The only sound audible in the area was the soft pitter-patter of the downpouring blood, the three remaining enemies too scared to make any sound while Yun Yantian and the others were doing their best to come up with a battle plan. One of the three enemies, a short man with blue skin and gills on his neck, raised his head and gazed at the dark clouds above them.
His eyes were trembling at first but quickly calmed down as the drops of blood ran down his face, his gaze drifting towards Yao Jun. Looking at Yao Jun's faint smile and relaxed posture, he couldn't help but let out a sigh and cup his hands.
"So this is where we die, huh? I've got to say that I hoped for something grander and more dignified, I would have liked it if my death at least had some purpose. I know I don't have the right, but Sir Demon King, would you listen to the last requests of a dying man?"
One of Yao Jun's eyebrows couldn't help but rise slightly when he saw how composed the man was, especially when he heard that he was planning on making requests. The two other leaders also quickly chimed along with the blue-skinned man, Yao Jun eventually nodding his head and allowing the blue-skinned man to let out a sigh and lock eyes with the two remaining people on his side.
"Thank you for at least listening. There are only two requests, we don't hope for you to actually fulfill them, but please at least keep them in mind. The first is the simplest, we hope that you will spare our families when you eventually bare your fangs to the Primordial Sea clan, even the oldest of our sons has only just reached his twenties, they will not be able to threaten you. The second is a bit more difficult, we hope that you can kill the one who sent us here, Fifth Elder. He must have known that we wouldn't be a match for you, he probably only sent us here to make it look like he's making an effort."
The three people waved their hands as the blue-skinned man spoke, using their Qi to produce images of their families. Yao Jun let his gaze drift across the various images, his expression not changing in the slightest, the three enemies unable to discern his thoughts. As his gaze drifted across the images, he let out a soft whisper.
"Go."
The shadows cast by Yao Jun's hair wriggled slightly after his whisper sounded, quickly falling quiet again. Silence fell over the area again after the blue-skinned man stated their requests, the rain of blood starting to die down and the dark clouds slowly dispersing. Guo Luo's group, as well as the three enemies, were waiting for Yao Jun to say anything in response to the requests, no one making a move yet. But when Yao Jun finally opened his mouth, he spoke words that none of them had expected to hear.
"Heh, he really is that disgusting, it would taint me to use that blood."
Yao Jun's mouth twisted slightly as he spoke, disdain apparent at the corners of his mouth. A small emerald green spider crawled onto Yao Jun's shoulder from the shadow of his hair, the voice of Du Xiao coming from it.
"We've finished it, My Lord, should I have Ba-Shei bring him here?"
Yao Jun gave a slight shake of his head and stretched out his arm, his shadow rising up and connecting with his hand. The shadow started to recede after it connected with his hand, an old man with blue-skin, white hair, and two sets of gills on his neck appearing where the shadow had been, Yao Jun's hand resting atop his head.
The three enemies immediately recognized this man as the Fifth Elder, Jun Mingju, who should be safe within his palace in their branch. His strength used to be at the middle stage of the Earthly Deity realm, but his old age had caused it to drop to the early stage. But even so, he was still greatly respected in the Primordial Sea clan due to his long years of service, he was a dignified man that many people in the clan respected.
But right now he didn't have the usual dignified appearance, there were traces of blood at the corner of his mouth, a few small pieces of soft skin stuck between his teeth. His eyes were glazed over and blank and his body was convulsing heavily, a few chunks of his stomach and abdomen had been violently torn out.
Yao Jun's spiders had spread throughout most of the branch where Mingju resided, he even had four of them in his own shadow so that he could be constantly tracked. Since he was already under surveillance, it wasn't hard for Yao Jun to send Du Xiao, Ba-Shei, and Siwang over there to quickly kill him.
Yao Jun gave Mingju a slight push, his body tilting forward and falling to the ground face first. His back practically exploded the moment he landed on the ground, hundreds of tiny emerald spiders bursting forth from his back and skittering down into Yao Jun's shadow. Even Yao Jun hadn't expected this to happen, it seemed like Du Xiao became more than a little enraged when she saw Mingju eating girls to maintain a sliver of his youth. But even despite his surprise, Yao Jun's eyes remained calm and nearly indifferent as they landed on the blue-skinned man who had spoken earlier.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
"That's one request finished. As for the first one, I can't be bothered to do anything to them as long as they don't try to harm those close to me."
The eyes of the three leaders trembled when they looked at the mangled corpse of Mingju. They knew better than most just how scary this elder could be, his cultivation had dropped but he was still so strong that he could easily beat most other early-stage Earthly Deities. But now he had died just like that, it hadn't even taken an entire minute, which could only mean that the beasts that were controlled by the Demon King in front of them had likely grown just as much as their master.
