Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

“Milord, that was Brahma Mountain-River, the son of one of the elders in the Brahman Society. Well, I'm the son of an elder too. Both of us are considered important people. If you think about the fact that the Brahman Society has the power over the economy of the Thirty-Six Thousand Immortal Worlds Coalition, as well as legal authority, it’s no wonder there’s often fierce infighting within the leadership. Brahma Mountain-River is a personal opponent of mine and we’ve fought each other on many occasions in the past.”

Hu Latu seemed so thrilled to have defeated Brahma Mountain-River that he wanted to sing a song. At the same time, he was starting to feel very pleased that he was working for Yang Qi.

After leaving the river, they entered the Brahman Immortal World itself. It had incredibly strong magical laws, therefore Yang Qi didn’t hesitate to surreptitiously use King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans to start siphoning away some of the immortal essence and using it to create Heaven-Devouring śarīras.

‘I wonder what it will be like when I finally get all three thousand of these talismans,’ he thought. ‘When I turn them into an incarnation of King Heaven-Devourer, I’ll be stronger than ever, and won’t have to fear anything in heaven and earth. In fact, I bet they would be strong enough to suppress King Immortal-Slayer’s legacy medallions.’

Although King Immortal-Slayer was considered the leader of his contemporaries, King Heaven-Devourer was by no means weak. Yang Qi was convinced that those talismans, combined with the God Legion Seal, would be able to overwhelm King Immortal-Slayer’s power.

After thinking about the matter a bit longer, he said, “Hu Latu, am I right that cultivating two of the five phases energy arts makes you special among the higher-ups?”

“That’s right, Milord,” Hu Latu said. “Only the higher-level members of the Brahman Society can cultivate them. And throughout the tens of millions of years of history in our organization, only our original founding ancestor, the god Brahma, was able to combine all five. Ever since then, no one has ever been able to do it. Usually, one of them is the limit, with only top geniuses being able to cultivate two. People like that are as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns. And in terms of cultivating three, well, they would be priceless assets to the society. As for cultivating four, throughout the entire history of the society, only three people have ever succeeded at that, and one of them was Proud Heaven.”

“Hold on,” Yang Qi said. “I thought you said Proud Heaven was the founding patriarch of the Brahman Society? But now you're talking about the core teachings and doctrines of Brahma?”

“It’s not really that complicated,” Hu Latu said. “Brahma founded the Brahman Immortal World. After he was gone, the entire place descended into chaos before Proud Heaven and his sworn siblings united it. Then they established the Thirty-Six Thousand Immortal Worlds Coalition. Afterward, a lot of dramatic things happened and many things changed. But in the end, it’s Brahma who is our ultimate ancestor.”

“So that’s how it is,” Yang Qi said with a bit of a sneer. “I should have guessed that they were just using Brahma’s name.”

“Watch out,” Hu Latu murmured, “there are people up ahead. Remember, Milord. You’re Hu Yanmeng. From here on out, I won’t call you Milord. Please don’t take offense.”

“It’s fine,” Yang Qi replied via divine will. “I wouldn’t expect anything otherwise. You help me maintain my secret identity, and I’ll make sure you get a third energy art—maybe even the fourth and fifth. It seems to me that the Brahman Society puts so much value on how many of those energy arts someone can cultivate that you can use that to get away with all sorts of crimes.”

“That’s exactly right,” said another of the emissaries, his lip curling sarcastically. “So what if a few emissaries died under Hu Latu’s command. That’s not important at all in the grand scheme of things. It should just take a wink and a nod, and the matter will be forgotten. Well, assuming none of Hu Latu’s enemies or rivals get involved. Milord, considering that both you and Hu Latu have two godly-class energy arts, it means your position is incredibly high.”

The Brahman Immortal World was filled with immense palaces and cities, all crafted from the most beautiful jade and jewels. It was like an immortal world among immortal worlds. There were massive warships floating here and there, and too many wormholes to count.

The entire place was stunning, bustling, glorious, affluent, and advanced. In a word, it was the picture of civilization.

Unexpectedly, it actually resembled the future world that Yang Qi had glimpsed through the memories of the young man in yellow. The main difference was that the future world was much larger.

RUMBLE!

At a certain point, an enormous battleship floated down in front of Yang Qi and the others. There was a space portal atop it, which opened to reveal an old man. “Hu Latu! You’re back? I heard you failed your mission, but acquired some good fortune and can now cultivate both water and fire? Is it true?”

