Yao Jun stepped out of a ripple in space above God Piercer planet, Guo Luo and the others appearing right by him, their gazes landing on the planet below them. The massive planet split into a few more chunks, exposing the violently twisting core of liquid stone and fire that was currently tainted by black flames that destabilized it.
The core destabilized even further after being laid bare, massive tongues of fire lashing out and scorching everything they came in contact with. The special trait of the black flames activated whenever the tongues of flame scorched something, the fire using the energy within the scorched material to grow even larger. The core suddenly expanded violently a few seconds after Yao Jun left the planet, swallowing all the chunks of the planet and anyone that had yet to escape and was somehow still alive.
The burning core then compressed and exploded, the energy too violent and vast for the core to contain it, resulting in a blinding explosion that could be seen even countless million miles away. The array surrounding the entire planet actually managed to block the explosion, only a few thick beams of devastating energy managing to escape through the few holes in the array. When the blinding light and rampant energy receded, there was nothing left where God Piercer planet used to be, the second-largest planet in the universe had vanished just like that, and vanishing with it were several hundreds of millions of lives, all snuffed out without mercy.
Guo Luo stood at Yao Jun's side and quietly looked at his silhouette. His appearance had barely changed over the years that they spent apart, but if she was unable to see his changes then she would not deserve to be at his side. He had gotten sharper, not in his features but in his soul, his very being, there was also an additional coldness to him, locked away deep inside. But more than any of that, she thought that he looked tired, so very tired and exhausted that it seemed like he was carrying multiple mountains on his back. She placed her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it softly.
"Jun'er, I need to tell you something, you have a d..."
There was nothing anyone could say that could ease his sorrow over losing Little Thunder, it was best to try to get his mind off of it by changing the subject. But Yao Jun cut her off with a glance before she could finish her sentence, placing a finger on top of her lips and flashing her a thin smile before turning around and looking into the distance.
"I'm in a rather terrible mood and just want to spend my time with my family now, so you'd better get this over with quickly."
Yun Yantian and the others trembled slightly when they heard Yao Jun's voice, quickly turning their heads to follow his gaze. They didn't see anything at first, but a galleon-like ship broke through space after a second passed, Arthurius and the other leaders of the World Tree clan alliance standing at the front of the ship.
The Heavenly Deities of the other organizations in the alliance looked at Yao Jun with a mixture of fear and admiration, the feat he just pulled off was enough to cause even their old hearts to thump fiercely. Arthurius stepped forward and immediately arrived a few steps away from Yao Jun, laughing lightly while nodding his head.
"It's nice to see that you're still as direct as always. Alright, I'll get right to the point, I want to reward you for helping my clan get through this dire time, state your desires."
The other clans and sects still had their Heavenly Deities, they had definitely escaped just before the planet exploded, but losing so many lower-ranked cultivators was still an incredibly heavy blow to them, they would need to spend at least a few hundred years in silence just to rebuild. The World Tree clan wouldn't have to worry about them in these hundred years, giving them enough time to strengthen their own forces by quite a bit.
Standing on the ship far behind them, Leylan currently wore a rather smug expression as he looked at Gilberd and Diana, clearly gloating over the fact that he was right all those years ago when he said that Yao Jun could change the destiny of their clan. Yun Yantian and the others felt rather suppressed by the pressure Arthurius gave off, but Yao Jun didn't hold back and directly stated his desires, practically fleecing Arthurius.
"I want two Immortal rank armors, preferably high or peak grade, I also want Heaven grade Spirit Stones, as many as you've got."
Even the Heavenly Deities back on the ship felt their hearts lurch violently after Yao Jun stated his demands. Immortal rank items were only two ranks below Divine items, which were the peak of this universe, and not even all Heavenly Deities had Immortal rank items, especially not armors, which were notoriously hard to make. They expected Arthurius to at least haggle a bit, but he actually just nodded his head and agreed straight away, pulling two robes out of his interspatial ring.
"Alright. This is the Mountain King's Flowing Robe, it can fully block the attacks of anyone below the early stage of the Earthly Deity realm, reduce the strength of attacks coming from people at the middle stage by 75% and the strength of attacks coming from people at the late stage by 50%. The wearer can also control the surrounding earth and stone with the same proficiency as someone at the middle stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm, drastically increase their physical strength, and even allow them to move through any stone and earth as if it was empty air."
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The first robe he showed off was a light brown robe covered in small gray veins that caused the robe to bear a striking resemblance to dried earth. As he spoke, Arthurius had also set up a screen of flickering space around them, preventing anyone else from hearing or seeing them so that not even the other Heavenly Deities on the ship would learn exactly what Yao Jun had received. He handed the robe to Yao Jun and held up the other one, a light green robe covered in spirals so faint that they were almost invisible.
