Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Yang Qi was truly astounded.

It really was an unexpected development that the two most powerful sects would come to an agreement like this. Contrary to expectation, neither of them wanted to lead the alliance, but had instead chosen to pick an outsider that they would personally bless into reaching a higher level of power.

In the end, it did make a lot of sense, and was probably the best way to balance the conflict between the two major sects. Of course, whichever young one was selected would be a complete puppet. And huge blessings of power never came without a price.

That said, many of the young heroes present would still unhesitatingly scramble to get the position.

Some might not even consider the downsides, while others might consider them but be willing to accept them, thinking that they might be able to win their freedom later. After all, in the very end, they would be the league-lord, and would still wield immense power.

Even Yang Qi was thinking about trying to take the position. Even if the ‘blessing’ involved warding spells, he could unravel them, and he was also confident of being able to free himself from the control of the Genesis Sanctum and the Woodfern Couple Palace. The old-timers from those organizations wouldn’t be a true threat to him.

Not too long ago, he might have been too leery to put himself in that position. But after gaining enlightenment of the Purrfect God Art and boosting his cultivation base, he was a lot more confident. He still didn’t have the Mahātmā Jade he needed to balance his fleshly body and psyche, but the Purrfect God Art made up for that.

With the Purrfect God Art, it was possible to negate just about any type of power.

The fleshly body could be considered a unique type of power, controlled by the psyche. When they existed in a perfect balance, it was possible to unleash incredible power. And right now, Yang Qi was capable of doing just that.

Before cultivating the Purrfect God Art, he would never have been able to kill the Flower-Seizing Marauder with Star Swordlife hovering over his shoulder. In fact, he might have even ended up on the losing side of that fight. Instead, he had held them both off and completely devastated the Flower-Seizing Marauder.

Furthermore, he was confident that, before long, his Purrfect God Art would advance another step and his psyche would finally break through to the Terrifying level.

And in that state, he would be able to extricate himself from any deadlock.

“Junior empress,” one of the young elites said, “this new information is completely unexpected. Besides, considering the level of your cultivation base, you would be the perfect league-lord. How could any of us dare to usurp a position that’s rightfully meant for you? Is there anything that can be done to change the decision made by the two sects?”

“Of course it can’t be changed,” the junior empress replied. “I cannot compete for the position of league-lord, and neither can the junior pontiff. This is the only way to achieve balance. Truth be told, I don’t think that any of you understand why I invited you here to heat alcohol and discuss heroism, do you?”

“Why?”

Everyone present was struck by how enigmatic and mysterious the junior empress was. Everything she did seemed to conform to the dao of heaven, and once she broke through to the Terrifying level, she would definitely be a person to be very careful around. Her cultivation base was already beyond the level of some of the old-timers.

“The alcohol being served is a treasured beverage called Exalted-Celestial Ultimate-Profundity’s Jade Dew. It comes from a drop of quintessence energy left behind by Exalted-Celestial Ultimate-Profundity from the distant past. It actually surpasses godhood, as Exalted-Celestial Ultimate-Profundity was a Perfect God. In his attempt to become a Paramount God, he collected various types of quintessence energy from the god world and brewed them into a jade dew that contains profound magical laws from there. At the same time, he refined his own godhood, making it pure and imbuing it with magical laws to surpass gods. In the end, he failed and perished. However, his jug of jade dew remained behind, and we acquired some of it. The alcohol here today has a drop of that jade dew in it, and in a moment, I’ll give you all a chance to acquire it. Whoever does will earn the endorsement of the Woodfern Couple Palace, which will be a big help in the competition for the spot of league-lord.

“As you can imagine, even one drop of the jade dew will provide a huge boost to the psyche and fleshly body. And it won’t cause any side-effects. Anyone under the Terrifying level who uses it will find that the balance between their psychic scale and their fleshly body will be instantly perfected. It will balance yin and yang, and instantly push you into a cycle of perfection. Although it won't actually bolster your power, it will definitely improve your fighting prowess.”

Everyone looked over at the alcohol in response to her words, their eyes brightly glittering with desire and greed.

Anyone that acquired that alcohol would obviously get a huge boost to their cultivation and be that much closer to becoming the league-lord. Truth be told, it was only the first part of the Woodfern Couple Palace’s plan to pick someone to endorse.

