Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The seventy-one patriarchs looked around at each other as they tried to come up with a way to get the true godhood from Yang Qi.

“His cultivation level isn’t particularly impressive, but he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. You always have to be on guard against him. He used some dirty trick to steal one of the exalted Young Master Leaf’s legacy medallions, and I even heard that he used a shifty ploy to get King God Dragon into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. The God Dragon Tribe is going all out preparing to fight him because of that.”

“So, what are we supposed to do? We definitely have to get to him before the God Dragon Tribe does! We must get that true godhood and those legacy medallions for Young Master Leaf!”

“The brat has ordinary energy arts. His only advantage is his wile and deceit. If he wanted to, he could disappear into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart and we would have no way to chase him.”

“I heard that the Tusita Dynasty has a spell formation that can temporarily negate the powers of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions. Why don’t we ask them if we can borrow it?”

“Borrow it? There’s no way they’ll agree to that unless we work with them. But with Young Master Leaf in seclusion, working with the Tusita Dynasty would be like asking a tiger for its skin.”

“All seventy-one of us are constantly advancing our energy arts, and we’re virtually invincible. What if we worked together to make our own spell formation? The only problem is that I'm not sure we have the god items and magical treasures we would need to actually kill Yang Qi.”

All sorts of opinions and suggestions were being thrown out.

However, no conclusions were made.

At a certain point, Green Merchant rose to his feet. “We’re talking about dealing with one punk, right? I have an idea, if you’re interested in listening.”

“What idea?” people said, looking over at him.

“This Yang Qi has enemies left and right. There are the people from the Nine Yangs God Sect, the Tusita Dynasty, the God Dragon Tribe, and more. All of them want him dead. It’s only a question of who will get to him first. But I got some information recently.”

“Oh, what information?”

“Spit it out, Green Merchant. Don’t tell me you’re intentionally hyping up your story. That’s just what I would expect of a Berserk One.”

“It’s like this,” Green Merchant said, pausing dramatically. “Sectlord Nine Yangs and that brat have a duel set in a little less than three months, right? The Tusita Dynasty is already cooperating with Sectlord Nine Yangs. When the time comes for the duel in the Heaven-Dao Operation God-Temple, they’ll have that spell formation set up to prevent the brat from escaping into the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. With him locked down, it should be easy to kill him. It seems like the perfect plan, and under ordinary circumstances we would never have been able to find out about it. However, Sectlord Nine Yangs is hoping to curry favor with Young Master Leaf, so he secretly contacted me and told me he's interested in allying with us. He wants to benefit from killing the little punk, and wants to make sure the Tusita Dynasty doesn’t profit at all.”

“So that’s how it is. Sectlord Nine Yangs really is a crafty and murderous fellow.”

“Quiet down, everyone. Let Young Master Green finish explaining.”

Smiling, Green Merchant continued, “Sectlord Nine Yangs has agreed to help us set up our own formation within the larger formation provided by the Tusita Heaven. When the time comes, we break the larger formation, capture Yang Qi, and make our getaway. After we're free, we can deal with Yang Qi. What do you say?”

“It’s not a bad idea. Did Sectlord Nine Yangs come up with that all on his own? A formation within a formation?”

“Considering how crafty and murderous he is, we can’t allow ourselves to fall for any of his tricks. How do we know he’s not actually working with someone else to try harming us?”

“He wouldn’t dare. If he did, Young Master Leaf would wipe out his entire clan! In the past, Young Master Leaf feared him to some extent. But not anymore. In fact, if he wanted to, he could wipe out the Nine Yangs God Sect all the way down to the chickens and dogs!”

“So what do we do right now? Go talk to Sectlord Nine Yangs and make the agreement formal?”

“Yes,” Green Merchant said, his smile broadening. “We met Sectlord Nine Yangs earlier in his secret lair just outside of the Tusita Heaven. Our Courageous One here can bear witness to that fact. Right?”

“Right, exactly,” the Courageous One said, nodding. “We’d just gone to pay a visit to Young Master Green when he asked us to hide. We were able to listen to the whole discussion with Sectlord Nine Yangs. He also claimed to have the backing of some powerful old-timer. As for whether he can really make a formation within a formation, that remains to be seen. We need to go take a look, and if necessary we can just kill him and take the thing for ourselves!”

“Yeah,” Green Merchant said, “I was thinking exactly the same thing. Sectlord Nine Yangs is not one to look down on. I definitely can’t take him on alone. But if we all went, it shouldn’t be a problem. We could hide some of you in a magical treasure I have. Then you pop out, surround Sectlord Nine Yangs, and kill him.”

“Great idea, Young Master Green. Very treacherous of you!”

“It’s true that the seventy-one of us have all recently advanced our energy arts. If we were to join forces, we can make very deadly spell formations. It shouldn’t be difficult at all to trap Sectlord Nine Yangs, then force him to tell us how to make that formation within a formation. Afterward, we can force him to acknowledge allegiance to Young Master Leaf. Think about it; it wasn’t very long ago that he was sheltering that brat Yang Qi. He’s had a death sentence on him for a while now. Let’s go teach him a lesson!”

