The floating island looked like it was still a fair few tens of, likely a handful of hundreds, of kilometres away from Yao Jun's group of four. But Little Gray seemed to be just as excited as Sirius, he flapped his wings a mere second after Sirius answered Yao Jun's question, that single flap propelling them forward at least a few tens of kilometres. But Yao Jun couldn't feel even the smallest breeze despite the speed at which they were going, Sirius diligently diverting the air around them so that they weren't bothered by it.

Thanks to the speed produced by Little Gray's renewed vigour, the group reached the floating island in merely a scant few seconds. The entire island was covered by a single jagged mountain that shot straight up, only a couple of kilometres of land separating the base of the mountain from the edge of the island. And with them reaching the edge of the island, the bloody energy radiating out from the depths of the mountain also hit Yao Jun. You'd have to get close to the island to sense it, but just the fact that you could sense it from the edge of the island spoke of how dense the energy was, a powerful beast or cultivator had probably been slain here in the past.

The barren and drab brown exterior of the mountain was covered in two-metre wide holes, but peering into the holes revealed that they only continued on for a couple of metres before they stopped. The end of each hole contained a withered exoskeleton that had lost all age due to the passage of time, only a breath away from turning into dust. If this island was just as it looked, torn out of the land and tossed into the sky, then it may very well have been to prevent any bugs from intruding upon whatever was located in the depths of the mountain.

"The three people had to investigate the various holes to find the correct entrance so they've yet to actually enter the mountain. I will leave them to the two of you, I will stand guard to make sure that no undue accidents occur."

There was no actual leader amongst Yao Jun's Demonic beasts, they all obeyed his orders but that was it, they didn't have any actual hierarchy amongst themselves. But Little Gray had the law of space so he was the one most suited to dealing with most unexpected things so neither Ba-Shei nor Sirius had anything against the way he divided the work.

Little Gray flapped his wings once more and flashed over to the other side of the mountain, practically instantly arriving above a two-metre tall hole carved into the base of the mountain. It looked strangely identical to the other holes, but a quick investigation was all it took to reveal that it went far deeper than the other holes so it was likely the actual entrance into the depths of the mountain.

And just as Little Gray had said, three people were currently inspecting the entrance. The two men were vigilantly inspecting the edges of the entrance for any traps or arrays, while the woman stood two steps behind them and kept a sharp eye on their surroundings so that they didn't get ambushed. All three of them were late-stage Earthly Deities so they noticed Yao Jun's arrival before Little Gray's shadow covered them, their knees bending slightly as they tensed up and faced the sky.

The trio's black eyes swept over Yao Jun and his group, but they didn't lower their guards just because they noticed that they were the ones with higher cultivation levels. Their vigilance was something instinctual, based on a fear born from the very building blocks of their cells. Little Gray and the others were one thing, they carried with them an almost holy presence that unmistakable marked them as higher beings.

But Yao Jun, the seemingly weakest in the group was also the one who elicited the greatest response from their instincts. There was something about his gaze as he sat there so calmly, his pitch-black eyes squeezing their souls. Yao Jun may have lost most of his strength and his God Gates, but his presence had barely changed, it was already something that had seeped into even the deepest recess of his body.

"My Lord desires the treasures of this mountain, leave, now."

Ba-Shei was far from as eloquent as Sirius or Little Gray, he barely spared the group below them a full sentence as a warning, and he certainly wasn't the least bit polite about it. One of the two men was clearly a bit incensed by his brusque tone, but the slightly burlier man placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, the two men moving to the side so that they could stand guard in front of the woman.

"It is certainly true that the treasures at the depths of this mountain hold a great charm, you seem to specialize in body cultivation so I can imagine that it might prove moderately useful to you. But this is just the start of the competition, the better treasure locales have not yet even opened themselves to welcome new prey. I am certain that neither of us wants to risk anything by engaging in a big battle now, it would be detrimental to our future endeavours. So, since we are the ones who were here first, how about you let us have this one? Should we meet again in a different locale of a similar level, we will leave that one to you. And it might sound a bit childish from me, but don't you think it's a bit unfair to try to steal our reward after we did all the work in finding the entrance and making sure that there aren't any traps in the area?"

The burlier man spoke in a slow and measured manner, his tone a mix between neutral and cordial. But even so, his guard was never lowered, his body brimming with energy that was just waiting to burst out. Yao Jun's gaze was lowered to look at the three people, his hand softly brushing past the scar that covered his entire chest.

"You're right, it is unfair."

With Little Gray here, he could have easily found the entrance, and the traps would quickly have been discovered too if there were any. But if he put himself in their shoes and saw it from their perspective then he could certainly see why it would feel unfair. But even though he agreed to the man's judgment, the decisive and steely look in his eyes didn't change. He would still get the treasure in the mountain and he would still move forward, even if it was unfair to others. The man could easily read Yao Jun's thoughts from his gaze, the corners of his lips forming a slightly bitter arc.

