Ardet's expression hardened the moment he heard Yao Jun's voice, his pupils shrinking as his eyes narrowed dangerously. He quickly swiped his interspatial ring and took out a token made from bronze jade, inserting some Qi into it and causing a small light to fly out from it. The small light quickly flew out of the domain, instantly vanishing into the distance.

Yao Jun knew that Ardet had just sent out a message, but he didn't care. He could have sealed up space around them to prevent him from sending the message, but he had been counting on Ardet sending out that message, waiting for it. And just like he thought, shortly after the light vanished, the eyes of the 11 other people changed, turning dull and lifeless as they all spoke out in Peyton's voice.

"Yao Jun, this should be your doing, correct? I must say, your growth is truly terrifying. Two years ago you were someone I could kill in a second if we met face to face, but now you seem to have reached a stage where I would have to be careful if we fought. I won't beat around the bush, what will it take to make you leave?"

Peyton's voice was calm and confident, as if everything was going as planned. But since Peyton was unable to see anything through the domain, he was unable to see Yao Jun's lips curve up. His cold voice echoed through the domain, dripping with bloodlust so intense that it was almost corporeal.

"Peyton, I figured you would show your ugly face like this sooner or later, I do know how much you like to hide behind your slaves. But hey, you came faster than I expected, do you care that much for this Ardet? You didn't come this quickly when I killed Mordred, is it okay for you to practice such blatant favoritism?"

The expression of Ardet and the 11 other people sank all at once. They swept their heads around to scan the area, but they were barely able to see their own hands when they brought them up to their face, they would never be able to see Yao Jun, leaning against a tree while he was observing them with a faint smirk. The 11 people that Peyton had taken over all took a deep breath at once before speaking out again.

"So that's why I haven't heard from Mordred in so long... Yao Jun, we can still forget about this, just name your price."

It was clear from his reaction that Peyton had yet to learn of Mordred's death. Whether or not he still remembered that he gave Mordred the dagger that could harm Supreme Law fragments was uncertain, but Yao Jun had no intention of reminding him. Yao Jun simply let out a mocking laughter, a sharp breeze blowing over the entire group and covering Ardet in tiny cuts.

"Forget about this? After the threats you threw out? No, it's far too late to stop now, I won't stop until I have stripped you of everything and killed you. And seeing you try so hard to protect Ardet only makes me want to kill him even more."

The moment Peyton threatened Guo Luo and the others, there was no way Yao Jun could leave him alone, he couldn't sleep properly until he killed Peyton. The expressions of the 11 people became tinged with a mixture of anger and worry, moving their gazes between Ardet and the darkness surrounding them.

"Yao Jun, Ardet has nothing to do with our feud! Involving him is nothing but cruel!"

Yao Jun couldn't help but slightly raise an eyebrow when he heard how panicked Peyton's voice seemed to have become, it seemed like he had underestimated how close the two were. His smirk grew a little wider, another mocking laughter echoing throughout the darkness.

"Oh, cruel? Peyton, let me tell you who I am. I am Demon God Yao Jun, there is no one in this universe more fitting to be cruel than me. And just for the record, my wife had nothing to do with our feud, but you still threatened her. I will pluck your fangs and claws, and then I will kill you. So just wash your neck and wait for me on Godborne Mountain, that's where I'll take the heads of you and those little slaves of yours."

Godborne Mountain was where the final part of this competition would take place, everyone who wanted to move on would eventually have to make their way over there. This was the first time Yao Jun had ever actually called himself by the title that his God Gate gave him, Demon God, but he felt like now was a good time to call himself that. Peyton seemed to sense that Yao Jun was planning something, all the 11 people he had taken over rushing to surround Ardet.

"Ardet! The formati...!"

Before he got to finish his sentence, a howling wind blew over the group and slit the throats of the 11 people wide open, causing them to collapse to the ground and get swallowed by the darkness. Yao Jun simply smirked at the scene, almost completely certain that his plan had worked.

Yao Jun could have killed the 11 weaker people the moment he brought forth the domain, but he had kept them alive so that Peyton would be able to hear him. Every word he had said served a single purpose, to taunt, infuriate, and even scare Peyton, even when he said that he would meet him on Godborne Mountain.

This would cause Peyton to take one of two actions, he would either have his three remaining close aids gather together for safety, meaning that Yao Jun could pick them off all at once, or he would have them spread out for safety, meaning that Yao Jun could easily kill them one by one. He might even choose to meet up with his remaining close aides, giving Yao Jun a chance to kill him alongside them. Of course, it would take a bit more planning if they were to gather up, but he was confident in his chances.

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Yao Jun cast his gaze onto Ardet, who had already pulled a large scythe out from his interspatial ring and was currently sweeping his surroundings with a vigilant gaze. He hadn't been able to see the other 11 people die, but he could hear them shout out and then suddenly get silenced, he knew that they were dead and that he was next on the executioner's scaffold. He was stronger than Mordred, but it was only by a tiny bit, he knew that his chances weren't very good.

