Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

There were dozens of young women from the Joyflower Palace present, and one of the first things that attracted their attention was the Dao Defense League, hanging there strong and solid in primal-chaos.

The young woman with the crown of flowers frowned. “Hmm. There’s more to this Dao Defense League than meets the eye. For one thing, it's quite large. All of you, take a look. Its borders are protected by numerous god formations, creating a very solid barrier. It almost looks like some primeval beast of some sort. Very mysterious. And you can sense that there are powerful experts lurking in its depths.”

“What? When did that happen? Let’s take a look.”

All of the young women looked surprised as they peered into the Dao Defense League with its ten billion immortal worlds. They were all linked together in a shape that resembled an ancient megamammoth, just waiting to aggressively lunge forward. In fact, this megamammoth of immortal worlds almost seemed to be breathing, as if it were at one with the universe itself.

Those who could perceive the megamammoth would realize that it could unleash devastating force if it were attacked. And if it somehow faced a force stronger than itself, it could slip away and escape. It was not just strong, but also wise and quick-witted. In a word, it was difficult to assess.

There were numerous wormholes in the depths of the alliance, connecting all of the immortal worlds that made it up and making it a place of peace and tranquility.

Of course, because of all of the items erupting from the Great Necropolis, the immortal worlds in general were a place of extreme violence and bloodshed. In fact, most people lived in a state of constant fear.

Because of that, the immortals who weren’t interested in ruthlessly competing for resources were highly inclined to join the Dao Defense League, where resources were plentiful.

In times of gory conflict, locations of peace and tranquility were highly attractive to many people. Yang Qi had long since established law and order in the Dao Defense League, to the point where even a blind person could see what it was like. There were even extremely powerful old-timers who, tired of the constant fighting and threat of death, sought refuge there.

The Dao Defense League was now so famous for its orderliness and riches that its name had reached even the most distant immortal worlds. In fact, in recent months, billions of powerful individuals had joined the Dao Defense League, which was in itself shocking.

Of course, the people from the Joyflower Palace viewed the situation somewhat differently. What they focused on was the destiny from so many countless immortal worlds flowing into the depths of the Dao Defense League.

“This place looks perfect,” said one of the women from the Joyflower Palace. “It will make a very stable foundation and save us a lot of time and effort. Usually, it's difficult to establish a foothold in a new area, but the Dao Defense League has essentially done all the hard work for us. We can just take it over, then immediately focus on expanding.”

“That’s right,” said the young woman with the crown. “The Dao Defense League will make the perfect foundation. With it, we can focus on immediate expansion. Before long, all of the immortal worlds will be ours. We really will save a lot of time this way.”

One of the young women frowned. “But Elder Sister Purity… what about the league-lord of this place? What’s his name? Yang Qi. Will he willingly become our puppet? Right now he's the sole ruler of this so-called Dao Defense League.”

Another woman snorted coldly, her eyes flickering with killing intent. “Would he dare refuse us? Doubtful, unless he wants to end up dead. That’s the fate of anyone who defies the Joyflower Palace. Death. Painful, horrific death. Especially for men.”

“That’s what I was implying,” replied the woman who had frowned. “Men don’t deserve quick deaths. Unfortunately, if we did kill this Yang Qi, his people would take it badly and it could lead to the Dao Defense League collapsing. And that would just make our overall goals harder to achieve. After all, we really need the universal fortune of heaven and earth, right? In the end, what we fundamentally require is his allegiance, and the allegiance of everyone else in the Immortal Dao Age. I’ve heard that Yang Qi’s people are all fanatically devoted to him, as if he brainwashed them or something. They wouldn’t hesitate to die for him, and if that happened, it would definitely be counter-productive for us.”

“You’re right, this isn’t going to be easy,” Elder Sister Purity said. She thought for a moment. “How about this: we start out with the carrot-and-stick approach. If he thinks there’ll be a benefit for him, he’ll definitely agree to go along with our demands. If he refuses, we can always resort to harsher tactics. Make him suffer. As long as we don’t do it in front of his subordinates, we should be fine. For example, if we can get him to join the Joyflower Palace, we’ll have plenty of options at hand, right?”

“You're absolutely right, Elder Sister Purity. Very clever. Come on, let’s get started! Before we know it, our mission will be accomplished and we’ll have control of the universal fortune of heaven and earth.”

“What a pity that this Yang Qi only uses the universal fortune for personal cultivation. He can’t compare at all to our boundless empress, who can use it to drive away the dao of heaven or take control of it to use in combat. What a huge waste.”

The dozens of young women quickly carved out a pathway through the primal-chaos, converting the surrounding vital energy into colorful flowers and immortal energy. Obviously, these women were very powerful, especially the one called Elder Sister Purity.

Clearly, only Yang Qi's true self would be able to deal with people whose cultivation bases were as terrifying as this. Their ability to convert primal-chaos into usable power was something that, up to this point, he thought that only the power assessment systems of the Cruiser of Civilization could do. Yet these young women did so with almost no effort at all.

Soon, they reached the god formations that formed the borders of the Dao Defense League, whereupon Elder Sister Purity said, “Junior Sister Fragrant, head down there and tell the league-lord that we've come from the Joyflower Palace to pay a formal visit. Make it clear that if we’re not treated with respect, we’ll attack with deadly force.”

“Yes ma’am!” One of the young women flew a bit closer, but when she reached the god formations she was only able to proceed a short distance before being forced to stop. She frowned. ‘I can’t believe this measly Dao Defense League has god formations of this level. And there are multiple layers of defense? It would be very dangerous to try forcing my way through. Well, Elder Sister Purity should be able to handle it.’

Junior Sister Fragrant’s cultivation base actually wasn’t very far below that of Holy Daughter Joyflower. She was a Grand Emperor with a power index of roughly forty. Although she wasn’t at Yang Qi’s level, she was still strong enough to be able to destroy the entire Dao Defense League, if she wanted, were it not for the fact that fifty Grand Emperors lurked within it, including Cipher Rite-Heaven, whose power index was over a hundred.

‘How dare these people from the Immortal Dao Age create spell formations like this! They really do deserve to die. Eventually we’ll get the chance to torment that Yang Qi and make him our slave. Then we’ll make sure he lives a life worse than death!’

Raising her voice, she said, “People of the Dao Defense League, listen up. We’re from the strongest faction on the Ancient Road to the Gods, the Joyflower Palace. Tell your league-lord to get out here and offer greetings, otherwise, he’s dead! And afterward, we’ll destroy your little alliance!”

Almost immediately, the god formation began activating, revealing countless experts within them. One of the experts called out, “We’ll notify the league-lord immediately. Please wait, and forgive us for any inconvenience.”

Surprisingly, the people of the Dao Defense League were being neither servile nor overbearing.