Chapitre 331: Time passes without halt.
Yao Jun had gotten six reports from Bo Chern, each one containing information about at least two Divine Beasts that utilized one of the laws he had specified. He had hunted the water-based Dragonfish, bought the devouring-based Sebettu blood, and killed the poison-based Soul-Fang Emperor. There were technically three reports left, one for the earth-element, one for the law of death, and one for the law of dissolving.
But the report concerning the law of dissolving was now useless to him, he had only included it in his questions since he was uncertain if he could find a Divine Beast with the law of devouring that was weak enough for him to kill it and feed it to Jun Tuan. As such, he really only needed to hunt the Divine Beasts for Siwang and Shan Zhu, it would be the final ones he needed to fully evolve his entire entourage.
Yama wasn't technically a Divine Beast yet, he was right up against the threshold, but he lacked the final step. The problem with him was that he was a plant-type Demonic beast, evolving him wouldn't be quite as easy as it relied more on energy than it did bloodline. So in his case, there wasn't much that Yao Jun could do, the best option was to just let him suck in as much lifeforce as he could, forcing him to suck in more and more until the quantity experienced a qualitative difference.
The first three targets had all been reached fairly quickly, but the last two weren't present on this planet, both of them actually required Yao Jun's group to leave the dominion. Spatial arrays took them most of the way, but there were times during the journey where they had to rely on Yao Jun's teleportation or on one of Yao Jun's companions to carry them.
But when Yao Jun set his eyes on a target, its odds of escaping rapidly plummeted to zero. Two months after acquiring the blood of the Soul-Fang Emperor, the Death-Clad Manta was cut out of the sky by Yao Jun and fed to Siwang. And another three months after that, the Mountain-Maw Snapper fell apart in front of Yao Jun, its remains tossed to Shan Zhu.
This was technically the end of his hunt, but he took advantage of the fact that each report mentioned multiple beasts to track down another devouring-type Divine Beast. As such, three months after the Mountain-Maw Snapper fell, another Divine Beast was crushed by Yao Jun and presented to Yama. But just as he expected, while Yama did indeed grow a little stronger after sucking up the abundant lifeforce in the corpse, it wasn't enough to trigger an evolution as it would with a normal beast-type Demonic beast.
And so, before either of them knew it, eight months had passed since they left the grand planet they had first arrived on when they reached this major universe. Yao Jun's Divine Hunt had come to an end, and that also meant that it was time for him and Guo Luo to say their farewells, the next time they would meet would when they had both finished their own tribulations and stepped onto a much grander stage.
The two of them were currently standing in the vast emptiness of space, there weren't even asteroids or the like anywhere around them. There was only one object present in this area, and Yao Jun would have to admit that it was hands down the biggest object he had ever seen. Floating at least several million kilometres ahead of them was a planet of unequalled size, it seemed to fill up their entire sight even at this massive distance.
The planet was a deep golden colour with a slight tinge of white mixed into its very depths, and the lightning element it radiated was so strong that Yao Jun's hair crackled slightly despite the distance. The two of them were currently in the Thunderlight dominion and were looking at the Lightning Core, the core of this entire dominion as well as the largest planet in this entire universe.
Yao Jun had already been told that the laws of lightning and light were so abundant in this dominion that practically all other laws were repressed. Back then he thought that it might have been some exaggeration from a small clan, but having entered the dominion he had to throw away that notion.
He could still feel his own laws, but he could also tell that wanting to use them in this dominion would require at least twice the normal energy, maybe even triple. And he was confident that the planet in front of him truly was the core of it all, the reason behind the repressing of the other laws. Guo Luo, who was standing by his side and holding his hand, could also feel this, fiddling a bit with her hair that was sticking a bit up thanks to the lightning element.
"They really weren't joking, it really is a somewhat creepy thing. And there are even rumours that it's alive due to the way the lightning energy around it lashes out at anything that gets close to it."
Yao Jun and Guo Luo were still within the safe zone, but anything that travelled a few thousand kilometres closer would immediately get obliterated by the planet. The lightning energy that was so dense in it would shoot out without mercy and ensure that nothing and no one could get close. Yao Jun had also heard the same rumours, they were classified as rumours because no one was able to get close enough to confirm anything. But Yao Jun was special, so he could confirm the truth.
"I don't know if others believe those rumours, but it really is alive. It's looking at us right now, a single gargantuan eye filled with arrogance."
