Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The confucians often talked about mortal integrity. They claimed that they would rather die than lose it. Yet in response to losing in the debates, the confucian leaders were hatching a conspiracy, which couldn’t have been more of a humiliation of confucian ideals.

If word leaked of this, then the ordinary confucian students would feel ashamed to the core. After all, many such students had already been attracted by the sage monarch magistrates’ way of doing things, and enjoyed the general environment of the empire.

Their leaders were more than willing to engage in double-dealing and backstabbing to further their own interests, and would even go so far as to abandon the righteousness of confucianism. They were stern and awe-inspiring people who stood high above others, telling everyone what to do. If the truth was exposed, they would fall from grace so badly that they would never recover.

“What do you think? It’s not too late to devote yourself to my empire. I can give you official posts as teachers, as long as you wholeheartedly espouse my ways. I won’t make you nobility, but you’ll have a chance to rise up even further once war breaks out with the three dynasties. You know, I could’ve forcibly subjugated you, but frankly speaking, I wasn’t interested in using the God Legion Seal in that way. My empire is bringing the civilization of the god world to a higher level, and if you come along, you’ll benefit personally. Refuse to cooperate, and you won’t. People who live in an advanced civilization can’t accept reverting to barbarism, and that’s exactly what the people from the three dynasties are like.”

Some of the leaders immediately gave in.

“We’re willing to surrender!”

“We’ll serve you, especially if it means we can become nobility eventually.”

They understood the hidden meaning of Yang Qi’s words. They would be required to fight the three dynasties to earn merit and have their criminal record wiped clean. And if they performed well enough, they might be ordained as nobles.

At this point, the confucian experts were having a hard time refusing. They knew that they had lost in the debates, and as such, if they wanted to become true sages, leading the people of the empire in some sort of revolt wasn’t the right thing to do.

“That’s good,” Yang Qi said. “You can't afford to take this situation lightly. Granted, you were only discussing revolt, and never took any action, so I won’t enforce the death penalty. Instead, you’ll go to the mightiest of the temples in the dynasty, where you’ll pray to the empire for forgiveness. You’ll also pray for the empire itself, imploring its destiny to improve and for the empire to shine like a blazing sun. If you’re insincere, the destiny will be blackened, and everyone will see it clearly.” Raising his voice, he said, “Sage monarch magistrates!”

“Sir!” Swarms of magistrates converged on the college where the meeting had been taking place.

The confucian leaders were herded to an enormous temple where hosts of government officials and magistrates were in the process of offering prayers.

“Sage monarch magistrates,” Yang Qi said, “lead the confucian leaders in prayers for forgiveness. When their sincere prayers lead to improved destiny, they can leave, their crimes forgiven.”

It was a vicious move.

He was forcing them into this action, and if they didn’t pray sincerely, it would stain the destiny, and they would be wiped out by it.

Yang Qi wasn't worried that they might fight back. By forcing them to pray for forgiveness, he had completely shattered their faith. Normally speaking, confucians focused on righteousness and status, and would rather die than submit. But by his careful plan, he had destroyed their dao hearts and forced them to do exactly that.

Having accomplished this, Yang Qi headed back to the Halls of Heaven. Looking down, he could see the destiny of his empire climbing higher, which confirmed that the confucians had been subjugated. They had hoped to infiltrate his empire and take the destiny for their own. Instead, they ended up sincerely praying to the empire, and increasing its destiny.

The influx of leaders was going to be a boon for the empire. They needed human leaders in general, and what was more, Confucian Vicissitude, Confucian Meaning, and Confucian Script all had psychic scales of two hundred billion. With them praying to the empire, the place would be stronger than ever.

That wasn’t to mention the five quadrillion students they had brought with them. They were now inextricably linked to his empire, and would live or die with it. That was the attitude that all citizens had. Without the empire, they were nothing.

In this regard, they were the same as Yang Qi.

‘The destiny is going to expand even more now. The ocean of faith is almost completely integrated with my empire, so now, the destiny of the Sage Monarch Empire is vastly superior to the hodgepodge of the three dynasties. The only thing I lack now is population. I'm way behind in population!’

