Yao Jun looked at the gray smoke that was quickly growing denser and denser as more buildings in the city were dissolved. Before long, almost the entire city had been turned into smoke, only the roads, and a few walls remaining. This was the might of an Earthly Deity, altering the world as they wished. Once Silas became a middle stage or even late stage Earthly Deity, he might even be able to turn entire continents into nothing but smoke. And once he became a Heavenly Deity, entire planets would turn to smoke if he so wished.

Silas had turned the entire city into smoke, but he had yet to launch any attacks, keeping a vigilant eye on Yao Jun. He wasn't certain what Yao Jun was capable of, so he found it unwise to be the one to make the first move. Since Silas didn't wish to make the first move, that responsibility fell on Yao Jun.

Yao Jun activated his strengthening technique Crumbling The Nine Heavens, opening the five channels he had carved for the technique. The pressure that his body radiated drastically increased, reaching a point where even Silas felt threatened and slightly narrowed his eyes. The stones beneath Yao Jun's feet started to distort slightly, some parts turning from stone into either fire, lightning, or wind.

This scene caused Silas' eyes to narrow even further. Altering the world around them was the power of an Earthly Deity, a god. Yao Jun was still only someone in the Immortal Rebirth realm, a mortal, it should be impossible for him to produce the power of a deity. But the signs were right there in front of him, Silas could not deny the scene taking place before his own eyes.

After activating his strengthening technique and reaching his strongest state, Yao Jun raised his right arm, pointing his sword at Silas. Silas was just about to prepare his defense for the incoming attack, but before he even got to raise his defense, the sword within Yao Jun's grasp dissolved. It simply blew away like dust in the wind, completely vanishing.

Silas wanted to examine the situation to figure out just what had happened, but the moment his sword dissolved into the wind, Yao Jun made his move. With the sound of rumbling thunder resounding over the area, he dashed forward, his speed unleashing a shockwave that shattered the stones beneath him.

He swiftly arrived in front of Silas, but Silas quickly took a step back and waved his left arm, the surrounding smoke gathering in front of his body to form a two-meter tall and wide shield. Yao Jun ignored the smoke and punched out, aiming for Silas' head. He had the surrounding wind form a small tornado around his fist, attempting to blow away the smoke so that it would not obstruct his attack.

But just as his fist reached it, the wall of smoke changed, turning into a solid block of ice that wouldn't be affected by Yao Jun's wind. His right fist clashed with the wall of ice and caused several large cracks to appear in it, but it didn't shatter and fall apart. The moment the wall of smoke turned to ice, Silas took advantage of Yao Jun's slight second of surprise.

The ground beneath Yao Jun turned into smoke and caused his footing to disappear, momentarily destabilizing his body. Silas then vanished from behind the wall of ice, his torso re-appearing out from the smoke that the ground beneath Yao Jun had turned into it, slashing his strange saber at Yao Jun's left knee in a sideways slash.

Yao Jun wondered how Silas had managed to vanish and then re-appear from the smoke, but it was unlikely that he would respond even if he asked. Yao Jun solidified the air beneath his feet to regain his footing, unleashing wave after wave of scorching blue fire from his left leg to slow down Silas. At the same time, he also gave his body half a spin and kneeled down onto his left knee, using his right arm to aim a downward punch at the top of Silas' head. Like this, even if Silas' attack made contact with his leg, Yao Jun's fist would smash into Silas' head, it was a trade he was fine with doing.

Silas' expression changed slightly when he saw Yao Jun's willingness to trade wound for wound. He flicked his left hand, the blue flames that were coming at him like torrential waves halting for a short moment. The fire trembled slightly, seemingly torn between listening to Yao Jun's order and Silas' order. After he flicked his wrist, Silas moved his upper body back slightly and altered the direction of his slash, tilting the blade upwards so that it intercepted Yao Jun's punch.

