Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The lord of the thirtieth-ranked Ancient Joy Heaven stood on a high mountain at the highest point of his immortal world. His name was Ancient Dirge, and he was a powerful old-timer, but he had not competed for a spot as one of the god-generals or dharmarajas. Mostly because he wasn't the type of person who liked following rules set by others.

Behind him were a host of experts who were all stronger than Chaos Gods.

One of them was a young woman. “Father,” she said, “why aren’t you doing anything? Look, there are so many other immortal worlds rising up in rebellion and trying to take the god items. Why not us? Are you really going to follow the orders of that supposed league-lord, Yang Qi? Hmph! What's so special about him anyway? He's still wet behind the ears! Maybe he stumbled across some good fortune, but his cultivation base is still completely lacking. All of us here have stronger cultivation bases than him. And now god items are literally raining down out of the sky. This is the perfect chance for our Ancient Joy Heaven to wipe out our competition among the other immortal worlds!”

This young woman was Ancient Dirge’s daughter, a princess of the Ancient Joy Heaven who was named Ancient Mercy. She also had a profound cultivation base, supposedly because of some good fortune she found out in primal-chaos. The look of disdain in her eyes when she mentioned Yang Qi’s name made it clear that she was itching to rebel against him.

“Just be patient a bit longer,” Ancient Dirge said, looking around at the chaos of the rebellion. Then he shook his head. “That Yang Qi might be young, but he’s quite tyrannical. I don't want to have a child telling me what to do, which is why I didn’t try to seize a spot as a dharmaraja or a god-general. In fact, I wasn't even interested in being one of the emissaries. In any case, this rain of god items indicates that something big is happening with the Ancient Road to the Gods. And that means we have a good opportunity on our hands. Let the rebels pave the way while we bide our time, getting stronger the entire time. Then, when both sides have been worn down a bit, we can make our move. Daughter, did you really think I was planning to just sit around and watch the show? Truth be told, I’ll be able to absorb the chaotic energy released by the death of the rebels, which will only help me grow stronger.”

A young man stepped forward. “Congratulations, father. You’re finally going to finish cultivating the consummate technique of the Paramount God, the Lord of Chaos.”

Chuckling coldly, Ancient Mercy said, “Let’s see how this Yang Qi tries to quell the rebellion. The truth is that he’s actually not very impressive at all. He relies on tricks using King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions and the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Apparently, he doesn't know about the deadly side-effects of those medallions. Once they absorb enough destiny, King Immortal-Slayer himself will be resurrected. It’s a classic case of the fox exploiting the tiger’s might. He doesn’t have what it actually takes to keep the Dao Defense League united.”

“For all we know, his current actions might be the doing of King Immortal-Slayer,” Ancient Dirge said. “In any case, it doesn’t matter. There are a hundred trillion worlds in the Dao Defense League now, and with god items raining down, plenty of them are going to rebel. Even if Yang Qi manages to crush all the rebellions, it’s going to weaken him overall. And that will be the perfect time for us to vie for supremacy!”

“But father,” Ancient Mercy said anxiously, “if we don’t take action now, it might be too late. Look at how many god items are falling down!”

BOOM!

Even as the words left her mouth, radiance and light exploded around them and a host of angels appeared.

“Our Lord resides among men, our Lord triumphs in every battle, our Lord’s will and glory will shine throughout the universe….”

As they sang, the angels laid waste to the rebel immortal worlds in the area, reducing them to ashes.

“This is bad!” murmured Ancient Dirge, his face falling. “Where did these armies of angels come from? They’re crushing the rebels! This brat Yang Qi is even stronger than I realized!”

“Oh my god!” Ancient Mercy shrieked. “Look, the army of angels just destroyed that entire immortal world! It's completely gone! The rebels are all dead!”

“Brutal. So brutal!” Ancient Dirge said. “Send down orders immediately. The Ancient Joy Heaven is going to follow the league-lord’s orders!”

“Father, don’t tell me that we're just going to forget about all our ambitions?!” Ancient Mercy said begrudgingly.

“We have no choice,” Ancient Dirge said coolly. “I could never have guessed that this Yang Qi would be so strong! We're definitely not a match for him. Our only option now is to bide our time and see how things play out. Thankfully, we’d planned to wait a while before making our move, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable.”

“Father, look,” another of his daughters said. “The angels are heading in our direction!”

“I see. Everyone, prepare yourself to welcome the angels!” Ancient Dirge watched as the hosts of angels swarmed toward his immortal world.

