As soon as Yang Qi was out in the open, he could sense that numerous hostile gazes had locked onto him. ‘Must be the Crown Prince Society. They’re the only ones who have a beef with me.’

Furthermore, one of the gazes seemed to burn with fire that could immolate immortals.

Clearly, Gu Fenxian was not willing to let matters drop, and wanted revenge.

He came from an aristocratic clan, and was inherently petty and arrogant. His clan had once possessed an imperial-class energy art, and had produced many Legendaries. In fact, the founder of the clan had been a Great Sage. Because of that, Gu Fenxian had always felt superior, and was used to people acquiescing to him in all situations.

How could he not seek vengeance for the defeat he had suffered at the Academy of Sage Studies?

Yang Qi had no doubts in his mind that he would, and thus, was fully on guard.

For the entire two months that he had been an elite student, he had been waiting for the Crown Prince Society to do something against him, and it was for that reason that he hadn’t left the Demi-Immortal Institute. Instead, he focused on study and on spell formations. That way, when the time came to clash with the Crown Prince Society, he would be ready to show them how strong he truly was.

Now that he was in the College of Elite Students, he would eventually be able to reveal the true level of his energy arts and cultivation base.

It was a long-standing tradition in the institute to leave elite students alone. They were expected to harbor secrets, and not even the professors and elders in the institute were allowed to investigate such matters.

In fact, the longer one remained an elite student, the more secrets they were expected to keep.

Yang Qi was currently expecting to wait four or five years and do his best to stabilize his position. At that point, he wouldn’t need to hold back as much.

‘Hmph! If you didn’t have the Crown Prince Society to back you up, Yun Hailan, I would have already given you what you deserve. One of these days, my Sage Monarch Society will surpass the Crown Prince Society. Then you’ll see that all the power you’ve worked to accumulate is nothing more than a joke! And no matter how much you beg and plead, I won’t give you any second chances. No hope!’

As Yang Qi made his way to the Outer Campus, he kept his senses focused on whether or not he was being followed.

Given the level of his energy arts and cultivation base, he could tell if hostile gazes were locked onto him. Even if the people watching him remained in hiding, he would still detect their gazes.

After all, Gu Fenxian and his friends were no match for him in terms of energy arts. They were all Lifeseizers, but Yang Qi was dozens of times more powerful than them. Therefore, it was only natural that he would be able to detect them watching him.

However, Gu Fenxian was under the impression that Yang Qi had no idea about being surveilled. Little did he know that, not only was Yang Qi aware of his actions, he could also sense exactly where Gu Fenxian was, and also could hear what he was saying.

After confirming that he had lost them, Yang Qi entered the room where Li He and the others were working on their cultivation.

During the two months which had passed, all four of them had made significant progress.

They had all sorts of relevant resources stacked up around the room, such as spirit medicines, pill furnaces, and the like. These weren’t things provided by the institute, but rather, treasured items given them by their clans.

All four of them had taken time to return to their clans for assessment by their clan seniors. Considering their progress, their clans now had deep hope that they would reach the Lifeseizing level.

Unless the leadership in their clans were complete fools, they would definitely do everything they could to support such rising stars.

Of course, Yang Qi realized that news of him reaching the Lifeseizing level and becoming an elite student had been spread to his friends’ clans, and that they had sent expressions of goodwill to his father.

In fact, in his letter, his father had asked him to offer thanks to Li He and the others.

As of this point, they were all mutually benefiting from their various relationships.

That was one reason why Yang Qi had worked so hard to research energy formations of the dao of monarchs. If his friends could advance a bit further in their cultivation, it would make their alliance even stronger. If their group consisted of five elite students, then they might not be able to rival the Crown Prince Society, the Gentlemen’s Society, or the Divine Ability Society, but at least those societies would hesitate before causing trouble for them.

As soon as he entered the room, his friends’ eyes went wide at the obvious progress he had made.

“How has your cultivation gone in the past two months, Yang Qi?” Li He said.

“I finished creating an energy formation of the dao of monarchs. It's right here in my Heart of the Sea thumb-ring. Let’s set it up here, and the four of you can try it out. Let’s see how similar it is to the ones in the College of Elite Students. Afterwards, I'm hoping you can help me get it to Yanhaven so that my father and brothers can use it, and possibly some of the young talented ones in the clan.”

With that, Yang Qi waved his finger, pulling the spell formation out into the room.

Pure white spirit energy flowed through the air, looking almost like milk. Instantly, the spirit energy began to pour into his four friends.

Within that energy was the energy of the dao of monarchs, which purified their minds and hearts.

