know what it is or how it works."

"That pet of hers is already a hot topic among the higher echelons of the sect," another disciple said. "Supposedly, there are even powerful demon-gods on the outside who've learned of it and want to get their hands on it. On top of that, Jadefall has supposedly gone out for training."

Elder Sister Xue laughed. "If the demon-gods go after her, then they'll just end up getting killed by her pet. People say the bubbles it creates are impossible for any evil to pierce. In fact, more than half a year ago, she and her Master went on a mission to the Death God Wind Cave, beyond the highest heaven. It was thanks to her pet that they could safely get in and procure a psychic wind pear. And that was how her master reached the Consummate God level."

"Not even the Death God Wind Cave could do anything to her pet's bubbles?" another disciple said in shock.

Around this time, a Lesser God elite disciple approached respectfully and said, "Elder Sister Xue, I got the information you asked about. Yang Qi picked a mission to go to the Pill-King's temple ruins to search for medicinal pills. It's a very dangerous mission, but he insisted on taking it."

"The Pill-King's temple ruins?!" one of the disciples exclaimed. "He picked a mission like that? Those ruins are extremely dangerous. Even if we went as a group, we would probably end up dead. Forget about the medicinal pills there, it's the toxins you have to watch out for. It's deadly! That entire continent was razed to the ground by poison, and is covered with an endless miasma. Any living creature that enters, man or beast, will be dissolved into a mush."

"Yang Qi isn't an impulsive person," Elder Sister Xue said. "He wouldn't dare to go into a place like that unless he was truly confident in succeeding." From the look on her face, she was looking forward to seeing how things would play out.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi had left the god kingdom via teleportation portal.

There were teleportation portals that led to all sorts of locations in the god world, as long as one had enough godstones to power them.

Of course, it wasn't as if they had teleportation portals leading to every corner of the god world. The god world was huge, and the House of God Ordainment only operated in a small portion of it. Not even the Sovereign Lord's halls of heaven had been large enough to spread throughout the entire god world.

If Yang Qi tried to fly directly to his destination, it would simply take too long.

He put some noble caliber godsand into the teleportation portal, causing it to whir to life. As it powered up, he nodded inwardly. 'As long as you reach the Consummate God level, you can create teleportation portals leading between two continents. But Consummate Gods are generally at the peak of Paramount will. They have to become Perfect Gods before they can hope to unravel the secrets of Unbounded will. Right now, my will convergence is at the early Paramount level, just on the verge of the mid level.'

Unfortunately, he was far from being strong enough to build his own teleportation portals. After all, it involved creating spell formations so stable that they wouldn't be harmed or destroyed by spatial eruptions.

The teleportation portal flared with light, and he stepped out to find himself surrounded by noxious air. The ground below was like a marsh or bog, with occasional bubbles that would get larger and larger before ultimately popping. Overhead, the sky was dark and overcast.

The teleportation portal was located on a completely empty raised platform. There were no other people visible. Mist swirled about, and when it touched Yang Qi's skin, it stung as it tried to bore into him to reach his blood and soul.

Ordinary Lesser Gods would melt upon being touched by such mist, and their godhood would be immediately tainted. Thankfully, Yang Qi had Paramount will, so all it took was a thought to negate the toxins. Then a bubble appeared around him as he drew on the Purrfect God Art.

After reaching the Paramount level, his Purrfect God Art had become more refined. Although he couldn't quite match the purrling, the fact that he had combined its abilities with the Great Necropolis God Art had led to mysterious and profound augmentations.

Right now, the toxic energy had no way to reach him, so he turned into a prismatic beam that shot off into the mists.

Long ago, this continent had been a luxurious and bustling place. However, after the Pill-King God clashed with the seventy-two monarchs, hypertoxic poison had stained the land and turned it into this endless bog.

In fact, it had eventually come to be called the Toxic Continent.

The Toxic Continent was a huge place filled with mists and bogs that could degrade godpower and turn it into something poisonous.

Despite his current defenses, Yang Qi was still being very careful. He knew full well that things would get more dangerous the further he got into the Toxic Continent. For all he knew, the toxic energy might reach the point of being able to pierce his defenses. Therefore, he kept the God Legion Seal ready to use at any moment.

Furthermore, in his sea of energy, the sheepskin scroll was manifested in the form of ten thousand characters, and joined by a broken piece of the Mahātmā Jade. Of course, by now, the Mahātmā Jade wasn't a danger to Yang Qi's flesh and blood, nor his psychic power. Unfortunately, it still wasn't complete, and couldn't release the potential of its full version that the True Devil had wielded. Most of the treasures Yang Qi had weren't particularly important anymore, except for the Mahātmā Jade.

The Mahātmā Jade was on a similar level as the God Legion Seal. After all, it had been created by the True Devil specifically to fight the Sovereign Lord. Once it was complete, it would definitely be no less formidable than the God Legion Seal.

The difference was that the jade wasn't as famous as the seal, and those who knew of it were aware that whoever pieced together the full Mahātmā Jade would still need the True Devil's sheepskin scroll, as well as significant enlightenment. It was very different from the God Legion Seal, which would automatically impart the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth to anyone who acquired a piece of it.

As Yang Qi flew along, the bogs sped by beneath him and he kept his divine will spread out as far as possible, keeping an eye out for anything noteworthy. After about an hour, the ruins of some sort of temple complex appeared up ahead.

Numerous structures could be seen stretching off into the distance. They were dead quiet, without signs of demonlings or humans. Not even toxic demonlings could handle the toxic energy here, although according to rumor, there were certain devils who could cultivate poison arts in this environment.

That said, Yang Qi hadn't seen any devils like that so far.

Swish!

He landed in one of the ruined structures, looked around, and could already see signs of places where experts had recovered medicinal pills in the past. To find anything useful, he would definitely need to go further in.

Of course, the toxic gas and mists were stronger than anything from before. Yang Qi took out a dagger and threw it out. Before it could even hit the ground, it corroded into a noxious liquid that evaporated into thin air.

'So strong!' he thought, nodding. 'I'm only on the outskirts, and it's this bad? I wonder how strong it will be further in. Even with Paramount will, I would have a hard time here on my own. Thankfully I have the God Legion Seal and the Mahātmā Jade together. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to go much further than this.'

He was even limited in terms of his psychic power; if he sent it out beyond his defenses, it would be quickly destroyed by the toxic mist.

Because of that, he could only look around for signs of medicinal pills.

Furthermore, he didn't dare to simply fly over the ruins; he had to walk. Unfortunately, considering how many years these ruins had been around, and how many experts had explored them for loot, it wouldn't be easy to find anything valuable.

With that, he set about exploring. Occasionally the sky would go completely dark, and at other times, bits of light would peek through. Because of that, it was possible to track the passage of days and nights.

He searched for over ten days until he came to the realization that there were certain places that had never been opened, and by extension had never been explored.

Unfortunately, he hadn't found any medicinal pills so far.

That didn't shake his resolve though. He was convinced that there were medicinal pills to be found; he just needed to keep searching. The toxic mist was getting so dense that it was hard to see his hand in front of his face, and his defenses were constantly being eaten away.

Thankfully he had his God Legion Seal to provide an endless source of godpower, otherwise he would have already run out.

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Chapter 1214: Exploring the Ruins

The temple complex was crumbling into complete ruin, filled with an aura of decay and dense toxic mist. It was a terrifying place overall, and seemed almost like a hell unto itself. If even a bit of the toxic energy from the Toxic Continent somehow seeped down into the impure lands, countless immortal worlds would be destroyed.

Right now, Yang Qi was still searching for medicinal pills.

Although it was hard to make his hand out clearly if he held it out in front of him, he was still able to get a general sense of everything within thirty meters of himself. He was searching everything very carefully, leaving no proverbial rock unturned. Thankfully, not even Greater Gods would come to a place like this because of the toxic energy, which meant it wasn't very well traveled.

Yang Qi was fully drawing on his True-Devil Unspoiled-by-Myriad-Kalpas-and-Tribulations Body. After all, within the various tribulation characters was the character for poison. Because of that, he was able to assimilate some of the toxic energy around him, making the area around him less dangerous.

'What's this?'

He had just spotted some jade bottles in one of the rooms he was exploring. They were pitch black, but emanated a faint medicinal aroma.

'Don't tell me I actually found some paramount god medicine!' What else could it be? Only something created by an expert with Paramount will could possibly stand the test of time surrounded by such corrosive power.

He exhaled a stream of vital energy that burned like intense flame, parting the toxic mist. Then he flicked his finger, causing a bubble to spring up around one of the jade bottles. Fire swirled around the bottle, burning away the corrosive toxins on its surface.

Everything in this place was infected by poison so powerful that ordinary fire couldn't do anything to it. Thankfully, the twin tribulations of fire and poison from the Unspoiled Body, backed by the Flame of Hope from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, were more than enough to do the job.

Grabbing the bottle, he opened it.

Instantly, a strong medicinal aroma wafted out, along with emerald-green light.

'Got some!' he exclaimed. It was a paramount god medicine. He quickly unleashed his energy arts to pull the pill out of the bottle. However, to his surprise, the green energy contained a distorted human face that pulsed with devilishness.

'I can't believe it. It's been in the toxic mist so long it's turned into poison medicine! So, it's not a god pill. Ah, what a pity.' He looked closer at the medicinal pill. 'Maybe I should try to expunge the devilishness. Be refined!" A stream of true flame flowed out from him as he tried to remove the devilishness and restore the pill to its original state.

However, after only a moment, the pill let loose a shrill shriek and exploded, turning into a green smoke that quickly dissipated into nothing.

A medicinal pill thrown into toxic miasma was like gourmet food thrown into a dung heap. Once it happened, no amount of cleaning would do any good.

He tried to do the same thing with the rest of the bottles, but found that any medicinal pills inside were too badly infected with toxic energy. He had found some pills, but hadn't benefited from them. In fact, he had wasted a lot of godpower trying to save them.

But he wasn't discouraged, and continued his search. Some of the temples he found were complete, while others were crumbling into nothing. And there were so many that searching every single one would take a lot of time. After some quick calculations, Yang Qi came to the conclusion that if it weren't for the God Legion Seal constantly replenishing his godpower, he probably wouldn't last more than seven days here. Even an ordinary Greater God could only last for about ten days or so. That wasn't even close to enough time to find anything useful.

Another ten days passed, and he still hadn't found anything worthwhile. On the upside, the continuous effort to expunge poison was having a tempering effect on his godpower, making it purer than before.

Furthermore, he was coming to realize that there was a pattern to how the structures here had been built. It seemed like a god kingdom, and he could almost close his eyes and imagine how amazing it had been back in its heyday.

The further in he went, the larger and more impressive the buildings were. He saw statues of gods as tall as mountains, although most of them were smashed or had been toppled.

The glory of bygone days was no more, and the only things that remained were ruins filled with toxic mist.

"Hmm. Is that something ahead?"

He had caught sight of a huge temple of ancient design that almost looked like a pill furnace hulking in the mists. It was immense, fully three thousand meters tall, and several kilometers from end to end. It almost looked like a castle. As Yang Qi sized it up, he realized that it was roughly octagonal, and its surface conveyed all sorts of profound things, such as the circumference of the universe, the motion of the stars, the five phases, eight trigrams, yin and yang, two polarities, the taiji and wuji, primal-chaos and the origin of the universe, the true dharma of the three caves, and the profundities of the three doctrines.

The enormous building actually reminded him of the Heaven and Earth Furnace, and he could instantly tell that, in ancient times, it was a place where the Pill-King God would gather his disciples to concoct pills. That meant that it was highly likely to have pills inside.

If a medicinal pill was protected by a powerful warding magic, it wouldn't be tainted by the miasma.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it would be easy to get inside. As he got close, thunderous rumbling sounds echoed out and the surrounding mist converged into the shape of a spear that slammed into him like toxic god lightning, shaking his defenses deeply.

In fact, he was sent flying backward until he slammed into another nearby building, his godpower shaken to the point that he felt like he was suffocating.

'Incredible. The mist is so toxic it actually turned into toxic god lightning.' It wasn't going to be easy to get close.

'Whatever. I'll just burn some of the power I've been saving for my godhood. Let's open a path!'

CRASH!

