Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

In the distant past, there were many Great Sages who were fatherless. In some stories, the mothers became pregnant after dreaming of god-spirits in heaven, or by treading in the footsteps of giants. Others became pregnant after dreaming of falling stars.

Such stories were accepted history, and the children that had been born to those mothers were all spectacular geniuses who were favored by heaven and earth. Their rise in cultivation never stopped, and they eventually became Great Sages.

Each and every one was a god from heaven descended into the mortal world.

Now, it was said that the Crown Prince was born to a mother who had dreamed of falling stars, and that it was the touch of spirit energy that led to her giving birth to a son. In other words, it seemed the Crown Prince was also a god from heaven descended into the mortal world.

That was no minor identity.

And clearly, he was destined to reach the Great Sage level.

‘No wonder the Demi-Immortal Institute cares so much about him,’ Yang Qi thought. ‘I wonder if I’ll ever have a chance to see him in person one day. I may be a Tertiary Lifeseizer who can kill Quinary Lifeseizers, but the Crown Prince is a Legendary. That’s far beyond my current level.’

“By the way, Brother, what’s the deal with that emissary from the Hanging Mountain?”

“The Hanging Mountain holds sway over large numbers of Demonfolk who live in the Rich-Lush Continent. It looks like they’re getting ready for some sort of operation here. There have been some dramatic developments recently, and I suspect there is some ancient secret at play. That’s why the ancient Demonfolk sent an ambassador from their alternate dimension, to hatch plans with the demon kings of the seventy-two grottos and the devil lords of the thirty-six caves. In fact, that’s why I came out here, in the hopes of getting some information about what they’re planning.

“The Hanging Mountain is a force to be reckoned with, and is the natural enemy of orthodox groups like our four institutes. It's very likely that war will break out with them eventually. Brother, you never know when that might happen, so you need to focus hard on getting stronger and improving your cultivation base. Alright, I have some important matters to attend to, so I think the time has come to part. I look forward to seeing your performance in the upcoming Inter-Institutional Martial Arts Competition.”

“Alright, I’ll take my leave. I need to get these demon cores back to the Demi-Immortal Institute as quickly as possible, and help my other brothers to reach the Lifeseizing level.” With that, Yang Qi clasped hands respectfully.

Jun Tianchou returned the gesture. “Take care, Brother. I hope we have more chances in the future to stand shoulder to shoulder and rid the world of devils and demons. Oh, one more thing. Here’s a spirit talisman I personally created. It’s called Four Corners of the Earth. If you’re ever in trouble, inscribe it with a message and then rip the paper; I’ll be notified, and come to your aid as quickly as I can. I forged it with my own heart-blood, so no matter how far away I am, I’ll remain connected to it on a spiritual level.” With that, Jun Tianchou handed a sea-blue paper talisman to Yang Qi. Then, he flew up into the sea of clouds like a divine dragon, where he vanished.

The profundity of his energy arts was simply shocking.

Yang Qi put away the Four Corners of the Earth talisman and then flew into the air to head back to the Demi-Immortal Institute.

Up in the sea of clouds, Jun Tianchou stopped for a moment and looked back at Yang Qi speeding off into the distance. Eyes flickering with complex thoughts, he murmured, ‘Who would have thought that I, Jun Tianchou, would take on a sworn sibling like him. Yang Qi…. He’s only a Tertiary Lifeseizer, but he managed to kill Jiao Wufeng, a Quinary Lifeseizer…. Another genius is rising up in the Demi-Immortal Institute. However, he doesn’t care about power and position. He just wants to enjoy life. One of these days, I have the feeling he's going to do some amazing things.’

Sighing, he turned and vanished in a blur.

The next day….

Back in the Demi-Immortal Institute,

Yang Qi, Hua Yinhu, He Jili, Liang Dong, and Li He were all together again.

Liang Dong was wearing the garments of an elite student; he was now truly one of the top figures in the sect.

Everyone was shocked to see Yang Qi back so quickly, and when they saw the black floodwyrm demon cores he had, they were overjoyed.

In total, he had acquired fourteen such demon cores, five from the floodwyrms he had hunted down and killed, and nine from the other group. Of course, one core was more than enough for Hua Yinhu, He Jili, and Li He. They couldn’t even use more of them if they wanted. They just needed enough to keep the Cosmic Sunflare Sword in check, to correct the imbalance of yin and yang.

Yang Qi put the others into his Hellfire Crucible to convert into life force quintessence, including the one from Jiao Wufeng.

He was now in Tertiary Lifeseizing, and it was getting harder and harder to make progress. Relying on the vital energy he could build up just wasn’t sufficient. To reach Quaternary Lifeseizing, he would have to consume many, many more demon cores, or possibly spirit medicines.

After helping his three brothers achieve their breakthroughs, he would go into secluded meditation for a time to absorb all of the demon cores.

It was almost impossible for him to comprehend how much life force existed in the demon core of a Quinary black floodwyrm. The benefits of fully absorbing it would be tremendous.

“Alright, are you guys ready?” he asked, anticipation visible on his face as he looked at Li He, Hua Yinhu, and He Jili.

“Ready,” Hua Yinhu said. “We've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time.” He looked down at the black floodwyrm demon core in his hands, and the dazzling light which radiated off of it.

