“You!” Ascendant Beheader blurted, nearly coughing up a mouthful of blood from fury at hearing Yang Qi’s response. His face turned scarlet and he nearly leaped forward to start fighting, except he knew he couldn’t. With the Invincible Dugu present, the Hall of Beheadings and Executions was at rock bottom, and any fighting that broke out would inevitably end in a rout.

That said,

even a fish on the chopping block will still struggle and jump

.

“You have the upper hand for now, Yang Qi,” Ascendant Beheader begrudged. “But you and your master are defying the heaven above. It won’t be long before they punish you. And even if they don’t, when we’re all on the Immortal Army Battlefield the Hall of Beheadings and Executions definitely won’t let you off the hook!”

“Is that so? Fine. I’ll be waiting. In the meantime, you might as well prepare your clan to be exterminated, since it's going to happen sooner or later. Every friend and every family member of your Hall of Beheadings and Executions had better watch out for me. Otherwise, they might end up as fiend-devil food.” Yang Qi was making overt threats, and apparently didn’t care if anyone noticed.

The gall and ferocity on display was sure to strike terror into the hearts of anyone who did.

After today, there wouldn’t be a single person in the Titan Emperor Collegium who would dare cause problems for Yang Qi. At worst, there might be people who would try to strike at him from the shadows.

“Let’s go!” Ascendant Beheader and all the other elders left, casting subconscious glances at the heads nailed to the entrance of the Invincible Society. Despite the rancor they felt in their hearts, they had no choice but to suppress such feelings. They had lost all face, and would never rest until they saw the Invincible Society humiliated and destroyed.

On the other hand, many of the other societies were delighted. The Hall of Beheadings and Executions was an important organization, but their humiliation this day would make it impossible for them to continue easily bullying other organizations. In turn, that would give the other societies better access to resources. 

There were countless mining planets located in the Central Planetary River, as well as numerous planets filled with all sorts of spirit medicines and places devoted to the forging of magical treasures. In all of the aspects of space-time and the planes of existence, there were massive hoards of wealth built up by the collegium over hundreds of thousands of years. And the Hall of Beheadings and Executions got the biggest shares of everything. In contrast, the Invincible Society took virtually nothing.

“I wonder if the Invincible Society will take advantage of the situation to take more resources.”

“They only have eighteen members. What would they do with that many resources? I doubt they’ll do anything. The Invincible Society might be arrogant and domineering, but the best thing about them is that they don’t take any resources from the collegium. They’re not like the Hall of Beheadings and Executions, who bully and extort the common students. I think we need to take advantage of this situation to strike a devastating blow to the Hall of Beheadings and Executions. Let's kick them so hard while they’re down that they’ll never get up again!”

“That’s right. Our Sword Society has had a grudge against the Hall of Beheadings and Executions for a long time. There was an incident on a mining planet a while back in which one of our disciples got in a fight with one of theirs. Ever since then, they’ve taken every opportunity to hurt us. There was even a time when they arrested a few hundred of our disciples and executed them. We haven’t forgotten about that, and now it’s time for their comeuppance!”

“Kill them! If I see any disciples from the Hall of Beheadings and Executions, they’re going to die!”

“The Saber Society won’t allow the Hall of Beheadings and Executions to exist under the same sky as us!”

Already, plenty of students were making plans to move against the Hall of Beheadings and Executions. And the fact that the Hall of Beheadings and Executions had so many students meant that there were plenty of targets. They were about to suffer a grievous blow. 

When Yang Qi heard the talk around him, he gave an inward nod of approval. After all, he was familiar with the benefits of

beating a drowning dog,

and was more than happy to apply that maxim to the Hall of Beheadings and Executions.

“Very well, you're all dismissed,” the Invincible Dugu said. “There’s nothing left to see here. Carry on.” He waved his hand, causing dazzling light to fill the square as he pulled Yang Qi into the Invincible Society. Then he sealed the entrance with a shining shield, making it impossible for anyone to see inside.

It was clear that the Invincible Society as a whole was now in a state of seclusion. One of the most shocking and astonishing events to have ever played out in the collegium was over.

In the end, Yang Qi had prevailed, and earned the reputation of being the most vicious character imaginable. His name would not only be well-known in the collegium, but would soon spread to other planetary systems as well.

At the moment, there were only three people in the Invincible Society: the Invincible Dugu’s clone, Sword Seventeen, and Yang Qi.

As the three of them sat down cross-legged to confer, Sword Seventeen said, “Master, did you pass your Demolishing tribulation? Are you a Demolisher now?”

“I am,” the Invincible Dugu replied. “I passed the tribulation three days ago, and am now a heaven-immortal. Specifically, I'm in the first stage of the Demolishing level, making me a Void-Demolisher. My true self has already ascended to the immortal world, leaving behind only this clone, which has roughly thirty percent of my vital energy. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to power the clone for much longer, so our time is limited.