He exhaled a stream of godpower from within the virtual godhood in his sea of energy, and the godpower instantly turned into godfire.

Because the godpower had experienced refinement in his virtual godhood, it was definitely extraordinary. Normally speaking, godpower that had been refined within virtual godhood wasn't useful. Expending it would only be harmful to one's cultivation base. Up to this point, Yang Qi had been using godpower that came directly from the God Legion Seal. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be sufficient to get into the pill furnace-shaped temple.

But the power in his virtual godhood was extremely formidable. Although he hadn't fully formed his monarch godhood, considering he had Paramount will at work on it, how could it be anything ordinary?

The fire erupting from his mouth turned into a stream three hundred meters long, like an enormous pillar that bored through the miasma and created a clear and pure passageway.

In this manner, Yang Qi approached the temple. Although toxic god lightning continually tried to reach him, the fire that he sent out would consume it with abandon.

Three days and three nights passed before he finally reached the temple. He had wasted some godpower, but still had plenty to keep going. After all, if he found a single paramount-level medicinal pill, he would be able to fill himself right back up.

'Grrrrr! If I don't get anything out of this trip, I'm going to end up having wasted a good year's worth of godpower!'

Yang Qi shook his head.

BAM!

Upon entering the temple, he looked around to find numerous alcoves with pill furnaces in them, all of them seemingly sealed tight.

Apparently, no one had ever stepped foot in this place.

Although the numerous sealed pill furnaces were all surrounded with toxic energy, most of them still glittered with faint light that seemed to indicate they hadn't been completely infected.

As far as Yang Qi could tell, they were all precious treasures. That was emphasized by the fact that even though the subterranean balefire that had once heated the furnaces no longer existed, they still pulsed with power.

'I wonder if the toxic mist here was left behind directly by King Hypertoxin?' he thought. He suddenly recalled that, after acquiring his Seventy-Two Monarchs Energy Art, one of the least complete of his collections were the weapons of King Hypertoxin. They were called Atu's Hypertoxic Hooks, and the complete set was made up of several thousand weapons, but he only had a few hundred.

That said, the hooks were currently in the possession of his immortal-slaying clone, along with all the other items.

But if he could get some more of Atu's Hypertoxic Hooks, he might be able to lessen the severity of the poison. Back in the impure lands, his cultivation base hadn't been high enough to make good use of those seventy-two types of weapons, but now he had Paramount will and a much deeper enlightenment of such mysteries.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the weapons with him.

Putting aside such thoughts, he headed over to one of the pill furnaces, which was fully as tall as two average people. Reaching out toward the tightly-sealed lid, he prepared to take it off.

1. Granted, while most of the descriptions here don't have weight in terms of the plot, they are meaningful in general. There are a couple that haven't really been mentioned in this translation before, such as the wuji, which is basically the predecessor of the taiji, and refers to the primordial universe. In the past, I've translated it in different ways depending on the context; this is my first time transliterating it because of its pairing with taiji. The are a real thing, and the three doctrines are those of Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

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Chapter 1215: Expert in a Medicinal Pill

Ding!

The pill furnace lid popped off and crimson light spilled out.

"Hand of the One God!" Yang Qi unleashed one of his consummate techniques, causing an enormous hand to appear that crushed down on the red light and entered the depths of the pill furnace to snatch the medicinal pill inside.

It was wrapped up in numerous paper talismans and protected by a spell formation that still had godstones inset to power it and drive away the toxic energy.

'Right, spell formations!'

Having no time to look at the medicinal pill, he looked around at the hall he was in and noticed that the pillars all had tiny holes in them, most of which were empty, seemingly implying that they had once housed godstones.

Luckily, Yang Qi had plenty of godstones on hand. Pulling some out of his bag, he sent them flying into the holes in the columns, which caused creaking and crunching sounds to echo out.

A clear breeze sprang up in the temple as a powerful spell formation activated, dispelling the toxic mist. Barely more than an hour later, the toxic mist was gone from within the temple.

There were a total of thirty-six pill furnaces in the hall, arranged according to the thirty-six stars associated with the Big Dipper. As for the hall itself, it was fully ten acres in size. Unfortunately, even powering the spell formation with noble caliber godsand, it would clearly remain functional for barely a few hours.

That should be enough. Yang Qi had wasted a lot of godpower from his virtual godhood to get this far, and needed to make up for those losses. Thankfully, he had already acquired a Paramount medicinal pill.

Pulling out the pill to look at it, he murmured, "It hasn't been devilized."

It was about the size of a lychee fruit and as red as a burning sun. And from the energy pulsing off it, it was obvious that it had been concocted by someone with Paramount will, perhaps in the mid or late stage.

"Imperial-heaven pre-beginning!" Drawing on his imperial-heaven pre-beginning powers, he analyzed the structure of the godpower in the pill and came to the realization that it actually wasn't designed to improve godpower. It was never a good idea to casually consume medicinal pills. Some were designed for healing, some to serve as antidotes, some to strengthen vitality, some to increase power, some to fortify the psyche and fleshly body, and some to purify the body and soul.

After his analysis, he realized that this pill was designed as an antidote.

'Ah what a pity that this Paramount pill is actually just an antidote. Well, perhaps that's one reason why it's lasted so long within this miasma. At the very least, I can turn it in to the sect for some merit points. There are always experts out there who get poisoned and have no way to cure themselves.'

A pill like this would be very welcome in the sect.

In fact, it was hard to say how many people would fight fiercely to get an antidote as powerful as this.

With that, Yang Qi moved on to the rest of the pill furnaces. He recovered pill after pill, all of which were antidotes that the disciples here had prepared in order to take a stand against King Hypertoxin. All of them were of extremely high quality.

After recovering thirty-six antidotal pills, Yang Qi still wasn't very happy. Although he could turn the pills in for a huge sum of merit points, enough to be considered fabulously wealthy, what he really needed were pills to help boost his godpower.

'I just have to keep searching. I refuse to believe that this is a fruitless effort.' After all, there wasn't just a single hall in this temple, but many levels.

After a few more hours, the spell formation ran out of power and the toxic mist returned.

However, Yang Qi had just acquired thirty-six antidotal pills, and the red light they cast kept the toxic mist at bay. The downside was that it would eat away at the medicinal strength of the pills, which meant that he would get fewer merit points when he turned them in later.

But in the end, he didn't care about that. Continuing on, he eventually found a spiral staircase that led to the second floor.

The second floor featured another spacious hall with a nonfunctional spell formation and a set of pill furnaces. There were half as many pill furnaces as before; only eighteen. However, they were larger and seemed to contain greater medicinal strength.

Yang Qi rested for a few hours to build up some more godpower. Thankfully, the antidotal pills had reduced the corrosive effects of the toxic mists. When he felt ready, he chopped his hand out toward one of the pill furnaces, opening the lid and causing a bright yellow light to spill out.

Reaching out, he captured the yellow light, which was like a yellow dragon that refused to be captured. It pulsed with a shocking power that surprised even Yang Qi, prompting him to draw on the power of the God Legion Seal. Eventually, he got the medicinal pill under control, revealing it to be the size of a bean, and golden in color. It was also covered with complex cloud patterns. Although he wasn't sure what it was for, it didn't seem like something that would increase his godpower.

Yang Qi frowned as he examined the pill. It pulsed with an incredible killing aura and had metal-type properties. As he held it in his hand, he felt as though millions upon millions of swords were piercing into his acupoints.

Without question, this was a medicinal pill for the dao of the sword.

A sword expert who consumed this pill would have their sword energy boosted, becoming much deadlier. In fact, it would be perfect for Sword Seventeen. Such pills were often called sword pellets, and they were extremely powerful.

Unfortunately, Yang Qi couldn't use it for any sort of breakthrough. And although it would be worth a lot of merit points, he would rather give it to Sword Seventeen. In fact, if he found any more sword pellets in these pill furnaces, he would definitely save them for his subordinates.

In years past, the Lord of the Sword Dao was a subordinate of the Sovereign Lord, and a powerful Paramount God. He slaughtered enemies left and right, including countless devil-gods from hell, and also enemies of the Sovereign Lord. Even other Paramount Gods died by his hands.

Clang, clang, clang!

Yang Qi opened all the pill furnaces and found that they all contained sword pellets. In the end, he was actually pleased. It was quite a windfall, and would definitely ensure that his Sage Monarch Consortium had numerous top sword experts in it.

After performing a final sweep of the second floor and finding nothing, he thought, 'Alright, time to see what's on the third floor. Hopefully some more pill furnaces. Preferably ones that increase godpower!'

With that, he flew up the staircase to the third floor. Unfortunately, he was disappointed to find no pill furnaces at all. There was only a toxic mist so dense he couldn't see clearly. Thankfully, he had the antidotal pills and his own true flame to keep himself safe.

Without such protections, he would have died even if he was a Greater God.

After burning away some of the mist, Yang Qi found that there was a bottle gourd right in the middle of the third floor hall. It had a green exterior that swirled as if it were primal-chaos; apparently, it hadn't been infected by the toxic mist. It was about thirty meters tall, and very heavy.

'This thing is big. There must be something good inside. It must be a treasure of some sort.' Flying up to the top of the gourd, he grabbed the lid and tried prying it open.

To his shock, there was a gravitational force inside that made it impossible to simply pull the lid off. 'I can't open it, even with godpower as incredible as mine? How strong is this thing?'

"Begone!" He activated the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, which was of course a type of power that was beyond the compare of anything else. Gripping the lid, he tried wrenching it open, causing the entire gourd to tremble.

WHOOSH!

A crack appeared, allowing a powerful medicinal energy to shoot out, along with a gravitational force that grabbed Yang Qi and pulled him inside. The lid slammed shut behind him, preventing any of the toxic energy from getting inside.

'It's pulling me inside?' Unflustered, he dropped down and looked around. It was a small area, filled with a pure light that lacked any darkness. As for the walls, they were a greenish-blue color that resembled the warm embrace of seawater.

All of a sudden, a voice drifted into his ears. "How strange. I never imagined someone would make it this far."

Looking over, he saw a prayer mat in the far corner, atop which was a medicinal pill. The medicinal energy it emitted created a small, humanoid figure that resembled a daoist priest. The pill pulsed with godpower that Yang Qi instantly identified as the high-quality type that he needed to improve his godpower.

And it had just spoken to him.

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Chapter 1216: Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill

'What a great medicinal pill!'

However, Yang Qi wasn't a rash person, and didn't make a move. After all, the pill emanated a terrifying aura that marked its godpower as being shockingly high, and nothing to be taken lightly.

Medicinal pills that had achieved human form weren't particularly common, but neither were they a total rarity. Any pill that achieved that would be invincibly powerful and could seize good fortune from heaven and earth.

From what Yang Qi could sense, this wasn't a pill he could deal with by using force.

As he measured up the pill, it seemed to be measuring him up in return. The pill looked like a daoist in dark robes, middle-aged, with a solemn, contemplative look in his eyes.

"You haven't even formed your godhood yet?" the pill asked. "What's a pup like you doing here? In the god world, Quasi-Gods are little more than ants. This is really strange. Do you know that you're in the Chaos-Forge God-Shrine of the Pill-King's temple ruins? This is a core location in the Pill-King's god kingdom. It was once an enormous pill furnace, originally built to conform to the twenty-four solar terms, thirty-six heavenly spirits, seventy-two earthly fiends, eighteen arhats, one hundred and eight ghost-gods, three hundred and sixty cycles, seven hundred and twenty acupoints, three thousand great daos, and millions upon millions of heavenly rivers. Although it was damaged in the fighting with King Hypertoxin, it still maintains its might and dignity. This specific location is some distance away from the main battleground where the Pill-King God fought King Hypertoxin, but the toxic energy here is still very strong. Not even Greater Gods would dare venture here, but you, a mere Quasi-God, have made it this far? That's definitely heaven-defying. No one from ancient times until now has done this."

Smiling at the middle-aged daoist that was the medicinal pill, Yang Qi said, "You flatter me, Senior. Might I ask who you are? Presumably you're a medicinal pill from yesteryear that cultivated its way to intelligence?"