“Good job, Young Master Green. This is a truly heroic service for Young Master Leaf, so allow me to offer congratulations in advance.”

“Cut the crap. Bring out that treasure of yours for us to hide in, Young Master Green.”

“Hurry up, there’s no time to lose! We seventy-two patriarchs will strike like the wind, and slaughter everyone that gets in our way!”

“Come on, brothers. Let’s take action immediately!”

Thrum.

A glowing bracelet appeared in Green Merchant’s hand, within which could be seen millions upon millions of worlds constantly being born and exterminated. It seemed like a magical treasure, yet it wasn’t. It seemed to contain power, yet it didn’t. It was endlessly profound and mysterious.

“What is that thing?”

“That’s an incredible level of pure power. It’s almost on the level of deathless godliness!”

“When did your cultivation base get so strong, Young Master Green? What good fortune did you come across?”

Everyone in the crowd was breathing sighs of admiration at the sight of the bracelet.

“It's a powerful magical treasure one of the patriarchs of the Green Clan acquired. It's called the Many-Heavens God Bracelet. According to the stories, it has the potential to pull countless heavens inside of it. Of course, I'm not strong enough to use it like that. But I'm definitely strong enough to help you all inside. Then we can leave the Tusita Heaven and meet Sect Lord Nine Yangs in his lair!”

“Excellent. Excellent.”

“Let's go!”

“What a treasure!”

The young patriarchs flew without hesitation into the Many-Heavens God Bracelet, after which a sinister smile appeared on Green Merchant’s face. The plan had worked.

The Many-Heavens God Bracelet was actually a variation on Yang Qi’s Many-Heavens God Seal. It was such a profound and powerful thing that not even Young Master Leaf would have been able to pierce through to see its secrets.

Those who entered it would feel safe, but the truth was that they were tightly bound inside. After leaving the Tusita Heaven, and thus separating from its essence, Yang Qi could cut off the seventy-one patriarchs from the senses of Young Master Leaf.

WHOOSH!

Green Merchant flew out of the Tusita Heaven and into the boundless universe beyond. Before long, he reached a section of primal-chaos debris where an enormous primal-chaos elder-snake lurked.

“I'm here, Milord!”

He could immediately sense Yang Qi.

Yang Qi had come here earlier to set up an enormous spell formation. Using King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans, he transformed the primal-chaos paleo-energy using his Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth, turning it into something as hard as diamonds, but at the same time as soft as water.

“Come in!” he said.

Green Merchant entered and instantly felt as though the sun and moon were being inverted, the cosmos overturned, and the universe upended.

“Place the Many-Heavens God Bracelet in the spell formation eye!” Yang Qi said, pointing at the spot he was referring to.

RUMBLE!

Green Merchant tossed the Many-Heavens God Bracelet into the primal-chaos eye, causing a host of worlds to shoot out in a dazzling display. The young patriarchs immediately sensed that something strange was going on. Attempting to charge forth, they shouted, “What are you doing, Green Merchant!?”

“Is this a spell formation?”

“Where’s Sectlord Nine Yangs?”

“Open!” Yang Qi said, and thunderous rumbling erupted from his palm as an ancient palace appeared, mighty and imposing. In the blink of an eye, all seventy-one patriarchs, including Green Merchant, were within that primal-chaos palace, bound tightly and unable to move. Looking over, they saw Yang Qi sitting on an ancient throne of primal-chaos, looking down at them. They almost felt like they were staring at some ancient heaven-god, and it gave them the urge to drop to their knees.

Thump. Swish. Rustle.

Six figures strode out and knelt piously in front of the throne. “Greetings, Milord. We brought Young Master Leaf’s other subordinates here, just like you asked. Please, take a look.”

“You did well, and will be handsomely rewarded for your efforts. I think I might just make all of you Buddha Gods. And after I kill Young Master Leaf, I’ll reward you all with even more Fortuned power. Right now, you only have a surface-level command of the powers of the seventy-two constitutions.”

“Many thanks, Milord!” the six of them said, rising to their feet. “That dirty little swine Young Master Leaf is definitely going to die at your hands.”

Never in their wildest dreams could these sixty-five other patriarchs have guessed that something like this would happen.

Looking over at them, Yang Qi said, “Join me, all sixty-five of you. Refuse, and I’ll make you wish you could die!”

“Arggggh!” one of the patriarchs bellowed. “Green Merchant, you actually betrayed Young Master Leaf? You joined Yang Qi? And you called Young Master Leaf a dirty little swine?! This is outright rebellion! How dare you lure us in here. Aren't you worried about us killing you?!”

“Kill him!”

“Diiieeee, you traitor scum!”

“Quick, send a soul message to Young Master Leaf! Tell him six of us brethren turned traitor. Wait, they’re no brethren of ours! Bah! They’re scum, worse than pigs or dogs!”