"I see, are you certain that there's no way we can change yo...HUP!"

The man's smile vanished mid-sentence, both he and the other man flinging out their arms at the same time without warning. The burlier man flung out a large greatsword, the somewhat slimmer and more hot-headed one throwing out six chakrams. The ground around the woman in the back lit up with runes at the same time, the simple array she had stealthily put up whirring to life. But how sad for them, they simply had no idea what it was they were up against, nor did they know that the simple act of showing killing intent had sealed their fates.

Sirius stepped off of Little Gray's back and plummeted downwards to meet the greatsword and the chakrams, his grey hair fluttering in the wind while his sky-blue eyes flashed with a sharp light. The greatsword was quickly coated by a large layer of ice that greatly expanded the size of the weapon, three of the chakrams igniting with flames while the last three sped up rapidly as lightning crackled into existence around them.

But in front of Sirius, the attacks amounted to nothing, because he was a Divine Beast who had received the blessing of his god. His right arm swept out and condensed the wind in the area into a grape-sized orb so filled with swirling wind that it was visible to the naked eye. The orb was smashed into the side of the incoming greatsword and expanded slightly, hitting the front of the weapon and diverting its course so that it was launched to the distance.

He used much less power than the burly man, but the positioning and the usage of the power were bordering on flawless, overcoming the strength difference through sheer finesse. As for the three chakrams, all he had to do with them was to put up a reflective shield around the three lightning-clad once, causing them to bounce back and crash into the three fiery ones, resulting in a thunderous explosion. The two men had clearly favoured power over control in their attacks so that they could catch Yao Jun's group unaware, otherwise, they may have been able to resist Sirius' counters, at least for a second or so.

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But whether or not they could resist for a second or not, would it matter if it didn't change their final fates? Sirius dropped through the cloud of smoke that remained of the explosion, shooting forward like a wild gale the moment his feet touched the earth. The burly man quickly drew out another greatsword and strode forward to match Sirius, chopping down with the greatsword as he did so.

The ground in a line between him and Sirius was pressed down just by the greatsword being slashed down, grass-like ice growing up from the line and propagating by spreading out sharp branches that multiplied continuously. But his actions only caused the light in Sirius' eyes to flare up with even greater intensity, one of his feet stomping the ground.

The earth rippled from the step, all the air in 500-metre wide dome getting pushed out as a result. His left hand shot up and caught the greatsword, the Shield God Gate fragments that he carried causing a reflective shield to form around his palm. The sword was pushed aside as a result, Sirius using this opening to step into the man's bosom and planting his right fist into the man's abdomen.

His fist had barely made contact with the man's abdomen before Sirius pulled it back and hopped to the side, orange lightning that looked as wispy as flames shooting through the area where his chest had just been. Sirius had dodged the lightning, but he actually stretched out his hand and grabbed onto the fire-like lightning, his eyes flashing with a ferocity worthy of a Divine Beast.

The hair on his arm instantly sizzled and melted, the wisp-like lightning latching onto his arm and running up to his shoulder and charring his skin. But by the time it reached his shoulder and was about to stretch to his neck, Sirius casually let go of the lightning, the glint in his eyes receding.

The lightning didn't try to latch onto him again after he let go of it, nor did the lightning on him continue to move along his body, it simply faded away like smoke. As for the slim man who had launched the lightning, one hand was clawing at his chest while the other was clutching his throat, his mouth wide open as a soundless scream tried to escape from him.

All the air in the area returned when the glint in Sirius' eyes vanished, but the man still continued to clutch at his chest and throat. But it was to no avail, no air entered his lungs. Sirius had taken advantage of the connection between the slim man and the lightning, overlapping his own Qi with the Qi the man used to control the strange lightning.

His Qi flooded the man's body and entered his chest, where it immediately sucked up the oxygen in the man's body and used it to form several large air bubbles, each one pressing against and collapsing the man's lungs. At his level, he really only had a small need for breathing, but a small need was a need nonetheless. And with Sirius first removing all the oxygen in the man's body, that need was greater than ever before.

But with an organ as vital as the lungs ruined, acquiring that precious air was a pipe-dream, the man choked to death surrounded by air. And while the slim man was futilely trying to draw his last few breaths, the burly man that Sirius had punched simply collapsed and fell forward, already dead.

The moment his fist made contact with the man's body, Sirius had sent in several tiny needles of condensed wind, injecting them directly into the man's veins. The wind formed bubbles that rushed into the man's heart and blocked up all the ventricles in it, the heart that once pushed around blood did so no more. Within a few seconds, the man was already dead, his heart stopping without actually stopping. This was how Sirius had devised his law of wind, precise and deadly, nary a wasted attack or action.