"That's right. I'm a Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill, originally concocted over a period of one thousand god world years by a group of countless gods working together. Then, from primeval times until now, I remained in the Chaos-Cavern Bottle Gourd until three thousand god world years ago, when I developed a will of my own and experienced nirvanic birth. Unfortunately, the sea of toxins around me trapped me here, making it impossible to leave. And if it weren't for the Chaos-Cavern Bottle Gourd keeping me safe, I would long since have become devilized. When you opened the lid just now, I had to waste a lot of vital energy to keep the toxic energy out. So, how exactly are you going to make it up to me?"

"You want compensation, Senior?" Yang Qi said, intentionally plastering a look of surprise onto his face.

"Why wouldn't I?" the pill daoist replied. "It's not as though I can recover my godpower inside here. And the fact that you, a mere Quasi-God, has reached this point indicates that you must have some sort of medicinal pill to bolster godpower. And you probably have some magical treasure that can fend off the toxic gas.

"What?!" Yang Qi said, looking even more surprised. "But if I give you my medicinal pills and magical treasure, how am I supposed to get out of here?"

"Don't worry. Give me the pills and treasure, and I'll take you out with me. The Chaos-Forge God-Shrine has nine floors that are filled with all sorts of great things, including medicinal pills and pill concocting ingredients. Some have been devilized, but others have fended off the toxic energy. Those things will make everything worth it." The pill daoist wasn't being polite at all, and it looked like he was only moments away from trying to lay hands on Yang Qi.

"Nine floors?" Yang Qi was actually surprised by that. If the third floor had a medicinal pill this strong, then what else lay above him? As for the pill in front of him, if he assimilated it, he would definitely get much closer to finishing his monarch godhood. At the least, he would save a sixty-year-cycle worth of time.

"In that case, why don't the two of us just work together? I'll use my magical treasure to keep you safe on the way out."

The pill daoist chuckled, and a nasty grin appeared on his face. "You think you qualify to 'work together' with me, boy? You made me waste a lot of power just now, and the only thing I can do inside this place is hibernate. I need medicinal ingredients to make up for what I just lost. Besides, how could I ever trust you? What if you betray me as soon as we're out, and I get devilized? No, you need to give your assets to me."

"I guess negotiating isn't going to do any good." Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "After all, I'm not giving you my magical treasure or medicinal pills."

"Oh?" The pill daoist laughed. "Apparently you don't know how amazing Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pills are. Even if a measly Quasi-God like you was many times stronger than you are, could you ever hope to achieve Paramount will convergence?"

"I see, Senior. You're saying you're going to use force?" Yang Qi settled into a fighting stance.

"Hmph! Lucky for you I've been stuck in this Chaos-Cavern Bottle Gourd since ancient times, with nobody to talk to. All of my knowledge is based on what I received from the people who concocted me, otherwise I would've killed you already. How about you chat with me a bit to relieve my boredom. If you do, I won't kill you. Just torture you a bit." The pill daoist started walking toward him. "I can kill a Quasi-God as easily as turning over my hand, so don't even think of trying to escape."

"Aren't you worried I might break open this bottle gourd and let the toxic energy inside? The bottle gourd is strong, but I could easily open the lid. Then what would happen?"

"Very funny," the pill daoist said. "You think you can open the lid from inside?"

"I know I can!" Yang Qi had already assessed his surroundings, and knew that while the bottle gourd did have some mysterious spell formations built into it, they had no godstones to power them. Without activating those formations, there was no way for the pill daoist to escape the situation.

"Cut the crap and give me that magical treasure!" The pill daoist shoved his palm out with enough force to topple mountains and drain seas, causing intense rumbling sounds to fill the interior of the bottle gourd.

Yang Qi immediately smiled. Although this pill daoist was strong, he had virtually no fighting experience. He was launching a simplistic attack with godpower, little more. A foolish person who had mountains of gold and silver could easily have such things taken away from them, ending up with nothing.

This medicinal pill's memories came from the people who had concocted him, so although he had some divine abilities and impressive godpower, he had never actually left the bottle gourd. How could he possibly compare to a veteran of numerous battles like Yang Qi, who had killed too many enemies to count?

Besides, Yang Qi also had access to the battle experience in the God Legion Seal, which included the experiences of the King of Godmammoths. There simply wasn't anyone who could compare to him in that regard.

"Myriad Tribulations Dhāraṇī Incantation. Sovereign Lord's Holy and Far-Reaching Consummate Omnicurse!" Yang Qi casually sidestepped the incoming godpower, then waved his finger and released his own godpower, backed by Paramount will. Although the movement seemed as slow as a turtle crawling across the ground, it was actually as fast as lightning. It pierced through space and completely wiped out all the force the pill daoist had unleashed.

The pill daoist backed up, a look of shock on his face. "Y-y-you... you actually have Paramount will convergence? You're a miracle! No Quasi-God has ever reached the Paramount level!"

"Well I have. What do you think?" Yang Qi strode forward aggressively, showing not a hint of fear. The pill daoist had incredible godpower that clearly surpassed Yang Qi's, but unfortunately he had absolutely no control, and deeply unimpressive energy arts. And he had so little fighting prowess that he was essentially a moron in that regard. His attack just now was completely unfocused, allowing the godpower to leak out in all directions. It was really pitiful.

Truth be told, compared to Yang Qi, the pill daoist may as well have been a mere child. And now that Yang Qi had Paramount will, he could dismantle the pill daoist's godpower. Other than him, the pill daoist would probably have been able to easily crush anyone under the Paramount level.

Sadly for the pill daoist, Yang Qi had seen through him on all levels.

Anyone else with this level of power who had fighting experience, even experience on the level of Bai Yin's, would definitely be difficult for Yang Qi to deal with. In fact, maybe he would even be at a big disadvantage.

"You lack experience. Let me show you what real fighting is like!" Spinning, Yang Qi unleashed a stream of sword energy from the dao of King Life-Killer. He only used a tiny bit of godpower, but it created a huge net of swords that enveloped the pill daoist.

"Die!" the pill daoist screamed, chopping out with his hand again. Godpower raged, destroying the net of swords, yet Yang Qi's smile only grew wider. He had only used a fraction of his power to back that net, while the pill daoist had used full force. If they kept fighting like this, the pill daoist was definitely going to lose.

He might as well be a turtle in a jar.

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Chapter 1217: Extremely Shoddy Fighting Experience

"Life-Killing Sword Technique!"

The interior of the bottle gourd was cramped, making it difficult to unleash much in the way of a variety of moves. But Yang Qi had immense battle experience, so as he danced back and forth, he unleashed the sword dao of King Life-Killer, sending one deadly move after another toward his opponent.

"Bloody Slaughter of the Dome of Heaven!"

"Setting Sun Pursues the Soul!"

"Stars Bury the Vast Lands!"

"The Bane of All Existence!"

"Darkness and Light; Waxing and Waning Moon!"

Yang Qi was using the sword dao of King Life-Killer to full effect, and was actually improving with every moment. He had just taken eighteen sword pellets, so it was an easy matter to add their aura to his own sword energy to crush the Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill energy arts being used by the pill daoist.

"This is really pissing me off!" the pill daoist growled. "How could a Quasi-God last for so long in a fight against me!?" It almost seemed as if this was the first time the pill daoist had ever been in a fight. He was backing every move with full power, which seemed impressive, but was really an empty effort. Although his energy rocketed out with mountain-toppling, sea-draining force, Yang Qi could easily negate it. The attacks were like thousand-kilogram cotton balls, and Yang Qi was like a tiny embroidery needle that could pierce through them with ease.

"Check out this fist technique!" the pill daoist shouted, proceeding into a consummate martial art that had once been practiced by the daoists of the Pill-King's temple. The pill daoist had those memories, and was therefore able to send a huge mass of fist energy rumbling toward Yang Qi.

SNICK!

Yang Qi was nearly laughing out loud at how extremely shoddy this pill daoist's fighting technique was. He had immense godpower, but no idea how to use it effectively. In fact, Yang Qi was convinced that he had probably possessed better skill than this pill daoist even back in the impure lands, when he had just learned the Hundred Paces Divine Fist.

The fact that the pill daoist was coming at him with such arrogance, claiming to be about to kill him, was actually really funny.

He swept his hands out in an arc, releasing a soft energy art filled with numerous transformations. In fact, it was so profound that a taiji symbol actually appeared right in front of him, which absorbed the incoming fist energy and shattered it into countless tiny medicinal pills.

Purr.

Yang Qi sucked those medicinal pills into his sea of energy, and the virtual godhood therein, which did a lot to bolster his godpower.

This daoist was actually a medicinal pill, so when Yang Qi negated his godpower, it turned into ordinary medicinal pills. By absorbing that one attack, Yang Qi had just gained godpower that would normally require two or three years of bitter cultivation to get.

Yang Qi suddenly felt quite enlivened, and his cultivation base had even improved.

"Damn you!" The pill daoist had apparently just learned something, as he sucked his godpower back and stopped attacking. He had realized that his successive attacks weren't doing anything, and that he was just wasting godpower. Even worse, his opponent was actually benefiting from the attacks.

'My godpower is so incredible that this brat shouldn't be able to do anything to me. Damn him! I guess my fighting experience really is inferior. But as long as I can escape this place and get a few years of practice under my belt, I'll definitely be a domineering figure. And when that time comes, I'll beat this boy senseless!' Clearing his throat, he said, "You're strong, boy. I suppose you do qualify to be my friend. Why don't we join forces? Turn weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk? Just give me some of those antidote pills, alright? Say what you will, but I am your Senior, which means that you owe me some respect."

Yang Qi laughed. "Senior? You're my Senior? You're nothing but a medicinal pill! And I have no reason to work with you. I'd rather consume you to help form my monarch godhood. As you obviously know, I haven't yet reached godly ascension, yet I have Paramount will convergence. The only thing I lack now is godhood. And I want monarch godhood. How about that?"

Originally, he had found this pill daoist's godpower to be very intimidating. But after finding out that his fighting experience was so shoddy, Yang Qi was left right in the middle of laughter and tears. Now he wasn't worried at all, but was mostly interested in exploring the rest of the Chaos-Forge God-Shrine instead.

Without waiting for a response, Yang Qi made another move, drawing deeply on his godpower to attack with his Unspoiled Body, Purrfect God Art, Great Necropolis God Art, Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and Seventy-Two Monarchs Energy Art, combining them into a river of death that smashed into the pill daoist.

"Die!"

Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam.

The pill daoist tried to defend himself, but completely failed. From his perspective, Yang Qi was like a blur that he couldn't defend against.

"Defensive energy arts!" he roared, summoning a shield of godpower around him. However, Yang Qi just smiled and thrust his hands out, then vanished, leaving behind a crystalline structure that transformed into a primal-chaos elder-snake which quickly wrapped around the pill daoist.

Snakes devour mammoths!

When it came to devouring other things, nothing under heaven could surpass the great dao of King Heaven-Devourer. With the enlightenment Yang Qi had of this dao, he was completely invincible. Before the pill daoist could react, Yang Qi opened his mouth and began sucking his godpower inside.

The pill daoist roared in rage, but was too ignorant regarding the usage of godpower. He had no idea how to focus it, much less skillfully manipulate it. He was almost like a child who hadn't been trained in martial arts and would just randomly flail around with fists and feet.

His shouting did no good, and within the course of a few breaths of time, it was obvious that Yang Qi was rapidly growing stronger while the pill daoist was weakening.

As the pill daoist's godpower flowed into Yang Qi, Yang Qi's virtual godhood grew more and more solid. In those few breaths of time, Yang Qi benefited as if he had just spent several years working on his cultivation.

"Your technique is just too shoddy," Yang Qi said. "If you knew even a few good moves, I wouldn't be able to absorb you. For example, the vajra techniques of the buddhist schools could make you as hard as a diamond. Or you could use prajñā void techniques to make your godpower seem empty. You could even use the free and unconstrained teachings of the daoist sects to make your godpower impossible to latch on to. In those cases, I wouldn't be able to do a thing to you. Your godpower really is impressive, but sadly, you just aren't complete."

Yang Qi chuckled as his snake form tightened around the pill daoist, who screamed shrilly in terror.

The pill daoist was like a slab of cold iron that had been pulled out of a mountain after ten thousand years, but had never been fully forged into a sharp sword. And now Yang Qi was assimilating him. How tragic!