He stretched out his arm and pointed at a certain spot on the planet as he spoke, but Guo Luo's vision wasn't as good as his, nor were her senses as attuned towards Demonic beasts as his were so she couldn't detect anything. But Yao Jun could, that entire planet was one gargantuan beast, the pressure of its single eye causing his God Gate to tremble like a newborn child. It was to the point that his God Gate was doing everything it could to lower its own presence and hide from it, it was somewhat similar to the first time Yao Jun had encountered an Origin Beast in his own universe.
Guo Luo couldn't see it, but that didn't mean that she doubted Yao Jun's words, she fully trusted and believed in them. And it was because she believed them that she found her breath caught in her throat for a second, just how could a living being this big possibly exist? She had seen massive Divine Beasts before, but this was on an entirely different level, it shattered all perceptions of size and sensibility. The two continued to gaze at the distant planet in silence, Guo Luo's soft voice sounding out after a few minutes.
"I wonder how long it'll be until next time."
Not quite a question but not quite a statement, yet a little bit of both at the same time. Her words weren't directed at anyone in particular, but Yao Jun still responded by gripping her hand a little bit tighter.
"Too long."
It didn't matter if their reunion would only last a week or so at most, it would still feel too long to Yao Jun, and probably to Yao Xuelian as well. Guo Luo smiled softly at Yao Jun's simple statement, but there was a very faint tremble running along her lips.
"Heh, don't talk like that, you're sounding even mushier than me."
The two descended into silence again for a short moment, Guo Luo eventually letting go of Yao Jun's hand. She turned to face him and placed her hands on his cheeks, his ghastly grey eyes locking with her enchanting pink pupils as they exchanged their own version of a farewell.
"Whether it's the highest mountain or the lowest pit, promise me that you'll wait for me."
"Until the end of time, so please come for me."
"I'll come for you, I promise, even if I have to become a lord of nightmares to stand properly at your side."
There was no goodbye or farewell, only soft wishes to reunite, no matter the heights or depths they had to go to for that to happen. Yao Jun placed his own hands on Guo Luo's cheeks and pulled her close, the two sharing a silent kiss for a bit before they pulled apart. Guo Luo flashed him a brilliant smile while swiping her interspatial ring and bringing out a crystal plate. The plate lit up when she inserted her Qi, space around her twisting for a short second before she vanished, leaving only Yao Jun.
The Dreamland Convergence that Guo Luo would take part in was located in a different dominion from this one, and it would start after the Six Dawn's Baptism that Yao Jun was going to take part in. The crystal plate that jus shattered was a special treasure they had bought, it contained a portable spatial array that could bring the holder to a set location.
And the location that the plate had recorded was the planet where the Dreamland Convergence would take place. It wouldn't start for a bit longer, but just being in an area so heavily flooded by the power of illusions would be very helpful when it came to Guo Luo's cultivation so it was the best place for her to wait.
Yao Jun remained in place as he looked at the spot where Guo Luo had just been, his thoughts drifting around somewhat absentmindedly. He drew in several deep breaths after what felt like several hours, his gaze turning back towards the gargantuan planet. A silver light flashed out from his chest, the elegant and slim human form of Little Gray appearing at his side, his eyes and eyes gleaming a delicate silver.
"You're a Divine Beast who has undergone the same evolution, what are your thoughts on them?"
Little Gray tried to kneel the moment he appeared but Yao Jun stopped him with a wave of his hand as he spoke, he really couldn't get used to being treated so reverently. Little Gray already knew who Yao Jun was talking about, suckling on his teeth for a second before he responded somewhat uncertainly.
"Shan Zhu finished hers without a problem, I managed mine just fine, and Ba-Shei finished his own in the past without much problem, so the problem shouldn't lie with your gate rejecting the evolution. Personally, I believe there are three possibilities, which may be singular or mixed, it's uncertain."
Out of Yao Jun's 12 living beasts, all of them except for Yama were now either at the Divine Beast level or had been given the necessary ingredients to evolve further. And Shan Zhu, who had been the last to be given her Divine Beast corpse, had indeed finished her evolution into a true earth-type Divine Beast.
But the four remaining ones were the problem. Yong Bo, Du Xiao, Siwang, and Jun Tuan, all four of them had already gotten their Divine Beast corpses, but none of them had finished their evolutions. They were surrounded by energy so dense it became a cocoon, but there was no sign of their evolution proceeding, there had been practically no progress for any of them.
Interrupting them could lead to disastrous results, so Yao Jun had separated them from the others while observing them for any chances. He held the Demon God's Gate, but he actually didn't know too much about the evolution process, which was why he asked Little Gray and was calmly waiting for him to continue his explanation.