The three men locked eyes once more before letting out a deep breath, the Demon King had listened to their requests so now it was time for them to do what they had to. The three of them each took a step forward and cupped their hands, loudly introducing themselves.
"Shi Jinglan stepping forward."
"Peridus stepping forward."
"Vong Zetzun stepping forward."
They were going to die here, they knew that there was no changing that. But by stating their names like this they could at least be remembered, even if their families fell due to the passage of time, these people in front of them would remember their names. With the three enemies stepping forward, Yun Yantian and the others also stepped forward and took up their positions, returning the courtesy.
"Yun Yantian stepping forward!"
"Guo Luo stepping forward."
"Tang Long, here."
The two groups of three locked eyes with each other and then with their opponents, quietly deciding on who would be fighting who. They then charged out, taking a bit of distance from each other so that they wouldn't interfere in the other battles. This was a fight for them to test how strong they had gotten, it would be harder to gauge that if they ended up helping each other. Yao Jun stretched out his senses, encompassing the entire planet and the area around it, keeping an eye on not only the battles but also their surroundings to make sure that there were no surprises.
--
Yun Yantian summoned forth two normal white swords and charged at his enemy, the blue-skinned Shi Jinglan. The aura radiating from his body increased dramatically as he charged, looking at the increase in strength Yao Jun guessed that he had likely already carved the fifth channel of Crumbling the Nine Heavens. Shi Jinglan let out a deep breath and put on a serious expression, a large hammer appearing in his grasp.
He raised the hammer to face Yun Yantian's charge, thick bolts of azure lightning arcing around his body and the hammer, violently distorting the air. But just as his hammer reached its highest point, his eyes shot open wide and he was forced to jump up. Seven swords whizzed past underneath his feet, just barely missing thanks to his jump.
But since he was now in the air, his reaction time was slowed and he couldn't properly utilize all his power since he didn't have a foothold. Yun Yantian arrived in front of him and slashed out with both swords, one diagonally upwards and one diagonally downward, a thin line left behind in space behind the blades.
Shi Jinglan quickly lowered and tilted his hammer, using the handle to block the rising sword and the head to block the descending sword. A sharp pain assaulted his back just as he blocked the two attacks, another sword appearing out of thin air from behind him and stabbing into his back. The sword was thinner than usual and resembled a rapier so even though it was able to stab deep into his body, it wasn't able to do too much damage.
Shi Jinglan focused his gaze on Yun Yantian and exploded forth with a violent burst of lightning, decimating several kilometers of land in front of him with the thick bolts. But his expression didn't ease up, he could sense that Yun Yantian had simply vanished the moment he unleashed his lightning. But just as he was about to stretch out his sense to search for him, he heard Yun Yantian's voice coming from behind.
"Crush him, Da Sui."
He managed to turn his head just enough to see that Yun Yantian was standing behind him and holding a massive greatsword that was at least three meters long and one meter wide, it looked far too large for his normal body. But as he swung down the greatsword, the air around it unleashed violent exploding noises due to how rapidly it was pushed aside and then crushed.
Shi Jinglan didn't even try to block the attack, he had yet to land on the ground so he would be crushed if he tried to block it without proper footing. He stabbed the handle of his hammer into the ground and used it to push himself to the side, gathering all his Qi at his side and back to defend against the attack.
The greatsword crashed into the ground and caused the earth within the surrounding 15 kilometers to sink in as if a meteor had hit it, thick cracks spreading throughout the entire area. Shi Jinglan's right arm wasn't hit by the blade but still ended up being crushed into paste due to the violent force, his organs shaken to the point of almost rupturing.
He used the violent force of Yun Yantian's attack to launch himself as far away as he could, crashing into the ground 12 kilometers away and rolling for a bit before stabilizing his stance. But as he stood up and raised his head, he couldn't help but let out a defeated laughter, his gaze filled with despair as he looked at the sky.
"Haha, from one monster to another. A shame, what a shame that I can't see the future you'll bring about. In my next life, I pray that I can avoid becoming your enemies."
There were swords as far as the eye could see, the entire sky was covered in thousands upon thousands of swords, their tips pointed directly at Shi Jinglan. Even the earth was filled with blades sticking up, it was like he was trapped in the maw of a beast made entirely of weapons. Yun Yantian stood in his previous position, looking at the countless weapons he had brought forth, a slight smile starting to spread on his lips.
"Heh, I've really gotten stronger. I may not be able to beat him, but I sure as fuck won't let him believe me to be a burden."
Yun Yantian clenched his fist once he finished his words, the thousands upon thousands of blades shooting forward and closing in on Shi Jinglan. Shi Jinglan didn't move to dodge or defend, the reflection of the sun on the countless blades being the last thing he ever saw.