“Oh exalted Angels, I am the lord of the Ancient Joy Heaven. I've received the orders from the league-lord and have refrained from rebelling by trying to seize the falling treasures.”

“Indeed,” one of the generals among the angels said. “You have not rebelled, and have not tried to seize the treasures. Because of that, you and your immortal world might have been spared. That said, we cannot tolerate the evil intentions you harbor in your heart. Did you really think that you could secretly plan to revolt and we wouldn't find out about it? Our Lord heard every word you said just now. After all, the Lord's Eye can see through anything and everything!”

All of a sudden an eye appeared in midair, right in front of Ancient Dirge, Ancient Mercy, and the others. There was no doubt that the words uttered by Ancient Mercy moments ago were extremely disrespectful and even downright sinful.

Ancient Dirge’s face fell. Never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed that Yang Qi would be able to spy on his confidential conversations.

“This is a misunderstanding!” he said. “A big misunderstanding. I would never rebel against the league-lord!”

“The evidence is conclusive,” the angel replied. “How can you deny it? You besmirched our Lord, which is the gravest crime imaginable. Arrest him!” Hosts of angels immediately fanned out and began sending sagefire out to destroy the immortal world.

‘Time to go for broke!’ Ancient Mercy thought. She suddenly flew up into the air, glowing rings that resembled saber light rising up around her. Shockingly, it was an attack that actually felled several of the angels!

“We’ve been found out. Let’s get out of here!” Unexpectedly, she had a god item that made her roughly as strong as one of the dharmarajas.

“Kill our way out!” Ancient Dirge shouted. The mountain peak beneath his feet exploded, revealing a huge banner that was so powerful that its every sweep cut down any angels who got too close to him.

With that banner, he led the charge to freedom.

However, in that same moment….

RUMBLE!

Two Grand Emperors had appeared, namely Patriarch Annalist and the Emissary of Righteousness, Yang Righteousness, who was now even far more ferocious than he had been as Grand Emperor Ragefire Broilheaven. A chakram suddenly appeared in his hands, which he used to strike Ancient Mercy in the chest. Blood sprayed out of her mouth, and she began falling. However, before she could get too far, he grabbed her.

Meanwhile, Patriarch Annalist seized Ancient Dirge’s banner and used it to beat him until he vomited blood.

In the following moments, the rest of the Ancient Clan were captured and sent to the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple.

There, Yang Qi sat on his throne, watching as the armies of angels quelled all the rebellions. Matters proceeded smoothly. Wherever issues cropped up, Grand Emperors would be sent to take care of things.

“League-Lord,” Patriarch Annalist said, “a total of thirty-nine billion revolts occurred. It took roughly six hours to put them all down. We arrested quite a few spies who were found to be instigating the uprisings. All of them have been gathered in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple to await sentencing by you.”

There were quite a few old-timers who had been captured, and virtually all of them were trying to look as regretful as possible and not the least bit ambitious. Among the last to be brought in were Ancient Dirge and Ancient Mercy. Seeing them, Yang Qi nodded.

“I never would’ve thought that this father and daughter team would be among the ambitious rebels. To think that she has the legacy of the ancient Cold-Jade Saber God, and Ancient Dirge has the legacy of the Lord of Chaos, the mighty Chaos Banner. It’s said that the Lord of Chaos was a Paramount God of similar reputation to the Lord of Civilization. There are thirteen of those banners, each of which is filled with the power to destroy heaven and extinguish the earth. Combine them and you can throw all heaven and earth into chaos, inflicting heavy casualties on our armies. You truly are ambitious and ruthless, but I saw through your plot.”

“Yang Qi, there’s no need for you to be so domineering!” Ancient Mercy said. “Just release us! You’re relying on King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, and they won’t keep you going forever.”

“League-Lord, I can be very useful to you!” Ancient Dirge said, taking a much different approach. “Daughter, enough with your nonsense! There’s still time to show loyalty to the League-Lord.”

“Still time?” Yang Qi said. He could tell that these were people who would change their minds at the drop of a hat. Without any warning, he shoved both of his palms out, and the two of them exploded into ash. Before it could dissipate, Yang Qi absorbed it.

Then he waved his hand, and screams rang out as all the disloyal old-timers in Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple were also reduced to ash.

The rebellions in the Dao Defense League had been put down, and complete unity had been attained. Going forward, Yang Qi was now much more confident that the quality of the destiny he could acquire would improve dramatically.