Who could ever have guessed that the very Sage Monarch Society which would eventually shake the Demi-Immortal Institute to the core would be founded by five freshman students in this fashion?

In truth, the puny little group was only the seed of a society. Compared to the membership and power of the numerous other societies in the institute, they were almost like children playing house. However, Yang Qi was convinced that things would only improve from this point on.

Although Li He, He Jili, Hua Yinhu and Liang Dong were only in the eighth phase, they all had impressive backgrounds. If they could rise within the ranks of the institute, and improve their cultivation bases, then their influence in their clans would grow, and that would benefit Yang Qi.

Most people who got into the Demi-Immortal Institute came from powerful clans, so the more people he could get as allies, the better he would be able to protect his own clan.

“Alright, let’s swear a blood oath to be brothers, and form our society!”

They all got on their knees and swore to the heavens: “The five of us are brothers. Sages inside, monarchs outside. Share in glory, share in loss. Let any traitors be punished by heaven and earth, and abandoned by mortals and gods alike!” [1]

Having uttered their oath, they exchanged glances and then burst out in laughter.

Yang Qi was feeling wonderful. Now that they were all brothers, if his secret was revealed to them, he was more confident that word wouldn’t spread.

“Alright, sit down. I’m going to use my energy arts to transform you completely. Before long, all of you will be Masters of Energy!”

With that, Yang Qi used his true energy to mark out places for them to sit, placing his friends in the east, south, west, and north positions, and himself in the center.

Then, he threw his hands out, causing a true energy barrier to spring up around them. Simultaneously, four arms sprouted out from his back.

Now that he was a Master of Energy, the arms that came with the Invincible King’s Fist were extremely shocking in nature.

Five fingers sprouted out from the end of each arm, which then came to rest on the heads of his four friends. Almost instantly, scalding true energy began to pour through their meridians and into their muscles. The four of them gritted their teeth as the impurities within them were slowly extruded.

“So much heterogeneous true energy!” Li He was delighted to see the energy being forced out of him, and the reversal of the damage that had been done to his meridians because of the various energy arts he practiced.

Yang Qi’s cultivation base had also once contained such heterogeneous true energy.

The truth was that one of the main reasons people had trouble rising to higher cultivation levels was because of the discord created by different techniques, which caused the true energy to become impure.

Unfortunately, only cultivating a single technique wasn’t an option, as it would leave one too weak to contend with enemies in a fight.

All in all, cultivation required finding a good balance.

Now that Li He and the others were having the true energy conflicts within them smoothed out, they could tell that it would be easier to reach the ninth phase.

One of the main reasons their studies in the Demi-Immortal Institute had been going so slowly was because of the heterogeneous true energy they had built up.

All four of them exhaled, their true energy flowing through them as hot as magma.

It was no waste for Yang Qi to be using his true energy to purify them. After all, as it flowed inside of their bodies, he was able to discern certain secret aspects to the techniques they cultivated, which was of great benefit to himself.

Flames swirled out from Yang Qi’s true energy arms and into specific acupuncture points, piercing deep into their veins to find necrotic blood.

Before long, steam began to rise up from the heads of the four students as the noxious, acrid blood was cleansed and made pure.

This was a water-type energy art, and considering that it was snowing, water-type energy arts were particularly easy to use.

All of a sudden, a whistling sound could be heard as a stream of vital energy shot up from Liang Dong and reached toward the sky. Fuse one’s energy with the clouds! Liang Dong was the first among the group to become a Master of Energy.

He was the most mysterious of the group of five, and kept many secrets. But now, Yang Qi realized that he had a type of spirit herb inside him, similar to an airmastery plant. However, while the airmastery plant contained an energy related to lightness and agility, this plant was hard and unyielding, and as hot as fire.

“At long last my flamesun vine is completely refined!” Liang Dong exclaimed excitedly. “I’ve finally mastered flamesun true energy! Many thanks, Brother Yang!”

“Good job,” Yang Qi said, nodding. With that, he pulled his energy back in. Although his other three friends were not yet Masters of Energy, it wouldn’t be long before they broke through the bottlenecks that were holding them back.

Rising to his feet excitedly, Li He said, “Alright, let’s go track down some more vampire brigands. We can break through during the fighting.”

With that, the five of them blurred into motion, disappearing into the snow, eager to get back to action.

Meanwhile, on a mountain some distance away, a griffon was crouching in the snow. On its back was Song Haishan, who was in a foul mood. In fact, he was so angry that he felt like committing suicide.

“Dammit! I'm gonna kill you, Yang Qi!”

Waving his hand angrily, he sent out a burst of true energy in the form of a sphere, which smashed into the snowy ground and exploded.

Yun Hailan was off to the side.

“Alright, Song Haishan,” she said, her voice as cold as ice. “Calm down. Aren’t you done venting? You don’t want to interrupt Elder Brother Chu Tiange’s studies of that astrological phenomenon.”

