Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

More and more experts were showing up.

The young woman named Hailan had a cultivation base of a hundred billion, but what was more terrifying was her backer. Yang Qi had absolutely no confidence in being able to fight her successfully.

The upside was that the three dynasties were still at each other’s throats, and definitely weren’t ready to work together.

Unfortunately, getting out of the Central God-Palace didn’t seem possible right now. The place was locked down tight, and if anyone discovered his presence, he would be dead without a doubt.

Thankfully, he had patience.

Furthermore, this might be a good opportunity. Proud Heaven was presiding over the meeting, and almost all of the top leaders were present. Although Proud Central wasn’t around, he would definitely be keeping an eye on what was happening, and that meant his attention would be somewhat diverted from King Immortal-Slayer and the Great Necropolis.

That might be just the chance that Yang Qi needed.

“You’ve done well to keep yourself well hidden, Miss Hailan, considering how powerful you are,” Proud Heaven said. His tone of voice was calm and measured, but his eyes glittered as though everything was going according to plan. “Might I ask how the High Priestess fares? Will we be seeing her out in the world again soon?”

“The High Priestess was seriously injured. But there are major changes coming to the god world, and she’ll recover soon enough. Don’t worry. She has everything under control, and is doing everything possible to restore the glory of years past.”

“That’s good to hear. I have to say, if it's true that the High Priestess isn’t dead, then wouldn’t it be safe to assume that the King of Godmammoths is alive as well? Perhaps we’ll be seeing him again soon, too.”

Hailan’s eyes flickered in response to his words.

Years ago, the High Priestess and the King of Godmammoths were the top subordinates of the Sovereign Lord. She had been his minister of culture, and he had been his minister of warfare. They hadn’t gotten along. In fact, they clashed frequently. And although the High Priestess had always been at a disadvantage, the Sovereign Lord had always supported her in his effort to maintain balance between them.

It was similar to how, in the impure lands, a prime minister would often be at odds with the generalissimo of the armed forces. Truth be told, the Sovereign Lord hadn’t wanted complete peace and harmony among his subordinates.

“We don’t need to discuss that right now, Brother Proud Heaven,” Yang Voidprime said. “Our top priority is discussing exactly how to deal with Yang Qi. How do we destroy his empire and take what's his? Remember, the God Legion Seal was broken into three parts, but he's obviously collected them all. Am I right?”

“That’s right,” Proud Heaven replied. “The God Legion Seal had been restored, and it won’t be broken into pieces again. Nothing in the world is strong enough to do that.”

“In that case, we have to decide who gets the God Legion Seal when this is all over.”

“Wrong, wrong, wrong,” Proud Heaven said with a chuckle. “First we need to figure out how to deal with Yang Qi. We don’t want to be like the fools who see a goose flying by and start talking about how to cook it, only to have it escape in the meantime.”

“Wrong, wrong, wrong,” Yang Voidprime said. “Yang Qi isn't a flying goose. He’s a duck in a cage. As long as the three of us work together, there’s nowhere in the god world he can go and stay alive. That’s why we need to talk about important matters first. Who gets what? If we aren’t on the same page, then how will we possibly deal with Yang Qi? Remember, he's cunning and skilled, and will definitely try to turn us against each other and benefit in the process.”

Proud Heaven knew that he couldn’t get everyone to work together if they wouldn’t profit in the process. In fact, they might even turn on him if he wasn’t careful. Gritting his teeth, he said, “How about this. Yang Qi is your doppelgänger, right? Another Fateless One. So it's simple. Your share is Yang Qi. With him, you’ll be able to complete your fateless energy, and likely reach the half-Annulled level. I get the God Legion Seal. And you experts from the House of the Invincible will take his empire and resources. How does that sound?”

One of the patriarchs from the Invincible Dynasty chuckled darkly. “That’s a great idea, Proud Heaven! We get his resources. The House of the Chiliocosm gets the fateless energy. And you get the God Legion Seal. Isn’t that a bit lopsided?” This patriarch was the Heaven-Sacrificing Dugu, and his cultivation base was roughly the same as Yang Qi’s, at ninety billion. “In terms of the House of the Chiliocosm, they actually don’t get much at all. Yang Voidprime is a Fateless One, so that fateless energy will be very beneficial to him. But what about everyone else? What about Yang Chiliocosm? Is he just supposed to step aside and let Yang Voidprime take over?

“And if the House of the Chiliocosm is getting a bad deal, then ours is even worse. What are we supposed to do with a bunch of people from another empire? If we try to take them into our dynasty, it’ll just lead to chaos.”

