Yao Jun looked at Yuri Jahad for a bit before choosing to focus on his own cultivation while waiting, closing his eyes. But he opened his eyes again just after he closed them, tilting his head slightly in surprise. He stood up from his seat and placed the yellow tower into his interspatial ring, heading for the exit of the cave while leaving behind a few quick words for Yuri.
"You just focus on recuperating, I'm gonna go do something quickly. I should be back before you've finished healing your wounds."
Yuri opened one of her eyes and followed Yao Jun's back as he left the cave but she didn't try to stop him, closing her eye again once he left the cave. She wasn't worried that he would run off with the tower, he wouldn't have brought it out earlier if that was his plan, he would have kept it hidden and she would be none the wiser.
Yao Jun stepped into the frozen wasteland beyond the cave, sinking deep into the ice that made up the ground, carving another cave deep beneath the surface. He sat down on the ground and leaned against the wall, raising his right knee and resting his arm on it.
"You can bring her out now."
An orange light flashed out from Yao Jun's chest, Xuhuan Huo and Luosho Li's helper appearing in front of him. Xuhuan was currently in her human form, a tall and graceful woman with half orange and half crimson hair that had deep pink eyes. The silver-haired and gray-eyed helper was kneeling on the ground with her arm behind her back and was in horrible shape right now, not only was her right arm torn off in the previous battle, her eyes had been gouged out by Yao Jun's shadows and there were several deep stab wounds in her stomach from when Xuhuan bit down on her. The girl didn't know where she was, but she could sense the presence of Yao Jun in front of her, a sneer appearing on her lips.
"I was wondering whether or not you were going to just let that beast of yours eat me whole. What now, are you going to torture me so that I tell you everything you want to hear? Go ahead, there's nothing you can do to me that hasn't already been done, I refuse to answer a single one of your questions."
Xuhuan frowned slightly and slapped the girl on the back of the head. After seeing Yao Jun display his strength, both in the battle against Xiao Yan and then again against Luosho Li, she had become fully convinced that he was superior to her. She guessed that there was even a good chance that he was stronger than her even before he became an Earthly Deity. Yao Jun looked at the girl, stretching out his right arm and pointing at her.
"The thing is, I wasn't planning on asking so you don't have the right to refuse."
Yao Jun's mental energy and some poison flew out from his finger and pierced into the girl's forehead, invading her mind and starting to wreak havoc. He had received word from Xuhuan that the girl's soul and mind had been weakened enough just as he was going to start cultivating, so he knew that there was nothing she could do to defend herself. The girl fell forward, her forehead hitting the ice as she writhed on the ground, the veins on her face and neck wriggling like worms as she did her best to resist Yao Jun's mental energy and poison.
But her struggles quickly died down, her body becoming completely still for a short second before she raised herself into a kneeling position. Her face was somewhat tense, her cheeks were even a bit rosy as her face was turned towards Yao Jun. Yao Jun didn't want to risk utterly destroying her memories due to how weakened her mind was and how strengthened his own Qi was, he wasn't confident he would be able to control his energy perfectly enough to not shatter at least a few memories before he got to see them.
As such, he decided for the simpler option of simply having the girl succumb to his illusions and believe him to be the person she admired and cherished the most. Xuhuan stayed behind the girl, holding her hand right behind her neck just in case there was a need to quickly kill her. Yao Jun remained in his seated position, pulling back his outstretched right arm and resting it on his knee again.
"Tell me who or what you are, why you are here, why you are supporting Luosho Li, and if there are more of you hiding out there that I need to be wary about. Speak as if I was someone who knew nothing."
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The first question he asked was one of the main reasons he had captured this girl alive, he wanted to know what she and the other two people she brought along were. They felt somewhat similar to Demonic beasts, but at the same time they didn't feel like any Demonic beasts he had ever seen, this conflicting feeling piqued his interest. The girl formed a fist with her remaining arm and placed it on the ground, nodding her head deeply.