A loud sound burst forth when Yao Jun's clenched fist made contact with the side of Silas' saber, a small shockwave erupting outwards as all the air around the clash was forced away. Silas felt a strange corroding energy enter his arm through his saber, so he quickly poured as much of his Qi into his arm as he could, drowning the strange energy. He then vanished into the smoke again, appearing behind the wall of ice once more.

Yao Jun stood up and looked at Silas, whose expression had turned solemn and grim. Silas had blocked Yao Jun's attack rather than just vanishing into the smoke to dodge it, so Yao Jun guessed Silas wasn't able to move through the smoke in quick succession, there was likely a small delay. Silas looked at his right arm, which had turned a bit paler and wrinklier after being invaded by that strange energy, Qi that contained the law of death. He clenched his fist slightly, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Yao Jun.

"I must admit that I underestimated you earlier. You are far more dangerous than I first anticipated. A mortal who can produce the power of a deity, I have never even heard of such a freakish occurrence. But looking at the fact that you haven't used that power yet, I'm guessing that you aren't very proficient with it. I will snuff you out here, before you become even more of a monster and become a terror on this whole universe."

Silas did not believe that a being like Yao Jun should exist. Someone who had yet to become a deity but was able to use the power of a god, and even fight an Earthly Deity like him, such a being overturned everything that Silas believed possible. He had never heard about Yao Jun, something that should be impossible given his strength, which he believed could only mean that Yao Jun was keeping himself hidden. The fact that Yao Jun was trying to alter his memories also supported this guess of his.

If such a being was allowed to grow stronger as he wished, with no one in the universe knowing about him, what would the end result be? He might very well become so powerful that he would become someone similar to the past Horrid King of Pride, the one that required several Godkings to gather together to kill him. Silas didn't know what sort of personality Yao Jun had, but he believed that it was better to kill him here while he still could, just in case he was someone similar to the past Horrid King of Pride or the other people carrying the Horrid moniker.

Silas wasn't wrong in his judgment. In his strongest state, Yao Jun could alter the world around him as an Earthly Deity could, but he had no proficiency with it. The altering process required him to infiltrate the smallest particles of everything around him with his Qi and forcibly altering it to a state that suited him, something that required practice. But as Yao Jun couldn't always keep his strongest state active, he could not practice this very often, leaving him rather un-skilled in this altering process.

Silas raised his strange saber, all the smoke that the city had become gathering together and forming a thin layer around the saber. The smoke was wriggling and distorting, constantly changing from being smoke to either fire, ice, or wind. Space started to creak from the might that was gathered around the saber, thick black spatial cracks spreading out through the surrounding air.

The air and the spatial cracks around Silas also started to morph and distort, turning into smoke that flew towards his saber and became part of the layer that covered it. He was gathering up all his strength, even turning space itself into smoke that he could use to unleash his strongest attack. He grasped his saber with both hands, looking at Yao Jun with a serious expression.

"I don't know if you are trying to hide yourself or how many people might know about you, but allow at least me to acknowledge your strength and the effort it must have taken to become that powerful. You are strong, you are dangerous. And because of that, I will use my full might to kill you here. This is my strongest technique, taught to me by my sect teacher, Jiri...!"

Before Silas got a chance to finish his solemn sentence, a sharp pain flooded his hands. He quickly moved his eyes, his gaze landing on a pitch black sword that extended out from a small flame that was gathered around his saber. The sword extended out from the flame and stabbed into his wrists, piercing both of them.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The sword then dissolved, vanishing into the wind before his very eyes. He then felt a stabbing pain pierce through his chest, the sword appearing out from the shadow his arms cast on his robe. It then dissolved again, this time appearing in Yao Jun's grasp, who now looked a bit paler. Silas looked at the sword with clear terror in his gaze, completely ignoring the hole he had in his chest.

The sword had pierced through his lung, grazing his heart slightly. As the sword pierced him, it also seemed to flood his entire body with a potent poison that was already starting to drag away his consciousness. It might be hard to poison him normally, but if the poison was placed directly into his heart, it became much harder to resist it.

