Bo Chern didn't sound too pleased as she responded to Yao Jun, but he got her word that he would get the reports once he reached the nearest Heaven's Secrets Company branch. He ignored her annoyance and gave her a few short words of gratitude, Bo Chern ignoring him and cutting off the contact so that silence returned to Yao Jun's head.

Yao Jun and Guo Luo finished the kiss they were sharing and then left to stop Yao Xuelian before she tormented Tang Long and Lin Shuyen too much. Yao Jun was in a rather excited mood as he looked forward to going over the reports of the suitable Divine Beasts. With them he could possibly increase the rank of Du Xiao and the others, improving them until they too became Divine Beasts. And once they became Divine Beasts, his strengthening technique, which drew upon the strength of his own Demonic beasts would grow stronger once more.

But he didn't head to the nearest Heaven's Secrets Company branch right away, he wanted to spend a bit more time just relaxing with his family before he set out again. Yao Jun always ended up neck-deep in battles whenever he moved from one place to another so he wanted to cherish this moment of peace while he could.

Yao Xuelian was certainly more than happy to spend some days just playing around with her father, who she knew was busier than most people. Guo Luo and his parents also joined them, the group of five joyfully exploring the city that surrounded the Pan clan's estate.

At this point in time, there was no one in the city that didn't know about Yao Jun's battle against the Lin clan patriarch and the allies he brought along. The sky filled with sharp weapons and terror-inducing power that swept forth in waves had been clearly seen and felt by a good part of the city, the citizens and shopkeeps would do everything in their power to avoid Yao Jun if it hadn't been for the orders sent down by the Pan clan patriarch.

But even with those orders, the people of the city couldn't fully hide their fear, Yao Xuelian was probably the only one who didn't notice it. Speaking of Yao Xuelian, Yao Jun was still quite worried about her growth. She was growing too slowly, she currently only looked and acted like a six or seven-year-old girl despite having spent 11 years within the Time-Altering Spire back when they were still in their own universe. Coupled with the years she spent in the outside world, she should be in her teens rather than this a child-like state.

But no matter how much he worried about her growth, he had no idea what to do about it, he didn't want to keep her in the Time-Altering Spire at all times to rapidly advance her age. Her body might grow like that, but unless she received constant care like normal it would inevitably have an effect on her mind, which was one of the last things he wanted. As such, he could only do his best to store the worry at the back of his mind, consoling himself with the fact that things that grew slowly generally tended to be stronger when they finally did grow.

Yao Xuelian was fully aware of her own position, or rather, the position of her parents. Her Mama and Papa were very strong and commanded a lot of 'awe' from others, so as their sole daughter she received more than just a little praise and care from others. Her parents were also incredibly doting, especially her Papa, so she only had to point at something and look at him with upturned eyes and he would instantly get it for her, some shopkeeps even gave it to them for free when they saw that she wanted it.

But despite Yao Xuelian's glee and subsequent complaints, Guo Luo and Yao Jun's parents always insisted on paying for the wares that the shopkeeps were practically dying to hand over for free. Accepting the money would be rude but so too would not accepting it, putting the shopkeeps in an awkward position where they had no idea what they should do. Guo Luo understood their positions and quietly placed the payment on their stall and then ushered Yao Jun and Yao Xuelian away, allowing the shopkeeps to breathe easy once more.

But their days of quiet peace as a family could only go on for so long, ending after they had spent a little over a week just exploring the nooks and crannies of the city. It was time to move on again, there was still a long road ahead of them. The most recent loss still stung his heart painfully, a constant reminder that each pause he took brought with it the risk of loss.

He and his family met with the Pan clan patriarch, Pan Long, in front of the spatial array that would take them to the capital of this province, Snow's Muse city. Yao Jun's gaze roamed over Pan Long and the others, his hand brushing past them in a casual sweeping motion as he pulled out all the spiders he had inserted in their organs. He hid several tens of them in each of their shadows so that he could still keep an eye on things here while spreading out his network of spiders even further, but he didn't tell them about the spiders.