"Die! Just go and die! I'm going to self-detonate and kill you! We'll end in mutual ruin!" All of a sudden, godpower surged inside the pill daoist.

"Self-detonation? And how many self-detonation techniques do you actually know? The most famous of them all is from the dao of devils. It's the Heaven-Devil Disintegration Grand Magic. Now that is a good self-detonation method. And then there's the Life-Death Extirpation Art from the daoist sects, which is probably the most explosive, and even destroys your soul. There's also the Myriad Buddhas Nirvanic Extermination from the buddhist schools, or the Heaven-Earth Devastation Art. You see, there are all sorts of self-detonation techniques that use godpower to create a deadly explosion. Unfortunately, you don't know any of them, so I don't think you'll be doing any detonating at all. Gunpowder can be dangerous, but you have to know how to use it. And you need a spark to instigate the detonation. Considering your experience, there's no way you know how to truly self-detonate. What a pity..."

"My god..." the pill daoist shrieked. "Mercy! Spare me! I don't want to die! I don't want to be assimilated by you!"

"Forgiveness is off the table," Yang Qi said. "No one else knows my secret but you, and if word got out, I'd be hunted down no matter where I went. If they caught me, they'd do anything to drag my secrets out. Sorry, this world is a brutal place, and you're not destined to keep living within it."

The pill daoist was now as helpless as a trussed pig just waiting to be slaughtered and cut into pieces.

Hours passed. Then days. Slowly but surely, all of the pill daoist's godpower was drained away. After a month, he had turned into the shape of a three-inch-tall medicinal pill.

Yang Qi then consumed the pill, which dropped into his sea of energy and cracked open. At that point, Yang Qi began a session of cultivation.

His virtual godhood was crystallizing, and his godpower surged mightily. A fist-sized piece of godhood was forming, but it was illusory and dreamlike, surrounded by dazzling colors. None of the kinds of godhood Yang Qi had encountered in the impure lands were like anything compared to his own godhood.

Most shocking of all, after this entire session of cultivation with the Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill, his godhood was still only half-formed.

That said, he had just saved about sixty god world years of cultivation time. And sixty years for him weren't like sixty years for an ordinary person. Thanks to the God Legion Seal, sixty years for him were like six hundred years for someone else.

1. To put things in perspective, Yang Qi used the Hundred Paces Divine Fist in . Lol. This pill daoist really does suck.

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Chapter 1218: Chaos-Forge God-Shrine

'I really benefited a lot from that. The godpower reserves in my godhood are reaching a peak. I wonder if I'm now in the position to seize the upper hand in a fight with a Greater God. That medicinal pill was amazing. What a boost... If I could get one more pill like that, I would probably be able to form my monarch godhood.

'Or perhaps not. The closer I get to completing the monarch godhood, the more power it's going to require.'

From what he could tell, he was approaching a certain juncture that, once passed, would increase the requirement to thousands of times beyond anything from before.

In other words, even if he did happen to run into another Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill, it probably wouldn't be enough to complete his monarch godhood.

'Time to head to the fourth floor! Considering the medicinal pill here was so strong, I have to wonder how powerful things will be on the fourth floor. If I can get an even stronger medicinal pill, maybe I really can form my monarch godhood, and afterward, keep my true level hidden from any prying eyes. After all, once I reach godly ascension, the powers of the God Legion Seal will become even more pronounced.'

What he was currently capable of with the God Legion Seal wasn't anything close to its full potential; that would only come when he was a god.

After all, there was significance to the fact that it was named after the legion of gods. Upon reaching godly ascension, he would be part of the legion of gods; and how could someone who wasn't a god possibly control the legion of gods!? Deep in his bones, he was convinced that once he reached godly ascension, the God Legion Seal would transform in some dramatic way.

With a whoosh, he shot out of the bottle gourd.

Glancing at it for a moment, he extended his hand and revealed a godstone. As of now, creating imperial caliber godstones was as easy as blowing some dust off his shoulder. Tossing the godstone into the bottle gourd, he exhaled deeply, causing the toxic mist in the chamber to disperse and revealing the evidence of the intense battle which had been fought in the chamber in years past.

"Spell formation: activate!" Yang Qi said coolly. Within the depths of the bottle gourd, a spell formation whirred to life, causing the gourd to shrink in size.

Yang Qi hadn't spent any time studying the bottle gourd to uncover its secrets, but he could tell there was spatial godpower in it, which allowed it to become a standalone dimension, and also allowed it to shrink.

Up until now, Yang Qi hadn't acquired a good spatial magical device, which made it hard to store things. But now he had this bottle gourd. He was actually curious what the Chaos-Cavern Bottle Gourd was made of, considering it could fend off the toxic energy in this place.

Even though the temple itself hadn't been melted by the toxins, Yang Qi knew that the materials that made it up had long since been completely infected.

Yet the bottle gourd was completely pure.

Yang Qi held the now palm-sized bottle gourd and sent some divine will into it. Inside, he saw so many spell formations that it was obvious the imperial caliber godstone he had just fed into the gourd was like nothing compared to what it was capable of. Obviously, there was more to this Chaos-Cavern Bottle Gourd than met the eye.

Tucking it into his sleeve, he headed toward the fourth floor.

There, the mist was even thicker than it was down below. However, Yang Qi's cultivation base had advanced significantly after consuming the Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill. He flicked his sleeve, creating a black hole that sucked in all the mist. A moment later, the fourth floor was empty, and on his palm was a tiny pearl full of poison.

The fourth floor was clear, but that didn't stop more toxic mist from pouring in from the outside. However, it would clearly take hours for the process to complete. Meanwhile, Yang Qi started searching around for medicinal pills.

Unfortunately, there weren't any. Instead, there were numerous cauldrons.

All of them emanated strong medicinal aromas, which indicated that they were full of medicinal ingredients. They were huge, almost like storehouses, and when Yang Qi started opening them up, he found all sorts of ingredients that he had never seen before, but had read about in the Great Classic of God Ordainment. They were all extremely rare and precious.

In fact, they were all ingredients that could be used to counter toxins. And the furnaces were made from a special type of metal called detoxifying godsteel, which specifically grew stronger by absorbing toxins.

There were many miraculous things in the world.

'I wonder how much these medicinal ingredients would be worth?' He flew into one of the cauldrons and looked through the various ingredients, which included fruit, leaves, grasses, flowers... even ores and things that looked like flesh and blood.

'That's Crimson-Infernal Hell Weed.' He picked up the weed, whose leaves were like serrated teeth dripping with fresh blood. 'This is perfect for those who cultivate devil techniques, or follow the dao of devils.'

Looking around, he picked up another ingredient. 'This is a Bright-Yang Godfruit, which contains immense god energy. It's the perfect ingredient for concocting fire-type medicinal pills.

'I might as well just take all of them!' Taking out his Chaos-Cavern Bottle Gourd, he thought, 'Well, little bottle gourd, it's a good thing I got you. Considering those spell formations of yours, you're definitely anything but ordinary.'

With a flourish, he produced numerous imperial caliber godstones, which he tossed into the bottle gourd to activate it. A gravitational force sprang out, causing something like a black hole to appear within the cauldron.

Whoooosh... whooooosh...

One by one, the ingredients, and even the cauldrons, were sucked into the bottle gourd.

There were even some that were the size of houses, but fit inside the gourd perfectly. It went to show what the gourd was capable of with enough godstones to power it.

Before long, the fourth floor was completely empty. When Yang Qi took those medicinal ingredients back to the Sage Monarch Consortium, they would definitely cause too much of a stir to sell all at once. It would have to be done slowly, and with immense care. Otherwise it would attract the wrong attention.

More than ever, Yang Qi realized he needed to form his monarch godhood.

'Time for the fifth floor!'

He slipped up to the fifth floor, only to find the toxic mist to be indescribably powerful. In fact, it was almost liquid, sticking to the body in a way that made it almost impossible to get rid of.

In fact, Yang Qi felt his godpower draining away because of it, and even found it hard to move.

'This toxic mist is so strong!' He quickly produced some of the medicinal ingredients he had just taken from the fourth floor and refined them with true flame. They swirled into the shape of a dragon, which spread out around him protectively. However, even as it formed, it began melting away. From what he could tell, it would give him about an incense stick's worth of time safe from the toxic mist.

'Let's see what I can find in that time,' he thought. Flying into motion, he sped around the hall, only to find that it was empty. There were no cauldrons, bottle gourds, or pill furnaces.

'There's nothing here? Seriously?' Frowning, he searched again, until it was obvious the defensive dragon barrier was about to break down. It was at that point that he realized he had missed something on his first search: a corpse.

'What? A corpse?' Exhaling a stream of true flame to part the toxic mist, he looked around and confirmed that the corpse was the only thing on this floor.

'What kind of corpse is this? It's strong enough that it hasn't broken down after all this time?' It really was amazing. From what he could tell, even a corpse that had monarch godhood would quickly dissolve in a place like this. Other than truly indestructible things like the God Legion Seal, sheepskin scroll, and Mahātmā Jade, the toxic mist was completely destructive.

In fact, it was so much stronger than on the fourth floor that, given the level of his cultivation base, he was having trouble dealing with it.

Even more shocking, the corpse almost seemed alive. He looked like a young scholar, complete with a tall scholar's hat, sitting there cross-legged with a book scroll in his hand. Unfortunately, the scroll had almost completely crumbled into nothing.

Yang Qi almost felt like he was looking at a sage who could provide instruction to everyone under heaven.

'This scholar must have been an incredible person when he was alive!'

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Chapter 1219: Scholar's Corpse

In front of Yang Qi was the corpse of a scholar, completely lifelike, and so strong that it seemed untouched by the toxic mist around it.

Normally speaking, when gods died, their corpses would eventually weaken and rot away. But that wasn't the case here, which just went to show how incredible the corpse was.

'What kind of scholar was this?' Reaching out, he touched the scholar and found that his skin felt almost metallic. No wonder the toxic mist couldn't get into him. He actually felt less like a human and more like a statue made from some sort of metal.

RUMBLE!

More and more toxic energy was building up in the area, making it difficult for Yang Qi to even remain standing, yet the scholar's corpse just sat there completely still and unmoving.

There was also a sense of profound history on the scholar.

He was definitely someone from ancient times, perhaps someone who had fought the seventy-two monarchs. In any case, this was the fifth floor, a place that no other person had ever explored. It was a place that not even Yang Qi could handle, despite having just consumed a Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill and being very close to completing his monarch godhood.

He made another grasping motion, but this time the mist didn't clear. Instead, the black hole he formed actually collapsed because of the influx.

Whooosh!

In addition to the general mist, there were spatial aspects that formed tiny blades, which slammed into Yang Qi's defensive empyrean energy, causing sparks to shower down.

It was only thanks to his recent advances that he wasn't instantly skewered. When he had just reached the Paramount level and descended from the mountains, Yang Qi had attempted to open spatial paths, only to fail.

But now his cultivation base had advanced, and things weren't as hard as before. That said, he still couldn't let his guard down. He still needed to form his monarch godhood and reach godly ascension before he could truly control spatial godpower.

"Senior Scholar, you might be dead, but your corpse is so strong it can survive in this toxic mist. I honestly can't stand the idea of you being tormented this way day and night. I'm taking you out of here!" Reaching out, he grabbed the corpse.

However, the corpse was so incredibly heavy that he actually couldn't move it. Curious, he walked around it a few times, then sent out some godpower to see if he could pierce inside the corpse and inspect it that way.

What happened, though, was that the corpse began devouring his godpower as if it were a gobblewock. It happened so quickly and forcefully that Yang Qi felt like it might start sucking away his essence.

'What? The corpse is trying to absorb my godpower? Don't tell me this scholar isn't actually dead? Is he just hibernating?' If the scholar wasn't dead, it begged the question of how strong he actually was. After putting some godpower into the corpse, it wasn't as heavy as before. Taking out his Chaos-Cavern Bottle Gourd, he threw a godstone into it and directed the gravitational force at the corpse, sucking it inside.

Some of the toxic mist came along with it, forcing Yang Qi to spend some time getting rid of it. Later, he would take some time to study the scholar further to try to figure out exactly who he was.

