章 309: Breakdown in negotiations.
The old man with the neatly trimmed beard and greyish-brown hair, the previous clan leader Lin Jue, looked somewhat anxiously at the ring that Yao Jun was holding. His great-great-grandson, Lin Gaozhi, had only taken over as the clan leader a scant year ago and there were thus quite a few tasks and rituals that had to be taken care of. In truth, there were still a few more that had to be performed, they were just taking their time with them to ease Lin Gaozhi into the role of clan leader.
But due to this, Lin Jue had yet to tell Lin Gaozhi the greatest secret of the clan, one that couldn't be spread out at any cost. In truth, the blood left behind by the wife of their founder had practically run dry a few hundred thousand years ago, they had given out too much to the various disciples and to the territory lord as bribes. But that blood was the basis of the entire Lin clan, quite a few of their relationships would end up suffering heavily if people found out that the blood had basically run dry and that the Lin clan had been lying about it for so many years.
Over the years, the Lin clan leaders had watered down what little remained of the ancient bloodline by adding in the blood of other lightning-element Demonic beasts or even the bloodline of the Lin clan members that were buried within the clan. The result was that the bloodline retained the faint flavour of a Divine Beast bloodline but had in actuality degraded so much that its strength was leagues apart from what it once was, it was just barely above the level of a normal Demonic beast.
Many other clans married their sons and daughters into the Lin clan in hopes that their offspring would produce a child carrying that bloodline and thus ascend to the heavens in one easy step. How would they react if they found out that the bloodline these children had inherited for all these years was nothing more than a version so twisted and degraded that calling it a Divine Beast bloodline was nothing more than an insult?
That bloodline was half the reason the Lin clan had such a high status and received so much attention from the territory lord, the loss of it would basically ensure that the Lin clan was doomed to decline and maybe even fall. It was fine if someone inspected the blood within their bodies, they could just make an excuse that they had inherited an inferior version, but no one could ever be allowed to inspect the blood that they kept within their storage.
Yao Jun didn't know this and wouldn't have cared even if he knew, he needed this blood for Little Thunder so he made his statement, which could be considered a flat out refusal. Lin Gaozhi quickly tried to speak up to explain that the deal was already made, but Lin Jue stopped him from speaking by sending a bit of his mind into his interspatial bracelet and using a communication jade to swiftly explain the truth to Lin Gaozhi. Lin Gaozhi's pupils drastically shrank when he learned the truth but he quickly recovered and came to the same conclusion as all the other clan leaders, this information could never be spread. As such, he could only shut his mouth and give Yao Jun an apologetic bow.
"I'm sorry, Cultivator Jun, but I must void the deal we've made. Please understand and return the blood, I swear that I'll make it up to you by personally touring the greatest amenities of the clan with you."
Yao Jun remained in his seat with a calm expression, rolling the interspatial ring filled with blood between his fingers. Yun Yantian was seated at the side and looked somewhat bitter, he knew that there was exactly zero chance that Yao Jun would return this interspatial ring. What had originally been a quick and surprisingly peaceful deal was now rapidly spiralling downward toward an unknown end. Yao Jun stopped rolling the ring between his fingers, his serious gaze practically piercing into the two Lin clan members.
"Amenities? Tell me, can your amenities help me bring back a dear friend? Because if not, then I'll keep this ring, because I know that this ring contains something that can help me bring him back."
Yao Jun's voice was so serious that it left no room for argument or counter-offers. Little Thunder was his first beast, his first follower, his first friend, and he met his end to protect Yao Jun's parents. If there was anything in this multiverse that tried to impede him from bringing back Little Thunder then Yao Jun would crush a path straight through it.
The arc of Lin Gaozhi's mouth couldn't help but turn bitter when he saw Yao Jun's strong determination, the favourable situation and atmosphere had suddenly turned incredibly sour. But no matter what, Lin Gaozhi knew that he couldn't allow that blood to leave the clan, nor could he allow Yao Jun to give it a closer inspection.
