Sage Monarch - Chapter 395

Chapter 395: 395

After hearing the explanation, Yang Qi understood .

The entrance ceremony was an opportunity for leaders to identify potential new recruits . At the same time, it was a chance for new students to achieve incredible progress .

Those who did not stand out would become low-ranking students with meaningless responsibilities .

Obviously, he had gotten lucky . By earning a reputation that spread far and wide, he attracted the attention of the Invincible Society and became a disciple there before even participating in the entrance ceremony .

“Junior Brother,” Yan Weiyi said, “even though master already decided to recruit you, you still need to do a good job in the entrance ceremony . Nobody in the Invincible Society is a loser, so you absolutely, positively must not lose face for master . Otherwise he’ll expel you . There’s only one rule in the Invincible Society, and that is: Live for Glory . No matter where you go, and no matter what you’re doing, you have to preserve the glory of the Invincible Society . Remember the name of our society: Invincible . ”

“Yes sir!” Yang Qi had assumed that life in the Titan Emperor Collegium would involve a lot of complicated rules . How could he have guessed that the Invincible Society actually had only one rule? 

Preserve glory .

Oftentimes, rules were fetters that held back, and therefore, this single rule of the Invincible Society actually suited Yang Qi quite nicely .

Yan Weiyi smiled . “Junior Brother, I bet you’re thinking that the Invincible Society doesn’t have enough rules . But that’s just how we are . If we die, we die standing up! Other societies are different . They have all sorts of complicated customs . For example, the Righteous Energy Society has a rule prohibiting men from having contact with women . They don’t drink alcohol, they don't dance, they don’t talk loudly, and every year they have to pay dues to their society . Even worse, they’re always forced to actively further the interests of their society . If they find treasure, they have to hand it in to be divvied up equally, and their disciples aren't allowed to keep even the slightest secret from their superiors . With thousands and thousands of rules like that, you’re always in danger of making a mistake . ”

“With so many rules, are there even any students who want to join them?” Yang Qi said .

“Of course there are,” Sword Seventeen said . “It’s actually because they have those rules that they have so many disciples . You see, they get supposed benefits as well . For example, the way they confiscate treasure ensures that the society as a whole is very wealthy, and therefore, all of their disciples get rations of cultivation resources no matter what . In contrast, our Invincible Society doesn’t have a hoard of resources built up . We disciples further our cultivation through hard work and we get our own resources . We would never let trashy moochers like the Righteous Energy Society has into our society, no matter what . They sit around all day consuming heavenly-grade spirit stones like rice . That’s not the type of cultivation we practice . The Invincible Society doesn’t have complicated rules, we don't have a lot of members, and we don’t have a bunch of resources sitting around to dole out . ”

“Okay, enough talk,” Yan Weiyi said . “Junior Brother, you head into the square and wait for the ceremony to start . We’ll wait outside . ” With that, Yan Weiyi sent a string of heaven motes swirling out of him to form a minor world where he, Sword Seventeen, and Flower Fern would wait and observe the ceremony .

Upon becoming a Demi-Immortal, one’s sage domain would transform into a minor world . Legendaries had personal domains, Great Sages had sage domains, Demi-Immortals had minor worlds . Time could move differently inside minor worlds . Demi-Immortals were already capable of trifling with the magical laws of time, and thus, in their minor worlds, time could pass faster or slower than in the outside world . Perhaps seven days inside would be a thousand years outside, or a thousand years on the inside would be only a few days on the outside .

Unfortunately, using such time altering capabilities always drew heavily on the Demi-Immortal’s life force and had limitations . There were even some experts who had passed away in meditation in their own minor worlds . Therefore, those capabilities were never used casually .

Led by the guard, Yang Qi entered the square and selected a pillar to sit under .

As soon as he did, pure vital energy began to flow out of it and into him, strengthening him . It really was ten times as effective as normal cultivation . He even sensed musical notes coming from the pillar and entering his sea of consciousness, forming a resonance with his true energy and making him feel like he was one with all creation .

The guard looked enviously at Yang Qi and said, “Junior Brother, the Auspicious Titan Hall has a grand spell formation that’s called the Heaven and Earth Titan Intersection Formation . Heaven Below, Earth Above; When Heaven and Earth Intersect, That is Titan . It’s a divination sign from an ancient immortal daoist scripture, and it represents everything going smoothly . Not even ordinary students can practice cultivation in the Heaven and Earth Titan Intersection Formation . That would be a violation of the rules . ”

‘Heaven and Earth Titan Intersection Formation . Heaven and earth intersecting . Heaven below and earth above . Flipping heaven and earth around represents everything going smoothly? And it’s called titan?’ Yang Qi could sense a heavenly dao in the formation, as well as immense profundities . However, he didn't understand it . Apparently his current cultivation base wasn’t high enough to understand what it meant when heaven and earth were flipped around . [1]

Perhaps he would understand the matter when he reached a higher level of cultivation .

Almost as soon as he sat down, a number of the other new students in the area looked over at him, their gazes flashing like lightning . Clearly, they were trying to pick some of his secrets out of him .

Then a cold snort echoed into his ears, almost like thunder, shaking him down to his nascent divinity . It was almost as if someone were trying to damage his soul .

