Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“Supreme Rector, you’re like an incarnation of wisdom! How did you ever come up with an idea like that?”

“Excellent plan. Fighting our way in there and saving Yang Qi in his moment of crisis will be of immense benefit to us. Once we have him, we can lock him up and extract his secrets at will.”

“Exactly.”

“Hmph! Yang Qi’s not going to escape this time.”

“That little brat killed Kingly Beheader and nailed his head to a spike outside his main gate. What an insult to us! If we don't kill him, how can we maintain our authority in the collegium? He needs to die as an example to others!”

“But if we do this, it’s crossing the river and burning the bridge. There’s going to be a lot of gossip afterward.”

“Ah, what are you scared of? If anyone dares to say the wrong thing, we can just have them killed. Once we capture Yang Qi, we can go destroy the Sage Monarch planetary system and get his mother too. What do they call her again? The Holy Mother. According to my information network, the Sage Monarch planetary system and the Hanging Mountain fused and her aura improved significantly. She’s probably as strong as any of us initiators.”

“What? How did she get so strong so quickly? Last time I checked she was a Prime Demi-Immortal!”

“Apparently she came across a godrelic in the Hell of Gloom and Darkness. She and Yang Qi both achieved cultivation breakthroughs at the same time and, in all likelihood, it was because of that godrelic. That’s the only way Yang Qi could already be strong enough to fight a Demolisher.”

“Well, if we kill him and his mother, we can get the power of that godrelic too.”

All of a sudden, a new voice rang out within the Plane of Initiation, a voice thrumming with killing intent.

“You're right. Kill them. I’ll go along with the Supreme Rector’s plan in every aspect.”

A middle-aged man appeared, who was none other than the hallmaster of the Hall of Beheadings and Executions. He was a half-Demolisher who surpassed even Liege Beast, and after his most recent session of secluded meditation, pulsed with an immense immortal energy that indicated he was close to a major breakthrough.

“You’re out of seclusion, Hallmaster!” the supreme rector said, nodding his head in polite greeting.

“Yes, I just came out. Ascendant Beheader told me about all the horrific things that happened while I was away. I don’t care what happens, I will avenge the insult! And once I break through, I’ll go find the Invincible Dugu and kill him too. He's going to find out the hard way just how powerful my nascent divinity secret magic is, the Recondite Slaughter God Refrain. With my recondite nascent divinity complete, I only have one small barrier separating me from the Demolishing level.”

“Wonderful,” the supreme rector said. “Please have a seat in the southeast corner. In a moment, we’ll call on the grand spell formation of the Plane of Initiation to teleport into the Immortal Army Battlefield and break up the fight between Yang Qi and Lei Jiuzhou. We’ll also draw upon the Initiation Power that we’ve been accumulating over the past million years here in the Titan Emperor Collegium.”

“We can't do that!” one of the initiators blurted, and even the hallmaster’s expression flickered.

“Supreme Rector, please, consider this matter again. We initiators built up the Initiation Power to deal with major threats to the collegium. Wouldn’t it be a big waste to use it on a nobody like this Yang Qi?”

“No, it wouldn't,” the supreme rector said, his eyes flashing with an incomparably sinister light. “My intuition is telling me that Yang Qi will not be easy to deal with. If we make a move on him, but fail to come out on top, think about the potential consequences. He’s already so strong that not even a Demolisher can easily kill him. In fact, it's entirely possible that we might not be strong enough to take him out. And what if he achieves another breakthrough? He could completely destroy us. Think about what would happen if he summoned an army of Paragon Demi-Immortal fiend-devils to attack the Titan Emperor Collegium!” Glaring at the gathered experts, he continued, “Yang Qi has something that surpasses our Initiation Power in every way. Think about what it would mean for us to be able to summon fiend-devils any time we wanted. We could easily conquer countless planetary systems.”

“Very well. We’ll follow your lead, supreme rector. We need to cut the snake’s head off with the first blow, otherwise we’ll be bringing about our own destruction.”

“I agree.”

“I see the light now.”

“Yes, kill him. We have to kill him.”

“Very well. Enough chit chat. Fill the grand spell formation with the Initiation Power, otherwise the majesty and dignity of the Titan Emperor Collegium will never be restored. It's all up to us.”

At the supreme rector’s command, immense power began building up in the Plane of Initiation, a power that surpassed even that of the new heaven-immortal, Lei Jiuzhou.

A grand conspiracy was afoot.

