Three months alone wasn't a terribly long stretch of time, especially not to the current Yao Jun, and with how long the Pan clan had been around they had a library so huge that three months were far from enough to go through the books. But Yao Jun had something that most other people didn't have, his Time-Altering Spire. He increased the flow of time within the tower by 10 and went about going through the library along with Guo Luo and their daughter, turning the three months into 300 days. He could increase the flow of time further but wanted to conserve some of his Spirit Stones since he didn't know exactly what might occur later down the line.
He didn't take out the spire within the library, he would just pick up the books he was going to read and hop into his God Gate before entering the tower. Finding out that he could enter his God Gate wouldn't do much for the Pan clan, they would at best only thing that he had some interspatial treasure that living beings could enter. It would be a bit worse if they found out that he had the Time-Altering Spire, Yao Jun was fairly confident that time-altering treasures were rare even in a major universe.
Lin voyun brought most of the other Lin clan members with him and left the day after Yao Jun had so unceremoniously robbed him of all face in the martial field, making good on his promise that he would start talking with the Lin clan's leader straight away about the negotiations. But if there was one thing that caused him some headache then it would be the fact that Lin Voyun left behind, or rather was forced to leave behind since she refused to leave with him, someone who insisted on acting as Yao Jun's guide to the Lin clan.
Getting to the Lin clan was only a matter of taking about 13 spatial arrays and walking a short distance, the map he had received was more than enough to achieve that. And the one who insisted on serving as Yao Jun's pointless guide was the violet-haired and blue-eyed Lin Shuyen, who had become dead-set on becoming the disciple of either Yao Jun or one of his Demonic beasts.
She was so set on becoming his disciple that she waltzed into the library after he locked himself up there with Guo Luo and positioned herself in front of the black gate that remained behind whenever Yao Jun entered his God Gate. She would knock on it with all her might three times every day, calling out in a loud voice to draw the attention of Yao Jun or one of his beasts.
She didn't leave the library once during the three months and would follow Yao Jun whenever he left the gate to pick up some new books, Yao Jun even had to specifically tell Ba-Shei and the others that they should just ignore her as long as she didn't go overboard. He had not the slightest interest in taking her as a disciple, a fact he was very vocal about with her, but he couldn't be bothered with doing anything more against her as long as she didn't go overboard and remained as no more than a small nuisance.
And when the sound of Lin Shuyen's knocking started practically serving as a way of telling what time it was, the three month period Yao Jun had set himself came to an end. He had spent a total of 300 days going through the library of the Pan clan, but to his surprise, he was only about 70% done with all the books in the library, showing him that he had still underestimated exactly what sort of history a decently strong clan within a major universe could have. But he had made a deal and he would abide by his own words so he gathered up Yun Yantian and the others, all of them gathering up within the library. Yao Jun sucked the gate back into his body, Guo Luo's shadow starting to wriggle slightly while Yao Jun spoke.
"Alright, Yantian and I will be leaving now. I've left six of them with you just in case, this way we can at least evacuate easily should any sort of emergency arise. Little Gray, Sirius, needless to say, but if anything happens then I am entrusting their safety to you guys, don't worry about wasting any items, just use them if you have the slightest suspicion."
Yao Jun wasn't bringing everyone with him to the Lin clan, it would just be him, Yun Yantian, and the six newest members of his brigade of Demonic beasts. The people of Demon's Gate would be within the God Gate as well, but they would likely not be too helpful should things actually turn dangerous. It was unlikely that things would turn dangerous, but Yao Jun still decided to leave Guo Luo, Yao Xuelian, his parents, and Yang Yuhuan behind just in case things went in a way that he hadn't expected, it would be an additional layer of safety for both sides.
He also left behind Tang Long and the five oldest members of Yao Jun's Demonic beast brigade, giving them the various life-saving trump cards that his past enemies had all been unable to use against him. Tang Long could train a bit with Guo Luo while waiting and the beasts would ensure their safety within the Pan clan, having a few of his beasts here also meant that Yao jun could open an entrance or exit to his God Gate here whenever he wanted, meaning that he could flee the Lin clan or Guo Luo and the others could flee the Pan clan whenever they wanted. This way they were ensured no matter which side things went wrong on, allowing Yao Jun to feel a bit less worried. Yun Yantian said his quiet goodbye with Yang Yuhuan and Yao Jun gave Guo Luo a soft kiss before kneeling down and rubbing Yao Xuelian's head.
"Alright, I'm gonna be gone for a bit so you'll have to be on your best behaviour and protect mama if things go bad. And don't forget, I'm always watching."
