Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“My god!” Dragon Everlasting let loose a bloodcurdling and miserable shriek. He had brought four generals of the Dragonfolk to help put Dragon Proudheaven in his place. Never could he have imagined that things would turn out like this.

The elders, grand elders, and all of the leaders up to the elder kings were completely united in their deadly attack, hurling forth daoist techniques and magical treasures of all types. In the end, the four generals exploded so thoroughly that they didn't leave behind even a sliver of bone to mark their passage.

Those four generals were savage fighters who, when they combined their might, could unleash might comparable to the Warriors of the Great Dance. They were consummate, invincible experts who were veterans of numerous battles. In the heights of the universe, they could slaughter the wild beasts that existed in the primal-chaos around thirty-third ranked heavenly worlds. And in the depths of the universe, they could travel to the darkest hells to hunt fiend-devils.

Dragon Everlasting’s father, King God Dragon, had personally appointed them as generals, and they were on the very brink of becoming seventh division Measureless Gods.

Reaching the seventh division put one in an entirely different position, even within the Dragonfolk. Such Measureless Gods were true hegemons, invincible fighters who often founded their own sects or organizations. Originally, King God Dragon had assigned them to his son to let them get more experience and, hopefully, become a bit stronger. If they had become Measureless Gods, they would have been huge assets to the God Dragon Tribe, but now they weren’t even lifeless corpses.

Dragon Everlasting knew that if his father, King God Dragon, learned of this, forgiveness would not be an option.

Sadly, there was nothing he could do in the face of millions upon millions of elders. Maybe he could fight back and kill one or two, but that would only ensure that he would die sooner.

“Are you people crazy?!” Dragon Everlasting shouted. “You’re willing to fight the God Dragon Tribe just to protect one low-down dragon from a pitiful tribe? If our tribe sends down an army, then even if you all work together you’ll still be wiped out!”

However, at the same time, he turned and fled.

The elders weren’t willing to let him escape, though.

“Kill him! Slaughter everyone from the God Dragon Tribe! Take their dragonpearls and dragon vitality!”

“Yeah, we might as well crush them!”

“That’s right! While our Dao Defense League led the fighting, the God Dragon Tribe went into hiding and refused to fight the future world! And now they show up trying to act high and mighty, and even trying to extort us? There’s no way we can stand for this. These people have to die!”

“Exactly! Kill all these god dragons!”

A host of elders descended like swarms of bees toward the God Dragon Tribe’s camp. Instantly, the place was put into a position of incredible danger. The young Dragonfolk flew out to see Young Sir Dragon Everlasting scrambling back in their direction, anxiously shouting, “Go, go, go! Get back to the Eight Tribes Heaven and mobilize the armies! Wipe these people out of existence!”

“What? He wants to go back to the Eight Tribes Heaven and marshal their armies? No way! Kill him!”

Many of the elders were so angered they could hardly control themselves. Instead of trying to play games, they just wanted to put an end to these Dragonfolk and wipe them out of existence. In the blink of an eye, a combined attack descended that shook the highest heavens like a tribulation from the primeval past.

RUMBLE!

Dazzling light flared as explosive energy ripped through the area. The Dragonfolk who had been first to fly out were slashed to pieces and some of the nearby elder kings absorbed their souls, blood, and energy, leading to immediate benefits.

Dragon Everlasting was instantly surrounded, and obviously had no chance of escaping.

Seeing his fellow Dragonfolk being cut down, though, caused his heart to surge with anger. “I'm not going to rest until you’re dead, Dragon Proudheaven!” he shrieked. “You might have bewitched these elders into killing my generals and my people, but my superiors in the God Dragon Tribe will never believe it! The Dragon Emperor is probably going to skin me alive!”

Seeing that Dragon Everlasting was surrounded, many of the elders began shouting in triumph.

“Kill this Dragon Everlasting! He has royal blood of the God Dragon Tribe! Refine him into some spirit medicine and the benefits will be astounding. Young Sir Dragon Proudheaven can do it for us. We’ll all get much stronger, and maybe even achieve breakthroughs!”

It seemed a foregone conclusion that Dragon Everlasting was doomed.

Meanwhile, the dramatic events had attracted the attention of a group of powerful old-timers who had gathered in a secret location. They were none other than the founders of the Dao Defense League.

“What do we do? Should we step in and save Dragon Everlasting?”

“Stop the situation? Well, if the God Dragon Tribe attacks the Dao Defense League, we're done for.”

“Hmph! Those lizards have no sense of propriety. It took a lot of work for us to unite the immortal worlds and make the Dao Defense League work. When we initially went to the Dragonfolk to ask for help against the future world, they refused to send anyone. They said they wanted to ‘maintain their integrity’. Now that we’re prospering, they want to jump in and take all the profit? It only makes sense that we should teach them a harsh lesson.”

“They offered a good reason, though.”

