Qiao Xian Yi and Yuan Shen saw Yao Jun open his mouth and speak out as he slowly walked towards them, but neither of them took the chance to launch an attack or sneak away for an ambush. Last time they fought him, both they and Yao Jun had been far weaker than they were now, but even back then they came to the same realization as everyone else who had fought Yao Jun.
He was dangerous, an irregular entity that could not be disregarded or ignored, he would pierce through every opening you showed and take advantage of any arrogance you showed. If you wanted to ambush him, you had to be 100% certain that he didn't know about you, otherwise he would turn your own ambush against you. And right now, Yuan Shen and Qiao Xian Yi were not confident in their odds of hiding from Yao Jun's eagle-like eyes.
Yao Jun paid no mind to his opponents' state of mind or thoughts, continuing to slowly step closer to them. The loud voice of Arthurius suddenly echoed over the entire planet, relaying the message that Yao Jun had given him. Arthurius delivering the message seemed to act as a signal to Yao Jun, a transparent ripple extending from beneath Yao Jun's feet, space between him and Qiao Xian Yi seemingly shrinking drastically.
Yao Jun appeared directly in front of Qiao Xian Yi before she even had the time to blink, the two locking eyes as Yao Jun's hand shot forward. There was no clashing of energies, no loud sound of Yao Jun's hand colliding with Qiao Xian Yi's defenses, his hand simply pierced through her chest without much sound, his hand clutching her heart as it broke through her back.
Yao Jun ignored Qiao Xian Yi's shocked and trembling eyes, crushing the squishy heart into paste and pulling his arm back. Speed had always been one of his fortes, and when he used his law of space to augment his speed, only those with very specific laws could resist his speed. Qiao Xian Yi crumpled to the floor as a lifeless corpse, Yao Jun taking a second to glance at his bloody arm, talking to an even more tensed up Yuan Shen.
"You know, I was once told that I could only hang around those who couldn't die or those who I didn't mind if died, I couldn't let myself be controlled by the wrath I would feel when I lost them. When Peyton threatened those close to me and I blew up on him and threatened him, a part of me was actually curious just what sort of earth-shattering rage I would feel if someone close to me was actually killed."
Yao Jun's body suddenly blurred as he spoke, appearing directly in front of Yuan Shen and smashing down on him with the same bloody arm that had just pierced through Qiao Xian Yi. Yuan Shen was actually able to react on time, raising his arm and blocking Yao Jun's incoming arm with his forearm, a strangely soft layer of stone covering his skin. Yuan Shen swept out with his leg in retaliation, his leg moving so fast that Yao Jun actually wasn't able to see it, only able to dodge it by teleporting away. As the two put distance between themselves again, Yao Jun continued to speak as if nothing had happened.
"And yet, now that I've actually lost someone, I can't even bring myself to feel any anger, all I feel is this horrible empty feeling, this gnawing sense of loss and sorrow. But even with all this sorrow, my tears seem like they refuse to fall, why is that?"
Yao Jun was filled with boundless rage when he first saw Little Thunder's corpse, but that rage had already been fully replaced by sorrow and a hauntingly hollow feeling. Yuan Shen was the next one to launch the first attack, the earth beneath Yao Jun suddenly rising up into a massive bolt of purple lightning, taking advantage of the fact that Yao Jun had lost his control over lightning. But contrary to what he expected, Yao Jun simply stood in the middle of the lightning, gazing at it with a somewhat wistful expression.
"His lightning used to be of this color. He was no more than a child when I first picked him up, did you know that? Then again, I was also nothing more than a child back then, a naive child who only wanted to return his parents to the clan were they were raised. His lightning changed over time as he grew older and stronger, but this purple lightning would always be where it started, the beginning of everything. Yuan Shen, you don't have the right to use this lightning."
Yao Jun stretched out his arm with his palm facing downward, slowly pushing his hand down. As his hand moved down, the bolt of lightning was forced to shrink, an extremely thick layer of rapidly spinning wind crushing the lightning beneath it. Yuan Shen simply flicked his finger, the spinning wind slipping out of Yao Jun's grasp and turning into sharp crescent moons that rained down on him along with the rising lightning. Yuan Shen's eyes were slightly narrowed as he observed Yao Jun, the fact that Yao Jun was suddenly so chatty during a battle was worrying him, he just couldn't understand it.
Yao Jun flipped his hand over and raised it slightly, the earth all around him turning to ice and rising up into another massive pillar, swallowing up the lightning and pushing against the blades of wind. But strangely enough, the ice started to melt under the blades of wind, each blade flickering and moving like fire. And then, before the wind had the chance to melt much of it, even the ice turned against Yao Jun.
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The pillar of ice suddenly spawned countless spikes on the inside and then collapsed on Yao Jun like an iron maiden, seeking to run him through. The lightning that was swallowed by the ice was also coming back, parts of the ice pillar turning into lightning that joined the wind and ice in attacking Yao Jun.