Yang Qi looked around the fifth floor again, but didn't see anything else of note. Then he glanced at the stairs leading to the sixth floor.

The Chaos-Forge God-Shrine was located in the heart of these ruins, and had nine floors in all, each of which contained amazing items. So far, he had acquired antidotal pills, sword pellets, a Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill, cauldrons filled with medicinal ingredients, and the corpse of a scholar.

And that meant that there were still four more floors to explore and loot.

Unfortunately, the toxic mist rolling out from the staircase was so incredibly strong that it was like a black sludge. And it had spatial fluctuations that seemed capable of boring through anything. It would obviously be difficult to last in those circumstances, even if he did have the God Legion Seal.

'Might as well give it a shot!' he thought. Drawing on the mysteries of the God Legion Seal, he summoned a golden shield of light around himself, then walked toward the staircase. However, after only taking one step, booming sounds rang out as his sea of consciousness was hit with force like a sledgehammer.

Then he heard a popping sound! His defensive energy had burst!

He had no choice but to step back and form it again.

Bracing himself, he took two steps, but the toxic godpower was so strong he was sent flying backward until he slammed into the wall, stunning him. And the toxic mist very nearly entered his body.

It seemed that the sixth floor might not be possible for him right now.

Although he was disappointed, the truth was that if word got out of what he'd already done, it would be considered a miracle. Even peak Greater Gods would have trouble reaching the fifth floor, and only Consummate Gods might have a chance at reaching the sixth. And that would only be with a huge supply of medicinal pills to bolster their godpower.

That said, he had benefited dramatically. He could turn in the antidotal pills for a hefty reward of merit points, use the sword pellets to groom top experts for his forces, and give the medicinal ingredients to the Sage Monarch Consortium to fuel growth of the business. And as his income grew, he could definitely be able to form monarch godhood sooner.

'I suppose I should work on my monarch godhood before coming back. I have to see what mysteries lie in the rest of the nine floors.'

Having no need to remain behind, he headed down the stairs; he had spent roughly two months exploring the ruins.

As for the return trip, he was even less worried about the toxins. In fact, considering he had the Life-Death Void-Destruction God-Lightning from the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, he was able to use the mist to create toxic lightning pellets that would make great trump cards for use when fighting a Greater God.

Of course, he wouldn't need items like that. But they would make great signature weapons for the Sage Monarch Consortium to use in its defense.

In almost no time at all, he was out of the Toxic Continent and putting godstones into the teleportation portal. In short order, he was back in the god kingdom of the House of God Ordainment, walking into the Missions Sanctuary.

"Junior Brother? You're back!? Did you finish the mission?" The same two disciples from before were on duty, and they actually remembered Yang Qi. Obviously, they looked quite surprised.

"I finished it," Yang Qi said, handing over one of the antidotal pills. "This is an antidotal pill concocted by someone with Paramount will convergence. I found it in the Pill-King's temple ruins on the Toxic Continent. Go ahead and inspect it. How many merit points will I be getting?"

"You really got a Paramount medicinal pill?" The disciples took the pill and studied it for a long moment. Eyes glittering, one of them said, "Come with me, Junior Brother. The merit point rewards for Paramount medicinal pills have to be handled by an elder."

"Okay." Yang Qi followed them into a small room occupied by three Lesser God elders, all of whom were sitting with eyes closed in meditation. Looking them over, Yang Qi found that they had godhood ratings of two, three, and six. That made them so weak that Yang Qi could kill them with a glance if he wanted.

"Elders, this Junior Brother just returned from the Toxic Continent. He finished a mission there by acquiring a paramount medicinal pill. Can you please confirm the merit point reward for that?" The disciples handed the medicinal pill out on a jade platter.

"A Quasi-God disciple actually went to the Toxic Continent?" The elder with the godhood rating of six opened his eyes and looked over at Yang Qi. Seeing nothing that caught his eye, he took the antidotal pill and looked at it. His eyes opened wide. Meanwhile, the other two elders exchanged a glance. "It's of average quality. In fact, it's on the lower end of Paramount products. Because it's been in close contact with toxic energy for so long, it's become much less effective. In other words, it's only worth twenty percent of its normal price. Give him two thousand merit points."

"What?!" Yang Qi frowned.

Paramount medicinal pills, even low-quality ones, were still supposed to be worth at least ten thousand merit points, and the antidotal pills he had acquired were of much higher quality. They were so good they should have been worth twenty thousand, and if they were auctioned, they would probably go for even a higher price.

But now these elders were trying to give him two thousand?

It was highway robbery. Of course, there was bound to be a certain amount of corruption in the Missions Sanctuary. Most of the time, the elders would make sure to earn a bit of personal profit, and the disciples would never dare to say anything about it.

For instance, a treasure worth ten thousand might only net eight thousand from the elders. A twenty-percent discrepancy was considered normal because of that.

But here Yang Qi was being cut from twenty thousand down to two thousand. They were really looking down on him.

Although he had squeezed some profit off of people back in the Scripture Pavilion, he and Bai Yin always made sure to operate within the rules. Therefore, what these elders were doing was a bit too much to take.

Yang Qi smiled coldly. "Elders, we all know what's going on here. You're trying to squeeze a bit too much out of me, don't you think?"

"What incredible gall!" the lead elder said, slapping the table. "Who the hell do you think you are to talk to us like that?"

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Chapter 1220: Squeezing

The elder from the Missions Sanctuary was clearly trying to intimidate Yang Qi by the mere tone of his voice.

However, Yang Qi's expression remained the same as ever as he calmly said, "This medicinal pill is worth at least twenty thousand merit points. If you want to skim some off the top, fine. After all, we do the same in the Scripture Pavilion. But you're not skimming off the top, you're outright robbing me. That's definitely against the rules of the game."

Yang Qi knew the rules, and ever since joining the House of God Ordainment, he had been careful to follow them. Otherwise, he would have long since killed the people from the Yue Clan instead of simply infecting them with devil embryos.

"Game? Rules? What are you talking about?" The elder with the godhood rating of six laughed coldly. "In the Missions Sanctuary, I make the rules. If I say it's worth two thousand, then that's what it's worth. Although, I've actually changed my mind. We're not going to give you anything for the pill. That's your reward for talking back to elders."

"Talking back to elders is a crime which can't be forgiven," another elder said. "It only stands to reason we won't accept that pill of yours. Furthermore, if you continue to talk back to us, we'll throw you into prison and ensure you live a life of torment. See? We actually do know how to play by the rules. Considering you got that pill, we'll count your mission as having been completed. But you won't get any merit point reward. Now begone."

They were counting the mission as complete, because if they didn't, word could spread that they were extorting disciples.

"You three..." Yang Qi said, his eyes glittering coldly.

"What!?" the third elder said. Slapping the table, he rose to his feet. "Not willing to back down? Thinking about making a scene here? Who do you think you are, a king or something?"

"Fine, fine," Yang Qi said, smiling. "I understand what's going on. I'll admit defeat this time around. Alright?" With that, he turned to leave.

"Wait," one of the elders said, "for talking back to elders you need to get on your knees and apologize for—"

But Yang Qi just walked out.

"You two, leave," the elder said to the other two disciples. "And you're not permitted to speak of any of this. Otherwise, you know what will happen."

"Right, of course." The two disciples nodded and promptly forgot about everything.

"That brat sure ran off quickly," said the elder with the godhood of six. Looking at the antidotal pill, he said, "This thing is worth a lot. But I think we should put this into our personal stash instead of handing it over to the sect. We can sell it at auction later for an even higher price. Antidotal pills from the Pill-King's temple ruins will definitely be extremely effective, and there are always experts out there who have been poisoned somehow. People will part with their entire fortunes to save their lives in situations like that."

"Good idea," another elder said. "Except, considering the boy handed in the mission, aren't we supposed to turn it over no matter how we assess it? I guess we'll just have to break the rules a bit."

"Replace it with some sort of defective medicinal pill. Toss a bit of powder into it that has Paramount will and pretend that's what he handed in. I honestly can't believe the brat just chose to grin and bear it. Apparently, he's not easily fooled. After all, the whole point of this was to goad him into attacking us so that we would be able to arrest him and bring charges against him."

"That's what the emissary from that person told us to do," said the other elder with a nod. "The medicinal pill is secondary. The main task was to get him thrown in prison, which would give that person the leverage needed to negotiate with Jadefall and get some blood from that pet of hers."

"That person has a very high position in the House of God Ordainment. Shouldn't it be an easy thing to control a brat like this? Why get help from us?"

"Simple," said the elder with the godhood of six. "That person can't risk resorting to crafty plots and machinations. Besides, for him to directly make a move on Yang Qi would be like using a god item to kill an ant. If word spread, it would be a big loss of reputation. I was originally planning to have Yang Qi kneel, just to see if he would accept the humiliation. But he got away too quickly."

"Let's just go and grab him!"

"No, we can't do that. We can't do things so openly. It's not as if we're members of the law enforcement team, so we have no right to arrest him. Even if we accused him of being rude to elders, we'd need proof. If he lost his temper, we could've done something, but we can't now. There would definitely be an investigation, and if we were found to have broken any rules, it would cause big trouble for us."

The rules in the House of God Ordainment were strict. Considering that these elders were extorting disciples, if they were found out, they wouldn't meet a good end.

"So what? We just let it all drop? That person's emissary gave us this task, and told us that person absolutely had to get the blood of Jadefall's pet during the upcoming negotiations."

"There's nothing we can do about that," said the elder with the godhood of six. "We just have to report what happened here. You wait here while I go talk to that person's emissary."

"Alright," the other elders said as the one with the godhood rating of six hurried away.

After leaving the Missions Sanctuary, he headed to a teleportation portal that whirred to life, whisking him out of the god kingdom.

'Now I get it,' Yang Qi thought. He was currently on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, a slight smile on his face. 'No wonder they tried so openly to extort me. I wonder whose emissary this is. Thankfully I didn't make a scene in the Missions Sanctuary, otherwise I would've fallen right for their little plot. Sadly for them, plots won't work against me. I've already destroyed any heart-devils of arrogance, ego, and hysteria that once existed in me. The only thing left is the cool and collected version of myself. In the past, I might've escalated the situation into a fight. But now...' He chuckled. 'I'll make sure they die without any idea how they were killed.'

He had truly become much more calm and calculating after the events in Demon Master Valley, making it much more difficult for people to lure him into traps.

In fact, he was actually luring the three elders into a trap of his own. He had left behind devil embryos on all of them, so he knew everything that was going on with them.

As the elder from the Missions Sanctuary stepped onto the teleportation portal, Yang Qi left a godpower clone behind and made himself invisible, then followed the elder.

The portal led to another location in the House of God Ordainment.

However, the elder didn't stay in the city. Instead, he flew out to a distant location in the mountains that no one ever paid attention to.

He waited there for a few hours until the night had turned cold and pitch black.

Some time later, a dot of light appeared, piercing through the mountains and landing in front of him. It was a middle-aged man with chiseled, distinguished features, his hands clasped behind his back. He was unsmiling, and radiated the air of a superior meeting a subordinate.

"My respects, Grand Elder Meng Guo," said the elder, clasping hands in greeting.

"Did you finish the task I assigned you?" Meng Guo said. His aura placed him as a Common God, which meant he definitely had a high position within the House of God Ordainment. Common Gods were grand elders, and wielded a lot more power and authority than ordinary elders. Of course, Greater Gods didn't even need to be mentioned, as they were usually prime elders.

"That brat was too crafty. After we tried to extort him, he offered a few words of dispute, but in the end, he didn't make a big fuss. And before I could get him to kneel in apology, he left. At that point, we couldn't do anything without getting the law enforcement team involved. Normally speaking, a person wouldn't possibly tolerate that treatment. Furthermore, I investigated him. During the year or more that he's been a member of the House of God Ordainment, he's always acted arrogant and domineering. He definitely has some secret weapons that makes him incredibly powerful, probably around the same level as Bai Yin. I'd even say he's strong enough to beat Lesser Gods in a fight. I really never could've imagined that he'd have so much restraint."

"Restraint?" Meng Guo said, keeping his hands clasped behind his back. "Well, it seems he really is extraordinary to have done something like that. I suppose the situation calls for more drastic measures now."