In response, Song Haishan quickly reined in his true energy.

“I refuse to accept this, Hailan! That punk is nothing but trash. So what if you used him back in the day? And now he’s making a name for himself? I'm never going to forget how he humiliated me. I’ll get my revenge one day! I’ll wipe out his entire clan! I’ll make sure he understands the consequences of offending me!”

“Making a name for himself? I doubt it.” Yun Hailan sat down cross-legged, using her true energy to create a canopy over herself, not to block the snow, but to collect it.

As she did, the snow began to transform into magical symbols made of water vapor, which then shrank down into dots that entered her body.

Apparently, she was absorbing the quintessence of the snow itself.

“Yang Zhan probably saved Yang Qi using his airmastery plant, that’s all. If Yang Qi absorbed that airmastery plant, it means that his cultivation base is the same as four or five Masters of Energy put together. It’s only natural that you're not a match for him. However, not even a hundred Masters of Energy could be a match for a single Lifeseizer. You just focus on your cultivation. The rewards from the institute for this mission might be enough to awaken the blood of a sea god within you, and possibly even reach the Lifeseizing level. If you let the incident from yesterday erode your confidence, then you’ll be worse trash than Yang Qi.”

Throughout the entire conversation, Yun Hailan’s voice didn't seem to contain even a hint of emotion.

“I'm gonna rip that little swine’s head off and hang it on a tree right next to his father’s,” Song Haishan growled furiously. “Hailan, you had a Lifeseizer to help you further your cultivation. Plus, the blood of a sea god within you is very strong. Probably a hundred times stronger than in me, or maybe even a thousand. You definitely have a shot at becoming a Lifeseizer soon, but it's going to be a lot harder for me.”

“Don’t worry. Once I'm in the Lifeseizing level, my standing among the Seafolk will rise rapidly. I’ll get you some medicinal pills that have the blood of a sea god in them. That should help you out.” With that, she waved her hand dismissively. “Come on, sit down and start cultivating. If Yang Qi attacks you again, then I’m going to stop treating him special because of how he gave me the Latent Dragon Pill. I’ll take him out myself if I have to. If he tries to strut around relying on the quintessence of an airmastery plant, he’s nothing more than a big joke.”

Not too far away on the peak of the mountain was Chu Tiange, who was using a feng shui compass formed of true energy to study an astrological phenomenon. “Let me remind you again, Junior Sister Hailan. If you don’t mind owing me a favor, I can go cut that brat down right now.”

“Many thanks, Elder Brother. The reason I want to leave Yang Qi alone is more than just his connection to Yang Susu. He did steal a Latent Dragon Pill for me, and we were friends. And I also swore an oath not to kill him. However, if he insists on being bull-headed, and continues to talk of revenge, then our friendship will be over for good. That will be the day he dies.” Apparently, Yun Hailan felt that she had everything under control. “Yang Qi is a nobody, and isn’t worth even thinking about. The most important thing right now is what you're working on, Elder Brother Chu Tiange. Have you been able to divine the location of the leader of the vampire brigands, Jing Wuxue? If you want me to owe you a favor, Elder Brother Chu Tiange, then why don’t you kill Jing Wuxue and give me his blood demon core?” [2]

“Alright. Done deal!”

Chu Tiange rubbed his hands together and eyed Yun Hailan’s voluptuous curves. “But favors to me aren't always easy to pay back. When the time comes, and I ask for something, will you agree to give it?”

Yun Hailan chuckled. “As long as the favor matches the debt, I won’t hold anything back. That said, the Crown Prince personally told me that everyone in the Crown Prince Society is supposed to take care of me. The whole reason I entered the College of Elite Students as a Master of Energy was because of him. Elder Brother Chu Tiange, aren’t you worried that he might find out about the thoughts running through your head right now?”

The Crown Prince was a legendary figure within the Demi-Immortal Institute.

He was a holy neophyte, an incredibly high position. Furthermore, his cultivation base was profound to the extreme. In fact, even Lifeseizers looked up to him, and were unsure of his exact cultivation level.

His Crown Prince Society was the most powerful organization within the Demi-Immortal Institute, and had as many experts as members as the sky had clouds.

Even an insufferably arrogant person like Chu Tiange would shudder in fear at the mentioning of his name.

After all, he was a member of the Crown Prince Society, and knew full well how terrifying the Crown Prince was.

Somehow, Yun Hailan had encountered the Crown Prince when she first joined the Demi-Immortal Institute half a year ago, and apparently, he had taken a liking to her; a single word from him allowed her to enter the College of Elite Students. And he had even used his own true energy to increase her cultivation.

1. The word for “brother” here is different for the word used to describe blood relatives. I think some translators use “bro” but I feel that sounds too casual. Usually, the difference is obvious based on the context, so I'm going to just use "brother" for both "blood brother" and "sworn brother"

2. Jing Wuxue: Jing is a common surname. As I mentioned before, Wuxue literally means “no blood” or “bloodless”