Yao Xuelian nodded repeatedly, her eyes slightly red as Yao Jun smiled at her. This would be the first time since the family reunited that they would be split up again, even if it was only for a handful of days at best, so she couldn't help but be a bit emotional. Yao Jun flashed her another smile and stood up, giving Guo Luo another kiss before he and Yun Yantian left the library. Lin Shuyen was already standing outside and practically bubbling with excitement as she started to lead them.
"Please follow me, I guarantee that I'll bring you to the spatial arrays that let us take the fastest route back to the clan. You're gonna be amazed when you see it, the area is absolutely amazing! It might just be so amazing that you'll want to accept a disciple so that you have a reason to come back there often, hint hint."
Yao Jun sent an indifferent sideways glance at Lin Shuyen, not even bothering to repeat himself any longer after having shot her down so many times. Lin Shuyen was already used to responses like this so she turned her head to look at Yun Yantian while gesturing toward Yao Jun with her chin. Yun Yantian made the swift decision to extricate himself from this, raising his arms as if he was surrendering.
"Don't look at me. You wanna convince the monster to accept a disciple, you'll have to do it on your own. Gotta do things on your own, that way they'll taste sweeter once you achieve them."
Lin Shuyen nodded in a serious manner, seemingly mentally noting down Yun Yantian's advice. While she was doing so, Yao Jun turned his head slightly and narrowed his eyes while looking at the Pan clan mansion behind them. His gaze seemed to pierce the walls of the building, landing on Pan Long and Pan Huisu, the clan leader and his father, who were both watching as Yao Jun left with Lin Shuyen. The two people started to feel an ache in their chest, a crawling sensation running through their lungs as the countless tiny spiders inserted into them moved around. They both knew what it was, a quiet threat that they should just remain nice and silent while he was gone.
The group moved through the city and quickly reached the first spatial array, which was located in a small square where several other spatial arrays had also been gathered up. This place served as a so-called transmission station, a sort of public place where you could take spatial arrays to the other parts of the Pan clan's area of influence. The group entered one of the arrays and were quickly surrounded by white light and a weightless sensation, arriving within one of the villages controlled by the Pan clan after a short moment.
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They continued to take spatial array after spatial array to cross vast distances of land, quickly reaching the very edge of the Pan clan territory. From here they were supposed to have to walk for about four days before reaching one of the Lin clan villages, but Yao Jun couldn't be bothered to walk for that long so he knocked Lin Shuyen out using some poison and then used his law of space to teleport them a few times until they got closer to the village. He then woke up Lin Shuyen again and simply told her that he had knocked her out because he couldn't be bothered to listen to her for the four days they had to walk.
She had no choice to accept his answer, mainly because he didn't bother saying anything else, and could thus only guide them to the village that was up ahead. The edge of the Lin clan territory was actually rather cold, a few sparse patches of snow scattered around the ground, which had hardened significantly due to the cold. The village they reached was filled with wooden houses, the material of the buildings releasing a faint bit of warmth to combat the chilly surroundings. The group directly headed for the transmission station and teleported to the city ruled by the Lin clan, Quartzthrone City.
Quartzthrone City was quite a bit bigger than the city of the Pan clan and the sky around the city was actually a light yellow rather than the normal blue. The reason behind this was actually very simple, the entire city was actually located within a type of hidden realm, a separate space that had been opened within what was supposedly the Demon Crystal left behind by the mutated Demonic beast that was the wife of the clan founder. It was supposedly located within this Demon Crystal, but the crystal was far larger than normal, looking at it from the outside one could almost confuse it for mountain made out of crystal.
Of course, Yao Jun was currently within the city so he had no way of confirming if the crystal was actually that large, he could only go by what he had read. The golden-eyed and blue-haired Lin Voyun was already waiting for Yao Jun by the transmission station where they arrived, a contingency of highly-disciplined soldiers clad in deep violet armour standing respectfully behind him. Lin Voyun waved Lin Shuyen over and gave a cordial bow, beckoning for Yao Jun and Yun Yantian to follow him through the stone city which had a few crystal trees growing here and there.
"Please follow me, Senior, Clan Leader Gaozhi is already ready and waiting for you."
Yao Jun gave a slight nod of his head and started to follow Lin Voyun, he and Yun Yantian glancing somewhat curiously at the city around them. The streets were paved with a strange type of smooth wood rather than the usual earth or rock, and the stone buildings all around them seemed to be constructed in a galaxy-like pattern, a circular centre with several curved offshoots extending from it. The distance between each building was the exact same, but their heights varied greatly, some of them showing clear signs that the upper floors had been added at a later date.