"As you order, General Lingxin. I am Colonel Ren JIngyi of the Third Earth Devouring Army belonging to the Sebettu. I am a Sebettu, a descendant of the Origin Beast known as the Heaven Devouring Dragon, my bloodline purity is that of a fifth-generation child. I have arrived in this competition along with my comrades so that we might prove the strength of our people to the ones who are still uncertain whether they should ally with us in the coming war. We allied with Luosho Li to make certain that she took the top spot in the competition so that we could later spread the news of our co-operation to draw in even more allies. There are a total of 24 more comrades currently in the competition, with Colonel Ren Shuren of the third generation taking charge."
Ren Jingyi didn't raise her head after she finished talking, keeping it lowered while awaiting further orders. Yao Jun rubbed his temples using his left hand, closing his eyes for a bit while digesting the information. He had heard a little about the Sebettu before, they were the main reason for why the time of this and the surrounding universes had been turned back several times. He opened his eyes again after a short moment, asking a few more questions.
"The war, how far off is it? Also, how many people have we managed to gain as allies already and Ren Shuren, what's his strength like?"
Depending on how many allies they had gathered, as well as how far off the war was, Yao Jun had to consider whether or not he should quickly gather up the last of Tang Guanyu's tokens and have him locate his family and friends, leaving the universe with all of them. When it came to a war that could swallow an entire universe, they would be too useless, too weak to defend themselves. Ren Jingyi once again nodded her head, speaking in a concise and detailed manner.
"The war is still at least two thousand years away, we still need to bring over our countermeasures to prevent this universe from simply turning back time again. Our current allies include most of the Starborn clan, the Primordial Sea clan, the Endless Abyss clan, as well as several high-ranking elders of the World Tree clan, the Final Fire clan, the Heaven's Gate sect, and the Merged Heaven clan. But forgive me, General Lingxin, I do not know each and every one of our allies here. As for Colonel Shuren, thanks to the peculiarity of our cultivation techniques, he has reached the middle stage of the Earthly Deity realm, coupled with his law of motion and his inborn law of time, he is a bit stronger than even Luosho Li. But as we are here to support Luosho Li, he will not reveal too much of his strength unless it is judged that him doing so will be more useful than having Luosho Li take the top spot."
Ren Jingyi used her finger to draw an image of Ren Shuren in the ice beneath her while talking, allowing Yao Jun to know what he looked like. Yao Jun took in a deep, exasperated breath after Ren Jingyi finished her explanation, continuing to rub his temples. The fingers on his right hand were tapping against his knee, it was the only sound within the glacial vave for a short while before he spoke up again, standing up from his seated position with a faint mutter.
"Can't ever be easy, huh?"
A light breeze appeared in the cave, blowing past Ren Jingyi and separating her head from her shoulders. The shadows beneath her swallowed both her head and her body, transporting both back into his God Gate. Yao Jun turned his gaze onto Xuhuan, who had yet to say even a single word since she appeared.
"Can I trouble you to keep an eye on Yuri? I'm guessing it should take her about one or two months to fully heal from that wound, I'll go out for a bit during that time, just notify me when she's finished healing."
Yao Jun had thought it over and come to the conclusion that with his current strength, there wasn't really anything he could do. Was he alone enough to stand against the Starborn clan, the Primordial Sea clan, and the Endless Abyss clan, three of the strongest clans in the universe? No, he was far too weak to even be close to something like that. As such, worrying about it was too pointless. He could only continue as he had so far, continuously increase his strength so that he could protect those dear to him. Xuhuan nodded her head, looking at Yao Jun with a serious expression.
"Do not worry, I will inform you of anything strange that might happen, so feel free to go do as you please. But if you don't mind me asking, what are you going to do?"
With how far Yao Jun could teleport after reaching the Earthly Deity realm, just what was he planning to do that it might take him a month or more? The ice beneath the two of them rose up, returning them to the surface of the frozen plain, the cave only a short distance behind them. Yao Jun turned his head and stared into the distance, space around him rippling as he vanished, only his words remaining.
"Well, Peyton still has two fangs remaining, I'll start by plucking those."