"I'm sorry, I really am, but I really cannot go through with the trade. Please, you must under..."
Yao Jun waved his hand and cut off Lin Gaozhi before he could finish his words, standing up from his seated position. The ring with the blood vanished from his hand as he sucked it into his interspatial ring, his left hand sliding the ring they had given back to him towards them again.
"No. The deal is made, here is the blood we agreed on."
His stance could be considered overly forceful, even verging on arrogance in believing that he could do as he pleased, but the importance of Little Thunder's revival was so great that he couldn't be bothered with something so small. Yao Jun started moving the law of space when he finished sliding the ring back to them, but to his surprise he actually found himself unable to teleport him and Yun Yantian away. He could still manoeuvre space somewhat but trying to teleport made it feel as if the space around him was as thick and viscous as tar, he even felt himself lose control of the law of space when he tried to exert more force. At this moment, Lin Jue spoke up, his expression frosty as he cut into Yao Jun with a glare.
"Junior, do not take a mile when we are giving you an inch. This place is not one you can leave as you please, you have three seconds to hand over the ring, otherwise, you cannot blame me for my actions."
Lin Jue unleashed his aura as he spoke, oppressing the entire surrounding area with the might of someone at the middle stage of the Heavenly Deity realm. But even faced with that aura, Yao Jun remained standing tall and strong with a straight back, the ring represented a life he could not abandon, otherwise, he would have failed it and be undeserving of the God title that life had used to revere him, he would be unworthy of its faith.
"No."
A simple declaration that the ring would remain in his hands, the inviolable declaration of a demonic deity. Lin Jue's expression immediately went from frosty to hostile, an azure bolt of lightning tinged with a touch of gold at the centre appearing out of thin air and shooting at Yao Jun's head. Yao Jun had already prepared for this, immediately touching upon his God Gate to draw in Yun Yantian and open a gate at Little Gray's side so that they could immediately move there.
But upon doing so, his pupils instantly shrank as his heart clenched so strongly that he thought it might just stop beating. His God Gate was suddenly covered in white-black chains and wouldn't open. No matter how much he prodded it or sent his Qi into it, the gate remained locked and refused to open, he couldn't even contact Du Xiao and the others that should be within the gate. It was completely different from the suppression he felt when he entered the ruins of the first Demon God's Gate or this universe, it was so complete that he might have thought that he had lost the gate if it wasn't for the fact that he could still use his laws.
He immediately sucked in his shock and burst forth with all his strength, his black robe appearing on his body as he opened all nine channels of Crumbling The Nine Heavens. He immediately stepped in front of Yun Yantian and slashed out with his sword, the dissolving force of Jun Tuan mixing with the defensive and reflective power of both Sirius' Supreme Law fragments and Yong Bo's water element. He even created an additional shield of hardened space and a layer of ice behind it just to make sure he blocked the attack.
But a Heavenly Deity was still a Heavenly Deity, and the one in front of him was even one at the middle stage of that realm. Yao Jun had been able to contend with the early stage Heavenly Deity Lucia Eluard, but each sub-realm was like a small divide, the strength difference between them was clearly noticeable.
Over a third of the lightning bolt was eaten up by Yao Jun's swiftly prepared defence, but the remaining third still managed to reach him just as he placed his sword in front of his chest to block. The sword was pushed into his body with such force that he felt one of his ribs crack slightly, his feet losing contact with the ground as his body was sent flying back. He crashed into Yun Yantian, both of them flying back for a short distance before Yao Jun managed to stabilize them with a bit of wind.
Yun Yantian grimaced slightly while rubbing his chest, a slight trace of blood leaking out from the corner of his mouth. Yao Jun triple cultivated and had a God Gate that gave him a body stronger than most others so he could bear the remainder of the attack with his body. Yun Yantian also cultivated his body a bit, but he was far from being comparable to Yao Jun, just the remaining force that reached him after it passed through Yao Jun was enough to shatter two of his ribs.
