Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“What? Eight hundred God-Lords? That many?”

Yang Susu, Jadefall, and everyone else were shocked. The fact that the confucian colleges were this powerful was nothing less than terrifying. As it turned out, they really did believe the saying: When you’re unsuccessful, you should focus on your own cultivation. When you're successful, you should work hard to benefit all people.

Apparently, throughout the past hundred million years, there had been a lot of these people who had erred on the side of when you’re unsuccessful, you should focus on your own cultivation.

As for people with psychic scales of a hundred billion, they were the type who would provoke a double-take from anyone.

Jadefall and Yang Susu would have been happy with just a population increase of five quadrillion. Although some people might think that was a huge number, to the Sage Monarch Empire, it wasn’t.

Truth be told, it was normal to see a daily increase of five quadrillion.

In other words, it merely doubled the daily normal.

However, eight hundred God-Lords, including three with psychic scales of a hundred billion, were rare. That would be a big boost for the Sage Monarch Empire.

Before the war, the Sage Monarch Empire had boasted a large group of God-Lords. Unfortunately, more than half of them had been killed in the fighting, which was a brutal loss. Later, the ordainment of the nobility had resulted in a few people becoming God-Lords. But unfortunately, they still didn’t have anything close to their previous numbers.

Peak Paramount Gods with a psychic scale in the billions could be created easily. But God-Lords were another story. They generally required a lot of hard work, as well as significant destiny.

If they were really going to get eight hundred new God-Lords, it was going to be a significant change.

However, Jadefall and Yang Susu knew full well that plenty of old-timers were profound schemers. For all they knew, some or all of these people might be like the turtledove trying to occupy the magpie’s nest.

If a single God-Lord had shown up, or even ten, they would still have been suspicious, let alone eight hundred.

“Let’s go see what's going on.”

Everyone present rose to their feet.

“Exalted superiors, the people from the confucian colleges are waiting outside of the Everlasting Aegis. They set up camp there, and have already drawn up the formal papers of surrender. We invited them inside, but they refused. If you want to visit them, you’ll have to leave the Everlasting Aegis.”

“Oh,” Yang Susu said. “So it seems they're wary of us.”

She waved a finger, and a screen appeared, upon which was depicted the space outside the Sage Monarch Empire. There, a white aegis had been set up that resembled a college, and as it rotated, it pulsed with the righteousness of the confucians.

“It’s hard to believe that such an enormous and powerful force has come to surrender,” Yang Doom said. “This has got to be a trick.”

“There can never be too much deception in war,” the Shepherd said. “It’s to be expected. If they’ve come here to surrender, we can’t very well force them to stay away. After all, with a juicy morsel like this, how could we do anything other than swallow them whole? Besides, the buddhists we just crushed were about as fifth as powerful as the confucians. If we really do assimilate them, our foundation will become much stronger. I say, let’s devour them now and report the matter to Yang Qi later.”

“You go handle them,” a voice said. It was Yang Qi. “These are the confucian colleges that have been hiding out in primal-chaos. They were sent by the High Priestess to be spies, although not all of them intend to follow her instructions. Let them inside. It doesn’t matter how strong they are, they’ll submit to our destiny.”

From his vantage point in the Halls of Heaven, Yang Qi could see everything that was happening.

“Alright, let’s go out and meet them.”

The destiny of the empire stirred as the Everlasting Aegis appeared, and a road opened up, allowing them to walk outside.

The confucian college that had been set up wasn’t corporeal, but rather formed from a righteous and noble energy. And there were a host of people who were holding a meeting, all of whom were God-Lords.

Three had psychic scales of over a hundred billion, but actually, they seemed closer to two hundred billion, although they were trying to keep that secret. As for their appearances, one was an old man, one looked middle-aged, and the third looked young.

The old one looked like a saint, a person of virtue and prestige who understood everything in heaven and earth. The middle-aged man looked like someone used to wielding authority, and the young scholar seemed high-spirited and full of mettle.

They were the leaders of the confucian colleges.

Beneath them were eight hundred ordinary God-Lords, who pulsed with the righteous energy of the confucians.

Beyond them were the five quadrillion confucian students, who were busy reading books, reciting information, and the like. It was knowledge that could dispel the haze and propagate civilization and culture.

What was righteousness and justice?

It was the dissemination of civilization. It was making the world a better, more beautiful place. Everything other than that was wicked and heretical. Confucians were considered righteous and just because they spread knowledge and understanding.

It was the true dao of heaven.

After all, even heaven could be improved.

In the impure lands, landmasses would become planets only by virtue of the countless empires and the civilizations they represented.

Eventually, planets would become planetary systems in the same way.

Planetary systems would become immortal worlds, and those immortal worlds would grow to higher and higher quality.

Later, the highest-level immortal worlds would have a chance to break into the god world.

Now, the god world was preparing to break into another level of higher civilization. When heaven and earth went to a higher level, the impetus had to come from the living beings. And what was the foundation of forward progress among living beings? Civilization. Knowledge. Study. Wisdom.

For many years, the confucians had taken responsibility for the spread of knowledge; thus, they represented righteousness. They did everything in accord with the natural rules of heaven and earth.

That was what the confucians excelled at.

As Yang Qi looked down on them, he knew that the High Priestess had urged the leaders of the confucians to infiltrate his empire and spread their ideals. Their aim was to cause conflict with this sage monarch magistrates, hopefully sowing enough chaos that it would lead to a major collapse.

Sadly for them, that wasn’t going to happen.

Most empires collapsed because the scholar-officials ended up at odds with the emperor. And when the emperor wasn't strong enough to fight back, they would threaten him into relinquishing his power. Eventually, that would lead to the downfall of the empire.

“Chancellor Vicissitude, do you really think they’ll just let us join the Sage Monarch Empire?” a God-Lord asked. “Will they appoint us as nobility? Will they have us apply our confucian principles to the governing of the people?”

The old man to whom he spoke was one of the leaders of the confucians, and his name was Confucian Vicissitude.

His given name was a reference to the phrase vicissitudes of literature.

The middle-aged man was named Confucian Meaning, and the younger was Confucian Script.

“It's all part of our master plan,” Confucian Vicissitude said. “It won’t be possible to gain power immediately after joining the Sage Monarch Empire. Yang Qi is no fool. If he was, he wouldn’t have been able to establish such an amazing empire.”

“That’s true,” said Confucian Meaning. “I heard he uses some things called sage monarch magistrates to keep order and make sure everything is done fairly. It's not going to be easy to seize power. Most importantly, we don't know if we can do a better job of ruling.”

“The sage monarch magistrates run things too robotically,” said Confucian Script. “They lack human feelings. I'm curious to see exactly how they work. Regardless, assuming we’re accepted into the Sage Monarch Empire, they’ll definitely appoint us as nobility. Then we can start working our way into the various political circles, and slowly gather power. Before long, we’ll be on equal footing with the emperor. After all the years that have passed, there hasn't been a single empire worth infiltrating until now. None of them had good enough destiny. But now we have a good opportunity on our hands. As long as we run things well, and can tap into the destiny, we’ll eventually be able to take over.”

“That's how we confucians have always operated,” said one of the God-Lords. “But what about the alliance? They have a huge population, and it seems like a good opportunity to do something. The High Priestess wants to unify them into an empire. It should be easy to get the best government positions there. And taking control of a place like that would be a lot easier than the Sage Monarch Empire.”

“The three dynasties are declining on a daily basis,” Confucian Vicissitude said, “and their destiny is flawed. It's nowhere near that of the Sage Monarch Empire. Besides, the High Priestess is half-Annulled, and would probably try to use us as pawns.”