The Demon’s Gate - Chapter 319

Yao Jun and his family arrived in front of the black castle that served as the headquarters for the Demon’s Gate sect. His parents had arrived earlier and had already pulled out a large circular table and several chairs, covering the table in various drinks and smaller snacks. Little Gray and the others were busy taking care of the Demon’s Gate, they had been gone for a year and a half so there was quite a bit they had to check up on and take care of. Tang Long was standing a bit to the side and wore a serious expression as he spoke to the giddy Lin Shuyen, Yao Jun only able to catch the very end of his sentence.

“…And I am by far the weakest of those who can be considered followers of Senior Jun, so if you can’t even beat me then you can forget about having any of the other Senior’s training you, much less having Senior Jun teach you anything.”

Lin Shuyen rapidly and seriously nodded her head to the words, casting practically burning glances at Yao Jun. Yao Jun only returned one of the glances before retracting his gaze and carrying Yao Xuelian over to the table that his parents had prepared. Lin Shuyen’s gaze followed Yao Jun for a bit before a thought seemed to flash through her mind, her blue eyes practically blazing like suns. She sprung up from her seated position and dashed towards Yao Jun while calling out.

“Master, Master, you just lost a close friend didn’t you?!”

Lin Shuyen knew that Yun Yantian had died in the Lin clan, giving his own life so that Yao Jun could escape. And looking at how Yao Jun had acted upon returning it was clear that Yun Yantian was more than just a friend to Yao Jun, they might even be as close as brothers. Lin Shuyen had gone through her memories and remembered something that might be of use here, something she could use to get into Yao Jun’s good graces.

Sadly, she had been a bit too giddy about it and ended up calling it out in a manner that was a bit too loud and excited. Yao Jun’s grey pupils riveted to the side and looked at Lin Shuyen out of the corner of his eye, an all-encompassing sense of horror and terror washing over her. She felt as if Yao Jun was already grasping her hear in his hand, her steps grinding to a halt as her entire face turned ashen.

“Wait wait wait! I’m sorry, I was too excited because I remembered something! Tell me, Master, have you ever heard about the Bloodwind Code?”

Lin Shuyen hurriedly spilt out the words, not even daring to breathe until Yao Jun’s gaze lost its sharpness. She had been pining to become his disciple, but in the process, she had forgotten just what sort of terror absolute strength was. And now, by touching one of his sore spots, she got to taste a bit of the horror that was Yao Jun.

Yao Jun rolled his eyes slightly as he went through his memories, but it was only when Guo Luo nudged his side and whispered into his ear that he remembered something that sounded similar. He had come across it as he scoured through the library of the Pan clan, but it wasn’t called the Bloodwind Code, it was called the Multiverse Bloodwind List.

It was apparently a type of ranking list created by some supremely powerful entity, it wasn’t something that held a lot of interest to Yao Jun. He sat down by the table and placed Yao Xuelian on his lap, playfully feeding her some of the snacks that his parents had prepared. While playing with his daughter he also nodded to Lin Shuyen, giving a short summary of what he had read. Lin Shuyen wiped away the sweat that had started seeping out from her forehead, excitedly nodding her head while telling Yao Jun about the thought that had flashed past her mind.

“Good good, so you know about it already! The truth is, the Lin clan has apparently had some dealings with this Multiverse Bloodwind List before! The oldest records of the clan state that the founder actually held a Bloodwind Code and used it to make a request of the entity that made the Bloodwind Codes, reviving his son after he was murdered in an ambush!”

The small cookie Yao Jun was holding was pulverized as Lin Shuyen finished talking, his entire body tensing up. His pupils once again riveted onto Lin Shuyen, who suddenly felt as if she had to bear the weight of the world on her shoulders, her knees nearly buckling before Guo Luo poked Yao Jun’s cheek and returned his calm. Lin Shuyen quickly caught her breath, placing a hand on her chest before Yao Jun even had the chance to say anything.

“I know what you’re thinking, but I, Lin Shuyen, swear an oath that I haven’t lied about the Bloodwind Codes and what the founder used it for. I don’t know where the founder’s Bloodwind Code is now, but it should still be within the clan, I’m sure the patriarch or Ancestor Patriarch know about it.”

Yao Jun let out a long breath when Lin Shuyen finished swearing her oath, his entire chest terribly stuffy. He didn’t know if he could believe her and trust her words, but he didn’t disregard them. After all, he also didn’t know if Arthurius was speaking the truth when he told Yao Jun about a way to revive Little Thunder. But whether or not they spoke truthfully or lied, all that mattered was that it gave hope, not just to him but also to someone else.

Yao Jun didn’t even have to move his pupils again, he felt Guo Luo’s hand pat him on the shoulder the moment the thought struck him. A move of his mind sent Guo Luo out of the God Gate so that she could find Yang Yuhuan and tell her the news, Ba-Shei and Du Xiao following her just in case. Yao Jun was not the person most suited to handing her these news, the mere sight of him might disgust her right now.