“Good.” Yang Qi reached out and flicked his fingers three times in quick succession, causing the three demon cores to explode, sending watery-like light spreading out in all directions.

“Alright, activate your Cosmic Sunflare Sword techniques. I’ll help you subdue the heterogeneous true energy.”

Immediately, the three of them unleashed scorching hot sword energy.

Their goal was to use the complementary aspects of fire and water, but that was a difficult thing to pull off. Thankfully, they had Yang Qi there to help them.

Soon, their animadestiny sword manifestations had absorbed the silvery moonlight, and their auras were calming down.

Immense levels of life force erupted from their sword manifestations, filling their bodies. The three of them were experiencing dramatic transformations as animadestiny true energy raged through them.

Vital energy swirled into powerful vortexes. However, it wasn’t enough.

“Use these energy convergence pills!” Liang Dong said. Waving his hand, he opened one of the boxes he had prepared, sending out thousands upon thousands of energy convergence pills, as well as certain mid-grade spirit medicines designed to replenish vital energy.

As the pills exploded, they became streams of vital energy pouring into the three friends.

Massive amounts of vital energy were needed to break into the Lifeseizing level, and considering that the three of them were making their attempts all at once, that meant that even more was required than usual. Thankfully, they had prepared well in advance.

Yang Qi wasn't sitting on his laurels.

Three huge arms sprang out behind him, which reached out to pour true energy into his friends. At his current level, the true energy he was wasting counted for almost nothing.

Bam! Bang! Boom!

Three sounds like explosions could be heard as all three of his friends broke through to the Lifeseizing level, causing heaven-shaking, earth-toppling transformations to their meridians, and causing their seas of energy to grow much larger. Their blood became more concentrated, and their skin also began to transform.

Yang Qi looked them over, then sent out more true energy, making slight adjustments here and there to help them overcome certain difficult stages of the transformation.

Before long, the three opened their eyes and reined in their auras. As of this moment, they had finally reached that oft-dreamt-of level, Lifeseizing.

“Alright,” Liang Dong said, clapping his hands together. “Now we're all Lifeseizers. Who would dare to look down on us now? Hua Yinhu, He Jili, Li He, why don’t you let the elders in your clan know. I’d love to see the expressions on their faces when they find out.”

“Yeah, exactly….” Li He said blankly, looking down at his hands, hardly able to believe what he had accomplished. “I've been dreaming my whole life about reaching the Lifeseizing level. If it wasn’t for you, Brother Yang Qi, I wouldn’t have succeeded even with another fifty years of cultivation. Only half a year ago, I was in the eighth phase.”

“Congratulations, my Brothers,” Yang Qi said. “We did it together. Why don’t the three of you go to the Academy of Sage Studies to get your promotions? It’ll be quite the scene for all three of you to go at once. Now, anybody who has it out for you will know that they can't afford to provoke you. As for me, I need to go into secluded meditation to fully absorb the items I acquired from the black floodwyrms.”

“Alright, we’ll head off to take care of our things,” Li He said. “You're the backbone of our band of brothers, so the stronger you are, the stronger we are. First things first, we get our promotions to elite students. Then we notify our clans. When the Sage Ancestor Dynasty finds out that we’ve become elite students, they’ll definitely give rewards to our clans. With the protection of the dynasty, other clans wouldn’t dare to cause problems for our clans.”

With that, the four of them left to the Academy of Sage Studies.

As for Yang Qi, he headed back to his lakeside temple in the College of Elite Students.

After inspecting himself internally, he ran through his techniques and made various adjustments. He had defeated his inner devils, gained enlightenment of the dao of the quick strike, and produced further transformations in his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth.

**

“Hey, guys, see that? Yang Qi's four friends just left.”

In another corner of the Demi-Immortal Institute, several inner campus students were spying on the group. Of course, they were members of the Crown Prince Society.

“They've been holed up for the past two days working on cultivation. Hmph! I can’t believe they think they can break through to the Lifeseizing level just like that. Since when did it become that easy? Back when Liang Dong broke into Lifeseizing, it caused a big stir. Elder Brother Gu Fenxian originally wanted us to cause trouble for the Liang Clan, but now that the Sage Ancestor Dynasty has formally rewarded them, it won't be so easy.”

“Elder Brother Gu Fenxian is following the orders of Elder Sister Yun Hailan. She’s in the good graces of the Crown Prince himself, and even took Patriarchs Wind and Cloud as masters. Let’s just keep doing what we’re told. If we can make her happy, it will only result in good for us.”

“She’s so far above us that it won’t be easy to gain her favor. However, her cousin Song Haishan is a different story. Considering his status, the female students are all throwing themselves at him. And he was defeated by Yang Qi in the past, so he hates his guts. If he could defeat Yang Qi, then he would be very, very pleased.”

“Come on, we need to follow them. He made a point of emphasizing that we should let him know of any developments.”

“I heard that Yun Hailan got help for Song Haishan, from the leaders of the Crown Prince Society. He was in seclusion for two months, and just came out last week as a Lifeseizer.”

“That's right, he became an elite student only three days ago.”

“Hey, look. Are those four heading to the Academy of Sage Studies? Don't tell me…?”