Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

Proud World chuckled, his face a picture of brutality and venom, as though he really did look forward to devouring Proud Heaven alive.

“Proud Heaven took me from the Ancient Road to the Gods because he said I had a special constitution and the blood of the gods. Although I don’t have one of the three thousand unique constitutions, he said I was very unusual and special. Thus, he performed all sorts of experiments on me from the time I was very young. He gave me strange things to eat, imbued me with different kinds of energy arts. I really should have died. In the end, he absorbed my essence, taking away my blood of the gods. Sadly for him, it wasn’t the time for me to die, and I managed to absorb some of his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth during the process.

“Now he’s grooming me to become one of the magisters of the future world. However, I can’t stand him, and although I'm enduring the situation silently, the truth is that I'm trying to find a way to kill him. Which is why I want to work with you. You see, I received information that indicates Proud Heaven will be coming to the Great Necropolis soon, which would be the perfect moment for us to strike! You could even take his God Legion Seal. What do you think?”

From the venom in Proud World’s voice, Yang Qi could tell he harbored just as much hatred of Proud Heaven as Yang Qi himself.

Of course, he wouldn’t simply take his words at face value. It was always hard to tell with people like this whether they were being honest or running a scam.

A mysterious smile appeared on Yang Qi’s face. “Proud Heaven really does like to have pawns everywhere, doesn’t he? Once he sees an opportunity, he starts manipulating things. Sort of like me. You see, he figured out early on that I was a Fateless One, and started trying to get at me even in the mortal world. So I'm definitely going to kill him. That said, if you want to form some sort of alliance, you need to provide evidence to prove you're acting in good faith. For instance, where are my mother, my Aunt Susu, and my Master being held captive?”

“They’re in the god world,” Proud World replied.

“What did you just say?” Yang Qi said, a tremor passing through him. “What are you talking about?”

“Proud Heaven had them sent to the god world. You see, he’s not as simple a person as you thought. He actually has a base of operations in the god world already. He went there and worked on his cultivation for a few years before returning to handle other matters. As far as I know, he’s the only person who has ever done such a thing. Nobody knows what happened during his time in the god world, but one thing is clear: his cultivation improved and he gained a greater mastery of fate.”

“Seriously?” Yang Qi said, not quite willing to believe it.

“Whether you believe me or not is immaterial,” Proud World replied grimly. “Facts are facts, and I'm telling you the truth. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and search for your loved ones on your own. In the end, it won’t matter if you go to the future world, or search the Ancient Road to the Gods. You won’t find them. The truth is that because you almost killed my mother, I didn't want to tell you all of this. But in the interests of killing Proud Heaven, I'm telling you now. Is that enough to show you I'm acting in good faith?”

“I almost killed your mother?” Yang Qi said suspiciously. “Don’t tell me your mother is....”

“That’s right,” Proud World replied. “My mother is Empress Joyflower. Back on the Ancient Road to the Gods, she fell victim to Proud Heaven, and now she’s in a very bad situation, considering you destroyed her sect.”

Yang Qi snorted. “She’s made out quite well thanks to that ‘disaster’ of hers. Some other enemy of Proud Heaven ended up rescuing her from my hands. Presumably it was the bearer of the God Legion Seal from the Primeval Age. But you probably already knew that, didn’t you?”

Proud World chuckled coldly. “Of course. If it weren’t for her savior messaging me, how would I have known my mother's fate? In any case, such matters are inconsequential. Proud Heaven is the person we should be worrying about. The bearer of the God Legion Seal from the Primeval Age is named Doom. His entire clan was slaughtered by Proud Heaven, down to the ninth generation. All of his friends were killed, too, leaving him as the sole survivor. He came to the Immortal Dao Age with a deep desire to get revenge on Proud Heaven. In fact, I've already come to an agreement with him. He’ll join the effort to kill Proud Heaven. If two bearers of the God Legion Seal work together, one from the Primeval Age and one from the Immortal Dao Age, then your combined energy arts should be more than enough to kill him.”

After a moment of thought, Yang Qi said, “I doubt that will be enough to kill him. If Proud Heaven is as fierce as you just described, and if he's really been in the god world, then I bet he already knows that we're considering working together.”

Suddenly, a peal of laughter rang out and another person blurred onto the scene. He was surrounded by golden light and created a host of countless projections around him that resolved into the image of a middle-aged man in a golden robe.

Yang Qi could already sense the aura of the God Legion Seal on him.

Yang Qi’s heart immediately began to pound, and he was glad he had already forsaken the God Legion Seal and had it sealed in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. Otherwise, he would have immediately formed a resonance with this newcomer.

It was a strange feeling to finally be in the presence of someone else with a God Legion Seal. Nodding slightly, Yang Qi said, “So you’re Doom. Back when I was destroying the Joyflower Palace, you jumped in and saved Empress Joyflower. And you hit me with a very vicious blow, which I survived. Just so you know, I’ve improved a lot. Hitting me like that again won’t be easy.”