Yao Jun asked Lin Shuyen a few more questions but she didn’t know much more about the Bloodwind Codes, she had just read a small bit about it on accident when she was bored one day. But she had already told him enough, she had pointed him in the right direction. And since Yao Jun was already planning on dealing with the Lin clan it suited him perfectly that the Bloodwind Code was likely with them as well.

Guo Luo returned after a short while and sat down next to Yao Jun again while looking slightly worried, it was clear that Yang Yuhuan’s anguish hurt her as well. Yao Jun thanked Lin Shuyen for the information and returned her to Tang Long so that they could continue their own training. He sent a quick order to Ba-Shei and Du Xiao, who swiftly left the God Gate again to carry out what he asked of them.

Yao Jun then remained seated at the table for a bit of time, telling his parents and Guo Luo about what happened during the visit to the Lin clan and the subsequent change of his God Gate. He also introduced them to the newest member of his God Gate, Shan Zhu, the six-legged earthen turtle with five pairs of eyes.

Yao Xuelian tried to hop onto Shan Zhu but Yao Jun stopped her, forcing his daughter to politely ask Shan Zhu if she could ride on her back. It was only upon receiving her agreement that Yao Jun freed his daughter and allowed her to scamper away on Shan Zhu’s back. Yao Jun used his connection to the God Gate to keep an eye on Yao Xuelian while continuing his chat with Guo Luo and his parents, a day quietly passing with none of them moving.

But once the dawn of the next day arrived, Guo Luo placed her hand on top of Yao Jun’s, she and his parents nodding their heads at him with somewhat helpless but understanding smiles. They knew him better than anyone, they knew what he really wanted to be doing right now. Yao Jun understood their thoughts and smiled somewhat apologetically at them, he truly didn’t deserve people like them in his life.

He gently cupped Guo Luo’s face and gave her a soft kiss before standing up from the table, his eyes growing sharp as he turned around and headed for the Time-Altering Spire located by the black castle. Guo Luo and his parents locked eyes with each other before smiling somewhat softly, standing up and following Yao Jun while sucking the table and the remaining snacks into their interspatial rings.

They all entered the tower and arrived on the fourth floor, the one covered in a vast ocean with a few islands scattered about. Yao Jun arrived on the largest island and pressed his hand down, flattening the trees and few small mountains that covered the island. His parents and Guo Luo remained in the air above the island, Guo Luo helping his parents remain in the air to observe just how he planned on training this time.

Once the island was flattened into a perfectly smooth surface, Yao Jun called over all his Demonic beasts other than Ba-Shei and Du Xiao, who were still carrying out his orders. Yao Jun had his black robe dissipate and changed into a normal set of brown leather armour as Little Gray and the others arrived in human form, respectfully waiting for Yao Jun to hand out his orders.

“I am weak. In the grand scheme of things, I am pathetically weak, and this fact has already made me lose two friends. I want to become strong, stronger than a mere Lin clan, stronger than a Territory Lord, stronger than a Province Emperor, stronger than anyone so that I will never lose anyone ever again. And for that, I will need your help.”

Yao Jun’s eyes swept over the kneeling people in front of him, all of them lowering their heads slightly. Yao Jun blamed himself for the loss of Little Thunder and Yun Yantian, but as Yao Jun’s retainers, Little Gray and the others blamed themselves. If they were stronger and more useful, they could properly help their lord.

“I have wasted you, every last one of you. I have used your powers but never bothered to properly study them. This may have made it easier for me to come up with some fusions since I didn’t understand what others thought to be the limitations of your laws, but there is no denying that I lack a fundamental understanding of your laws and their more common utilization. I plan to rectify that, I want to learn everything about the laws that each of you use, that way I can best utilize them when I need them.”

Sirius and the others finally understood why Yao Jun had called them here, it was so that they could teach him about their laws. But while it wasn’t a bad idea, they were a bit worried that he would be too caught up in how they used their laws to form his own understanding. And as Demonic beasts, it was also a bit hard for them to properly explain to others how to use their laws, making it even more difficult.

But what they hadn’t accounted for was that Yao Jun had never intended for them to tell him how to use the laws. He opened his right hand, a blackish-silver light gathering within it and starting to form his sword. But as the sword took shape, Yang Yuhuan’s face as she told him that he didn’t deserve it, that it wasn’t his, flashed past his mind and stabbed into his heart.

He sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes, the formation of his sword halting temporarily. He couldn’t help but think that she might be right, that he didn’t deserve it. He had certainly thought more than once that it wasn’t his. His thoughts couldn’t help but drift back, first back to Yun Yantian’s final moments and then all the way back to when his father first gifted him his first sword, every memory he ever had of training in the sword rushing through his mind.

