No one stopped Yao Jun as he left the castle, the various servants scurrying away as fast as they could, afraid that he might vent his anger on them. But Yao Jun didn't even spare these servants a second glance, he left the castle and then used his law of space to teleport out of the ocean, vanishing from the area.
He arrived back on the cliff where he had been when he met the Kraken for the first time, stopping for a bit to regain his calm. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, forcing his mind to cool down again as he let out a somewhat self-deprecating chuckle.
"So much for my so-called discipline and calmness, all it took to nearly make me lose my cool was a bit of worthless dribble."
Yao Jun felt that there was a very good chance that he might end up attacking the Soul Emperor if he had stayed there and listened to him any longer. He knew that the words of the Soul Emperor were false, based solely on what he believed to be true thanks to the reports he received. But even then, he nearly felt like tearing him apart, it seemed like he would have to train his mind a little more. After spending a bit more time calming his mind, he gave a light shake of his head.
"Whatever, just pretend like he never said those words. Time to finish up the last few things I have left here and then return to the competition. I hope I can meet Luo'er again the moment it ends."
He had to return to the competition no matter what, so he could only put his hope in Zhuanxu and the others, hope that they would find Guo Luo and the others before anything happened to them. And if something did happen to them, then Yao Jun would do good on the threat he had once given Peyton. He would drown the planet of whoever harmed them in blood, he would wipe everyone connected to them from the face of the universe. Yao Jun turned his head and looked into the distance, once again stepping through space and vanishing.
The place he arrived next was one that he had only been to once before, it was also one that actually had a bit of significance to him, the valley where he had first arrived after being sucked into a spatial node inside the Cloud Wilderness. It felt like several lifetimes had passed already, so looking down at the small valley beneath him filled him with a very nostalgic feeling.
The two mountains shielding the valley hadn't changed over the years, one was still light green while the other one was still a pale white. Yao Jun's eyes landed on the white mountain, on the large cave entrance that was dug into the side of it. When he first arrived here and saw this cave entrance it had filled him with a horrifying feeling of death creeping up on him, but now he felt nothing like that, he felt like he was just looking at a normal cave.
Yao Jun walked through the air, stopping in front of the cave entrance and peering into the darkness. He didn't have a need to antagonize the one living in this cave, so he didn't step into it, he merely waited in front of it. He didn't have to wait long before a somewhat lazy feminine voice rang out from within the cave.
"If someone had told me that the small child I saw in the past would grow up to become you, I am certain I would have laughed at them. I don't believe you have a need for me, so what have you come for?"
The voice was accompanied by the faint sound of footsteps, a woman walking out from the cave and stopping a few meters away from Yao Jun. The woman in front of him had a charming face and pale green hair that reached all the way down to the ground. Her skin was as pale as snow, causing her green eyes and purple lips to stand out quite noticeably. Clad in a yellow dress that revealed her shoulders, she made for a rather enchanting sight.
Yao Jun had actually seen a woman that looked so similar to this one that they could be considered twins, it was back in the strange hidden realm. She had been the one to test him before sending him to the place where he acquired Zhuyin. The woman in front of him only had cultivation at the 9th Xiantian Heaven, but Yao Jun didn't look down on her, he knew who she was.
She was the guardian beast of the Demon race, a spider type Demonic beast that was far stronger than most others at the 9th Xiantian Heaven, mostly because of her deadly poison. Yao Jun could feel the terrifying poison she carried inside her just from standing in front of her, should she choose to unleash it, both the forest at the bottom of the valley, as well as the two mountains around it, would likely be reduced to a toxic puddle. Since she had jumped straight to the point, Yao Jun didn't bother wasting any time either.
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"I want some of your poison and blood, what do you want in return?"
She wasn't a Divine beast, but her poison and blood would be great nourishment to Du Xiao, especially her poison. The woman didn't seem terribly surprised at his question, looking him up and down for a bit before giving her answer.