Ardet suddenly felt chills run down his spine, a horrid feeling of death overtaking his body. He quickly spun around and slashed out with his scythe, a clanking sound ringing out as the blade of his weapon collided with a black sword that had just appeared from the darkness behind him. The moment his scythe collided with the sword, he let out a low curse, hurriedly looking over his own shoulder.

Just as he turned his head, Yao Jun appeared behind him, his cold gray eyes piercing directly into Ardet's soul. Yao Jun grabbed onto Ardet's elbows and then raised his right leg, bringing it down on the back of Ardet's left knee in a heavy stomp. The moment his foot made contact with Ardet's knee, it unleashed a violent explosion of violet flames, a crunching sound ringing out as Ardet's knee shattered.

After Yao Jun absorbed Xuhuan, her flames automatically fused with Zhuyin's, further increasing their strength. The once deep blue flames had now turned a deep violet, the same as the second tier of heavenly flames. The next tier would be golden flames, as for what came after that, Yao Jun had no idea, he could only wait and see what would be born then.

Ardet let out a stifled grunt from the pain, doing his best to free his arms from Yao Jun's vice-like grasp. There was an everpresent feeling of death and weakness invading his body, mixed with the pain of his leg, the sword pressing ever closer to his throat, as well as the pain in his elbows, it was hard for him to even circulate his Qi to launch a counterattack. Yao Jun had launched a feint attack to force Ardet to create an opening, accurately attacking it and taking advantage of it to crush Ardet as fast as possible.

Immediately after stomping down on Ardet's knee and forcing him into a kneeling position, Yao Jun raised his right leg and slammed his knee into Ardet's spine, sharp blades of space and wind piercing into his back and severing his spine in several positions, rendering him paralyzed. Even if he by some miracle survived and fled here, he would never be able to move again.

Yao Jun let go of Ardet, who immediately collapsed to the floor like a sack of potatoes and remained unmoving, only his eyes darting around the place in a panicked manner. Yao Jun raised his arms, looking at his hands as his lips slowly curled up. He had gotten stronger, much stronger. If he had tried to fight Ardet back when he first entered the trial of Tang Guanyu, it would be hard to say how much energy he had to exert if he wanted to kill him.

But after properly cultivating his body and absorbing two new Demonic beasts, his strength had grown so much that he could even kill some of the weaker Earthly Deities with ease. Of course, the fact that he caught Ardet in his domain and managed to trick him with a feint attack made the fight much easier. Yao Jun also didn't get so cocky that he thought he could take on anyone, he knew that people like Yuri Jahad were still able to kill him, despite being at the same cultivation realm as this Ardet.

Yao Jun looked down at the paralyzed Ardet, undoing his domain before it drained too much of his energy. He then crouched down next to Ardet and grabbed onto his head, poison flooding into his mind and tearing away at any mental defenses and will he might have left. Yao Jun's mental energy then quickly followed, rampaging through Ardet's head and laying bare all his memories.

Yao Jun wasn't as skillful as Little Gray and Du Xiao when it came to doing this, so every time he went through a memory it would end up being destroyed afterward. Ardet was just barely conscious enough to feel his memories vanishing one by one, but there was nothing he could do about it, he had been absolutely crushed.

By going through Ardet's memories, Yao Jun was able to learn that he was actually once a normal Demonic beast that came from a somewhat small tribe of Demonic beasts, almost like a human village. His tribe had come under attack by a pack of stronger Demonic beasts and ended up being pushed to destruction, they would have all died if Peyton hadn't intervened and saved them.

This caused Ardet to greatly respect and revere Peyton, doing everything in his power to grow strong enough to join the Merged Heaven clan. He eventually joined the clan and had parts of various Demonic beasts merged into his body, his strength steadily growing. In the end, he met Peyton again and the two became close friends, practically becoming brothers over the next 100 years. And in the end, that brotherhood had brought him into this competition, to his death.

Yao Jun went through every single one of Ardet's memories, looking for anything that was useful for taking down Peyton. He learned a bit more about Peyton's power and how his subordinates were spread around, delivering the information to Sirius and the others so that they could more easily hunt down Peyton's subordinates.

After getting everything he wanted, leaving Ardet as a drooling mess, he took out his sword and decapitated Ardet, throwing his body and head into his God Gate. His earlier words hadn't been a lie, he was Yao Jun, the Demon God. There was no one more suited to being cruel, especially when he was angry. And when it came to Peyton, Yao Jun was absolutely furious.

Yao Jun stood up from his crouched position, scanning the surrounding area and searching for either Demonic beasts or people who were on Xuhuan's list. He would still have to increase his strength by quite a bit if he wanted to kill someone like Luosho Li, so the more Demonic beasts he found, the better.

He himself hadn't noticed, but after killing so many people and Demonic beasts lately, the mark on his palm had already turned gold, only a short step away from becoming purple-gold, at which point everyone would be alerted to his position. No one in this competition had yet to get a purple-gold mark, everyone taking great care that their mark didn't reach that level, not wanting everyone else to be notified of their location. At the same time, his accumulated points had pushed him into the front part of the rankings, into the top 1 billion, causing some of the larger clans and sects to start paying attention to him.