Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

‘I knew something like this would happen,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘Some nobodies happened to get their hands on Inheritor godpower seeds and suddenly advanced by leaps and bounds. They’re strong, not because of their own power, but because they can borrow the godpower of the Great Necropolis, and they suddenly think they’re all-important. These three disciples really are pushing things too far to openly disrespect me, and even say insulting things. It’s extremely disgraceful and borderline rebellious. I need to teach them a lesson. Make sure they know that there is always a heaven beyond heaven, and there are always people more important than you.’

Raising his voice, he called, “Emperor Heart-Celestial!”

“Here!” A vortex appeared, out of which stepped Emperor Heart-Celestial, who saluted with clasped hands. “What are your orders, Junior Sectlord?”

“Take my junior sectlord’s command medallion and go to the Peakfiend Wastelands. Order all of the disciples to return immediately. Anyone who refuses will be removed from the sect and marked for death!”

Producing his command medallion, he threw it over to Emperor Heart-Celestial.

“Yes sir!”

Emperor Heart-Celestial was now a Terrifying expert, and had benefited greatly due to being able to cultivate in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Furthermore, his enlightenment of his own cultivation base had reached such an incredible level that he existed in the most natural of states. In other words, it was impossible to tell just by looking at him exactly how incredible he was. Of course, Yang Qi knew that he was the patient type who didn’t feel the need to show off, and as such he definitely had all sorts of boundless techniques just ready to unleash. Although he obviously couldn’t compete with Yang Qi, he should definitely be able to handle a few Inheritors.

That made him the perfect person to send out with orders for the disciples.

Eyes glittering, Emperor Heart-Celestial smiled faintly and flew out of the sect.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi sat there on his junior sectlord’s throne with his eyes closed.

He looked like he was meditating, or at least thinking about matters, and it caused everyone else to settle down quietly and simply wait. Despite the fact that there were tens of thousands of people present, no one made a peep. Everyone knew that this was simply the calm before the storm, and they were all wondering who would come out on top: the junior sectlord, or the Inheritors.

**

In the depths of the Great Necropolis, where the immortal worlds were in the rank of three to four hundred, and the immortal energy was particularly strong, it would actually be impossible for many people to even fly.

In the middle of all those worlds was a huge plane of existence that abounded with wretched, evil energy. In fact, that energy had infected many of the surrounding immortal worlds, turning countless immortals into wicked creatures that only lived for slaughter and combat.

It was a place where a wretched monster from the god world had fallen in death and was obviously very dangerous, being filled with Terrifying wretch-spirits. Even Terrifying cultivators had to be very careful there. Of course, this place was the Peakfiend Wastelands.

Despite the dangerous nature of the place, there was a group of several tens of thousands of elite disciples who had invaded it. Normally, they would have already been killed, but thankfully they were being led by a group of three particularly powerful disciples who pulsed with the godpower of the Great Necropolis, which enabled them to keep the wretch energy at bay. It also transformed the magical laws around them, which enabled them not only to fly, but also to use their deadly arts much more effectively.

One wretch-spirit after another fell to their techniques, transforming into ash and leaving behind treasures, godstones, and god items that the invading disciples threw into their bags.

“Whoa! There’s a piece of godhood up ahead!”

Staying in formation, the group advanced.

Tens of thousands of swords flew out in the shape of an enormous dragon, which slammed into the vile soil and caused an explosion of dirt. Afterward, a piece of wretched godhood flew out.

It was followed by a host of ten million wretch-spirits, all of them howling with rage. However, three streams of godpower flew out and slaughtered them, then pulled their essence into the hand of one of the three young men leading the group.

He had thin, arching eyebrows, and wore a long, azure robe. He didn’t wield any weapons and his hands were completely empty, except for the wretched godhood he was now holding. Swirling his fingers, he extracted the wretch energy from the godhood, which looked like a dragon. Then he flicked his hand, sending the dragon flying into the depths of the Peakfiend Wastelands, where it devoured countless wretch-spirits before exploding, killing even more in the detonation. Then the young man inhaled, sucking in all of the resulting power.

A cheer rose up from the surrounding disciples.

One of the other three leaders of the group, a young woman, turned to him and said, “Your abilities are incredible, Elder Brother Shi Yuan. After becoming an Inheritor, you really advanced by leaps and bounds, and now you’re even a Terrifying expert.”

The third of the group, a young man, said, “Elder Brother Shi Yuan, the two of us also need to reach the Terrifying level. Do you think we could possibly assimilate that godhood to stimulate our God-Ordaining Flame, thus pushing our cultivation base to the next level?

Despite being Inheritors, these two obviously hadn’t reached the Terrifying level yet. That said, their psyches were clearly just on the verge of a breakthrough. And from the cold gleam in their eyes, it was obvious that they viewed each other as competition, and were jealous of Shi Yuan.

