Sage Monarch - Chapter 881

Chapter 881

Chapter 881: Putting More Pawns in Place

When Yang Qi saw the look in Flower Mildcloud’s eyes, he couldn’t help but blurt, “Idiot!”

“You!” she said, glaring at him . Then she looked away coolly . “You’re not nearly as attractive as Zilin . The empress definitely won’t be asking you to be a consort anytime soon . ”

Yang Qi laughed . “You think I want to be a consort? Even if Empress Joyflower herself offered to be my handmaiden, I would refuse . Eventually, I'm going to turn all the women from the Joyflower Palace into slaves . Including you . ”

“Uh . . . . ” Flower Mildcloud shivered as she suddenly recalled her current situation . Although Yang Qi was helping her advance her cultivation, she was still completely under his control . And he was advancing ten times faster than she was . If things continued progressing as they were right now, it would eventually reach the point where her cultivation base couldn’t possibly compare with his .

A moment passed, and she simply sat down quietly and closed her eyes to work on cultivation .

Eyeing her, Yang Qi sent out a canopy to cover her and make sure she didn’t go around causing problems in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart . She was very valuable to him right now . The fact that her aura conformed to the Joyflower Palace meant that he had easy access to the treasure storehouse, among other places . Of course, now that he had eight of King Immortal-Slayer's legacy medallions, her usefulness was diminishing rapidly . But Yang Qi wasn’t the kind to forget her earlier service .

After handling some matters in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, he returned to the Exquisite Desert .

Having defeated all of the knowledge-devils, he had the option of returning to get more god formations . However, after hearing that there was true godhood in the Exquisite Desert, he decided that he would be best served by staying behind and making sure Empress Joyflower didn’t get it .

The empress was currently one of his biggest enemies . Forgetting the fact that she treated all men like pigs or dogs, there was still the fact that she had somehow taken Leaf Dao-Denier as a consort . That was a big development that had come as a complete surprise .

Leaf Dao-Denier knew a lot of Yang Qi’s secrets, including the fact that he had a God Legion Seal . Although he had never spread that information, it was a given that he was trying to find an opportunity to kill Yang Qi . And if he finally ran out of options, it was always possible that he would finally reveal the information about the God Legion Seal to harm Yang Qi .

Yang Qi absolutely had to be on guard against any desperate moves .

Thankfully, it would be easy to discard his current identity and fake his own death in the Exquisite Desert . That would relieve a lot of pressure .

For the time being, he was virtually free of any care or worry .

The Dao Defense League was currently in the hands of Orchid Purity, who was actually strengthening it with every moment that passed .

If he ‘died’ in the Exquisite Desert, then no one would possibly be able to track him down, not even Proud Heaven . That said, perhaps this would be a good opportunity to toy with Leaf Dao-Denier a bit . Maybe he could even lay some bait and turn the entire situation to his advantage .

WHOOSH!

With that, he headed deeper into the Exquisite Desert, using his Destabilizing will to probe into the natural laws and structure of the place . Apparently, the legendary Exquisite Cathedral was the ultimate destination, the location of the godhood that he so needed to challenge the Joyflower Palace . It would also help him take the countless god formations much faster .

The desert only got more hot and dry as he went along . There were a few creatures present, things native to the desert who were used to its nature that were so incredibly powerful they could easily devour Grand Emperors .

Yang Qi ran across the occasional god-general or two . With the flick of his sleeve, he would dismantle their energy arts and force them to become believers . Most of them were Grand Emperors with power indexes of about twenty, although some had indexes as high as forty, fifty, or even eighty .

After capturing about thirty such individuals, his army of Grand Emperors in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart reached a total of around ninety . The immortal-slaying clone was in the virtual god world, flanked by the seventy-one patriarchs, and the influx of faith continued to grow more beneficial .

After losing the Dao Defense League, the clone’s cultivation speed had slowed down significantly, and might have even crawled to a halt if it weren’t for finding the eighth legacy medallion .

But now he was once again advancing by leaps and bounds . Not only was his power index increasing, but Yang Qi could also sense that the clone's sea of consciousness was developing magical laws . Of course, they weren’t pure, but had black spots from the karma of the people who gave the faith . Eventually, that karma would cause major problems .

Yang Qi shook his head, aware that the problem of karma would cause difficulties in dealing with the resurrected King Immortal-Slayer .

‘Once I take down the Joyflower Palace, I’ll kill all the bad seeds and take the faith from everyone else for my immortal-slaying clone . ’ With such matters on his mind, Yang Qi continued along in the desert until he came across three familiar faces .