"The first possibility is that the four of them are simply having a problem breaking through to the next stage, they don't have any Divine Beast ancestors after all. But the odds of this being the case are low, Ba-Shei didn't have such an ancestry after all. The second option is that they are unable to evolve, their baseline is simply too low for them to evolve. Again, this one is unlikely since their baselines aren't worse than Ba-Shei's was. And that leaves only the third, and most likely option, their nature is far from ordinary so it could be that their uniqueness makes them different from the rest of us in how we evolve."
Ba-Shei was once just a normal snake that had forcibly mutated due to how much darkness-element Qi he was exposed to, he truly could be considered the bottom-rung of Demonic beasts. But now, thanks to Yao Jun's God Gate and help, he had evolved and become a proper dragon, a Divine Beast who could overawe countless beings. So if even he could become a Divine Beast, then so too should the rest of Yao Jun's entourage. But there was indeed something about them that couldn't be denied, Yao Jun giving a light nod of his head.
"Uniqueness, huh? Yeah, that certainly could be the case for those four. And oh, I'm fine with your proposition, but I won't wander around with all of you at once, I'll limit it to three at a time."
The four beasts that were currently struggling to finish their evolutions weren't just normal Demonic beasts, they truly fit the 'unique' criteria. Yong Bo was a hydra, a Demonic beast that could evolve infinitely, there was no upper limit to this race's strength. But even so, they weren't Divine Beasts, they were just an extremely unique race that was practically extinct at this point.
Du Xiao and Siwang were both not natural Demonic beasts but were instead man-made. They were beasts created by the Merged Heaven clan using their special techniques, not exactly unique in ability but unique in the fact that they weren't natural.
And finally, Jun Tuan was a slime, a type of Demonic beast only found in one of the Hollow Wastes in Yao Jun's home universe. A Hollow Waste was a place where the laws of the universe didn't function properly, how could any beast born there be anything but special and unique?
Four unique beasts, all encountering the same strange circumstance as they worked on their evolution to the Divine Beast stage. And for the moment, there was nothing Yao Jun could do but watch, but if things looked like they may go wrong then he wouldn't hesitate to force them out of their strange state. Between their lives or their evolution, it was very easy for Yao Jun to choose which one he cared more about.
Little Gray lit up slightly after he heard Yao Jun's response, it had truly been a while since they got this privilege. Yao Jun gave the distant planet one last long look before he waved his hand, space around him and Little Gray warping as they vanished, leaving behind only Yao Jun's final words.
"I'll be back for you in the future."
The gargantuan eye hidden in the depths of the planet continued gazing at the spot where Yao Jun had just been standing, but it quickly pulled back its eye. It had seen far too many ants in its lifetime, this one would be no different from the others that had perished after they got close.
Yao Jun teleported a few more times until he reached the nearest planet, one that was considered rather small. But even if it was small, this was still a major universe so it would be considered fairly big in Yao Jun's own universe, it even housed multiple Heavenly Deities as its rulers.
He and Little Gray touched down on the planet, only a few tens of kilometres away from the city that was their target. Yao Jun had purposefully arrived a bit away from the city rather than in it, there wasn't a rush to sign up to the Six Dawn's Baptism so it was a good chance to go for a bit of a walk with Little Gray and the others.
A crimson and an earthen yellow flash flew out from Yao Jun's chest, turning into two women that hurriedly took up positions half a step behind him. One was the somewhat short human form of Zhuyin, her yellow eyes flashing with a dragon's arrogance while her crimson hair hung down to her shoulders in an unruly manner. The other woman was a bit taller and quite a bit more muscular than the slim Zhuyin, her hair, eyes, and skin the same healthy brown. This was the human form of Shan Zhu, and it seemed that it was these three who won the first contest about who would get to go out with Yao Jun.
The four people walked along the dark-yellow brick road that cut through the forest surrounding them, the trees around them adorned by green fruits and light purple flowers. It was a rather calming sight, one Yao Jun made a mental note to show to Guo Luo when they met up again. The three others did their best to continue walking behind him, but he was able to force them forwards after a bit, at least making it so that they walked at his side rather than behind him.
The city was quite large so they could see the tops of the tallest buildings peek over the tree crowns despite the distance. The forest actually crept up quite close to the city, the city's walls and the end of the forest were only three kilometres apart. Their walk had been quite pleasant so far, but seven people clad in rather heavy-looking armour jumped in front of them just as they were about to leave the forest.
"Stop! Hand over half of your possessions, otherwise, we won't let you enter the city!"