As for the woman who had stealthily drawn up an array, her fate was perhaps just as grizzly as the slim man. Ba-Shei sank into his own shadow the moment her array lit up, and since she was unprepared, he could travel directly over to her shadow and rise from it, placing his hand on her back.

The woman's mouth opened wide the moment his hand touched her back, but she too was unable to even utter a scream. All that slipped out from her mouth was smoke and the smell of charred flesh, a few tongues of black flames extending from the small motes of darkness present in her mouth.

Ba-Shei had once been a Demonic beast that could only utilize the shadows, but after eating the body of Mordred and evolving into a true Divine Beast, not only had he gained the ability to control darkness, but he could also use the same corrosive black flames that Mordred had been able to use. They weren't as strong as Yao Jun's black flames, but that was because he had also mixed in the law of space into his black flames, Ba-Shei's black flames were a mixture between only darkness and fire.

People might not think about it that often, but the insides of their bodies were filled with darkness, nocks and crannies not touched by the small traces of light that may reach into their bodies. And inside this woman, all that darkness was ignited at once, the pitch-black flames spreading without pause inside her. But there was another way these flames were different from Yao Jun's flames, they were connected to something.

Yao Jun's black flames simply disintegrated and erased whatever they touched, they didn't need to be connected to anything. But these flames were connected to their creator, Ba-Shei, and everything organic that they burned was in a manner of speaking deposited into his stomach. And the woman could feel this, the sensation of being eaten from the inside out by insatiable fire hammering her soul into the depths of despair in her final moments.

And so, the three people met their final grizzly fates, only two of them actually understanding exactly how they died. Yao Jun wasn't the only one who continuously improved, him not bringing them out didn't mean that his beasts didn't strive furiously to improve. They fought and they struggled, all to take that next step forward, to increase their strength by a bit so that they could be of use.

And they had truly gotten strong, they could certainly be considered terrors, opponents capable of sinking you into a nightmare. But they weren't pleased with it, they knew that they had to work even harder than ever before. They needed to move out to deal with the enemies, getting close to launch their pinpoint attacks. But when they compared that with how Yao Jun would likely have dealt with them while he was at his peak they could only consider themselves lacking.

The two quickly gathered up the interspatial rings that the three corpses wore, presenting them to Yao Jun as Little Gray landed and changed into his human form. Yao Jun accepted the three rings, putting them away after just giving their contents a quick glance and marking the more interesting items. His gaze then returned to Ba-Shei and Sirius, the corners of his lips arcing up softly.

"You've both grown much more precise and focused, you must have worked incredibly hard whenever I wasn't looking. Thank you."

Yao Jun had a tendency to do things on his own, he would rather get hurt himself than risk losing any one of his companions. But even with him acting so selfishly, his companions never stopped struggling, never kept working on improving in hopes that they could let him see that he really didn't have to worry like that all the time. It was a shame that it had taken him this long to realize such a simple thing, he really had kept them waiting for far too long.

Sirius and Ba-Shei quickly lowered their heads, facing Yao Jun's sincerity head-on really was something that did a number on their hearts. But it only became worse for their hearts when Yao Jun stretched out his arm and placed it on their heads, affectionately rubbing them. It wasn't something that was really uncommon, Yao Jun had done it a fair bit in the past, but the last time he had done so was back when he first acquired the Element God's Gate and the Human God's Gate, back when Little Thunder was lost.

Years had already passed since them and his companions were already thinking that he had stopped doing so since they had grown beyond the need for it. But here he was, stroking their heads with such warm affection that the two felt like crying. Truly, to be appreciated by the one they respected above all else was a wonderful sensation, it made all their efforts to grow stronger feel worth it.

Little Gray stood at the side, the corner of his curved lips looking a bit cramped as he observed the scene. But there was nothing he could say about his jealousy, he was the one who had divided their workforce so he could only blame himself. Yao Jun removed his hands from the heads of the two after a short moment, his gaze turning towards the circular cave opening.

"Let's go, with how many people are participating in this competition, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else finds this place sooner or later. Let's hope there's enough energy in there for what I'm planning."

Sirius and Ba-Shei immediately stepped aside, raising their heads with steeled and determined expressions. They felt that they had finally been of some use, but it was far from enough, the road to the throne of god was still far so the path they had to pave was still long. Yao Jun stepped forward, the three sticking close to him in case there were any traps or beasts hidden within the cave.

Yao Jun walked past the three corpses as he headed for the cave, the faces of the woman and the slim man twisted into resentful expressions dyed in despair. They knew that they were the bottom of the barrel when it came to contestants in this competition, but even in the end, even as despair filled their final moments, they were still unresigned to have their journey end here. Yao Jun gazed upon their resentful expressions as he stepped past them, but his gaze remained resolute as he turned it forward.

"You can resent me all you want, I'll accept all your final grievances. But you can't stop me, I won't let you, I won't let anyone."