He looked over and saw that the person who had just snorted was a Great Sage sitting beneath a nearby pillar . He was burly, with veiny, copper-like skin and an aura like the sun . Clearly, he had a very masculine and yang-oriented energy .

He wasn’t an ordinary human, but some mutant human species from ancient times, with a unique body constitution similar to the Seven Apertures Sprite Body or the Nascent Divinity Starlight Body .

Yang Qi had spent nearly a year in the Hanging Mountain with his mother, Yan Wubing, and other experts, and had learned a lot during that time . For example, there were certain types of people who were innately strong and large when they were born . As for this burly man, he was actually from a race that bore the Bright Sun Truebronze Body .

It was as famous as the Nascent Divinity Starlight Body, and made the muscles and bones as tough as ancient true bronze . By the cultivation of yang-oriented true energy, this body type would provide raw power surpassing that of giants .

The burly man’s cultivation base was also high; from his aura, it seemed that he had access to magical power without limit . Shockingly, he was an eighth step Without Limit Sage, which made him strong enough to be the chief of an entire people .

He clearly despised Yang Qi, although it was impossible to say exactly why . That snort just now had been a subversive attack that would have caused an ordinary second step Great Sage to cough up blood and sustain injuries to the soul and cultivation base .

Although Yang Qi planned to ignore him, Yan Weiyi’s eyes widened and he said, “How dare he use a Destructive Sound Wave to try to harm my Junior Brother’s soul!”

“Elder Tenth Brother, you can’t interfere,” Sword Seventeen said . “That fellow is an expert from the Truebronzefolk in the Waste-Wilds . His name is Tai Cangyi . I heard he wanted to join the Invincible Society, but Master didn’t think much of him . He must have heard that Yang Qi got picked instead of him, and thus has it out for him . ” [2]

“Oh? Well, a lot of people want to join the Invincible Society, so it’s only natural that people will be jealous of Junior Eighteenth Brother . He’ll just have to deal with the situation, I guess . ” With that, Yan Weiyi closed his eyes .

Meanwhile, the brief incident was already being discussed by the other students present .

“That Yang Qi is definitely strong . Tai Cangyi’s Destructive Sound Wave can wipe out ghost-gods, and yet Yang Qi just shrugged it off . It seems he’s going to be a formidable opponent in the ceremony . ”

“I heard that he caught the attention of the Invincible Dugu . Supposedly the Invincible Society is going to have eighteen disciples now, which has never happened as far as I know . For Yang Qi, the entrance ceremony is just a formality . ”

“Maybe, maybe not . The people from the Invincible Society are all elites among elites . If someone beats him up badly enough, he’ll lose face for the Invincible Dugu . And if that happens, there’s no way he’ll be let into the Invincible Society . ”

“Well, that’s true . The people from the Invincible Society have a reputation of being invincible fighters with consummate techniques . Lots of people want to join them, but they hardly let anyone in . In fact, for years and years, they’ve only had seventeen disciples . ”

“No, you’re wrong about that . There were times in the past when the Invincible Society had more than seventeen disciples . Don't forget, the Titan Emperor Collegium has been around for hundreds of thousands of years . Anyway, long, long ago, the Invincible Society did have more students, but some died and others ascended to higher levels . In fact, there are previous society chiefs who actually rose to the immortal world . That said, they always keep recruitment low . ”

“Quiet down, people! Nobody in this entrance ceremony likes each other . There’s definitely going to be fierce fighting going on . ”

Yang Qi ignored the conversations and simply sat there cross-legged, focusing his attention on the profundities of the Heaven and Earth Titan Intersection Formation . Circulating his true energy, he worked on the Fist of the Halls of Heaven . As he did, he realized that the halls of heaven represented radiance and light and hell represented darkness and gloom . However, they did intersect . It was a case of heaven on the bottom and Earth on top, an intersection that led to the auspicious titan divination sign .

Days passed, and occasionally more students entered the square . Eventually, a month had gone by . Then the tolling of bells could be heard, and the students present all rose to their feet .

The ceremony was about to begin .

Shadowy figures appeared up above, and rumbling sounds echoed out . Then, a middle-aged man descended, clad in a voluminous robe . Yang Qi immediately identified him as a Demi-Immortal, and one of the grand elders of the Titan Emperor Collegium .

“Ladies and gentlemen, you are all winners of various training competitions held by the immortal world . Today, you have the honor of joining the Titan Emperor Collegium . As you well know, there are elders here who will select disciples for their societies . Do your best, and don’t hold back . Some elders even wish to select successor apprentices, who will achieve meteoric progress . Those who perform badly will be freshman students who live a life of misery . Understand?”

“Yes sir!” the disciples cried back .

“Very well . In a moment, you will all enter the training facility, the World of Mirages!”

1 . This passage about the heaven and earth being titan is weird . Some of it has to do with the fact that the character technically means “peace” . However, even that knowledge doesn’t make this passage any clearer . I originally thought it was something about the characters themselves, but that’s not it . As the passage points out, even Yang Qi is confused by the explanation . I honestly think this passage is just supposed to sound mysterious and incomprehensible .

2 . Tai Cangyi: Tai is a surname which means a ton of things, most notably “highest, greatest, too (much), very” . Cang means “dark blue, deep green, ash-gray” and also can be combined with other characters to poetically imply “heaven” . Yi means “one” .