"Might you be able to help us in some way? Considering how badly we extorted him, there's no way he'll take another mission from the Missions Sanctuary. Furthermore, he's friends with Jadefall. If he tells her about this, or even starts working with her... it could be problematic."

"Don't worry about it. As long as you work for my lord, he'll make sure nothing bad happens to you." Meng Guo laughed. "You might not have succeeded at the task at hand, but you did your best. Now we just have to think of a way to pull the wool over Yang Qi's eyes. My lord is absolutely determined to get the blood of Jadefall's pet! He's already learned some very interesting things about it!"

"I know," said the elder with the godhood rating of six. " Why don't we send some books to the Scripture Pavilion? He'll definitely try to rip us off, and we can use that as an excuse to take action!"

"That's a good idea! Considering you just ripped him off, if you deliver some books, he'll obviously take advantage of the situation to get revenge. And then we can grab him. There's no way he'll slip out of our hands this time!"

1. Meng Guo: Meng is a common surname that also means "first, principal, pristine". Yes, it's the same surname shared by Meng Hao of ISSTH. Guo means "country, nation."

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Chapter 1221: That Person's Plo

"Right, of course," said the elder with the godhood rating of six, nodding his head obsequiously. "Although, I worry about what will happen if the brat doesn't fall for it. He's obviously got a lot of restraint. What if he's on guard and realizes what we're trying to do?"

"Then we'll have to switch tactics. Lend someone a knife and have them do our dirty work for us." Meng Guo grinned coldly.

"What?" the elder blurted. "You mean have him killed? I thought you just wanted to have him arrested and sentenced to death, then use his life as a bargaining chip when dealing with Jadefall. What good would it do to kill him?"

"Fool!" Meng Guo cursed. "Who said anything about killing him? What I meant was that we could find some other disciple to provoke Yang Qi. Then we kill that disciple and blame it on Yang Qi. We can even conjure up some false evidence. Slowly but surely, we'll put him in a deadly situation he can't possibly escape from!"

"Hmm. That is a pretty good idea." The elder thought for a moment. "According to our recent investigation, Yang Qi actually has a grudge with someone from the Yue Clan. It's Yue Tianlin, a former foreman from the mines. He and Yang Qi had a bit of an altercation, but since then, Yue Tianlin has become a Lesser God and an elite disciple. Why not use him?"

"That's fine. If the victim was a mere Quasi-God, it would be easy for Jadefall to pull a few strings and get Yang Qi off the hook. But if he's convicted of killing an elite disciple, it's a high crime. Actual gods are the pride and joy of the House of God Ordainment." Meng Guo smiled.

"The downside is that there are some pretty impressive people in the Yue Clan, people who might figure out that we're trying to frame Yang Qi. For example, they have that genius Yue Zifeng." The elder was clearly taking the time to think the matter through carefully.

"Yue Zifeng? You think he can compare to my lord? My lord is one of the most powerful people in the House of God Ordainment, and on par with the junior houselord. The junior houselord has an interest in the Jadefall, but is currently in seclusion working on some boundless technique. Once he's out, he could cause problems, so we need to take care of this matter as quickly as possible. I'll handle the Yue Clan and make sure they don't cause any problems. In fact, even if they find out we're responsible, they won't dare to implicate anyone other than Yang Qi. This whole thing will only benefit us."

"Right. I'm just trying to think of how to draw the snake out of its hole. How do we get Yue Tianlin into a no-win situation? Maybe bewitch him into challenging Yang Qi to a duel? That way there won't be any questions about how he got killed. Or we could assassinate him. I have some friends from the dao of devils who'll do that kind of thing for the right price. We obviously can't do it ourselves."

"That works. It seems to me you can handle the details. That said, the people from the Preheaven Society have been watching this Yang Qi, so be careful. Don't let them beat us to the punch."

"That goes without saying. The Preheaven Society? Hmph! They put on a big front, but Wang Xiantian made a big blunder recently. He lost a huge amount of face, so their prestige is lower than it's ever been."

"Okay, so we have our plan set. You handle the details. And remember, my lord will reward you handsomely for this!" Meng Guo pulled out a bag filled with a collection of godnotes. "Here's fifty thousand godnotes. That's a huge amount, more than enough to hire experts from the dao of devils."

"Many thanks for your generosity. Many thanks!"

After discussing a few final details, they parted ways.

Yang Qi watched them disappear, a thoughtful expression on his face. He had hoped to handle this entire situation right there and then. However, now he realized that these two were just pawns in a larger scheme. Clearly, there was someone far more powerful plotting against him.

Whoever that person was, they clearly weren't someone that Yang Qi could handle in combat. More than ever, he needed to get stronger and form his monarch godhood. And he probably needed to find a way to meet Jadefall, and also see how his other friends and family were doing.

Over a year had passed, and Yang Qi hadn't seen any of them. The time was approaching for a reunion.

It was evening, and the moon had already risen. God kingdoms had suns and moons, unlike the god world in general, which only had light and dark. Because of that, god kingdoms were considered very luxurious. Already, nightlife activities were underway. The House of God Ordainment wasn't a boring place that focused only on cultivation; people liked to have a good time as well.

In this god kingdom, there was the Scripture Pavilion, Missions Sanctuary, Treasures Pavilion, Armory, Thrall Camp, Alchemy Wing, and other such "branches of government". In addition to that, there were cities where one could wine and dine, or visit private enterprises set up by important disciples. There were even gambling halls, brothels, and bars, all of which thrived.

After all, godly ascension wasn't just about bitter cultivation. Sometimes, enjoying oneself was a way to hone one's temperament. In fact, there were even people who tempered their will by means of gambling.

After all, gambling involved relying on luck. By winning and losing, it was possible to assess one's own luck, then possibly grasp at strands of destiny to gain better control of oneself. It was no rarity for disciples to gain enlightenment during sessions of gambling.

There were many paths that led to godly ascension.

Yang Qi had never been to any of the cities, as he usually spent his nights working on cultivation, reading, or relaxing. He didn't need stimulation to achieve breakthroughs.

Yang Qi was currently sitting on a lonely mountain peak connected to the Scripture Pavilion, using a communication talisman to send messages to his friends and family.

"All of you, come for a visit..."

He got immediate responses, and about two hours later, the first person appeared, flying up to meet him on the mountain.

It was Sword Seventeen.

He looked very impressive, and pulsed with sword energy that seemed incomparably sharp. It seemed as though an attack from him could devastate any obstacle. Even more impressive, he had reached godly ascension.

"Yang Qi!" he said. Laughing, he rushed forward and embraced him. "Junior Brother! It's been an entire year, how have you been?"

"Fine. More than fine. You've actually reached godly ascension! I can't say I'm surprised." Gazing inside Sword Seventeen, he saw that his godhood was a sword pellet containing the ultimate core truths of the dao of the sword. His godhood rating was only three, but his fighting prowess was so astounding that he could definitely cut down that elder from the Missions Sanctuary with a godhood rating of six.

After all, Sword Seventeen was an Ascendant! In the god world, Ascendants were always terrifying individuals!

"Look, I have something for you." Yang Qi handed him a sword pellet from the Pill-King's temple ruins.

Sword Seventeen's eyes glittered as he took it and popped it in his mouth. He didn't feel any need for excessive pleasantries when dealing with Yang Qi, having followed him from the impure lands up to the immortal worlds. They had been together in the Titan Emperor Heaven, Brahman Immortal World, Dao Defense League, Great Necropolis, and the Ancient Road to the Gods. Now here they were in the god world. Few people understood Yang Qi as well as him.

Around this time, laughter rang out as another figure blurred onto the scene. "We're all gods, Yang Qi. And of course you should've expected that. Although, to be honest, I'm surprised you haven't reached godly ascension yet."

It was the Shepherd.

The Shepherd was even more impressive. His godhood was like an enormous vortex, constantly absorbing external power. Apparently, he had begun cultivating some very impressive divine ability, as his godhood rating had blown through eight and nine and was already at ten. He was a Common God!

Clearly, he fit right in here in the House of God Ordainment.

The Shepherd had been a king of hell, so without Yang Qi's help, he would never have made much headway.

"Oh really?" Smiling faintly, Yang Qi waved his hand, whereupon the Shepherd's face fell. In fact, he was so shocked he looked almost like a zombie. Yang Qi clapped his hands together loudly to awaken him from his reverie.

"Th-that... that... th-that's... Paramount will! You actually achieved enlightenment of Paramount will convergence? But you haven't reached godly ascension! This..."

The Shepherd was mumbling to himself out of shock. However, his voice soon took on a tinge of excitement. Laughing out loud, he said, "I knew you were extraordinary, Yang Qi. That's why I was curious as to why you haven't reached godly ascension yet. But now it makes sense. You're forming monarch godhood! Other than some freaks in ancient times, no one has ever done this before! You're turning a legend into reality! But if the House of God Ordainment finds out..."

"They would arrest me and experiment on me." Yang Qi smiled. "How about you, Shepherd? As the apprentice of a Greater God, you have a very high position in the sect."

"That's right. I'm an apprentice of the Greater Devil-Exterminating God, who helps me cultivate the Devil-Exterminating God Art. He has a violent temper, but loves being brown-nosed. And he hates devils with a passion. Before I finished forming my godhood, I slaughtered a Lesser God devil, and even assassinated a pontifex of a major devil church. That earned my Master's respect. Furthermore, during the last disciples' convention, I crushed the opposition and earned him a lot of face. He's worked hard to help me with my cultivation, and I've benefited a lot from it." The Shepherd went on to explain some more details of what he had been up to in the last year. Then he said, "But when did you start forming monarch godhood? If you finish it, you'll be so strong that not even my master, the Greater Devil-Exterminating God, would be a match for you."

"He probably couldn't beat me even now," Yang Qi said. "However, there are a lot of hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the House of God Ordainment. In a massive sect like this, it's usually better to keep a low profile."

"That's right," boomed another voice. "You're so strong you're heaven-defying! It's better to keep a low profile."

"Brahma!" Yang Qi said. "It's you!"

1. Yue Zifeng: Zi has many definitions, including "son, child, small thing, the first earthly branch, the title viscount, etc." Feng means "wind".

2. There's an implied cultural thing here that bears mentioning. In Chinese culture, it's expected that the receiver of a gift will refuse the gift at least one time, and sometimes many times, before finally accepting it. The fact that Sword Seventeen just took it without saying "no, you shouldn't have" or something along those lines might seem disrespectful. However, the subsequent explanation emphasizes the fact that he knows Yang Qi doesn't care about those kinds of things, especially with someone like Sword Seventeen.

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Chapter 1222: Reunion

Brahma had once been a god, but had fallen into the impure lands and been dismembered, then suppressed by Proud Heaven for years upon years. Eventually he was freed, and followed Yang Qi into the House of God Ordainment. Now he had recovered, and thanks to the experience he had gained, was a Lesser God again.

His godhood rating was nine, but his godpower was different from the Shepherd's; when he formed his godhood, it crystallized into numerous characters that all read "Brahma". There was something that seemed invincible about his godpower and will, and Yang Qi could see that he was actually holding back. If he wanted to, he could achieve another breakthrough right now and become a Common God.

Walking over, Brahma said, "I got help from a powerful person, and had access to even more resources than you did. But I have to admit, I still can't measure up to you. To achieve Paramount will convergence while only a Quasi-God is unheard of. Countless people dream of it, but none have ever succeeded. You're the only one."

"If I can't do it," Yang Qi said, "I don't think anyone can."

He wasn't exaggerating. He had the God Legion Seal, sheepskin scroll, Mahātmā Jade, Seventy-Two Monarchs Energy Art, Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, and the Unspoiled Body, all of which were considered consummate techniques in the god world. Plus, he had his Sage Monarch Grand Magic. If he couldn't achieve Paramount will convergence with all of that, who in the god world possibly could?

"How have things been going for you, Brahma?" Yang Qi asked.

"Very well. I follow a Greater God called Nāgārjuna. He's very powerful, just on the verge of breaking through to the Consummate God level. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll succeed. In my previous life, I used a deadly god item to reach the Consummate God level, so I know full well how difficult that is. In fact, I'm even worried about my own chances. But if you form monarch godhood, you should be able to help all of us. You know, Yang Qi, forming monarch godhood requires an indescribably huge amount of power. In fact, it's a level of power that can destroy almost anything. Given your current rate of cultivation, it's going to take years to finish, even with the help of medicinal pills. And ordinary medicinal pills won't do any good. You'll need Paramount medicinal pills."

