Chapter 151: Yuan Shen.

Yao Jun continued to move through the rocky plain, the tall rocks slowly shrinking and giving way to dry grass. After spending a little over a day of traveling, there were barely any rocks left sticking out of the ground. The dry grass that took over for the rocks went all the way up to Yao Jun's waist, completely shrouding his legs. The grass was dry and yellow, but even without any wind, it swayed softly and gently.

The moment Yao Jun entered the tall grass, he spread his senses out as far as he could, staying on high alert as he moved. The grass only went up to his waist, but it was still tall enough to hide powerful Demonic beasts that specialized in camouflage. Even now, as he slowly made his way through the grass, he could sense several Demonic beasts lurking in the grass, watching him with a vigilant gaze.

Yet despite the fact that they were watching him with a vigilant gaze, very few Demonic beasts actually ended up attacking him. He had spotted several Demonic beasts ever since he entered the ruins, but he had only ended up being attacked by four Demonic beasts so far, and none of those Demonic beasts had reached the 2nd Mortal Earth. As he walked, he could not help but mutter in a low voice, his eyes narrowed slightly.

“What exactly are you waiting for?”

Since the Demonic beasts did not attack him, he could only assume that they were waiting for something. But he could not figure out what they might be waiting for. If they were waiting for a chance where he was open, they could just attack him during one of the times he had been attacked earlier, but they had not done so.

Yao Jun continued to slowly make his way through the tall grass, his eyes constantly sweeping the surroundings. After he spent a bit more time walking, he suddenly felt the earth beneath his feet tremble slightly, the swaying of the grass around him growing stronger. The hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood upright, a foreboding feeling filling his heart.

Yao Jun immediately stomped down on the ground, using his control over wind to create footholds of solid air he could use to jump up. But just as he placed his foot onto one of the footholds, it dissipated and vanished. Because his foot ended up hitting empty air, he lost his balance for a split second, unintentionally leaning sideways. During the split second where he lost his balance, the earth beneath him rapidly rose up, forming sharp spikes that aimed to impale him.

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed further, deciding to dodge into the shadows until he discovered his enemy. The shadows from the earth spikes extended, moving to engulf Yao Jun. But just as the shadows were about to cover him, Yao Jun once again felt a foreboding feeling fill his body, even his Demon God's Gate trembling slightly. He slammed out with his left palm, hitting one of the earth pillars and using the rebounding force to push himself away. Just as he pushed himself away, the shadows that had almost engulfed him turned into sharp spikes, piercing through the spot where he had just been.

Yao Jun landed on his side on the ground a short distance away, rolling for a short moment before he stabilized himself and sprung up. He tightly grasped his sword and swept the surroundings with his eyes, a cold expression on his face. Not just his wind had failed, but even his shadows had moved against him. He continued to sweep the surroundings with his eyes, his gaze locking onto an empty spot as he called out in a cold voice.

“Show yourself!”

After his voice sounded out, the shadows of the grass where he was looking rose up from the ground, turning into a large black door. With the door forming, Yao Jun once more felt his Demon God's Gate tremble faintly, but he ignored the feeling for the moment, as three figures were walking out of the black door. Upon seeing the three people walk out of the door, Yao Jun's pupils shrank to the size of pinholes, a somewhat twisted smile appearing on his face as he spoke out.

“You!”

Yao Jun's voice was dripping with killing intent as he looked at the three people. There were three men, with Yao Jun unable to recognize the youth who seemed to be the leader, but the two other men were people he could never forget. Soft features, clear brown eyes, black hair tied into a bun, and still clad in the same white robe he wore when he captured Yao Jun, Guo Jiahao walked out of the black door. Following next to him was Guo Zhe, clad in a tattered gray robe and with his back hunched, his face was still covered in wrinkles, his bald scalp covered in liver spots.

Guo Jiahao and Guo Zhe only glanced at Yao Jun for a short moment, their eyes devoid of emotions. After they glanced at Yao Jun, they took up position behind the youth who seemed to be the leader of the group. The leader was a male youth with masculine features and brown skin, he had short hair that was icy blue in color and his amber eyes were looking at Yao Jun with a curious expression. He was clad in a robe made out of the skin of a gray wolf, the head of the wolf placed on his right shoulder. The youth cupped his hands towards Yao Jun, speaking with a faint smile and a polite tone.

“Greetings, I am Yuan Shen. You'll have to forgive me for bringing these two, but Sister Yi said that I had to bring some of her people along, and these two were the closest ones to me. Now then, please forgive me, but I have to kill you.”

Right after his soothing voice rang out, Yao Jun once again felt the ground beneath him tremble, spikes of earth rising up from beneath his feet. Yao Jun was somewhat prepared this time, so he raised his leg and stomped down on the foot, crimson flames bursting forth from beneath his foot. But Yao Jun's expression quickly twisted when he realized that the flames had not scorched and shattered the earth spikes, but were instead trying to scorch his foot.

Yao Jun jumped backwards, temporarily ignoring the flames that were burning his foot as he dodged the spikes of earth that rose where he had just stood. The moment his feet touched the ground again, Yao Jun covered his foot with a thin layer of ice, smothering the flames. He was prepared for even his ice to backfire, but he let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that the ice seemed to follow his orders.

Yao Jun heard the sound of something moving through the air, so he rapidly raised his head, spotting two arrows made out of metal flying towards him. Yao Jun struck out with his sword, splitting the two arrows in half as he continued to dodge backwards. But just when he thought he had dealt with the arrows, the split pieces started wriggling, turning into smaller arrows that continued to shoot towards him with increased speed.

Yao Jun's expression twisted when he saw the now four arrows shooting towards him. He tried to use his wind to deflect them, but the moment he summoned the wind, it turned against him, becoming sharp blades that slashed at his throat. The earth beneath his feet started to tremble slightly, even the grass around him coiling towards him and tying up his legs, growing harder as it did so.

Hardened grass tied up his legs, metal arrows were shooting towards his chest, blades of wind were moving towards his throat, and spikes of earth pierced up from the ground in an attempt to impale him. Yao Jun's expression was solemn as ice spread from his legs, freezing the grass that was tying him up and allowing him to shatter it. Arcs of lightning coiled around his body as he pushed his speed to the max. He dashed forward and twisted his torso, moving past the spikes of earth and dodging the blades of wind that aimed at his throat.

But he was unable to dodge all the arrows, one of them lodging itself into his left shoulder. The arrow started to wriggle once it pierced into his shoulder, the tip of the arrow growing several barbs that dug into his flesh and made it hard to pull out the arrow. Yao Jun ignored the pain, his eyes locking onto Yuan Shen as he spoke out in a cold voice.

“You have a God Gate?”

Every attack that had been aimed at Yao Jun caused his God Gate to tremble faintly, a feeling he was quite familiar with. Yao Jun could easily count all the times his God Gate had trembled like that, and the one thing all those times had in common were that the trembling happened whenever Guo Luo, Yun Yantian, or Lin Ren used their God Gate around him. After hearing Yao Jun's words, a bright smile appeared on Yuan Shen's lips as he nodded his head and gave a short bow.

“Indeed. Element God Yuan Shen greets Demon God Yao Jun.”