The poison wasn't lethal, merely something to knock out and paralyze Silas. Yao Jun didn't want to kill him after all, killing this Earthly Deity would attract too much attention from the sects and clans which had sent people to this planet. He also needed Silas alive to make the altered memories seem even truer, as the sects and clans would be more inclined to believe his words than the words of the other cultivators they had sent. Yao Jun stored away his sword, tilting his head slightly as he looked at Silas.

"You Earthly Deities always talk too much, it always causes you to lower your guard."

It wasn't just Earthly Deities who did this, Yao Jun had noticed that quite a few cultivators in the wider universe talked a lot during battles, especially just before they were planning on ending it. This would inevitably leave some openings as they slightly lowered their guard, so Yao Jun simply could not understand why they were so fond of doing it.

What Yao Jun had just done to Silas was something he could do thanks to how special his sword was. Yao Jun's blade was forged with his own blood and the energy from his God Gate, it was created using a special technique by Sword Empyrean Heng Jiang, a technique he had been given by a friend who didn't come from this planet.

This made Yao Jun's sword special, making it a part of his body, imbued with all his power and various laws. The more Demonic beasts he absorbed, the more laws he learned, the stronger his sword would become. What he had done just now was something utilizing the fact that his sword was imbued with all his laws and power, dissolving the weapon into his Qi and laws. Like this, he could call the weapon forth from any of the laws he controlled, like for example having it appear from the flames that surrounded Silas' weapon. It cost a lot of energy to dissolve the blade and then materialize it like that, but just like his law of space, it was perfect for catching enemies off-guard for a finishing blow.

Silas' saber dropped to the ground with a dull thud, the smoke gathered around it starting to dissipate and lose the power it had contained just a few seconds ago. Silas tried to stretch out his arm and point at Yao Jun's sword, his expression one of terror and confusion as he struggled to open his mouth.

"Superbia's sword....where did you...get that...technique..."

He didn't get to speak the words out loud thanks to the poison, only able to mouth them before the poison dragged away his consciousness and he collapsed to the floor. Yao Jun might not know the origins of the sword that Sword Empyrean Heng Jiang had crafted for him using Yao Jun's own blood and the energy from his God Gate, but Silas knew.

There was once a famous cultivator who used his own weapon in a very similar manner, merging the weapon into their laws and Qi. They could do this because their weapon had been forged using their own blood and flesh, reinforced using a technique they had come up with. And the famous cultivator who had done this was someone who was killed within the Hollow Waste that surrounded this planet, Superbia, the Horrid King of Pride.

Yao Jun was not able to understand what Silas had been mouthing, nor did he really care what he had been trying to say. He waved his hand and created a strong gale that blew away the smoke that still lingered in the air, revealing the now completely empty area around them, all the buildings completely gone. Yao Jun had been here twice in his life. The first visit resulted in the entire city being abandoned, and this second visit resulted in the entire city vanishing

He gave the surroundings a quick sweeping glance before he cast his gaze onto the unconscious Silas. He walked over and removed Silas' interspatial ring, sending his mind into it and taking out a few medicinal pills that he was carrying. He placed the pills into Silas' mouth and then placed his hand on top of Silas' head, flooding his mind with poison and mental energy.

The medicinal pills started healing Silas' wounds, keeping him alive while Yao Jun was altering his memories and erasing himself from Silas' mind. A short while later, he had finished altering Silas' memories, changing his memories to scenes of him fighting the strange beast that had broken the seal on this planet by eating the energy that the seal unleashed. The story was that he had managed to force the beast away but suffered a few wounds in the process, so he was unable to chase it as it left the planet.

After he finished altering Silas' memories, Yao Jun stepped through space and left the area. He had finished altering the memories that needed altering, now it was finally time to find out where Guo Luo, Yun Yantian, and his parents had disappeared to.

A ripple ran through space in the middle of Great Boulder Empire, Yao Jun appearing in the meeting hall where Little Gray and the others were waiting. Little Gray and Du Xiao had already finished altering the memories of everyone in this hall, sending them away and leaving the meeting hall mostly empty. The only ones left in the meeting hall now were Yao Jun's Demonic beasts, Mardon and Mariam, as well as Wan Yi and the others. The moment Yao Jun appeared, Mardon and Mariam straightened their backs and respectfully spoke out.