In response to their words, Shi Yuan’s expression flickered hesitantly, and he said, “What would be the point of giving you the godhood? How would the two of you split it? It would be meaningless to get into a conflict over it. We’re all disciples of the Will Manifestation Heaven Sect, and the assembly of superpower sects is coming soon. When the time comes, our sect needs to make a big impression. Although we do have some reserves of godhood, sadly, the new junior sectlord got them all. What was the sectlord thinking? Once he’s out of seclusion, I'm going to demand that the chief elders meet to discuss the situation. I want to see just what's so special about this new junior sectlord.”

“Damn that junior sectlord! As far as I'm concerned, he's not the junior sectlord. He’s nothing but an outsider. How could someone who hasn’t even been in the sect for a year suddenly be appointed the junior sectlord!? The three of us have been in the sect for a hundred million years!”

“He must have a lot of godhood on him. Well, once he's back, we can go and force him to give it all to us. In fact, we’ll make him give us all the godhood in the entire sect. With that much godhood, we can definitely push our God-Ordaining Flame to the level of one hundred percent and finally reach the Terrifying level. As Terrifying experts, we’ll finally be able to show how powerful we Inheritors really are!”

The two of them glanced at Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan had progressed more quickly than them, and with his Terrifying cultivation base, he was far beyond them. In fact, he could easily kill them if he wanted, and take their Great Necropolis godpower seeds. However, he was hesitant to do so. They were fellow disciples, so if he did something like that, it was highly likely that he would be branded a traitor and expelled from the sect.

However, as Shi Yuan grew stronger and stronger within the Terrifying level, the other two sensed his killing intent growing more intense. Thus, they were itching to reach the Terrifying level, if for no other reason than to make sure they didn’t end up dead.

In the middle of their conversation, a shadowy figure descended into their midst.

Instantly recognizing who it was, Shi Yuan said, “Emperor Heart-Celestial! You’re in the Terrifying level now? What are you doing here?”

Emperor Heart-Celestial looked Shi Yuan up and down, then glanced at the other two Inheritor disciples. Then he coolly said, “I'm here with orders from the junior sectlord. Return to the sect immediately for a meeting. Anyone who ignores the orders will be expelled from the sect and marked for death!”

“Orders from the junior sectlord? He’s returned. We need to go back immediately....”

“You’re absolutely right. If the junior sectlord has returned, we need to head back to the sect.” Instantly, a buzz of conversation rose up from the surrounding disciples, many of whom held Yang Qi in high esteem and didn’t want to get on his bad side by defying his orders.

Yang Qi had a high reputation, as well as the approval of many of the chief elders, and his personal prestige was as mighty as Mount Tai.

Shi Yuan’s expression turned frosty, but before he could say anything, the female Inheritor spoke up, “Dammit, Emperor Heart-Celestial, where did this junior sectlord come from anyway? We were out for training for barely more than a year, and upon our return, there was suddenly a new junior sectlord? And he even took control of the godhood reserves in the sect? We’re Inheritors! Why should we have to get his approval to get godhood? How does any of this make sense?”

“You don't have the authority to get involved with such matters. Now hurry up and get back to the sect.”

“Well aren’t you special, Emperor Heart-Celestial!” she said sarcastically. “We're Inheritors, which would make us favored by the heavens in any sect in existence. Nobody could be more important than us. You think that just because you’re a Terrifying expert now that you can defy us? Let me tell you, when I was out training I actually killed someone in the early Terrifying level. So cut it with the arrogant act. Get back to the sect and tell that sham junior sectlord of yours that he needs to come here and explain who he is. Otherwise, we’ll call for a meeting to expel him from the sect!”

“Zi Qiong,” Emperor Heart-Celestial said forcefully, “are you saying you're defying orders?”

“So what if we don’t?” said the male Inheritor, whose name was Xi Hua. “I might have been afraid of you in the past, Emperor Heart-Celestial, but not anymore. To Inheritors, all other people are ants! Screw the hell off!”

RUMBLE!

Even as the words left his mouth, he shoved his palm out and sent Great Necropolis godpower rumbling forth in a massive flow of fist wind.

Emperor Heart-Celestial responded by merely gliding up to float on top of the torrent of fist wind. “Given that you’re fellow disciples, I’ll give you some advice. Don’t anger the junior sectlord. Otherwise, things won’t turn out well for you.”

“What—” Xi Hua clearly was ready to keep fighting, but Shi Yuan reached out and blocked his way.

“You just used a consummate energy art belonging to King Grace-Glider, one of the seventy-two monarchs. Where did you learn that? No one from our sect should have that energy art!”

1. Shi Yuan: Shi is a surname which also means “stone, rock.” Yuan is a complicated character that can mean many things, including “origin, part, money” etc. At this point in the story, a lot of the characters have contrived names, but some have ordinary names. In my estimation, this guy’s name is intended to be a mundane name.

2. Zi Qiong: Zi is a surname that also means “purple, violet”. And Qiong means “jasper, jade, beautiful, exquisite. This is another name that doesn’t come across as being particularly contrived to me. In fact, the same combination of characters is the given name of the actress (her Chinese name is Yang Ziqiong). I also have a character with this name in my novel (that character is a nod to Michelle Yeoh).