Although he had superior destiny, when it came to outright war, he would still be in a very dangerous situation. The three dynasties just had too many people. And if the High Priestess managed to truly unite them, by using confucians to help in governing, for example, then their destiny would rise to a level higher than that of the Sage Monarch Empire.

An alliance like theirs hadn’t even existed in the Sovereign Lord’s time.

Furthermore, Yang Qi could see powerful streams of energy entering the alliance from the primal-chaos on the outside. Obviously, the High Priestess had roused numerous top experts who would be more than happy to take advantage of the chaos in the alliance to benefit themselves.

Normally speaking, they wouldn’t do such a thing, for fear of being found out, captured, and ultimately enslaved.

‘What's this...?’ Yang Qi looked over at the Central Dynasty to find that King Immortal-Slayer’s aura had vanished, as had that of Proud Central. And the energy of the Lord of Righteous Justice was nowhere to be found.

King Immortal-Slayer had previously been connected to the destiny of the Sage Monarch Empire, as he had been ordained as the imperial preceptor. But now his aura was gone. Did that mean he was dead? Or had he been captured?

‘Don’t tell me Proud Heaven has made a move,’ Yang Qi thought. Looking closer, he realized that Proud Heaven’s aura was nowhere to be found either. Given his vantage point over the god world as a whole, that was very strange. He couldn't find the High Priestess either, but she was a Half-Annulled expert. Proud Heaven wasn’t. Yang Qi should have been able to see him as easily as Yang Voidprime.

But that simply wasn’t the case.

‘He must have killed his father. Don’t tell me my plan succeeded already. Perhaps they wounded each other. If it's the former, then the plan is progressing beyond what I’d intended. I wanted the two of them to injure each other. I hadn’t planned for Proud Heaven to devour Proud Central. This seems to indicate that Proud Heaven has some immensely powerful ally....’

Yang Qi performed some calculations, and came to the conclusion that the essence of the god world had to be helping Proud Heaven. It had helped him improve his Ten Universe by tenfold, which was how he had devoured Proud Central.

Yang Qi’s plan had worked, it was just that he hadn’t anticipated the essence of the god world supporting Proud Heaven.

In any case, nothing had really changed. He still needed to open the Ancient Road to the Gods and rescue all of his friends and family from the impure lands. With the right boost in population, his empire would reach the ultimate peak. And that was even more the case, considering his people would all be Ascendants. He had already adjusted the Everlasting Aegis to accommodate everyone from the lower worlds, and ensure that they became gods.

And those who couldn’t reach that level would still be Quasi-Gods, which would ensure that they could at least survive in the god world.

“Destiny Improvement. Ancient Road to the Gods. Juncture Creation!”

Drawing on his divine abilities, Yang Qi summoned a gold and jade bridge, drawing on the destiny of his empire to reach levels of power that surpassed that of the High Priestess.

Creak. Crack.

Beneath the Halls of Heaven, the essence of the god world retreated, and slowly but surely, the lower worlds came into view.

Yang Qi drew on another powerful divine ability, thrusting his palm out as he used the Hand of the One God to span space-time and create a new bridge.

He instantly felt the opposition of the essence of the god world.

‘Now I understand why the Ancient Road to the Gods disappeared. It was the only path from the lower worlds to the god world. The lower worlds have natural laws that are different from the god world, which is why Ascendants are so powerful. To the god world, such people are foreign parasites. The more Ascendants, the more parasites! And that's bad for the god world! The god world is essentially alive, and those people who are born in it are subject to its magical law. That's why they're easier to control. As the god world grows, it gains awareness. It's waking up. And it’s just doing whatever it can to reduce the number of parasites within it. Well, I'm going to reopen the Ancient Road to the Gods and bring all of my friends and family up here, along with all their people. It will violate the taboos of the god world, but that's what I have to do. Besides, the essence of the god world is already opposing me. I bet Proud Heaven gobbling up Proud Central was just the god world trying to cause trouble for me.’