“How exactly will we compete to get this alcohol, Junior Empress?” Yang Qi asked.

“It’s simple,” she replied. “Whoever is the most skilled will take the alcohol from within the cauldron. The spatial laws here are very strong, so all you have to do is take the alcohol. Don’t worry, you won’t break the furnace or cauldron. Remember, Chaos and the Deer Cauldron are precious treasures of the Woodfern Couple Palace.”

“Fine, make way!” one of the junior sectlords said, rising to his feet and immediately launching a palm strike in the direction of the furnace and cauldron.

RUMBLE!

However, even as he neared the cauldron, a chaotic energy rumbled out of it and sent the junior sectlord flying backward, howling as he threw his hands out to defend himself against the backlash.

He staggered back until he slammed into the wall, where he then vomited up a mouthful of blood. The disbelief in his eyes was apparent.

He had just used a consummate art called the Truth-Converging God Claw, which used convergences of truth to gain control of any target.

The onlookers were visibly surprised. The young man who was first to act was the junior houselord of the Godly House of Cessation. His cultivation base was profound, and his energy arts formidable. Although there were plenty of other figures present who were on the same level as him, few were in a position to easily surpass him.

To see him coughing up blood after making a single move had obviously made everyone else very leery of making their own attempt.

For a long moment, everyone just looked at the Deer Cauldron and tried to decide what to do next.

Meanwhile, the junior empress smiled broadly and said, “Don’t get nervous, ladies and gentlemen. Take your time. The jade dew in the Deer Cauldron can make you a true hero, so it's obviously not going to be easy to get.”

“Alright, I’ll give it a try!” Star Swordlife said. “The dao of life must exist within chaos. Those who believe in true compassion and mercy wish to save all living beings and create a world of peace and balance. I will take this alcohol, not for myself, but to bring balance to chaos and create peace in the world!”

Swish!

With that, he sent a beam of dazzling sword light gushing out like a river that could cleanse all of the filth and impurities in the world.

When the sword energy hit the Deer Cauldron, the cauldron began to tremble, and unexpectedly, did not launch any sort of counterattack. Apparently, the power of chaos within it was being quelled by Star Swordlife.

It seemed his cultivation base had improved thanks to the clash with Yang Qi.

Yang Qi was shaken, and more than ever, felt that leaving Star Swordlife alive was a huge mistake. His killing intent stirred as he began thinking of a way to get rid of him.

“Why be so impatient, Star Swordlife?” The fact that Star Swordlife’s sword energy wasn't being resisted by the Deer Cauldron was a big shock. But of course, no one wanted him to end up with the alcohol. Therefore, it was no surprise that ten streams of energy shot forth and slammed into his sword energy, dispelling it and sending him staggering backward. He might be strong, but there was no way he could stand up to ten powerful experts.

That said, these experts weren’t trying to kill him, but rather to win the contents of the cauldron for their own. Therefore, the ten streams of power began contending with each other.

Whirring sounds could be heard as the cauldron began to spin, rejecting all of the various streams of power. However, the experts involved were all ready, and began redirecting the backlash power toward its source.

RUMBLE!

Eventually, the cauldron was trembling so hard it seemed like it might open at any moment. People could already see the emerald-green alcohol inside, and were even convinced that they could see a pellet of distiller’s yeast in the depths. That ‘distiller’s yeast’ was actually the jade dew, and whoever acquired it would instantly reach a higher level of enlightenment.

“Peace and Security for all Eras; Never Surrender!” Star Swordlife attacked again, sending a beam of sword light into the cauldron, taking advantage of the moment to try to seize a victory.

However, despite getting his sword light into the cauldron, it couldn’t reach the distiller’s yeast.

“You have to absorb the alcohol before you can get to the distiller’s yeast,” the junior empress said.

Star Swordlife waved his finger and his sword energy transformed, exerting a gravitational force that began to suck away at the alcohol.

All of these developments happened in the briefest of moments. As everyone looked on, he began absorbing the emerald green liquid, which caused his power index to begin skyrocketing. His psychic scale also shot upward. Everyone was shocked. If the alcohol itself was this impressive, what would the distiller’s yeast be like?