Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)
chapter-1282

“You now understand who you are, Crown Prince,” Yang Qi said. “An expression of will from a powerful entity, sent to the impure lands to search for lost god items. You really were a god from heaven descended into the mortal world. Unfortunately, I need your services now, to benefit from the person who created you and eventually get into his treasure storehouse. That’s my key to developing Unbounded will convergence.”

The Crown Prince burst out laughing. “Of course I knew I had an impressive origin. But don’t you think this plan of yours is like playing with fire? Haven’t you heard the saying play with fire, die by fire? That’s what you’re doing.”

“You and the crown prince of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty are just people. And you have the same will. Do you really think you’re a match for me? You were trash back in the day, even when you were an invincible figure in the Demi-Immortal Institute. Now you’re even less important than you were back then. I killed you and your eighteen allies back then, and I can kill you just as easily now.”

“I've already died once, Yang Qi, so I'm not afraid of dying again. So there’s nothing you can do to scare me or force my hand. I'm just waiting to watch you die.”

Apparently, the Crown Prince was never truly going to submit, and really wanted to see Yang Qi dead.

“Enough jibber-jabber. You’re a god, so it’s time for you to put your throne inside the God Legion Seal.” Yang Qi waved his hand, and the Crown Prince was forced to seal his soul inside the God Legion Seal. Almost immediately, he sensed a golden throne appear in the seal, which actually belonged to the crown prince of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

An immense stream of power flowed forth.

‘Awesome!’ At long last, Yang Qi had finally locked on to the true crown prince. He could sense his life force, and even some of his scattered thoughts. It was going to take a lot more work before he could take control of him, but this would at least make it possible to start doing things like looking for a way into the treasure storehouse, or track down the piece of the Mahātmā Jade.

WHOOSH!

With that, he flew back to the House of God Ordainment.

Jadefall was in the middle of a session of cultivation, and at a mere glance, Yang Qi could tell that she was just on the verge of a breakthrough. Exhaling, he sent some of the quintessence of the Nation-Fate God Pill toward her. Instantly, cracking sounds rang out within her as impurities were extruded and her power became more pure. Then, her godhood glowed with bright colors as her cultivation base advanced.

“What just happened, Yang Qi?” Jadefall asked. “When did your energy arts get so strong?”

“Well, it's like this...” he said, and we went on to explain about God-King Ruthless. “I'm now in favor with the Crown Prince, which thankfully fits in perfectly with my plan. Instead of him controlling me, I'm going to take advantage of him to get my hands on some of the things I need. This will save me at least three thousand god world years of hard cultivation.”

“So that’s how it is...” Jadefall replied. “Well, does that mean you’re going to the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty to look for that piece of the Mahātmā Jade? I have an idea in that regard.”

“Oh, what idea?” Yang Qi asked.

“The Sage Monarch Society has become quite powerful, and many of our brethren have developed impressive cultivation bases. But we still lack a truly powerful potentate to lead us, and the infighting in the House of God Ordainment is as intense as always. The junior houselord has started exerting himself and invited me to attend a banquet. Obviously, he has some scheme at work. Instead of accepting, I've decided to return to the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty to visit my adopted mother. She has a very powerful cultivation base, and is very influential. She’s actually the supreme concubine, and she has sons who run powerful factions in the dynasty. They oppose the crown prince, so if I can get her support by offering her some power in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty, then....”

“There’s no need to go into any more detail. I get it.” Yang Qi chuckled. “That is a good idea. Let’s take advantage of your connections to the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty to try getting into their treasure storehouse in a way no one will ever realize what's happened. As long as I can get that piece of the Mahātmā Jade, my psychic power will skyrocket.”

“There’s no time to lose. Let’s go now.”

“Hold on a moment,” Yang Qi said. “I should inform the Crown Prince Society of what's going on and see how they react. We might be able to make the best of both worlds here.”

“Agreed,” Jadefall said.

He blurred into motion, heading out to the headquarters of the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty in the nearby city. Soon, he was in Dream Daylily’s presence.

“What?!” she shouted, slapping the table. “Jadefall is going to see the supreme concubine? She wants her support to help grow the Sage Monarch Society? This is big! It's a good thing you reported this, and it'll be very worth your while. Recruiting you into the Crown Prince Society was obviously the right choice.”