He healed the remaining wounds in Pan Long's body at the same time, he couldn't deny that Pan Long had done right by them so it was only fair that he returned the favour. The wounds were purely physical so they were simple to heal, especially after Yama's recent evolution and Yao Jun's own increase in strength.

Yao Jun didn't even bother to stick around to hear Pan Long's words of gratitude, the large array activating and sending them away in a flash of white light. Yao Jun had left the area, but just like it was with all the other places he had been, it had been scarred and forever altered by his presence. The array soaked Yao Jun's body in a weightless feeling for a few minutes, the light and sensation receding once they reached their target.

The place they reached, Snow's Muse city, truly fit its name. A thin layer of snow covered the entire city while a constant drizzle of fluffy snow fell from the sky. But strangely enough, the sky above the city was a dazzling blue, the snow seemingly falling from nowhere. Snow's Muse city followed a more rustic and subdued architectural style, the houses made from dark brown wood and decorated with lanterns of various colours.

The soft scent of cooking meat and stew drifted through the flower-shaped plaza where they had arrived, several vendors calling out what sort of food they were selling. Looking at the city around them, both Yao Jun and Guo Luo were overcome with a nostalgic sensation. The city was so terribly similar to a town they had visited back on their home planet, Winter Wind town. It was a city they hadn't spent long in, but its charming atmosphere and the fact that it was where Guo Luo was poisoned by people from the Raging Snow sect made it a very memorable place for them.

The two shared a glance and smiled knowingly at each other, each one taking one of Yao Xuelian's hands in their own and placing her between them. Yao Xuelian didn't understand the smiles of her parents but was more than happy with the way they held her hands, it meant that she could have them swing her around as she walked.

And they did just that, they took a casual and relaxed stroll through the snow-covered plaza while swinging the gleeful Yao Xuelian around. Yao Jun's parents walked a few steps behind them while holding hands, only smiling softly at the family in front of them. They knew how Yao Jun had fought, how painfully he had trained ever since he was young.

His training had definitely only gotten worse after he left their gaze, they couldn't even begin to guess how many painful experiences and days he had hidden from them whenever he talked about his travels. They didn't care if their son was weak or overpoweringly strong, they just wanted him to be happy, they wanted him to be at peace, just like he was right now in this brief moment.

They moved through the plaza and tasted some of the food that the vendors were selling, slowly making their way to the gothic wooden church that stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the buildings in the city. The Heaven's Secrets Company used several different styles based on the territory where they were found, but this gothic style was their trademark.

Yao Jun brought his family and headed down the hallway marked with 'Information' and quickly arrived in a circular yet wavy hall that had a large crystal with a raging fire burning inside it as the centrepiece. This wasn't Yao Jun's first time in one of these branches so he picked a counter at random and gave Bo Chern's name, the man behind the counter tensing up slightly as he prepared and handed over the six different files. Yao Jun accepted the files and looked them over for a short second, his parents at the others standing at his side and glancing at the files while Yao Jun was raising an eye to look at the man.

"Do you have anything on the Divine Emperor? Anything at all?"

Yao Jun hadn't forgotten that the array that led to the death of Yun Yantian came from the man known as the Divine Emperor. It was exceedingly petty of him, but Yao Jun wanted to at least hit him once for that, even if it was just to appease his own petty and miss-directed anger. The man behind the counter froze up completely for a split second, his gaze sweeping over Yao Jun for a short second before he smiled at him.

Stolen novel; please report.

"We most certainly do. But we don't have any information for sale, that Estemeed Senior falls under the category of 'beings we don't sell information about.' We do however have this file, but it only contains what is already public information, please have a look."

The man swept the sapphire embedded in his ring and took out a small paper file that he handed to Yao Jun. There was no point in asking for payment, when it came to the beings that fell into their special category then you could just go to any decently large merchant organization and get the basic information about them.

Yao Jun accepted the file and gave it a quick read, it really only contained the basics such as their name, universe, and one or two of the laws they had shown recently. But just having a name was a start, something to dig deeper into further down the road. Yao Jun read the file two more times, his gaze eventually settling on the very start of the report as a mutter unconsciously escaped his lips.