"This is the Flower God's Loving Breath, it has the same defensive properties as the Mountain King's Flowing Robe. It's filled with a vast lifeforce that gives the wearer a powerful regenerative power, it also has the ability to drastically increase the speed at which one absorbs Qi, making both cultivating and recharging one's energy several times faster. By activating the arrays within the robe, the wearer can create a few different types of forests around them, each forest having a different special ability, but most of them are supportive in nature. Wearing the robe and inserting some Qi will connect the wearer and the robe, allowing them to learn of its special properties. This interspatial ring contains the Spirit Stones and items you can use to contact me or the others if there's an emergency."
Yao Jun accepted the second robe and the interspatial ring, sinking his mind into the ring to check the contents. Seeing the exact amount of Spirit Stones in the ring, even Yao Jun couldn't help but raise his eyebrow, it was far more than he expected. The ring contained 115 Primordial Grade Spirit Stones, each of which was equal to 10 000 Heaven Grade Spirit Stones. Other than these, the ring also contained about 100 000 normal Heaven Grade Spirit Stones, Yao Jun currently holding enough wealth to buy up several tens of normal factions. Other than the Spirit Stones, the ring also contained a few jade orbs engraved with the names of Arthurius and his siblings.
Running the calculations in his head, Yao Jun realized that if he used just these Heaven Grade Spirit Stones, he could power his time-increasing tower for a grand total of 1000 normal days, or 50 000 for him. And that was just at 50 times the normal speed, with this amount of Spirit Stones it should be no problem to increase the speed of time inside the tower even more. Arthurius did just as Yao Jun asked for and didn't take up too much of his time, cupping his hands after handing over the items.
"I'll leave you to catch up with your family, you probably have a lot to talk about. You can come to the World Tree clan should there ever be anything, we'll do whatever we can to help you."
Arthurius had his own thoughts for why he was so generous to Yao Jun, it wasn't just the fact that he had helped them deal a heavy blow to the other clans and sects. Yao Jun had grown to his current level after only a few years, what would happen if he got a few more years? What height would he reach within the next five years, the next ten, or even the next 100? He was guaranteed to become a Heavenly Deity if he wasn't killed, and Arthurius didn't doubt that Yao Jun would become a Heavenly Deity that could even dethrone Godkings. Arthurius turned around to leave, the unknown woman that had followed Guo Luo and Yun Yantian quickly speaking up and stepping forward.
"Uhm, could you possibly take me with you?"
The green-haired and brown-eyed woman was Sasha Keyes, someone that could be considered something of a friend that Guo Luo and Yun Yantian made while they resided in the clan working for the Merged Heaven clan. Now that all the others that were brought along had been killed, she couldn't really go back to the clan, and she most certainly did not dare stay here now that Yao Jun was here. Arthurius turned and glanced at the woman, shrugging his shoulders and gesturing that she could follow him. Sasha's lit up and quickly bowed to Guo Luo and Yun Yantian, giving them a quick thanks before following after Arthurius.
"Junior Sister Luo, Senior Sister Yantian, I would definitely have died down there if it wasn't for you, thank you for saving me. Don't be afraid to contact me in the future, I'll definitely rush to your side without hesitation!"
The ship turned around after Sasha and Arthurius got on it, piercing through space and vanishing into the distance. Yao Jun gave a light wave of his hand, his God Gate appearing beneath everyone present and opening, causing them to drop into it and arrive by the wooden hut that he and Guo Luo had built with their own two hands. The moment they entered the gate and were out of the public eye, Yao Jun's shoulders sank as he seemed to grow even more tired, the sorrow from his loss no longer able to be suppressed.
Guo Luo could easily see that the walls he built up to suppress the sorrow were starting to crumble, the veins in his eyes slowly becoming more visible. Yun Yantian and Yao Jun's parents didn't say anything, nor did Guo Luo or the Demonic beasts that gathered around them. Guo Luo simply raised her arms, a rainbow-colored mist floating above her palms for a short second before a young girl, probably no older than two or three years old, with rainbow-colored hair and gray eyes appeared in her embrace. Guo Luo quietly stepped closer to Yao Jun, softly handing the young girl to him.
"Her name is Yao Xuelian."
There was a trace of worry within Guo Luo that Yao Jun wouldn't accept their daughter, but seeing his reddening eyes softening and the sharpness within his soul receding slightly, she knew that it had been a pointless worry all along. Yao Jun held Yao Xuelian with the utmost care, she was so soft that it felt like she would be crushed if he put even the smallest trace of strength in his grasp. Yao Xuelian didn't seem worried about being handed to an unknown person, she out a crystal clear laughter and smiled at Yao Jun, her small hand wrapping around his fingers. And at that moment, Yao Jun felt that all the death and battles, all the bloodshed and pain, it had all been worth it just for this moment.