"We have reported to the Young Master, he has agreed to pull back all our men from this planet, we won't set foot here ever again unless allowed to. We have also reported that you wished for one of our flying ships and he told us that we are to hand you the Shadow Chaser, the ship most suited for stealth and covert missions."

The brown-haired Mardon stretched out his arm as he spoke, handing Yao Jun an interspatial ring. Yao Jun accepted the ring and checked its contents, discovering what appeared to be a metallic snake that was pitch black in color. Yao Jun had seen one such ship before, when he left Shattered Ocean planet, so he knew that it was a type of flying ship that was suited for moving through the vacuum between planets. Yao Jun gave a nod of his head and tossed the ring to Little Thunder, giving Mardon and Mariam a slight nod.

"You can tell Leylan that I am grateful and will remember their aid."

Leylan and his family had helped Yao Jun in the past, and they were helping him now again by giving him this flying ship. They had their own reasons for helping him, but that didn't change the fact that they were helping him. Yao Jun would remember their aid and do his best to repay the gratitude in the future at some point.

Yao Jun turned to Wan Yi and the others after he finished talking, Mardon and Mariam taking the hint and quickly leaving the meeting hall. Now that it was only them in the meeting hall, the room felt incredibly large. The only piece of furniture was a circular wooden table surrounded by 15 chairs located in the center of the room, with the rest of the room being completely empty to make room for people to stand. Wan Yi and the others were already sitting around the table so Yao Jun walked over and took a seat. Wan Yi and the others took this chance to inspect Yao Jun for the first time in quite a while, Wan Yi letting out a light breath.

"You've changed quite a bit over the years."

Wan Yi wasn't talking about his looks, she was talking about his demeanor. He had become sharper and more ruthless, like an unsheathed blade dripping with blood. But at the same time, he also seemed more regal and majestic, slowly becoming someone more fitting to hold a power belonging to a Demon God. Yao Jun didn't deny her words, giving a slight shake of his head and letting out a breath.

"My enemies are so strong that just thinking about them is suffocating, I couldn't afford to not change."

Yao Jun's enemy was Peyton Eluard, the 5th young master of the Merged Heaven clan, someone with access to far more resources and manpower than Yao Jun. And Peyton was just the enemy that he knew about, there was also the unknown person who had sent Yuan Shen and Qiao Xian Yi after him when he entered the hidden realm where he ended up being thrown into the spatial rift that sent him away from this planet.

To take down enemies like this, to protect those he cared about, he could only turn himself sharper and sharper. After he shook his head, he used his law of space to isolate the space within the room, preventing anyone from eavesdropping on them. His eyes then landed on Wan Yi again and he moved on to his main concern right now.

"Luo'er, Yantian, my parents, what happened to them?"

This was the thing he cared about the most right now, finding out where the people closest to him had gone. Wan Yi and the others locked gazes for a short second before nodding their heads, Yang Yuhuan speaking up in a serious voice.

"A little over two years ago, Sister Luo'er and Yantian worked together to break the seal on this planet and then left. They weren't content with waiting for you to return, they wanted to head out to look for you themselves. The rest of us decided to remain here to keep Titan's Gate running as well as working on our own things. When Sister Luo'er and Yantian left, your parents wanted to experience the wider universe so they ended up following them."

Yang Yuhuan paused slightly after reaching this point, giving Yao Jun some time to digest the information. Yao Jun's eyebrows were a bit furrowed after hearing that they had left this planet to look for him. They at least hadn't been kidnapped or hurt, but finding them in the wider universe would be quite hard. It seemed like he would have to alter the mission he was going to give Little Gray and the others a little. After giving Yao Jun a chance to digest the information, Yang Yuhuan opened her mouth again, her words causing Yao Jun's entire mind to turn blank.

"When they left this planet, they also brought one more person with them. Your daughter, Yao Xuelian."