“It’s really an energy formation of the dao of monarchs!” Liang Dong exclaimed. “How did you make it, Yang Qi? Lots of students have tried to do this, but none of them ever succeeded. You need pure subterranean spirit energy to do so, and that stuff is wild and powerful. Not even Quaternary Lifeseizers would be able to extract it. But you did?”

The only explanation Yang Qi offered was a mysterious smile. Because of the way the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth let him control matters of the earth, he could do things that many top masters could not.

“That’s not important,” he said. “Come on, start with your cultivation. I’ll help out. Who knows, we might even be able to get Liang Dong into the Lifeseizing level right now.”

“Let’s do it!” They all sat down cross-legged and got to work.

Yang Qi sat in the middle, his hands flowing through the air as he sent streams of true energy into the milky-white spirit energy. Drawing out the true essence of the dao of monarchs, he turned the spirit energy into what looked like snakes that began to pour into his friends’ body.

Instantly, their bodies began to transform, all the way down to their bones. Their blood began to turn as white as the spiritual energy itself, and the power of their Cosmic Sunflare Sword began to build.

By this point, the four of them had abandoned the use of true energy to practice cultivation, and instead focused purely on the Cosmic Sunflare Sword. As such, whenever they used their sword energy, it pulsed with the sensation of the cosmos, and the heat of a flaring sun.

Cultivating this sword technique was very taxing on the body. Sword energy was inherently sharp, and would damage the meridians upon passing through them.

But now, with the help of Yang Qi’s energy formation of the dao of monarchs, and the milky white spirit energy that was coursing through their blood, their bodies were being remolded. Now, the sword energy of the Cosmic Sunflare Sword could move through them much more smoothly and quickly.

In its ultimate form, sword energy could rage to the heights of the sky, destroy vital energy, and use ability to seize life from the heavens.

As for Yang Qi, he had used raw power to vanquish the vital energy and seize life.

But ability was different from raw power. Ability was about sharpness and accuracy, and the skill to slice apart anything and everything. Raw power was just the ability to crush or destroy.

Ability was like an assassin, and raw power was like an emperor.

In the modern world, few people used raw power to try to seize life. After all, raw power was something that belonged to the devils of the distant past, and the legion of gods in heaven. It was almost profane for humans to attempt to use it.

Therefore, few people would ever do what Yang Qi did. Generally speaking, ability was the orthodox method among humans.

The entire group of four was completely focused on their cultivation. Although they didn't compare much at all to the other powerful organizations in the Demi-Immortal Institute, one day, they would be able to unleash their true power.

Before, the four of them would never have even been able to dream of using an energy formation of the dao of monarchs, and thus, would never have reached the Lifeseizing level.

Yang Qi was definitely a major outlier. He had overcome many dangerous situations, killed Chu Tiange, completed his Hellfire Crucible, and built up significant reserves before heading out onto the ocean to reach the Lifeseizing level.

For others, things could never go so smoothly.

For example, Yun Hailan only succeeded because she had attracted the attention of the legendary Crown Prince, who had bestowed her with Life Force Springwater.

WHOOSH!

Even as they worked on their cultivation, they all sensed something odd. Sure enough, it was possible to see a radiant light hovering outside of the window, which looked like a paper crane made of pure energy.

It was exquisite, and very lifelike, and seemed to be honed in on Yang Qi’s aura.

At the same time, Yang Qi could sense Yang Susu’s aura on it.

‘Aunt Susu is out of seclusion? She’s using that energy crane to let me know?’ He waved his hand, causing the window to open, and simultaneously sent out a manifestation of Humanoid True Energy to take control of the spell formation. Then, he leapt up and flew out the window.

Instantly, the energy crane flew some distance away, then turned and looked at him, as if waiting for him to follow.

Without any hesitation, he flew after the creature, passing through numerous buildings toward the depths of the institute.

**

Hundreds of kilometers inside the Demi-Immortal Institute, there were no temples and pagodas. Instead, there were mountains, wreathed with mist and covered with flowers and vegetation.

The mountains stretched out in all directions, too many of them to count, almost like the scales on a dragon.

This was a very significant part of the institute, the Heaven Lode Mountains. According to the legends, this had once been a so-called dragon lode in the Rich-Lush Continent. In primeval times it had been very mysterious, and also, very famous. Later, it came to be occupied by the Demi-Immortal Institute.

The highest level members lived here, including conclave students and holy neophytes.

“Is this where Aunt Susu has been working on her cultivation? It seems her master must be a very important person.” Yang Qi flew through the mountains, not daring to stray off the path led by the crane. Obviously, it was a dangerous location, filled with deadly spell formations and other things that could kill him instantly.