Proud Heaven laughed. “You’re thinking about it wrong. Everyone knows the Sage Monarch Empire runs smoothly because of the sage monarch magistrates. They run nations even more smoothly than the confucians. Whoever gets those magistrates is instantly going to get a huge improvement in destiny. In some ways, that’s far better than the God Legion Seal. Furthermore, it’s rumored that Yang Qi has already used the God Legion Seal to amass a huge stockpile of treasure, and you’ll get all that as well.”

“Incorrect again, Proud Heaven,” said the Heaven-Extinguishing Dugu. “If you take the God Legion Seal, the Halls of Heaven will automatically belong to you. How could any of what you’re promising us measure up to that?”

“Agreed,” said Yang Voidprime. “It’s not really appropriate. Although it's true that I want Yang Qi’s fateless energy, it won’t do any good for our dynasty as a whole. Therefore, I don’t really want Yang Qi. Furthermore, your proposal is a trap for the House of the Chiliocosm. We don’t know exactly how Yang Qi built an empire so quickly, but we do know that he’s used the God Legion Seal to control the minds of the Dragonfolk, the Spritefolk, and even the Lord of the Sword Dao. So if you get the God Legion Seal, then you’ll be the one who controls his empire. In the end, the House of the Chiliocosm would get nothing.”

“Nice try, Proud Heaven!” shouted someone from the Chiliocosm Dynasty. “You people from the Central Dynasty have no good faith whatsoever. In fact, what’s the point of even continuing this discussion? Why don’t you handle the Sage Monarch Empire yourself? In fact, maybe we should join them to deal with you!”

“Friends, friends, calm down,” Proud Heaven said placatingly. “It was just a suggestion, that’s all. If you have a better way to distribute everything, let’s hear it. How about the Invincible Dynasty gets the God Legion Seal. Would that make you happy?”

With those words, he kicked the ball into their court.

“We don’t want the God Legion Seal,” said the Heaven-Immolating Dugu. “It's too big of a bone to swallow. In fact, considering all the baggage that goes with it, I don’t think any of our dynasties should have it.”

“Then what do we do with it?” Proud Heaven asked. “Someone has to watch over it. After all, we can’t let it fall into the wrong hands.”

“It's simple,” Hailan said. “When we attack the Sage Monarch Empire, we create a prison and seal Yang Qi within. Leave the God Legion Seal in him while we slowly take over his empire. We split the sage monarch magistrates evenly, as well as everything else. Later, we’ll figure out a way to destroy the God Legion Seal. And if we can't, we just keep him sealed up forever.”

“Good idea.”

The nine patriarchs of the Dugu Clan were the Heaven-Extinguishing Dugu, Heaven-Defeating Dugu, Heaven-Eclipsing Dugu, Heaven-Immolating Dugu, Heaven-Propping Dugu, Heaven-Conquering Dugu, Heaven-Rending Dugu, Heaven-Sacrificing Dugu and the Heaven-Reaching Dugu. And all of them had suddenly come to the realization that the young woman Hailan was obviously a profound and wicked schemer.

Yang Qi was also shaken. He had been hoping that these people would disagree, but Hailan had managed to easily smooth things out.

He suddenly felt an impulse to kill her.

“It’s a good idea,” Proud Heaven said, nodding. “We work together to create a spell formation that, in a critical moment, we use to capture Yang Qi. We don’t give him any chance to escape. In fact, we can even force him to open up the Halls of Heaven to us. Now that we've resolved that issue, let’s discuss how we’ll deploy our people.”

“We attack with full force,” Hailan said. “Go at him with everything we have, and crush him. When you fight a rabbit, you still use the force of a lion. That’s the way to ensure victory. Don’t give him any chances. Ladies and gentlemen, don’t forget that Yang Qi is a clever troublemaker. If he finds out what we’re planning, he’ll disappear, and we’ll never find him. The god world is too big. And if he starts attacking us with guerilla tactics, what will we do? Or what if he hides in the Halls of Heaven?”

“Well said,” Proud Heaven said, a note of respect in his voice.

By this point, Yang Qi was convinced that this woman had the exact same personality as the Yun Hailan from the impure lands.

If the three dynasties came to an agreement right here and now, it would make things difficult.

Scrambling to come up with a plan, Yang Qi had Yang Primal-Chaos suddenly rise to his feet. “Proud Heaven, when you were in the impure lands, you got a piece of the God Legion Seal. If we capture Yang Primal-Chaos, what if you use your understanding of the seal to snatch it out from under our noses? Mind explaining?”