**

Meanwhile, Yang Qi and Lei Jiuzhou were fighting back and forth.

Lightning crackled and sagelight shone. Lei Jiuzhou drew fully on his heaven-immortal power, and as Yang Qi remained atop the primal-chaos elder-snake, he used his Infernal Deity Spear and Fist of the Halls of Heaven to dispel the lightning.

All of a sudden, the five-hundred-kilometer-long primal-chaos elder-snake shrank down until it was only a few dozen meters long. In fact, it ended up looking much like a python from the mortal world.

However, closer examination would reveal that it had undergone a very profound transformation. Each scale of primal-chaos on its body was a minor world, within which was a character formed from primal-chaos: snake.

Yang Qi remained on the snake’s head, controlling it, making him seem very much like that most ancient creator of the world, the Sovereign Lord.

‘Fate… fate….’ Yang Qi wasn’t at a disadvantage when fighting this heaven-immortal, Lei Jiuzhou. In contrast, he was actually building up momentum! Suddenly, the halls of heaven appeared overhead and sagelight and quintessence energy within him caused more Blood of the One God to form. At the same time, information poured into him from the God Legion Seal, a string of text that was none other than another energy art.

The Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth had many energy arts. The first was the Infernal Deity Spear, then the Fiend-Devil Wings and the Infernal Deity Plate Armor. After those came the Hellfire Crucible, Angel Wings, and God Legion Battle Robe. There was also the God Legion Paradise, Fist of the Halls of Heaven, Hand of the One God, and Eternal Heavenly Aria. But now, he was acquiring another.

Streams of magical symbols became the quintessence of a dao, forming something that was like a brilliant full moon. It was the Wheel of Fate, which made it possible to control fate itself.

What was fate? Luck. Natural Law. Everything. That was fate. And when the Wheel of Fate came into being, nothing could stop it. It could affect the luck and fate of anyone near it, and could also destroy anything that got in its way.

Of course, Yang Qi was only gaining initial enlightenment and couldn’t summon the entire thing.

If he could, he wouldn’t need to expend any effort at all to kill a heaven-immortal like Lei Jiuzhou. But even with only initial enlightenment, he was still significantly stronger than before.

Yang Qi’s face was completely devoid of emotion. There was no trace of happiness, anger, sorrow, or joy, as though he were a manifestation of the dao of heaven itself. In that moment, the basic feeling of his energy arts transformed into something different. Instead of being bold and audacious, they suddenly became profound and flexible.

They were difficult to read, and could pierce through any resistance.

They were just like fate itself, something that no one could see, but at the same time, was forced to follow.

‘What just happened?’ Lei Jiuzhou thought. ‘Why did his energy arts style suddenly change?’ Without hesitation, he unleashed a powerful move, summoning eighty-one lightning dragons to serve as clones of himself.

“Lightning Shocks Mountains and Rivers: Exterminate Immortals and Slaughter Devils!”

Whizz!

Eighty-one lightning dragon manifestations of Lei Jiuzhou swirled into a fist of lightning that smashed toward Yang Qi with incredibly destructive power.

“Die!” he howled.

“How dare you act so crazy in my presence?” Yang Qi said. “Suicidal fool! ‘Lightning Shocks Mountains and Rivers’? Sounds like a move made up by a child. Be destroyed!”

Yang Qi surged with unprecedented levels of battle prowess and the Blood of the One God in his forehead surged, releasing the true energy of the One God to fill the God Legion Paradise.

Instantly, everything in the area began trembling violently as Yang Qi released a sound wave attack. As it rolled out, the primal-chaos elder-snake shrank down and wrapped around his Infernal Deity Spear.

“Fate….” Yang Qi breathed.

As soon as the word left his mouth, it seemed to cause the universe to spin as if it were being moved by the Wheel of Fate itself. As it happened, Lei Jiuzhou’s attacks slammed into Yang Qi, yet their power was shifted away. That was the magical function of the wheel. It could change the course of life itself to negate all sorts of magical effects. It could change fate.

In other words, once Yang Qi perfected the Wheel of Fate, he would be almost impossible to defeat.

“What energy art is that?” Lei Jiuzhou said, dropping down out of the sky and staring at Yang Qi. He was suddenly starkly aware that he couldn’t lock down on Yang Qi’s energy, almost as if he were illusory. And yet, all of Lei Jiuzhou’s senses were telling him that Yang Qi was real.

The transposition of reality and illusion nearly caused him to cough up blood.