"The Divine Emperor, Li Yang... I'm definitely going to at least break your nose, so you'd best prepare yourself you bastard."

The mutter was just something Yao Jun released without thought, another way for him to vent a little bit of the anger that simmered deep within him. As such, the last thing he expected was that this quiet mutter of his would actually receive a response.

"Heh, cursing at me before we've ever even met? Now that's something that hasn't happened in a while, but didn't your mommy ever tell you not speak words that you can't back up?"

The sudden voice instantly filled Yao Jun's entire being with abject terror and dread. His instincts flared up harder than they ever had before, his gate appearing beneath his family and sucking them up before vanishing into his chest again. He dug up every last trace of power he could muster and exploded forth with his full might, spinning around as he delivered a slash with the glaive that had appeared in his grasp, space around the blade warping and collapsing.

As he spun, he finally saw the source of the voice, a youth with crimson eyes and swept-back hair, a carefree and cocky curve to his lips. The youth only spared Yao Jun's strongest attack a glance containing no interest or worry, only a faint sense of amusement. And then he raised a single finger and placed it in the bath of the blade, the skin on his fingertip barely moving as the weapon crashed into it.

The energy within the attack vanished without a trace, Yao Jun's arm unable to move even an inch further. The youth tilted his head as he gazed at the glaive, a few strands of icy-blue hair falling in front of his face. The youth's eyes drifted onto Yao Jun, his expression still only showing amusement.

"Aren't you a fragmented little thingy? Fragment and unfocused, really all over the place like a splattered bug. Here, let this daddy show you how to properly attack."

The youth didn't even bother to move his finger and not a single one of his muscles tensed up. He simply parted his lips and clicked his tongue. The soft sound felt like a mountain smashing into Yao Jun's chest, completely ignoring his defensive robe and tough body while causing his chest to cave in.

He was launched back without an ounce of control over body, smashing right through the walls of the building and flying out into the snow-covered streets, his body drawing a line through both the snow and the earth. Yao Jun hadn't even stopped moving backwards before the voice of the youth rang out once again.

"Hah, you actually didn't die from that? Hot damn, that's a pretty tough body you've got there, good going little kiddy. Here, let's see if you can handle this spanking too, if you do I might just ignore your cursing."

Yao Jun felt his body suddenly rise into an upright position, the sound of shockwaves exploding through the air coming from behind him. He didn't waste time on thoughts or questions, once again bursting forth with every ounce of his power as he changed the grip on his glaive and stabbed it backwards. All his power gathered at the tip of the weapon and sucked in the surrounding Qi and space, his body instinctively launching his strongest attack, Void.

He was just barely able to glance behind him, spectating the moment his glaive made contact with the thing moving so fast through the air that it caused shockwaves to explode forth. It was still only the single finger of the youth, moving forward at such a leisure pace that it looked like he just wanted to poke Yao Jun.

The weapon and the finger collided, the small black spot that had appeared at the tip of Yao Jun's glaive collapsing in on itself and forming a minute spatial rift that immediately started sucking in even the surrounding laws. But even this attack, Yao Jun's strongest creation, didn't cause the youth's eyes to change from amusement to interest. Nor did the youth change his move, he still pushed his finger forward leisurely, the small black hole warping and vanishing when his finger pushed against it.

With the black hole vanishing, there was nothing stopping the youth's finger from reaching Yao Jun's glaive, cracks immediately starting to cover the entire weapon that was formed by the Sword God's Gate itself. But just as Yao Jun's pupils shrank to the size of pinholes and he thought his weapon would break once more, a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed onto the youth's wrist to stop his attack.

"Alright, Little Goldy, that's enough. Stop bullying the younglings."

The voice was somewhat familiar to Yao Jun, a person he hadn't been expecting showing up in his vision. The one that stopped the attack was the verdant-eyed and blue-haired youth that Yao Jun had met while taking part in the Ascending Dragon Competition, Chang Yun. He was still clad in a pure robe and his skin was still rather pale, but his somewhat frail frame didn't budge in the slightest despite stopping the other youth's attack. The crimson-eyed youth clicked his tongue while looking at Chang Yun, flicking the hand that was holding onto his wrist.