“What’s the meaning of it all, exalted Dream Daylily?” Yang Qi said.

“It’s simple. The supreme concubine is nobody to look down on. She has several sons, all of whom are imperial princes, and they all oppose the crown prince. In fact, they’ve joined forces for personal interest and have even tried spying on the imperial bureaucracy.”

“How could that possibly be?” Yang Qi scoffed. “The crown prince is completely invincible! He has Unbounded will convergence, and it’s a foregone conclusion he’ll become a Paramount God! Who could possibly try to take on the crown prince? Only someone suicidal would try that.”

“There’s truth to your words, but we still have to be very careful. The reality is that before the crown prince reached Unbounded will convergence he was in extreme danger, and was very nearly crippled. Certain members of the imperial house worked with a woman from the dao of devils, an imperial concubine who accused the crown prince of seducing her. It caused an uproar in the imperial house, and the emperor was furious. He even sentence the crown prince to be crippled. However, the crown prince managed to turn everything around at the last minute by breaking through to Unbounded will convergence. After that, the chief elders were left completely speechless.”

“The crown prince can really shake heaven and earth. He’s a true hero among heroes!” Although Yang Qi offered praise with his lips, inside he was thinking, ‘Things are complicated in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.’

“The Eternal-Life God-Dynasty has very strict rules, and not even the crown prince can push them too far. There are certain powerful chief elders in the court, Paramount Gods in charge of enforcing the law and maintaining etiquette. Because of them, the crown prince can’t just seize power. And if one of the other imperial princes manages to gain the favor of the emperor, the crown prince could end up ousted. And in that case, he would have no recourse, not even armed resistance. The Eternal-Life God-Dynasty has been around for countless generations, and throughout all that time, there’s never been a successful revolt that overthrew the throne. Because of that, we have to be very careful how we handle our internal struggles, otherwise we could be branded as traitors.”

“Understood,” Yang Qi said. “So what do we do? Please give me some instructions, exalted one.”

“You’ve already done well. Unfortunately, we can’t interfere with Jadefall asking the supreme concubine for support. The supreme concubine is very, very powerful; in fact, she’s one of the most powerful figures in the entire court. It’s too bad the crown prince can’t just kill those sons of hers. For now, just play things by ear. Head to the dynasty and see what information you can gather. The agents of the Crown Prince Society will support you as best they can. And make sure you check in with any new information.”

“Yes ma’am!” Yang Qi blurted.

“You already have the aura of the crown prince on you, so all you have to do is draw on the Nation-Fate Godfist, and you’ll be able to get support from our agents. Once you’re in the imperial harem, find the majordomo, a eunuch named Nie Yinyang. He’s a very powerful and mysterious member of the Crown Prince Society, and he's even stronger than God-King Ruthless. He’ll definitely help you, and could possibly even promote you within the society. If that happens, I just hope you’ll remember me fondly.”

“I would never dare to forget you, oh exalted one.” Yang Qi knew what he had to do. He had already learned a lot of secret information from Dream Daylily, and was now much more clear about how complicated the infighting was in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty.

There were obviously double agents everywhere, and even triple agents.

Hopefully, he could use that to his advantage. With that, he headed back to the god kingdom to meet with Jadefall and some of his brethren. After some preparations, they headed to the teleportation portal leading to the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. On the surface, the two organizations had good relations, which was why they had a formal agreement allowing for teleportation portals linking their capital cities. They even had a mutual defense pact, in which either side would come to the aid of the other in the case of an invasion. It was obvious that the House of God Ordainment acted like a vassal state.

After putting godstones into the teleportation portal, it activated. This was the largest portal in the entire god kingdom, and required high-level godstones to operate. Thankfully, the Sage Monarch Society could afford it.

Meanwhile, there were chief elders in the House of God Ordainment who were meeting with the junior houselord, and they saw what was happening.

The junior houselord had a very grim expression on his face. “So Jadefall didn’t take the bait. She’s refused my invitations over and over again. Well, it’s not going to be that simple. Does she really think I don’t have people in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty? We’re going to find out exactly what she's up to.”

1. Nie Yinyang: Nie is a common surname which also means “whisper”. His given name is made up of the characters for Yin and Yang.