“I hit you with that blow as a matter of course, that’s all,” replied Doom. “Where is your God Legion Seal? Hidden somewhere? Could it be that you’ve really abandoned it now that you cultivate the Unspoiled Body?”

Yang Qi laughed. “I just removed myself from the constraints of the seal, that’s all. I'm creating my own dao. In fact, I’d advise you to also forsake the God Legion Seal, otherwise you’ll eventually fall so deeply under its control that you’ll be damned by myriad tribulations. The seal isn’t an auspicious thing.”

“Nonsense,” Doom replied. “The God Legion Seal is the most glorious thing in existence. It makes you a successor of the Sovereign Lord himself. If you cast aside the seal, then you will eventually lose the glory of the legion of gods. In any case, if you don't want your God Legion Seal, then give it to me.” He extended his hand expectantly.

“Fine. Give me something of equal value to trade for it, and I’ll give it to you.”

An awkward expression appeared on Doom’s face. How could he possibly produce any treasure of equal value to the God Legion Seal? Obviously he couldn't, as nothing could compare to the seal.

“Stop bickering, you two,” said Proud World. “We're all here for the same reason, and that’s because we want to kill Proud Heaven. The two of you bear God Legion Seals just like Proud Heaven. And the truth is that the only thing that can counter a God Legion Seal is another God Legion Seal. That’s why I brought the two of you here today. By the way, Doom, what about my mother?”

“Your mother is fine. She's right here. She's become my woman, and is therefore under my protection. Step forth....” A golden halo appeared, and Empress Joyflower stepped out.

A strange expression could be seen on Proud World’s face. “Mother, have you really become his woman?”

“I have,” she replied. “The more I piss off Proud Heaven, the better. Maybe he’ll get mad enough that he’ll make a mistake. Have a lapse in judgment. That could be the perfect opportunity for you. Besides, back in the day of the Joyflower Palace, I had plenty of male consorts. So what’s the big deal?”

“Fine, Mother, you do as you wish. As immortals, we obviously don’t pay much attention to things like that. As long as we end up killing Proud Heaven, anything will be worth it. The pain I endured thanks to his experiments were like the tortures of hell. Unless I eat him alive, how could I possibly put my hatred to rest?”

“What about the Joyflower Palace, Yang Qi?” Empress Joyflower said. “I want it back. I was the one who built it, it’s mine.”

“That’s fine,” Yang Qi replied, waving his hand dismissively. “Considering I'm going to work with your son to kill Proud Heaven, you can have it back. Besides, I'm the league-lord of the Sage Monarch League of the Ancient Road to the Gods, so why would I care about some tiny Joyflower Palace? Of course, you’ll have to join the Sage Monarch League. And getting you back there might be a bit problematic at the moment. I guess it’ll have to wait until I have the time. Agreed?”

“Mother, this isn’t worth bickering about,” Proud World said. “Do you know how strong the Sage Monarch League is? A hair from its proverbial head would be stronger than a million Joyflower Palaces put together. Just wait until we kill Proud Heaven, crush the Executors of the Ancient Road, and vanquish the Great Necropolis savages. Then we can go to the god world and have a fresh start. What’s the point of worrying about the bugs in this world?”

“He's right,” said Doom. “Yang Qi, whatever grudges we had between us aren’t worth mentioning. I've subjugated quite a few of the Great Necropolis locals, and I was originally thinking of using them to destroy your alliance. But after the show you put on slaughtering the agents I sent, I realized that working with you to take down Proud Heaven would be much better. Do you agree? If you want, we can forget about the past and turn weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk.”

“I concur,” Proud World said. “Brother Doom has a lot of the Great Necropolis locals under his control. And his Doom Sect gets stronger every day, to the point where it even rivals the Executors of the Ancient Road. With his help, we should be able to slaughter the forces of the future world.”

Yang Qi frowned. “Aren’t you from the future world? Are you saying you're going to exterminate your own people?”

“That’s right!” Proud World said. “I'm going to kill everyone from the future world; that's my goal. The truth is that Proud Heaven and the other nine magisters are all incredibly powerful. The only reason they haven’t accomplished more is that they’re always fighting amongst themselves. You see, the magisters all have power indexes of nine thousand or more, and psychic scales of two hundred! Do you have any idea what that means? It means they’re all destined to reach the god world sooner or later. Unfortunately, the Great Necropolis came and blocked their path to godly ascension.”

“What? The ten magisters are that fierce? Psychic scales of two hundred? Doesn’t that put them close to the peak of the Terrifying level? If they’re that strong, why haven’t they just conquered everything? What are they doing just sitting around in the future world?” Yang Qi’s heart was pounding at the mere thought of people that strong.

“Because they’re busy dealing with the god Brahma. He's constantly struggling to free himself, and it would spell catastrophe for the future world if he got out.”