"I'm just having a bit of fun you lazy bastard, is there really a need for you to butt in? Besides, this kiddo's the one who cursed me out so he's really the one who started it. Of course, I'm all for it if you want to tussle a bit, it's been a while since I got to spank you for your lazy ways."

The crimson-eyed youth continued to flick Chang Yun's hand while talking, Yao Jun just barely able to see that each flick actually caused space around his finger to disintegrate. Chang Yun let go of the youth's hand, waving his hand around as if he was trying to shake off the ache.

"Really, are you ever going to change? Stop playing with the kid, you should already be able to tell that he won't shit his pants just because you're trying to scare him. And of course, I'm going to butt in, you tore a hole in the walls of one of my establishments."

Chang Yun pointed at the Heaven's Secrets Company as he spoke, directing the youth's gaze to the hole that Yao Jun left behind as he was smashed out of the building. The youth looked at the holes without any change in expression, pointing at Yao Jun with his thumb.

" Bah, you've got a billion of those suckers all over the place so don't act like you care. And in all fairness, he's the one who created those holes, not me. So if you want reparations, look at him, not me. Wait... Could it be that you've fallen for him? But lazy, think about the age difference! And what will you do when the shrew finds out? Wait, has she accepted it and given you her blessings?!"

The youth shamelessly poured all the blame onto Yao Jun, whose entire body felt like it was frozen in space by the mere presence of the two people. Chang Yun tilted his head slightly, looking at the other youth as if he was an idiot, eventually causing the youth to shake his head and shrug his shoulders as if he had lost all interest.

"Yeah yeah, I'll stop playing around with the little kiddo now, doesn't seem like I can squeeze more fun out of him just yet."

The youth moved his gaze away from Chang Yun and looked at Yao Jun again, the freezing sensation that locked him up vanishing and allowing Yao Jun's tensed muscles to ease up somewhat. The youth's gaze took on their amusement light again, the corners of his mouth still stuck in their carefree and cocky curve.

"You're off the hook for now kiddo, but you really should be careful with the names you speak out in the future, saying the names of us big daddies out loud will allow us to instantly know where you are. But of course, if you want to get spanked around more then you can just say my name whenever you want, I'll play with you for a poke or two."

At this point, Yao Jun had already started to guess at the identity of the youth based on his words. It was highly likely that the man standing in front of him was the Divine Emperor, Li Yang, the ruler of several major universes, an existence he had no hopes of facing right now. Space behind Li Yang cracked open to reveal an empty void, Li Yang casually stepping back into it while giving Yao Jun a quick reminder as an afterthought.

"And oh, that last little tickle of yours, that was based on something from the black snake wasn't it? Yeah, you should just abandon that thing, it'll never be as effective as something of your own. You've got all these laws floating around in you but you haven't bothered doing anything with them, only piddling around with fusions of them. Focus on them one by one and bring em all to the top, then you can start thinking about fusing them, otherwise, you'll never have any hope of touching the heavens."

The cracked space vanished after Li Yang stepped into it, his appearance and departure so quick and erratic that it almost didn't feel real. Chang Yun looked at the empty space and rubbed his forehead, space behind him sliding open as if someone was pulling a zipper. The walls of the Heaven's Secrets Company building had already been repaired as Chang Yun stepped into the tear he made in space, leaving Yao Jun with a few quick parting words and a warning.

"Don't think too much about it, that man is... well he's a bit of an ass, he just finds it terribly fun to tease people. But you should heed his advice, blindly following after the backs of others will never take you as far as possible. But oh, don't forget, you mustn't touch the wine I gave you before you reach the Heavenly Deity realm, you'll just blow up no matter how strong your body or fragments are."

The tear in space closed once Chang Yun finished his warning, leaving behind Yao Jun in the practically deafening silence that shrouded the area.