“That doesn’t matter. Their ‘reason’ was completely contrived. So what if Dragon Proudheaven is one of the Dragonfolk? Saying that it was ‘Dragonfolk business’ was just an excuse to prevent us from interfering.”

“Who is Dragon Proudheaven, anyway? He's so strong! Not only can he cure morphblight, he can also negate heterogeneous true energy? With his help, people can easily cultivate multiple godly-class energy arts! We have to keep him safe. After all, we’ll need his help going forward. The God Dragon Tribe obviously has some villainous ambitions, so maybe we should keep Dragon Everlasting hostage to use as a bargaining chip.”

“I studied one of those medicinal tablets, and it seems to be based on a Heaven-Devouring śarīra, the handiwork of the ancient King Heaven-Devourer. However, they should only be able to negate a bit of heterogeneous true energy, not godly-class energy arts.”

The lowest-level old-timers in this group were Measureless Gods, but there were also Buddha Gods and Chaos Gods.

Of course, all of the old-timers had only sent clones to the meeting, keeping their true selves hidden in unknown locations. People at this level could easily create numerous incarnations of themselves and wouldn’t easily show their true faces. It was entirely likely that some of them had true bodies located in or around thirty-third ranked immortal worlds. They could easily be people who found godrelics nestled in the primal-chaos, where they would secretly work on their cultivation in the hopes of reaching the Deathless Throne.

All of them were very curious about Yang Qi, yet couldn’t unravel his secrets.

However, the fact that he could negate the harmful effects of heterogeneous true energy meant that they would all seek his help eventually.

“Let’s step in. If Dragon Everlasting actually gets killed, it’ll be hard to explain it to the God Dragon Tribe. Why don’t we smooth things out right now?” One of the old-timer’s clones suddenly vanished.

RUMBLE!

In the middle of the Dao Defense League, a host of high-level elders were about to slam Dragon Everlasting with such deadly attacks that he would surely perish. Dragon Everlasting was using a god item to fight it out to the end, but he knew he couldn’t hold out for much longer. He was throwing spirit pills into his mouth like mad to recover his true energy, but it was like throwing a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood. Within a few breaths of time, he would join the four generals in their complete and utter destruction.

However, in that very moment, a shining figure descended and intercepted all of the attacks. A hale and hearty young boy, who was apparently a patriarch of some sort, appeared.

With the merest grasp, he took all of the vital energy and magical power and crushed it into nothing.

Immense, majestic energy flowed out in all directions, calming all auras and forcing everyone to settle into a peaceful state. Everyone from the elders to the elder kings looked over at the boyish patriarch, then dropped to their knees and joined their voices to cry out, “Our respects, August Patriarch! Greetings, Patriarch Promoter!”

This ‘young boy’ was a Buddha God patriarch from the thirty-second ranked Promoter Heaven, simply known as Promoter. He was one of the original founders of the Dao Defense League.

When Dragon Everlasting saw Patriarch Promoter, and realized that he was out of danger, he burst out in raucous laughter. “Great timing, Patriarch Promoter. Really, you picked the perfect moment. These people are all plotting against me and the God Dragon Tribe, and they already killed a host of Dragonfolk experts. As a patriarch, surely you’ll enforce justice by arresting all of them and handing them over to the Dragonfolk for trial and execution!”

“Shut your mouth!” Patriarch Promoter said. “This matter has nothing to do with the Dao Defense League. You and Dragon Proudheaven might both be elders of the Dao Defense League, but any conflict between you is an internal affair of the Dragonfolk. You said it yourself! We patriarchs would never interfere with Dragonfolk business. If you have a problem, take care of it on your own!”

Dragon Everlasting immediately realized that Patriarch Promoter was protecting Dragon Proudheaven, which caused venomous hatred to bubble up in his heart. “You… you aren’t worried about reprisal from the Dragonfolk?”

Patriarch Promoter let loose a furious slap onto the side of Dragon Everlasting’s face. “How dare you threaten me! Even your father had better well treat me with respect! If your God Dragon Tribe dares to cause mischief, then all of the patriarchs of the Dao Defense League will join forces to wipe you out of existence! The Dao Defense League was formed to resist the future world and defend the dao of heaven. We’ve already gained the favor of the dao of heaven and will restore the ancient Heavenly Court to unite all immortal worlds! If you Dragonfolk don’t fall in line and take orders, then you’ll be setting yourselves against the Heavenly Court and end up dead and buried. For the sake of your father’s face, I saved you just now. Otherwise, you’d be dead already. I'm done here. Everyone here is dismissed. Let’s just pretend none of this happened. Let Dragon Everlasting go back home, and see how the Dragonfolk handle their ‘internal affairs’.”

He flicked his sleeve to emphasize his words.

In response, the various elders cheered. “Long live the Dao Defense League! Defend the dao of heaven, unify all creation!”