"You're right," Yang Qi said, "and unfortunately I don't have any medicinal pills like that right now. Even a single Paramount pill is incredibly expensive. Even though I can make godnotes and godstones now, it wastes too much godpower."

The Shepherd chuckled. "As they say, even the rich landlord runs out of money eventually. Don't tell me you're going to ask us for help! We're all dirt poor!"

Yang Qi laughed. "Don't worry, what's yours is yours. I won't ask for it. I'll form my monarch godhood on my own merits, building up every drop of godpower myself. In fact, you could say that I'm not building godhood, but humanity and confidence. How could one possibly build monarch godhood with the help of others?"

"Yang Qi, I'm here!"

"Me too."

Whooshing sounds could be heard as several people landed on the mountain peak, including Proud World, Doom, Eldest Brother Mage Cloudwalker, and Elder Seventh Brother Meng Shafan.

Everyone else was either on missions, out training, or in seclusion.

Those who had come were all gods. As for Doom, he was even stronger than Brahma, being a Common God. He'd once been a bearer of the God Legion Seal, and had immense destiny, perseverance, and wisdom, so it was little surprise that he would achieve such progress.

His natural aptitude obviously surpassed everyone else, considering he had been selected to bear the God Legion Seal.

"You've all done very well," Yang Qi said. "Do any of you know how Jadefall is doing? I heard she got a very high position of some sort."

"She's very well-regarded right now," Doom said. "However, she's out on another mission. She's representing our House of God Ordainment to offer greetings and gifts of longevity to the emperor of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty as one of a group of top students who were selected for the task. One of the main goals of the mission is to make sure the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty knows what kind of top disciples we have here in the House of God Ordainment."

Doom had access to better information, thanks to being a Common God.

The Eternal-Life God-Dynasty was an immense organization of a similar size to the House of God Ordainment, both of them superpowers with Paramount Gods. In fact, many other top organizations in the god world viewed the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty as the leader of all the other organizations. In that larger scheme of organizations, the House of God Ordainment was like a government official, whereas the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty was like the emperor. And when the emperor had a major birthday, the officials would obviously deliver gifts.

"Jadefall's purrling is famous now," the Shepherd said. "In the impure lands, the purrling was invincible, so I think we all assumed that when it got into the god world, it would be less impressive. Who could've guessed that it would remain just as invincible? It can even humiliate Greater Gods, and I suspect that even Consummate Gods probably wouldn't be able to deal with it. Because of that, no one can do anything to Jadefall."

"I see," Yang Qi said, nodding. "Well, it seems that my association with Jadefall has made me the target of some important person. Hey, hold on a second. Why isn't Yang Immortal-Slayer here?"

Yang Immortal-Slayer was none other than this immortal-slaying clone.

At that point, a projection of will emerged from the talisman he was holding. "I'm in secluded cultivation, Yang Qi, at a very important juncture. The will of King Immortal-Slayer reached out to me and is helping me form Paramount will convergence. I'm going to have monarch godhood! King Immortal-Slayer is in a very dangerous situation; the Great Necropolis fell into the hands of a Paramount god, who's using it to assimilate him! If that Paramount God succeeds, he'll gain control of the Great Necropolis, King Immortal-Slayer, and the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart! That's why he's helping me. Because of making my attempt to be the first person to achieve monarch godhood, I can't even send a projection there to meet you."

The Shepherd burst out laughing. "Yang Immortal-Slayer, didn't you know that Yang Qi has already reached the Paramount level? He's the first! That said, I can't wait to see how this all turns out. You're his clone, so if you can also form monarch godhood, just how strong will the two of you be?"

Yang Qi wasn't laughing. "The Great Necropolis fell into the hands of a Paramount God? What happened to Proud Heaven? Is that Paramount God in the Proud Clan? Or was Proud Heaven killed by someone? That seems unlikely. Proud Heaven isn't the kind of person who'll die easily. It must be a Paramount God from the Proud Clan. This matter must be more complicated than it seems, so we have to be careful."

Yang Zhan, as well as Peaklords Celestial and Memory, were all out on important missions, but they had also reached godly ascension.

Right now, the only people who weren't gods were Yang Qi and Yang Immortal-Slayer, both of whom wanted to complete their monarch godhood. And considering that Yang Immortal-Slayer had the help of King Immortal-Slayer, he was fairly confident in his ability to succeed.

"I didn't just call this meeting to have a reunion," Yang Qi said. "I have an important matter I need help with. Like I said, I'm being targeted because of my connection to Jadefall..." He went on to describe everything regarding the Missions Sanctuary and the meeting between the elder and the grand elder.

Doom's expression flickered. "What? That's what they're doing? I wonder if this person they're referring to is him."

"Who are you talking about?" Yang Qi asked. "In the hope of not attracting too much attention, I've been sticking to the lower echelons of the House of God Ordainment. That's why I'm only an official disciple. Considering all of you are elite disciples with Greater Gods as your Masters, you must know more about the higher levels than I do."

"There's a very important faction in the House of God Ordainment called the Dragon Society," Doom said. "The leader of the Dragon Society is named Dragon Floret. He's young, but extremely ambitious, and is in the position to compete with the junior houselord himself. He's known to be a Consummate God, and according to the rumors, he's about to break through to the Perfect God level. And while his will convergence is known to be in the late Paramount level, he's very close to the Unbounded level already. He's considered the top disciple in the House of God Ordainment and is one of a handful of children of primeval chaos. If he wants to break through, he has to worry about the purrling. And if he succeeds and achieves Unbounded will, not even Paramount Gods would be able to kill him."

It was a given that the Unbounded level was vastly more powerful than the Paramount level.

"Dragon Floret?" Yang Qi said. The name made him think of a dignified and imposing person who could control the entire cosmos, crush universes, and alter the dao of heaven. A person like that would definitely be able to perceive the workings of heaven. Thankfully, Yang Qi was a Fateless One and existed outside of such purvey.

"If Dragon Floret is plotting against you, there's no way you can fight back," Doom said. "Having been in the House of God Ordainment for more than a year, I've come to know the rules quite well. He won't be able to outright kill you, but he can definitely take you captive and use you as a threat against Jadefall. Of course, he also knows that the purrling can destroy him."

"He won't find it easy to make a move against me," Yang Qi said. "How much power and influence do you have? Is it enough to do anything to the Dragon Society?"

1. Nāgārjuna was a real Buddhist philosopher. In Chinese, his name is literally "dragon tree". .

2. Dragon Floret: Based on my research, I believe the inspiration for his name comes from something called the "dragon-flower tree", which my Buddhist dictionary says "will be the bodhi-tree of Maitreya, the Buddhist Messiah, when he comes to earth". The actual character for "flower" isn't the common character, but rather a more archaic version. That's why I'm using "floret" instead of "flower".

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Chapter 1223: The Dragon Society

"We have some influence, but nothing along the lines of the Dragon Society. If they're at the top of the House of God Ordainment, we can only be considered to be in the middle. After all, we've only been here for a year, while the Dragon Society has been around for millions upon millions of years.

Doom and the others were all shaking their heads.

They were far beyond any ordinary person, and had accomplished amazing and extraordinary things. But they had only just started walking this path. They lacked reserve power, and even though they were advancing by leaps and bounds, they still couldn't acquire the full trust of the sect so easily. Perhaps if they stuck around for a thousand, or even tens of thousands of years, they could establish a solid foundation and earn merit in the sect.

But after having only been around for a year? It was just impossible to have much power after such a short time.

"We have a long way to go before we can deal with the Dragon Society," Proud World said. "For now, the only thing we can do is try to avoid getting crushed. Complaining about it won't do any good. Back in the impure lands, we were apex entities. But here in the god world, we have to be very careful. We might have a bit of power and influence, but there's plenty of people above us who could crush us. Now just isn't the time to stick our necks out."

"The god world is where things really happen," Yang Qi said. "Before, we were like hegemons in a country village. If the Dragon Society as a whole is plotting against me, it's not something I can just stand by and let happen. Maybe I am a weakling in the god world, but I'm still a bearer of the God Legion Seal. How could I possibly let myself be picked on by some random faction?"

"What do you intend to do?" Brahma asked. "Their leader, Dragon Floret, is at about the same level I was at my peak, and won't be easy to deal with. Of course, we've been by your side since the impure lands, so we'll do anything we can to help. What if we just leave the House of God Ordainment?"

"Yeah," said the Shepherd. "Let's just leave. We never planned on staying here permanently anyway. Considering what we're capable of, we could just go to some other continent and continue growing there. I've learned of some devil churches that are roughly on the same level as the House of God Ordainment. In fact, if we killed some people from the House of God Ordainment to serve as blood tributes, they'd probably welcome us."

"We'll only do that as a last resort," Yang Qi said, waving his hand. "If we openly betray the sect like that, we'll be hunted down wherever we go. You already have good positions in the House of God Ordainment, so let's not give that up just yet. The longer you stay here, the better your prospects for cultivation. As for me, it doesn't really matter if I'm in a sect or not. Besides, if the House of God Ordainment really does treat me badly, you could stay behind as informants and moles. Then we could work together to destroy the entire organization!"

"That would work," growled Meng Shafan. "Maybe I should change my name from Meng Shafan to Meng Shashen!"

Doom, Proud World, and the Shepherd had once been Yang Qi's enemies, but had long since turned into friends. Having risen to the god world together, they knew how impressive Yang Qi was. And there was nothing any sect in the god world could do to wipe out the feelings that had developed in their hearts since their time in the impure lands.

They all knew that sticking together was their best chance to accomplish big things.

"Have a seat, everyone," Yang Qi said. Setting up a defensive aegis, he continued, "How about I inspect all of your godhood? I learned a lot after I acquired Paramount will, and I've gained more enlightenment of the fundamental nature of the Sage Monarch Grand Magic. I should be able to help you solidify your godhood and push your psyches to higher levels. The stronger you are, the more you can help me, and the better we can deal with the Dragon Society."

They felt their psyches trembling as Yang Qi's Paramount will entered their seas of consciousness. Immense godpower swept over their godhood and they felt true flame burning at their souls, cleansing their impurities. Meanwhile, the Flame of Hope burned in their seas of energy, causing their godpower to become sturdier and tougher than ever.

When the process was over, they rose to their feet and exchanged shocked glances. "Your cultivation base is beyond any of our Masters'," Doom said. "I don't think even a Greater God could do anything to you. If you complete your monarch godhood, exactly what level will you be at?"

"Good question," Yang Qi replied with glittering eyes. "In addition to assessing your cultivation, I called this meeting for another reason. I established a small business here, called the Sage Monarch Consortium, which I would like all of you to support. I recently went on a mission to the Pill-King's temple ruins and acquired some medicinal ingredients that are all extremely rare and precious. Have a look and take anything that you need. Whatever is left over, I'll deliver to the Sage Monarch Consortium to be put up for sale."

The group left the god kingdom and traveled to a desolate mountain area. There, Yang Qi tapped his bottle gourd and produced a whole host of uncharacteristically rare medicinal ingredients.

"Dear lord!" Brahma said. "These ingredients will all fetch astronomical prices! In fact, if they all went to auction at the same time, people would go crazy! Yang Qi, these things might actually cause problems for your Sage Monarch Consortium!"

"That's why we won't sell them all at once," Yang Qi replied. "Take a look and find any that'll help you. It seems most of you have good positions, but are strapped for cash. Also, I want you to work with the Sage Monarch Consortium to identify and groom the top geniuses. Here are seventeen sword pellets you can use to reward loyalists. Incidentally, I have a loyal follower who's reached godly ascension, named Zhang Jufang, as well as some demon-gods who can be converted into puppets at any time. I want to grow the Sage Monarch Consortium as quickly as possible and make sure we have the funds necessary to get Paramount God god pills. With one or two pills like that, I should be able to achieve full success with my monarch godhood."

"We understand. We've been wanting to start a business, but it seems you've beaten us to the punch. Of course we'll help out. With us working behind the scenes, we'll make sure no morons try causing problems for the Sage Monarch Consortium." With that, they began selecting specific medicinal ingredients that could help them.