Yao Jun's expression was as cold as the winds of the netherworld as he looked at Lin Jue and the others, who had now all taken up combat positions. He sank his mind into his own interspatial ring and once again checked the interspatial ring that he had gotten from the Lin clan, just what about this blood was worth all this?
And as he gave the blood an even closer inspection to see if they had hidden something within it, his expression sank drastically. The ring appeared within his grasp, a jerk of his hand tossing the ring to them while he sneered at them.
"So this is the hospitality of the Lin clan. I come to make an actual deal and even agree to suffer a slight loss, yet all you give me is this worthless blood that can't even be called Divine Beast blood any more. Well played, I would have fallen for it if you hadn't suddenly attacked."
The expressions of Lin Jue and Lin Gaozhi sank the moment Yao Jun so coldly spat out the secret. The worst situation had come about, outsiders had learned the truth about the blood they had left. It luckily seemed like Yao Jun had guessed wrongly about the blood, but they still couldn't let him leave, once he calmed down and thought things over there was a good chance that he might reach the truth.
Lin Jue sucked in a deep breath, a faint light flashing past his pupils as he seemed to activate something. Yao Jun noticed that the chains covering his God Gate suddenly grew thicker and stronger, a quick glance at Yun Yantian, who responded with a nod, showing that the same was happening to him. Space around them seemed to also turn thicker and heavier, the Qi and air in the surrounding area starting to actually move away from them so that they had to exert twice the energy for everything they wanted to do.
Even worse, the chains surrounding his God Gate were starting to expand, slowly reaching for the other parts of his body to seal away everything, even his Qi and soul. Lin Jue spat out a breath as the air around Yao Jun and Yun Yantian started to move away, glaring somewhat hatefully at them while talking.
"How dare you try to frame our Lin clan by using such faulty blood, you really don't know what's best for you, Junior. You tried to teleport away earlier, didn't you? But I'm afraid that you will be disappointed, this entire estate is surrounded by a degraded version of the Divine Emperor's Creation Sealing Array, a gift he gave our great founder when he was still a youth. Within this array, even the mightiest powers of the universe can be sealed away."
Yao Jun remained silent in the face of Lin Jue's words, but he had actually heard about this Divine Emperor before. Back when he was fighting for the World Tree Clan in their war, he had encountered a race that supposedly came from the universe ruled by the Divine Emperor and the Divine Empress. He wasn't 100% certain that this Divine Emperor was the same, but if he was then it meant that the creator of the array he was standing in right now actually had the strength to rule an entire universe.
But even so, Yao Jun could not back down now. Or rather, from the looks of it, the opponents had no intention of letting him back down even after handing over the ring. Could it be that the degraded blood carried some secret that made it so that they didn't want it associated with them? He blinked once and threw the thought out of his mind, he couldn't be distracted now.
He took half a step to the side so that he stood in front of Yun Yantian, glancing at him and sending him a quick message with his gaze. Yun Yantian could only nod his head, focusing on defence while retreating was all they could do, they had to bet on that they could break out of the array. At the same time, Yun Yantian couldn't help but look bitterly at Yao Jun's back.
They were in a life-and-death crisis, a single wrong move and they could end up dying here. He wasn't bitter that Yao Jun had dragged him into something like this, he was bitter because he couldn't help Yao Jun. He could defeat people at the early and probably middle-stage of the Earthly Deity realm, but standing in front of them were two people at the Heavenly Deity realm and one person at the late stage of the Earthly Deity realm.
Right here, on this battlefield, Yun Yantian was no more than a hindrance, a fact that cut straight into his heart. Once again he was unable to help his friend, once again he was a hindrance that was likely to get him hurt. It was as if nothing had changed ever since that day where Yao Jun was captured and tortured in hopes of forcing Yun Yantian to agree to an alliance.
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