“Elder Meng!” Hu Latu said, rushing forward and offering a respectful salute. “I just returned, sir. I'm afraid I failed my mission. I know it's a crime deserving of death, but I did acquire some good fortune, so the first thing I did was come to report back in and see what I can do to make up for my failure.”

“First of all, stop blathering,” someone said, and another elder walked out from behind Elder Meng. His skin was bright red, almost as if he were about to start bleeding. “Hu Latu, your father Hu Layuan is also an elder, so you know full well how the rules work in the Brahman Society. The mission you failed at can't be made up for with a simple task here or there. However, considering that you can now cultivate both fire and water without any dangerous side-effects, that means you're a top genius, and according to the rules of the society we have to give you special training. That's an unchanging rule. Unfortunately, I don't quite believe you. Why don’t you give us elders a demonstration? If it’s true, your crimes will be wiped out and you’ll earn a reward!”

“Yes sir!” Hu Latu said. “I wouldn’t dare to refuse an order from you, Elder Blood.”

Without any further hesitation, he swept his hands out in front of him and released two energy arts, one based on water, the other fire. As they intertwined, they created what looked like two god-spirits. One with a thousand heads and ten thousand arms, the other with ten thousand eyes and ten thousand legs. Obviously, these were gods who controlled fire and water, respectively.

As Hu Latu manipulated the true energy of fire and water, quite a few people on other passing warships noticed and looked over to watch.

“Excellent,” said Elder Blood, his eyes shining with praise. “You really do have perfect command over two godly-class energy arts. No slip-ups whatsoever. The fact that you can overcome the conflicts between those two arts makes you a genius through and through. That’s something you definitely can’t force or fake.”

Other elders emerged and began offering their congratulations.

“Wonderful. You make your father proud.”

“Incredible. This makes you a very important person in the Brahman Society. You're a Dao-Demolisher with four lineaments, and closing in on five. You’re almost on the same level as the old-timers here.”

“Soon you’re going to rank the same as us, or perhaps even surpass us. Congratulations!”

“Many thanks for exonerating me, sirs!” Hu Latu said excitedly. “However, I wasn’t the only one to come across good fortune. My Junior Brother Hu Yanmeng was with me. Please, take a look and see what he's capable of.”

The elders were shocked.

“Oh? Someone else who can cultivate fire and water together?”

“One genius after another is popping up. This is miraculous. Should we take this as a good omen for the Brahman Society as a whole?”

“Why don’t you demonstrate your abilities, Hu Yanmeng?”

Chuckling, Yang Qi waved his finger, causing fire and water to swirl out, creating two entire worlds, complete with four unique tribulations raging within them.

“What?” Elder Blood said, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. “Two minor worlds? The kingdoms of fire and water? And you even managed to add the four tribulations of Success, Steadiness, Destruction, and the Void into them?”

It was said that the Cardinal Grand Brahma energy arts could summon the four tribulations of Success, Steadiness, Destruction, and the Void. [1]

Success referred to the creation and growth of a world. Steadiness referred to that world becoming stable. Destruction was when catastrophe struck and the world fell apart. And the Void referenced how the destroyed world would once again fade into nothing.

Only by understanding the ultimate meaning of these four tribulations could one master the greatest divine abilities.

Within the Brahman Society, there were very few people who understood the tribulations of Success, Steadiness, Destruction, and the Void, all of them invincible geniuses or powerful old-timers.

“Hardly anyone understands such truths. Even the big competition we hold every thousand years to look for talent usually only produces four or five people who understand the four tribulations.”

“How could a genius like this have come around?”

“We can't let word of this get out! It’s too important!”

At this point, another elder appeared on the ship, a massive man who looked almost like a giant. He was obviously the highest-ranking elder present.

“Elder Law!” All of the other elders quickly saluted him.

Yang Qi’s heart nearly skipped a beat as he looked at this newly arrived elder; his cultivation base was, at the very least, at the level of seven or eight lineaments.

“You, Hu Yanmeng,” he said. “And you, Hu Latu. You’re now considered elites in the Brahman Society. You must go to the Brahman Institute immediately for further training, and to stabilize your cultivation bases. The Brahman Institute is the top educational establishment in our Brahma Immortal World, and after you graduate you’ll become important leaders. However, the dropout rate is extremely high and the competition is brutal. Understand?”

“Yes sir!” Hu Latu said, a nearly rapturous look on his face.

1. These four 'tribulations’ are actual religious tribulations from Buddhism. I could only find a teeny bit of information about them in Chinese, but nothing in English.