The seven people pointed their weapons directly at Yao Jun and his group, pushing their auras as high as they could to intimidate them. The strongest among them had reached the late-stage of the Earthly Deity realm so they were definitely a fairly strong group, but Yao Jun simply looked at them with a slightly curious gaze.
"Robbery, huh? Feels strange to have it happen at this stage, doesn't it?"
There was no way these people could evade the senses of his companions, much less his own senses. But none of them had thought there was a need to deal with them, they hadn't even thought that they would jump out like this to rob them. After all, they were still Earthly Deities, there were much better ways for them to earn money and resources. Zhuyin looked like she wanted to just beat them all down immediately, but Little Gray was clearly much calmer than her and took the lead.
"I'm guessing that they're trying to take advantage of the fact that this is a relatively small planet so there won't be many overpoweringly strong people coming to register here. They'll be able to earn a quick sum of money and resources with relatively low risk, a neat proposition for most. Clever, but they're quite unlucky this time."
It was indeed slightly clever, it was certainly safer than most missions that would earn them the same amount of resources. But they had run into Yao Jun so they could only be considered unlucky. But just as Yao Jun was about to toss them aside, Little Gray stopped him and gave a slight bow.
"If you'd please wait, Milord. We did not want to disturb you while you were enjoying your time with Mistress Luo so we've held back, but would you please allow us to be of use to you again now?"
Yao Jun forcibly interrupted Little Gray's bow before he could dip too deeply, but Little Gray still maintained his expression, which was close to pleading. It had been quite a while since Yao Jun called them out and had them fight for him, he had just been doing everything on his own lately. Yao Jun's smile turned somewhat bitter as he glanced at Zhuyin and Shan Zhu, who wore the same expression as Little Gray. He rubbed the back of his head lightly as he apologized, but Little Gray immediately shook his head.
"Sorry, I guess I've been quite selfish, huh?"
"Please don't mind it, it is the privilege of a deity to be selfish."
Shan Zhu was the newest of his companions but even she wanted to fight for him, she wanted to prove that she was useful, worthy of the Divine Beast corpse he had given her. As such, it could only be imagined how Little Gray and the others, who had been with him for much longer, felt about this. So with him agreeing, they could practically be considered to have stepped onto cloud nine.
Of course, there were some people present who weren't as appreciative of this as others, namely the seven armoured people who were currently trying to rob them. The woman who seemed to be the leader, the one at the late-stage of the Earthly Deity realm, saw that they had momentarily stopped talking so she took half a step forward.
"Are you do...!GH!"
She opened her mouth, but failed to finish her sentence as a small fist embedded itself into her stomach. The armour she wore was distorted and torn open, her feet losing contact with the ground as she was launched backwards. Zhuyin stood in the spot where the woman had just stood, looking at her body as she flew backwards all the way until she crashed into the walls of the city, curling her mouth as she cursed.
"Shut up already! You're blocking the path so fuck off!"
Zhuyin was a crimson dragon, and whether it was because of her young age or the fact that she was a fire-type Divine Beast, her temper was far from as composed as Little Gray's. Had it not been for Yao Jun serving as a sprinkle of water on her temper then she would have smashed these people the moment they jumped out, she wouldn't have let them spit out a single word.
Zhuyin smashed their leader away with a single punch, it really was a punch befitting a dragon. With their leader getting swatted away like that, how could the other six possible even put up the smallest amount of resistance. Shan Zhu made sure to join in before Zhuyin could beat them all up, the two women resembling avatars of violence as they crushed and swatted aside the remaining people, both of them turning to Yao Jun and bowing as they gestured towards the now open road.
"Milord."
"Milord, please."
Yao Jun's mouth twisted slightly as he looked at the spectacle in front of him, but it wasn't because of the fate suffered by their robbers. No, the reason for his twisting mouth was the three people bowing to him.
"I really don't think I'll ever get used to being called that, you really can just call me by my name."
He felt like a broken recorder with how often he said these things, but even with him saying it time and time again, they just kept calling him either Milord or My Lord. And just as he expected, all three of them swiftly rejected him.
"I'm afraid we can't do that, Milord."
"Yeah, that will be extremely hard for us, Milord."
"It would be exceedingly hard for us to go against our instincts, so please allow it, Milord."
His mouth continued twisting a bit as he looked at the three, who didn't seem like they had any intentions on budging on this topic. But he was already slightly used to it so he spat out a slight sigh and rubbed the back of his head as he continued to move towards the distant city.
"Just try to keep it to a minimum in front of Little Lan, the last thing I need is her running around and gushing about that whenever she has the chance."
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