Yao Jun arrived in the forest that used to be Xuhuan Huo's home, the tall trees were now halfway submerged in loose snow, a thin layer of ice creeping up what remained above the snow. Yao Jun closed his eyes and merged his mind with the surrounding space, stretching out his senses as far as he could. This was the first time he was doing so after reaching the Earthly Deity realm and he couldn't help but be slightly shocked by the sheer increase to his range, it had more than doubled.
With his range this vast there were very few planets in the universe that were too large for him to scan them with just a quick search. Of course, that was not accounting for special planets or any strange areas that might block or restrict his senses. Yao Jun didn't know where the last two of Peyton's subordinates, Mariot and Valter, were currently located so he could only use the most simple method, scan the surroundings until he either found them or someone that might know about them.
He didn't locate anyone with his first scan so he picked a random direction and teleported to the edge of his range, merging his mind with space once more to perform another scan. He had plenty of time right now, so he didn't mind even if he ended up having to search most of this half-finished universe to find them.
His first five days of searching yielded no result, but on the sixth day he managed to locate someone who had encountered Valter a few days prior, pointing Yao Jun in the right direction, allowing him to find Valter two days later. With Yao Jun's current strength, not even the strongest of Peyton's subordinates, Ysolde, would be able to resist him for long, much less the weaker Valter. He didn't even notice Yao Jun's arrival, his vision simply turned black when Yao Jun's palm landed on the back of his head, forcibly searching through his memories for any information about Mariot or Peyton.
Valter didn't have much information on Peyton's current location, but he did know where Mariot had been three weeks ago, it would be a good place to start. Yao Jun removed Valter's head from his body and stored both the body and the head into his God Gate, vanishing from the area with nothing but a small ripple in space showing that he had just been there.
Yao Jun reached Mariot's previous position four days later, searching the surrounding area for any signs of her. He didn't find anything within the surrounding area so he picked a random direction and teleported to the edge of his range and searched again, moving in a circular pattern around her previous location and making sure that he didn't miss anything. With such a thorough way of searching, it didn't take him too long to find some tracks, footprints and an old campsite that was likely to be left behind by her.
He followed the direction of the footprints, continuously scanning the surrounding area to make sure he didn't miss any other signs that could help locate Mariot. Four days later, Mariot's luck ran out and Yao Jun found her, digging through her memories and killing her before she even noticed his arrival, her head and body ending up in his God Gate. And just like that, all the subordinates Peyton brought with him into the competition had been killed, he was now all alone. Yao Jun let out a light breath after killing Mariot, gazing at the countless islands floating in the sky above him.
"That leaves only you, Peyton, you'd best wash your neck and wait for me. But first..."
Yao Jun moved his head slightly, his gaze turning towards the east. While searching for Mariot and Valter he had discovered a rather interesting location, putting off investigating it until he finished his current task. Xuhuan told him that Yuri was still a bit away from healing from her wounds, they had been inflicted by very strong people after all, so he still had enough time to at least check out the area.
Yao Jun continued to teleport through space, reaching a triangular floating island that was covered in knee-high rainbow-colored grass that swayed in the wind. There was a single tree located at the center of the island, apples that were a mixture of orange, crimson, and violet sprouting on some of the tree's branches.
But it wasn't this tree and the strange fruits that had caught Yao Jun's attention, what caught his attention was the air a few meters away from the western edge of the island. The air there was distorted, continuously twisting as he looked at it, what appeared to be various locations occasionally flashing past the distorted air. Yao Jun could feel that space around this twisting air was incredibly chaotic and distorted, it was almost like there were several spatial rifts intersecting in this small location.
Yao Jun scanned the entire island and the distorted air with both his senses and his own eyes three times just to make sure that there wasn't anything he was overlooking, only stepping forward once he was sure that there was nothing on the island. He walked past the tree and stopped in front of the distorted space, checking it once more just to be certain that it was safe. He stretched his hand towards the twisting air, a long branch appearing in his grasp. But just as the branch was about to make contact with the twisting air, a lazy voice sounded out from behind him.
"No point in doin' that, nothing'll happen even if you were to stick your entire hand in there. Well, you'll be sent outta this mess of a universe, but that's not exactly anything special."
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Yao Jun spun around as fast as he could, his sword appearing in his grasp. He had searched the island several times and was certain that there hadn't been anyone here at the time he arrived. Had they managed to hide from his sight, or had they done like Chang Yun and simply appeared behind him?