Yao Jun glanced at the three incoming elements for a short moment, a silver light flashing past his eyes. Space around him hardened, the three attacks crashing into his defenses and momentarily stopping. But just as they crashed into the wall of hardened space and stopped, the three elements vanished and replaced Yao Jun's shadow. They didn't come out from his shadow, they had replaced it, becoming the darkness that was his shadow.
The three different elements, which acted like darkness but still looked like wind, lightning, and ice, still lunged at Yao Jun. Space around him rippled as Yao Jun teleported away, the attacks only hitting empty air as Yao Jun put some more distance between him and Yuan Shen. The corners of Yuan Shen's lips curled up slightly, but his gaze remained vigilant as he spoke.
"You're not the only one whose improved over the years. I was told that the special ability of your God Gate is to draw upon the power of your Demonic beasts? It should be one of the reasons you're so strong, no? Well, the special ability of my God Gate is that I can not only control all elements, but I can even have them take on the properties of the other elements, fire can freeze you, wind can hit you like a boulder, and light can swallow things like darkness, that's how I got your tiger."
Yao Jun didn't respond to Yuan Shen's attempt at goading him, his eyes sweeping over him for a bit. Back when they last fought, Peyton had been unable to control the elements of light, ice, and lightning, prompting Yao Jun to believe that he couldn't control them at all, but now it seemed like he had been wrong. As for the special ability that Yuan Shen mentioned, it was certainly exceedingly troublesome to deal with, as it would make counterattacking troublesome.
Yao Jun suddenly leaned forward and spun his body clockwise, his right leg rising into an upward angled roundhouse kick. A dagger passed over his back just as he leaned forward, the heel of his right leg making contact with the chin of the person who had attacked him from behind.
Yao Jun spun around just in time to see the chin of his attacker, Qiao Xian Yi, disintegrate thanks to the power of his kick. The skin on her neck and throat stretched and tore, her entire head forcefully torn away from her body and kicked away. She hadn't trained her body in the slightest, her body was like paper to Yao Jun, easily torn apart.
Her head flew away and landed on the ground with a dull thud, her headless body following suit. But a strange scene immediately took place, tendrils of skin stretched out from her head and body, connecting the two again and pulling them together, her body quickly becoming whole again. Qiao Xian Yi stood up and rubbed her neck, a cracking sound coming from it as she moved it and complained.
"I really thought I would get a chance if you thought I was dead and became fully focused on Yuan Shen, you're more vigilant than I thought. Either you die here or we die here, so I guess I'll follow Yuan Shen's lead for once. Greetings, the special ability of my God Gate is to perfectly utilize the power of some of the people I have taken control over, the number of powers I can gather increasing based on my cultivation. Right now some of those powers include the law of regeneration, the law of absorption, the law of the soul, and the law of strengthening. Mixing those laws allows me to regenerate infinitely as long as there is even a sliver of energy in the area, becoming immortal."
The law of the soul allowed her to survive with her soul even if her body was to be destroyed while the law of regeneration repaired her body and the law of absorption automatically sucked up any energy to facilitate the process. The law of strengthening served the simple purpose of strengthening all three laws used in this process, allowing her to regenerate from any wound, both physical and otherwise, in a few seconds at the slowest.
This was the final battle between the three of them, either Yao Jun would die and it didn't matter if they told him their powers, or they would die and they would no longer have to worry about keeping their powers secret. She had told him all this, but contrary to her thoughts, Yao Jun's gaze remained the same as it had been since the start of the battle, a strange mixture of sorrow and concentration. His eyes swept over her body for a bit, her heart lurching slightly when she saw his gaze and heard his words.
"The only one here who believes that you are actually immortal is you. Even if I fail to find a way to kill you, all I have to do is make you want to kill yourself and you'll voluntarily do my job for me."
Qiao Xian Yi's eyes narrowed sharply, both a bit curious and horrified at finding out just how Yao Jun planned on making her want to kill herself. But before she got the chance to say anything else, Yuan Shen's eyes shot open and turned towards the ground, staring intently at it as if he was trying to peer into the very depths of the planet. His pupils were trembling fiercely, beads of sweat starting to appear on his forehead as his face turned slightly pale, his gaze landing back on Yao Jun.
"That... Just what is that? What the fuck are you doing?! Are you fucking mad?!"
Qiao Xian Yi didn't understand the cause behind Yuan Shen's sudden panic, but he knew it well. He held the Element God's Gate, he was more closely attuned to the various elements than anyone else. And it was thanks to this that he was able to sense something brewing inside the planet, a rampant and violent energy that lashed out at everything around it. And that energy was connected to precisely Yao Jun, who met Yuan Shen's somewhat panicked gaze with no joy or feelings of superiority.
"This is supposed to be the second-largest planet in the universe, it'll make for a decent funeral pyre as it burns.