"I want the blood of a Divine beast in return. The race doesn't matter, but I don't want the blood of any Divine beast with a cold element."
She had been stuck at the 9th Xiantian Heaven for countless years already, and while there were several different reasons for it, the main reason was that even though she had strong poison, her bloodline was terribly weak. This not only greatly limited her potential for evolution, but it also greatly limited how strong she could become.
Yao Jun contacted Zhuyin and the others, asking if any of them would be willing to hand over some blood. He could just forcibly extract some blood from them, but that wasn't how he did things. So if they refused to hand over some blood, he would just forget about this entire deal and leave.
But with Yao Jun being the one asking them, there was no chance that they would refuse, so it didn't take long for Yao Jun to receive some of Zhuyin's blood through the God Gate. He brought out the blood and held it in front of him, using his Qi to draw a few images in the air in front of him.
"I can give you some of this blood, but you must swear an oath to never harm any of the people shown here. You also cannot aid the Demon race too much, letting them oppress everyone else."
An oath was a type of insurance for cultivators when they made deals. The severity of the punishment one received when breaking the oath depended on the strength of the one who made the oath. The weaker people would die instantly, struck down by a heavenly tribulation meant to kill them. Those stronger would be able to survive by overcoming the heavenly tribulation, but their cultivation would likely drop drastically, they might even become completely crippled. Since they were so severe even to people like Heavenly Deities, oaths were only used when one truly wanted to make sure the other party upheld their end of the bargain. The woman inspected the images and then examined the blood, nodding her head.
"Very well. I, Xiao Qing Xiu swear that unless they attack me, I will never harm the specified people. I will also not aid the Demon race in conquering and oppressing other races, I will even punish them should they try to do so. Should I go against this oath, may the heavens punish me."
Oaths didn't exist on this planet, mainly because it had been sealed for so long already. But Xiao Qing Xiu had lived for extremely long already, she also had some special connections, so she still knew about oaths. An invisible stream of energy descended on Xiao Qing Xiu, sinking into her body and settling in her chest. This was the sign that the oath had been completed, should she try to break it now, the heavens would send a punishment.
Yao Jun waved his hand and caused the watermelon-sized drop of blood to fly over to Xiao Qing Xiu, who looked at it with extreme desire. Xiao Qing Xiu slit open her wrist using her fingernail, causing a head-sized drop of blood and a head-sized drop of white poison to fly out from the cut and over to Yao Jun.
Yao Jun inspected both drops for a bit before putting them into his God Gate and sending them over to Du Xiao. He nodded his head at Xiao Qing Xiu and then turned around, stepping through space and vanishing. With this visit complete, there was only one thing left for him to do on this planet.
The place he arrived at next was close to Falling Boulder city, a city built on the side of a mountain so straight it was almost completely vertical. Yao Jun didn't move closer to the city after arriving there, he instead started to walk around the area outside the city, his eyes closed as he merged his mind with the surrounding space.
It didn't take him too long to find what he was looking for, his steps stopping and his eyes opening. The space in front of him looked completely normal, but he could sense that there was something there, a tiny crack that had been closed up and nearly completely sealed. Yao Jun locked his gaze onto the invisible crack stretching out his arms and channeling all his Qi into his hands.
His fingers dug into the mostly sealed up crack, an ear-piercing screeching sound ringing out as Yao Jun forcibly tore open the crack again, space around it starting to fragment and shatter due to the force it required to tear open the crack. The earth beneath Yao Jun also started to shatter and crack, the seal on the crack starting to loosen as it grew larger and larger.
After spending a bit of time tearing at it, the crack had been fully opened again, revealing a white crack in space in front of Yao Jun. This crack led into the strange hidden realm where Yao Jun and Guo Luo had been forced to split up. This hidden realm was the last thing Yao Jun wanted to check out on this planet, he wanted to learn what it really was.
He cast a quick glance at his surroundings, making sure that no one else was in the area, and then stepped into the white crack, which started to instantly close itself again once he stopped tearing at it.