Afterward, the remains were sent to the Sage Monarch Consortium.

By now, the Sage Monarch Consortium's headquarters was located in a thriving city near the House of God Ordainment's headquarters, a place called Goldtreasure. It was a hodgepodge of good and bad people, with gods, devils, demons, and monsters to be found everywhere. However, the House of God Ordainment strictly enforced the rules, ensuring that things operated in orderly fashion.

The business had been operating very smoothly. Thanks to the godstones and godnotes Yang Qi had supplied, they were able to purchase a large building that functioned well for doing business. So far, their trade with the Demonfolk focused on medicinal ingredients and fur clothing. It was profitable, but not wildly so.

Now that Yang Qi was providing medicinal ingredients from the Pill-King's temple ruins, the Sage Monarch Consortium could truly start doing good business. They were slowly building power and influence that they could tap into at any time.

Of course, Yang Qi didn't handle the day-to-day affairs. Instead, he helped Zhang Jufang get even stronger, giving him a sword pellet that would make him very dangerous in a fight.

Yang Qi spent his time in seclusion on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, working on his cultivation and seeking enlightenment of monarch godhood. Thanks to having Paramount will convergence, he could use the God Legion Seal to draw in even more godpower from the void.

At the current rate, he was fairly certain it would only take twenty or thirty more years to finish the monarch godhood.

As it turned out, the elder from the Missions Sanctuary brought some books over a few days later. Yang Qi knew exactly what was going on, so he let Bai Yin handle the situation. Of course, that completely flummoxed the conspiracy, considering that the elder had come hoping to cause problems for Yang Qi, not Bai Yin.

With their first plan having failed, they resorted to their second plan: provoking a fight between the Yue Clan and Yang Qi.

In response, Yang Qi simply refused to make an appearance. No matter how Yue Tianlin challenged him, he didn't respond. In the end, Yue Tianlin was like a dog trying to bite the hedgehog.

Over the course of the following months, they tried more ways to get to Yang Qi, but he didn't respond to any of them. After all, both Yue Tianlin and the elder from the Missions Sanctuary had devil embryos in them, making it easy for Yang Qi to keep an eye on them.

Yang Qi had even infected Meng Guo with a devil embryo.

Back in Demon Master Valley, it had been difficult to infect the ox god with a devil embryo. But after achieving Paramount will convergence and consuming the Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill, he became much more powerful. As such, it was easy to implant devil embryos even into Common Gods.

Because of all that, dealing with plots and conspiracies was an easy thing.

During the month that the battle of wits played out, Yang Qi had never let them get the upper hand even once. Meanwhile, the Sage Monarch Consortium was slowly growing stronger and more powerful. By sending the medicinal ingredients to auction, they earned a lot of godnotes, and even managed to buy a few Paramount god pills. With them, it would be much easier to finish his monarch godhood.

With the help of his friends and family, the Sage Monarch Consortium was able to overcome whatever small obstacles came up. It was obvious that within only a few years, the consortium would be a huge force to reckon with.

"Milord," Zhang Jufang said, kneeling in front of Yang Qi, "We managed to buy three Psyche-Gathering Origin Pills. They're early Paramount god pills, and should be of some help to you."

Nodding, Yang Qi took them and consumed them.

1. His name 'Shafan' literally means 'kill mortals', whereas 'shashen' would mean 'kill gods'.

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Chapter 1224: Tit for Ta

'They might be made via Paramount will convergence, but sadly, they're not very impressive. The medicinal efficacy is probably only ten percent of the Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill.' As easy as blowing some dust off his shoulder, Yang Qi threw the three medicinal pills into his godhood and extruded the impurities, which became a black ball of filth.

How could pills with such impurities possibly measure up to the Chaos-Cavern Grand-Magnate Pill?

That said, the godpower in them would save Yang Qi three months of ordinary cultivation. Right now, every single day of cultivation brought immense benefit, so it was obvious how much it would help to jump ahead by three months. And as he furthered his cultivation, he became more and more aware of the vast power of monarch godhood.

Thanks to the God Legion Seal, he was able to constantly draw on the essence of the god world and turn it into quintessence vitality, something no one else could possibly do.

Most ordinary disciples would have to rely on medicinal pills to gain quintessence vitality, which they would then convert to godpower. It was similar to how people in the impure lands would eat food to be converted into nutrients, which would then become power within them. Being able to directly take power from one's surroundings would be marvelously helpful.

For that reason, most people could spend thousands of years working on their cultivation without forming monarch godhood. Who knew how many medicinal pills would be required to succeed that way?

"How is business doing lately?" Yang Qi asked after consuming the pills.

"Very well," Zhang Jufang replied. "We have branches opening up everywhere, and money flows in every day. Of course, we're following your instructions to not expand too quickly. From the perspective of any outsider, we're just doing good business. At the moment, we're earning about a hundred godnotes a day in net profit, and we usually auction a single medicinal ingredient every day. Furthermore, Milord, some of your sworn siblings have been helping us deal with certain plots and conspiracies. The downside is that they have to dip into some of the profits to do so."

"That's fine. What's mine is theirs. Besides, they need to get more influence in the sect, which requires a lot of godnotes. And they need medicinal pills to improve their cultivation bases. By the way, be careful. The Dragon Society might very well cause problems for the consortium."

"Yes sir!" Zhang Jufang said. He was a god now, and was working on a way to become an official disciple, and after that, an elite disciple. That would place him in a higher position in the sect than Yang Qi currently was in.

Power always made it easier to accomplish things.

For all intents and purposes, Yang Qi didn't have anything to do with the Sage Monarch Consortium; it was completely run by Zhang Jufang.

"Head back," Yang Qi said. "From now on, minimize contact with me as much as possible. If you have any issues, get in touch with Brahma or one of the others."

"Yes sir," Zhang Jufang said, leaving.

Yang Qi closed his eyes and began focusing on his breathing exercises, working on his monarch godhood and causing dramatic transformations within himself.

BAM!

In the mountainous countryside, Meng Guo slammed his fist into a boulder, shattering it. "What exactly is going on here?! It's been more than a month, and you still haven't succeeded? How many treasures have you wasted so far?"

"Er..." The elder from the Missions Sanctuary looked very miserable. "It's not as if I'm not trying! I've done everything I can think of. Yang Qi just can't be fooled. It's almost like he knows all our plans before we carry them out, and sidesteps them all. He never even shows up in our presence! How are we supposed to do anything to him like that?"

"Think of something. Anything!! I refuse to believe that our Dragon Society can't deal with a measly official disciple."

"Sir, you're definitely strong enough to just take him captive. But if we play by the rules, it's going to be hard to get at him."

"So when you take books over there, Bai Yin is always the one that meets you? Not Yang Qi? Does that mean Yang Qi is hiding from you?"

"That's right. It's as if Yang Qi knows we're coming. And when Yue Tianlin goes there to challenge him, he never shows his face. But after we're gone, he comes out. He's got to be hiding from us."

"Bribe Bai Yin! Bribe the grand elder from the Scripture Pavilion! I refuse to believe that he can use the Scripture Pavilion to hide from our Dragon Society!" Meng Guo chopped his hand out, causing the mountain peak to burst into flame and sending rubble popping and hissing about in all directions.

"Okay... I never thought of that. You're as impressive as ever, Grand Elder. But if I'm going to bribe Bai Yin and the grand elder, I'm going to need something to bribe them with..."

"Don't worry about that," the grand elder said proudly. "You think the Dragon Society is poor or something? Go handle it right now. First talk to Bai Yin, then the grand elder. Understand? I'll wait here for you. See what they want, and we'll see what the Dragon Society can provide. Any price can be paid when it comes to ensuring our leader reaches the Unbounded level."

"Yes, yes of course..."

The elder from the Missions Sanctuary hurried away.

A few hours later, whooshing sounds could be heard as two figures arrived on the mountaintop. One was a stooped old bald man whose eyebrows drooped all the way down to his shoulders. He seemed elegant and refined, but at the same time was clearly incredibly powerful. He was a Common God!

The other person present was Bai Yin.

The elder from the Missions Sanctuary introduced all of them. "This is Meng Guo from the Dragon Society. And this is Grand Elder Hong Lie from the Administration Vault of the Scripture Pavilion."

"It's an honor to meet you at last," Hong Lie said. "Might I ask why you summoned us here in the middle of the night?"

Although everyone present was from the House of God Ordainment, the sect was enormous and not everyone knew each other. It was very much how, in the impure lands, government officials in a huge imperial dynasty might not know each other. And of course, the House of God Ordainment was much larger than any mortal dynasty.

Of course, the Dragon Society was famous among all the disciples, so there was no way the grand elder from the Scripture Pavilion would dare to speak disrespectfully.

"It's simple. Our Dragon Society wants to frame Yang Qi for a crime! Name your price, whatever it is."

Bai Yin shook his head. "Frame Yang Qi? The Dragon Society is powerful and influential, and Yang Qi is just a kid. Nothing more than an official disciple. Is he really worth expending that much effort to frame?"

"You don't need to worry about that," said Meng Guo. "It's part of our leader's plan. As you know, Yang Qi has a close relationship with Jadefall. But although Jadefall asked you to take care of him, it's not as if she compensated you, right? Besides, do you really think she can compare to the leader of the Dragon Society?"

"Er..." The old man from the Scripture Pavilion was clearly thinking the matter over.

Meanwhile, Bai Yin casually said, "I have a good relationship with Yang Qi, but it's not as though we're best friends. If the price is right, I'm in. How about ten Paramount god pills, the kind that are full of godpower? I recently gained some new enlightenment, and I've decided to just form my godhood now. I'm giving up on monarch godhood."

"What?" the elder from the Missions Sanctuary blurted. "You want Paramount god pills? Aren't you being a bit too greedy? You know, when the Dragon Society gives orders to people like us, we don't even ask for a reward. You should be scrambling at the chance to earn favor with the Dragon Society! It's for your own good!"

"Bah!" Bai Yin spat. "Unless I get paid, I won't do anything. Even if the emperor of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty begged me, I'd still say no."

"You!" the elder growled, and he had to restrain himself from starting a fight right then and there. After all, he and Bai Yin were on roughly the same level. And considering Bai Yin had been pursuing the path of monarch godhood, he obviously wasn't the kind of person who could be easily pushed around.

"Very well, let's hear what Grand Elder Hong Lie has to say," said Meng Guo, sparing nothing but a cold glance for Bai Yin.

"This would involve offending Jadefall," Hong Lie said. "And her Master is a Consummate God, not the kind of person to be trifled with. I need to think this through. Bai Yin, are you really willing to sell out Yang Qi for some medicinal pills? I thought you got along well with him."

"So what if I am?" Bai Yin replied. "I'll do anything for enough money."

"Don't worry, Bai Yin," said Meng Guo. "After you take care of the matter, you'll get your ten Paramount medicinal pills."

"After I take care of the matter?" Bai Yin said, his eyes wide. "Are you trying to get something for nothing? Since when does anything work like that? I'm taking a risk by offending Jadefall, and I'd better be compensated for it. Look, it's simple: pay up now, or forget it. I'm not interested in offending the Dragon Society, either, but don't think you can treat me like a tool. I don't have powerful backing, so if Jadefall comes asking what happened, I would be the one on the hook."

"You want it now?" The grand elder shook his head. "You really are greedy."

"In that case, I guess we'll go our separate ways from here." Bai Yin turned to leave.

"Hold on. How about I give you half now, and half after? However, before we can finalize the deal, I need to know what Grand Elder Hong Lie here is thinking. Although you might be able to help a bit in this effort, his stance is the most important."

After some thought, Hong Lie said, "Alright. We can look for a way to pull a fast one on Yang Qi, and get him in a deadly trap. After all, the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion is managed by the third floor. As for the fourth floor and higher, they're run by people so important they wouldn't care about low level circumstances like this. That said, the risk of offending Jadefall is going to cost you. We want the same kind of medicinal pills. Except a hundred! High quality! I need them to become a Greater God!"

1. Hong Lie: Hong is a common surname which also means, "flood, great, grand". Lie means "ardent, intense, fierce, stern, fiery, harsh".

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