“I had no choice but to intervene just now, Yang Qi. You really caused a scene, and if things had proceeded any further, even I would have had difficulty dealing with the aftermath. After all, some of the old-timers in the collegium are not to be taken lightly.”

Sword Seventeen was visibly surprised. “Master, if you’ve ascended to the immortal world, then what are we supposed to do? We're in a really bad situation here. Eldest Brother, Second Elder Brother, and everyone else is trapped in the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart. The only people who are free are Junior Eighteenth Brother and me. How are we supposed to keep the society going?”

“Don’t worry, your Junior Eighteenth Brother is already strong enough to do it on his own. From the fight today, I can see that he’s already on the way to being a top figure here in the mortal world. He can definitely keep the Invincible Society going. Yang Qi, from now on, you’re not a consecrated student. I hereby transfer the title of society chief to you, making you just as powerful as the vice-rectors, and outranked only by the supreme rector himself.”

The Invincible Dugu waved his hand, sending a command medallion flying over to Yang Qi. It had a sealing mark of blessing on it which conformed perfectly to Yang Qi’s aura. That sealing mark was the identifying sigil of the society chief of the Invincible Society.

Next, the image of a blood-red heart appeared on Yang Qi’s palm, which was a projection of the Invincible Dugu’s Invincible Heart.

“That Invincible Heart contains my godly-class energy art, the Prodigious Proto-Epoch, Invincible War-Steppe. I'm passing my mantle on to you, Yang Qi. Cultivate whichever aspects of it you wish, or just discard it. It's up to you. I'm aware that you raised an immortal embryo into a clone in the Rich-Lush Continent, and it might not be a bad idea to pass the Invincible Heart to him. Incidentally, I can’t help your Eldest Brother, Elder Second Brother, and the others to escape from the Myriad Worlds Monarch Chart, now that I've ascended. I’ll leave that up to you. You’re the leader of the Invincible Society now, understand? Recruit new members as you see fit, and even change the rules if you want. Whatever you do, remember that I’ll be in the heaven above, waiting for you.”

With that, his clone slowly began to fade away.

“Master!” Sword Seventeen cried.

“Remember to listen to your Junior Eighteenth Brother. His destiny and fate are far more profound than mine. If you follow him, you’ll definitely reap immense rewards. You’ll be a Void-Demolisher soon, and we can reunite in the heaven above.”

“Master,” Yang Qi said, “who is my father? I heard that he was a banished immortal and that you were close to him. Is that true?”

“Your father was the transmigration of a royal figure of no small repute. Unfortunately, the details pertain to a secret of heavenly proportions. Knowing the details won't do you any good right now. If you want to know the truth, reach the Demolishing level and become an immortal. That is when your true path of cultivation will begin. Legendaries. Great Sages. Demi-Immortals. Those are all titles given to mortals, and represent weakness. Their struggles are like battles between ants. When you become a Demolisher, the world will open up to you and you’ll realize how, right now, you’re truly

a frog in a well

.”

By this point, the Invincible Dugu’s clone had almost completely faded away. “The power of my clone will now gather in the Invincible Heart on your palm. With that power, you should be able to reach even higher levels of enlightenment. Hopefully you can achieve multiple breakthroughs within the Demi-Immortal level. If you can summon Universal Demi-Immortal fiend-devils, you can dominate the mortal world. Remember, everything beneath the Universal level is small scale. But once you understand the rotations of the universe, you can become a truly dominating force….”

At that point, the clone disappeared.

A long moment passed before Sword Seventeen recovered his composure. 

“Master really ascended,” he murmured. “Now it's only the two of us. There’s tough work ahead, and a long way to go. We're simply too weak right now.”

“Don’t worry. The fact that Master ascended isn't public knowledge, and it's not like we’ll be spreading the news. Let’s take advantage of every moment we have to further our cultivation and become stronger. Master was right; if I can achieve a few breakthroughs, and eventually summon Universal Demi-Immortal fiend-devils, then hardly anyone in the mortal world could fight me. It would take immortals to keep me in check.”

Yang Qi looked down at the blood-colored heart on his palm and could sense the power within it, power that seemed invincible. The heart pulsed, almost as if it were a real, beating heart. And the light which shone off of it seemed to contain magical laws of the dao of immortals.

Absorbing its power would definitely take time.

As for the godly-class energy art within it, he planned to give that to his immortal clone.

“Come on, Elder Brother. Let’s head to Planet Sage Monarch. I want to turn it into a planetary system!” With that, the two of them vanished without a trace.

[1]

1. Because I’m sure someone will comment, I’d like to point out that even with Yang Qi having a leadership position now, the titles they use do not change. I think this is intended to emphasize the small and close-knit nature of the Invincible Society. They are like family to each other, and thus, continue to refer to each other by means of their original seniority, regardless of their later growth.

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