One of them looked nearly skeletal, the other was tall and burly, and the third was a sinister-looking young man .

They were none other than the Three Ruthless Fiends, who were now consorts to a flower goddess . As such, they weren’t in the Exquisite Desert as god-general prisoners . Apparently, they were using some sort of magical treasure or god item to fly along without impediment .

“Brothers, let’s hope we get truly lucky and find the legendary Exquisite Cathedral!” said the burly Ruthless Earth-Fiend . “Once we do, we’ll solidify our place amongst the consorts, and even achieve spectacular advancement . ”

“Ai!” said the sinister-looking young man . “It's too bad we're only consorts to a flower goddess . You can only be so important in that position . Wouldn’t it be great if we were consorts to the empress? Even her low-ranking consorts command incredible might and authority on the outside . ”

“Are you kidding me? It’s not that easy to become consorts to the empress . For one thing, our cultivation bases are too low . ”

“Yeah, but what about that punk named . . . what was it? Leaf Dao-Denier! He has a pitifully low cultivation base, not even at the Grand Emperor level! But after he got captured, the empress immediately started doting on him . Apparently, he’s one of the top consorts now . ”

Even as the Three Ruthless Fiends were discussing Leaf Dao-Denier, a beam of light appeared in front of them, out of which stepped Yang Qi . Before they could react, an energy field sprang out from him, blocking their path .

“Who are you?” Ruthless Earth-Fiend said . “How dare you block our path!”

“I trust the three of you have been well since we last met?” Yang Qi said with a broad smile . “You beat up a power double of mine, and seemed to have quite an enjoyable time doing so . Of course, it was only a measly power double . ”

“Oh, it’s you . ” Ruthless Earth-Fiend immediately prepared to attack Yang Qi, but before he could, the skeletal Ruthless Heaven-Fiend reached out to hold him back .  

Eyes flickering shrewdly, Ruthless Heaven-Fiend said, “Well, who would’ve thought that a top expert like you would be hiding within the forces of the Joyflower Palace . Not even Eunuch Sunflower noticed you, did he? What exactly is your plan here?”

Yang Qi’s eyes narrowed as he smiled . “Plan? There’s no plan . However, you three offended me, and that means the only fate in store for you is death . ”

“I don’t see the need for us to fight, Your Majesty,” Ruthless Heaven-Fiend said calmly . “Whatever your plan is, why not let us help you? We're consorts to a flower goddess, so we have access to a lot of top-secret information . ”

“You’re just trying to buy time,” Yang Qi said . “By the way, look at what I have here . Your communication medallions . ” With a flourish, he produced three communication medallions, which were already covered with shimmering, porcelain-colored shields, rendering them completely inoperable .

Snorting coldly, he continued, “I'd suggest you not waste your time trying to play games with me . You see, I've already spread my tendrils throughout the Joyflower Palace . Leaf Dao-Denier works for me, which means that I have your empress completely under my control! Do you really think a few pieces of trash like you have the right to act tough to me?”

“What?” The Three Ruthless Fiends suddenly realized that this was going to be a difficult situation to escape from alive .

Swish!

Suddenly, Yang Qi blurred into motion, appearing in front of the skeletal Ruthless Heaven-Fiend, who dodged to the side with spectacular quickness .

“Nine Ghostshadow Transformations!”

Unfortunately, no matter what he did, he wasn’t able to escape from Yang Qi .

Suddenly, Yang Qi’s hand latched onto his head, crushing it to a pulp, destroying his nascent divinity, and transforming him into nothing more than a corpse that flopped down onto the sand .

“Let’s go!” the other two fiends said, not even bothering to try to get revenge for their slain fellow .

Yang Qi flicked his finger, sending out a burst of energy that slammed into Ruthless Earth-Fiend, ripping him to shreds .

“Agggghhhh!”

The only survivor was Ruthless Man-Fiend, who desperately burrowed down into the earth beneath him . Smiling coldly, Yang Qi launched another palm strike at the earth . However, Ruthless Man-Fiend was nowhere to be found, apparently having teleported away to parts unknown after burrowing underground .

Of course, Yang Qi had allowed him to escape, all in the hopes that he would spread the word that Leaf Dao-Denier was on Yang Qi’s payroll .

Yang Qi was planning two moves ahead . First, he was sowing distrust between Leaf Dao-Denier and the empress . After that, when word spread about the treasure storehouse having been robbed, he would make sure Leaf Dao-Denier was implicated, and the empress would be even more furious .

Of course, Yang Qi needed to clear out all of the other god formations before that happened .