They took two more spatial arrays after entering the city to shorten the time needed to reach the centre, a large pyramid constructed by azure quartz. The pyramid was surrounded by a circular orchard filled with normal trees that seemed to be in the midst of blooming, light pink flowers blooming on each tree, a small cluster of grape-like fruits growing beneath each flower.
Located just behind the gates embedded in the iron fence around the estate were a circular wooden table and two chairs, a porcelain kettle and two cups standing on the table and releasing a faint and fragrant mist. A rather average looking man, who had actually already reached the early stage of the Heavenly Deity realm, with swept-back brown hair and slight stubble on his chin was sitting on one of the chairs, his orange eyes looking at Yao Jun as he walked through the gate. The man rose from his seat when Yao Jun arrived by the table, he took out another chair for Yun Yantian and then got straight to the point.
"I am Lin Gaozhi, but you've probably already been told so by Lin Voyun. I just took over leadership of the clan a year ago and I still haven't gotten used to all the casual chatter that you're supposed to do in a situation like this, so I'll just get straight to the point. I've heard what you want and have deliberated over it, I can give you 30 litres of the blood, but you'll have to give us 50 litres of blood coming from a Divine Beast, preferably of the earth, iron, wind, or fire element."
He had to give 50 but would only receive 30, this was mainly due to the fact that the blood he was asking for was considered the greatest treasure of the Lin clan. It was part of the reason behind their power and it was also immensely emotional to them. Yao Jun pretended to think about it for a bit while talking with Sirius, Xuhuan, and Zhuyin, eventually taking out three small drops of their blood and placing them on the table while locking eyes with Lin Gaozhi.
"Show me the blood and we can make the deal."
He didn't take out blood from just one Demonic beast since he didn't want to make it seem like he had plenty of the blood, splitting it over three different types would make it seem like he had less of each. Lin Gaozhi inspected the three drops of blood and then nodded his head, snapping his fingers at Lin Voyun. Lin Voyun could only nod his head and enter the pyramid, vanishing for a few minutes before he returned, carrying a purple interspatial ring resting on a silk pillow.
He placed the interspatial ring respectfully in front of Lin Gaozhi, who only gave its contents a quick check before pushing it to Yao Jun, who checked its contents. A tremendous amount of lightning element energy hit him when he sank his mind into the ring and inspected the blood hovering within the ring. The blood carried the scent of a Divine Beast and unleashed a massive amount of lightning element energy, it was exactly what he had come here for. He had no way of finding out if this blood actually came from a tiger-type demonic beast, he could only put his trust in the history and information he had gotten about the Lin clan.
Of course, as long as he was uncertain he was definitely going to search out more blood in the future, just to be completely sure. Having checked what he was receiving, Yao Jun transferred a bit of blood from Sirius, Zhuyin, and Xuhuan into an interspatial ring, pulling it out and sliding it to Lin Gaozhi. He accepted the ring and checked its contents, a smile showing up on his face as he put it away.
"Good, with that the deal is complete and we can go about becoming a bit more casual. Say, do you enjoy cooking and farming? I've got an excellent spice gard...?"
Lin Gaozhi closed his mouth with a slight frown before he could finish his sentence, turning his head to look at the pyramid behind them. An old man with a slight limp was walking out from the pyramid and heading over to them, his greyish-brown hair and beard trimmed short. Yao Jun's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw this man, he had reached the middle stage of the Heavenly Deity realm so he should be the previous clan leader. The man walked over to Lin Gaozhi, tilting his head somewhat curiously.
"Gaozhi, Voyun just came and collected some of the treasured blood, does it have something to do with these juniors?"
Lin Voyun winced slightly when the old man referred to Yao Jun as a junior, but he didn't really have the position to speak up in front of the old clan leader. Lin Gaozhi gave a slight nod of his head and gave a quick summary of the deal, even handing the interspatial ring with blood over to the old man.
The old man accepted the ring but didn't sink his mind into it, his expression actually distorting slightly. He turned to look at Yao Jun and placed the interspatial ring on the table again, sliding it back to Yao Jun while giving a soft shake of his head.
"I'm sorry Junior, but there are some things Gaozhi doesn't know yet since he had only recently accepted the position as clan leader. And one of these things is the fact that the treasured blood of our clan can definitely not be handed to an outsider, not even a single drop can leave our clan. So while it is regretful, I'll have to ask you to take back this blood and hand back the ring."
Yao Jun glanced at the ring that had been placed on the table and slid toward him, his expression sinking slightly. This blood was highly likely to be one of the ingredients needed to revive Little Thunder, he might find more in the future but he had no idea how much searching that would take. As such, he was unwilling to give up this opportunity in front of him, even if it was a Heavenly Deity demanding it.
"And if I refuse?"