Beneath the tree, only a single step to the left of where he had passed the tree, sat a woman on a chair that seemed to be made from burning crystals. The woman had pale skin and a somewhat flat figure but her face carried a certain elegance and majesty that caught one's gaze, her eyes were a bright violet and seemed to be burning. Her shoulder-length curly hair was crimson at first, but slowly turned orange as he looked at her, it then quickly turned blue, then violet, then golden, then back to crimson, continuously changing as he looked at her.
The fingers on Yao Jun's empty left hand moved slightly, his heart quietly pounding away in his chest. Thanks to his God Gate he could sense that the woman in front of him was a Demonic beast, but that was it, he was unable to sense anything else from her. If he wasn't looking at her right now, he would be completely unable to notice her existence. It reminded him of when he met Chang Yun and the white-haired youth, but his instincts told him that the two of them were far stronger than the woman in front of him, there was something about the way they had carried themselves that also convinced him of this. The woman looked at Yao Jun, lazily leaning against the back of her chair while waving her arm.
"No need to look so scared and shiver in your boots, I can't be bothered to do anything to you. Old Yun and Lord Ying also seem to have taken some interest in you, so they'll probably bitch at me til my ears turn red should I touch you for no good reason."
Yao Jun's eyes remained calm but his mind was racing while hearing the words of the woman. He could guess that this Old Yun and Lord Ying were the two people he had met back after he absorbed Xuhuan, he couldn't think of anyone else that might be able to command respect from a being like the one in front of him. He didn't know if her words could be trusted, but he still put away his sword and straightened his back.
"Sorry for disturbing you, Senior, I just felt that this area was rather special so I came to check it out. Would you mind telling me who you are, and what you were talking about earlier, that touching it would cause me to be sent out of this universe?"
Needlessly agitating the one in front of him could easily lead to his death, so it was best to act polite, while he still had the chance to. At the same time, she seemed to know what this twisted air was, so it wouldn't hurt to at least ask her what it was. The woman let out a lazy laugh when she saw Yao Jun's quick change in attitude, her violet eyes seemingly piercing through his body.
"One second you're thinking about the best way to cut me up and then in the next one you're talking all nice an' polite, not even showing a trace of your previous hostility. That's good kid, you'll need to be like that if you want to survive for long in this life. Tellin' you my name would be pointless, you wouldn't have the faintest clue how to pronounce it or who I am. But there's a title you people gave me a couple o' years back when I was still roaming your universe, what was it again, Avaritia?"
Yao Jun's pupils shrank drastically when he heard the title the woman gave, Avaritia. In his universe, only one person was allowed to have this title, no one else was allowed to even use it as a name for their children or pets. Horrid Queen of Greed, Avaritia, one of the seven greatest monsters or sinners to live within the universe. He didn't know if the woman was actually Avaritia or not, but if she really was who she claimed to be, then Yao Jun would currently be facing a Godking, the peak of cultivation in his universe. Avaritia didn't care for Yao Jun's shock, stretching out her arm and pointing at the twisting air behind him.
"And that, that is the point where this universe intersects with yours. The existence of that point is the reason you can use that gate of yours to absorb the Demonic beasts in this universe. Once this universe has grown up, that location will vanish and this place'll officially become the 76th major universe. I suspect a nice and large party will be held here at that time, it'll be a great place to snag some good food."
Yao Jun knew a little about major and minor universes, he knew that the one was living in was considered one of the stronger minor ones, and he knew that Tang Guanyu was living in a major one. But that was the full extent of his knowledge, he didn't actually know the difference between a minor and a major universe. Avaritia pulled back her arm, waving it in a dismissive manner while a green gourd appeared in her other hand.
"But it's about time for you to leave, kid. I've been tasked with protecting this place and making sure that no one comes along and tries to mess with the area while Old Yun and Lord Ying are gone, its no place for someone like you."
What room did Yao Jun have to refuse when the Horrid Queen of Greed gave him an order? He could only swallow a bit of his saliva and nod his head, teleporting away as quickly as possible. Avaritia turned in the direction that Yao Jun had teleported after he left, but she only gave it a short glance before putting the gourd up to her mouth and taking a sip, continuing to lean against the back of her chair and guarding the area.
Yao Jun continued to teleport away from Avaritia as fast as he could, only stopping when he returned to the frozen wasteland where he had left Yuri and Xuhuan. He let out several breaths, melting the snow beneath his feet and observing his own face in the ice. He had turned a bit pale from the encounter, the sheer weight of Avaritia's reputation causing him no small amount of fear. He took a few quick breaths, color quickly returning to his face as his heart returned to its normal calm beating.
After making sure that he no longer showed any signs of his previous emotions, he teleported over to the mountain where he had left Yuri. Soon she would be done with her healing and then they could get their battle over with, then he could hunt for Peyton so that he could finally lay this grudge to rest.