The sword forming in his hand disippated, a rusted and worn sword appearing in his grasp. This was the sword his father had gifted him as a child, the first weapon he ever carried. His interspatial ring broke when the God Gates merged, but this weapon was of such emotional importance to him that he had stored it inside his God Gate rather than his interspatial ring so it remained unaffected.

The blackish-silver light once again bubbled forth, but this time it gathered within both his palms. The light gathering in his right hand swallowed up the rusty longsword, seemingly melting it and using it as the base to form his sword, a very standard black longsword with an argent silver tint.

While the sword formed in his right hand, the two-metre-long glaive with a slightly curved blade and jagged spikes running down the back of the blade formed in his left hand. Yao Jun looked at the two weapons, his pupils wavering with slight emotions, he had made his decision. Yang Yuhuan might think that he didn’t deserve it, they both might think that it shouldn’t have been his, but Yun Yantian’s final words to Yao Jun, his final wish, had been to be Yao Jun’s sword as he ascended to godhood.

But he couldn’t deny that the glaive helped him unleash immense amounts of power, the Supreme Law of Attack hadn’t chosen it as his most suitable weapon for nothing. And as he was right now searching for tremendous strength, he embarked on a new path. One hand wielded the sword that he chose, the sword that started it all, the blade that represented his closest friend.

And the other hand wielded the glaive, the weapon chosen for him, the weapon meant to perfectly unleash the strength of the demon god. Wielding both weapons, he would stop copying what he had seen others do and embark on a path of his own, he would find a style just for him, one suited for the weapons of the demon god. He made his decision and lowered both weapons, his gaze landing on Little Gray.

“I’ll start with you. Little Gray, come at me using nothing but the law of space, use as much force as possible. I’ll try to duel you using nothing but my weapons and my own understanding of the law of space. We’ll keep fighting until I can’t fight any more or have gained a deeper understanding, whichever comes first. Once we’re done duelling, I need you to go help Ba-Shei and Du Xiao.”

Little Gray was instantly caught off-guard by Yao Jun, not to mention the glaive he now carried, none of them had expected that this would be the way he chose to train in their laws. But Little Gray and the others knew exactly what sort of person Yao Jun was, there was no point in trying to change his mind or reject.

As such, Little Gray could only stand up and face Yao Jun, the others flying up into the air to give them plenty of room to duel. Little Gray cocked his head slightly while looking at Yao Jun, who still seemed to be getting used to wielding two weapons at once. He let out a slight breath and then gave a small bow.

“Here I come, my Lord.”

Little Gray vanished the moment he finished talking, Yao Jun’s pupils constricting slightly as he moved to put up a defence. But his understanding in the law of space was so shallow that it was almost worthless, a wound appearing on his shoulder and spurting forth blood as Little Gray appeared behind him.

Yao Jun’s parents and Guo Luo frowned slightly, no one liked to see one of their dearest people get hurt like this. Little Gray also looked somewhat awkward, not certain what to do now. But Yao Jun simply looked at the wound, which had already stopped spurting blood, and then turned his slightly narrowed eyes onto Little Gray. Little Gray instantly felt as if a massive mountain was crushing down on him, his feet sinking into the ground as a few small cracks spread out.

“Did you think I was joking? Is a pitiful wound like this the best you can do, does my body look that weak to you? And why didn’t you launch an immediate secondary attack, are you afraid that I won’t be able to bear it? Use. More. Power.”

The crushing force enveloping Little Gray vanished when Yao Jun finished his words, Little Gray letting out a stifled breath while smiling slightly. No matter how much he put himself down, their god was still as terrifying and great as always. Little Gray raised his feet out of the ground and gave an apologetic bow, lowering his head as much as he could.

“Forgive me, I have insulted you.”

Little Gray’s body immediately blurred as he vanished once more, wounds appearing all over Yao Jun’s body as blood gushed forth. Little Gray continued to attack and Yao Jun continued to do his best to defend, wounds constantly appearing on his body. Had it not been for his body cultivation then he would definitely have been shredded to pieces instantly.

Guo Luo looked down at the scene from above, her pupils wavering for a bit before she let out a breath and left Yao Jun’s parents to Sirius. She vanished from the fourth floor and arrived in the blazing hellscape that was the fifth floor of the Time-Altering Spire. She couldn’t allow Yao Jun to be the only one training and increasing his strength, she refused to fall too far behind him.

So while he was training on the fourth floor, she started her training on the fifth floor. While they were training, Yao Jun stopped caring about how many Spirit Stones he used up, filling up the core array of the spire with practically all his Spirit Stones. And as a result, the flow of time within the spire was forced to increase by 115 times, each day outside turning into 115 for them. This gave Yao Jun plenty of time to get wounded and heal, plenty of time to study the laws that tore him apart so that he could understand them for himself.