The Demon’s Gate - Volume 1 Chapter 323 The Divine Hunt.

Silence surrounded Yao Jun as he stood in the snow-covered street, the soft plumes of snow descending from above melting before they managed to touch him. Quite a few people had gathered thanks to the commotion caused when Yao Jun was launched through the wall, but none of them dared to get close, the calm yet chilly expression on Yao Jun’s face pushing them all away.

His caved-in chest was already healing itself, his gaze lowering and landing on the cracked glaive he was holding so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. His strongest attack, his strongest weapon, every ounce of his energy, none of it had been able to even budge the skin of the youth, of Li Yang. Just the act of him clicking his tongue was enough to send Yao Jun flying while his chest caved in, Yao Jun didn’t have a single way to defend himself. There wasn’t a single doubt in his mind, if Li Yang wanted him dead then he would only need a glance, he probably wouldn’t even need to move.

“Pathetic. Time and time again, pathetic. What a disgrace.”

Those were the only words Yao Jun could mutter with his sullen expression, the weapon vanishing into his body. Yao Jun cast a sweeping glance through the surroundings, his ghastly grey pupils causing the onlookers to avert their eyes. His body vanished from the street, only a faint ripple running through the surrounding space as he teleported away. The city was extremely large so he actually had to teleport three times before he actually left the confines of the city, teleporting twice more just to put some additional distance between him and the city.

The area he arrived in was a wetland where the ground was covered in hundreds of small puddles of water that bubbled while releasing temperate steam. Some of the puddles would erupt into geysers from time to time, launching nearly boiling water several hundred metres into the sky, preventing any snow from reaching the ground. His additional teleportations brought him so far away from the city that its walls weren’t even visible any longer.

His senses stretched out to cover the entire surrounding area, making sure that there weren’t any cities or villages within the immediate area. He brought out his God Gate when he ascertained that no one was close to them, bringing out Guo Luo and the others again. Guo Luo and his parents came out from the gate, but he didn’t see Yao Xuelian, a quick check revealing that Guo Luo had left her in the hands of Little Gray.

Yao Jun opened his mouth to speak, but Guo Luo grabbed onto his collar before he could say anything. And then, as he was wondering what she was planning, she drove her fist into his face with all her might, her furious voice reverberating in his ears.

“Don’t you dare ever do that again!”

The punch momentarily rattled Yao Jun’s brain, but only because of how unexpected it was. He quickly straightened out his mind again and looked at Guo Luo with a confused expression, but her slightly red and moist eyes stopped him from saying anything. And just as he was silenced by her teary-eyed expression, her fist once again made contact with his face. She hit him two more times, only ending her assault after smacking his face a total of four times, clutching his collar so tightly that her knuckles paled.

“We know… We know that we’re all weaker than you. But that doesn’t mean that we just want to sit back and watch as you take on all the battles. You don’t want to stand back and watch us get hurt, but do you think we want to sit back and watch as you get hurt? Do you think that feels good for us? It doesn’t matter to us if you win or lose, just please, let us be by your side. Please, don’t send us away, don’t go somewhere alone and then never come back.”

Yao Jun looked deeply into Guo Luo’s eyes, the tears hanging at the corners of her eyes stabbing deep into his heart. This was the woman he had sworn his heart to, the woman he should make happier than anyone else. And here she was, crying because of him, hurt because of him. Yao Jun wrapped his arms around Guo Luo’s shoulders and pulled her into his chest, leaning his cheek on the top of her head while speaking softly.

“I’m sorry, I promise that it won’t happen again, I’m not going anywhere alone.”

His voice was low and tender, a few subdued sobs coming from Guo Luo. Only she knew the utter fear and terror she felt when Yao Jun threw them all into his God Gate, the uncertainty that this might be the last time she saw him. And for making her feel those emotions, Yao Jun had to apologize. But while his voice was tender and soft, his eyes were far from it.

They were steely and sharp, carrying a look that his parents were exceedingly familiar with. It was this look that had kicked off seven years of painful training back when he was just a child and they decided to leave the city where he was born. But Yao Jun was no longer a child, he was a man in his own right, one that could be described as tremendously powerful. So what this expression would kick off this time was definitely leagues apart from what it had kicked off in the past.

Guo Luo expelled all the fear and worry that Yao Jun’s actions had created before she pulled out of his embrace. She sucked in one last sniffle and placed her fist against Yao Jun’s chin with a slight harrumph, a warning about what would happen if he broke his promise. Yao Jun smiled softly and leaned his face against the fist, his gaze landing on his parents. The two of them understood what Yao Jun was thinking, smiling softly at him while waving their hands.

“You don’t need to worry about us, we’re already old and don’t have the adventurous heart that you youngsters have. Right now we’re content with staying in there, it’s peaceful and we can see you whenever we want.”

His parents were still fairly young, especially for cultivators. But they had long tired of the battles and constant stress of the cultivation world, they were happy to just sit on the side and look over Yao Jun and his growth, interacting with his wife and their own grandchild. Yao Jun returned their soft smile, his God Gate appearing at their side. The two entered the gate, Yao Xuelian wandering out and happily skipping over to Yao Jun and Guo Luo.

“Papa, how dare you throw us away so hastily and without warning!”

Yao Xuelian jumped at Yao Jun, patting him in the face with her palm when he caught her. Yao Jun smiled bitterly but contently while Yao Xuelian did her best to punish him, tickling her waist until she was forced to give up on punishing him because she was laughing too much. He stopped tickling her when she started to call for surrender, placing her down on the ground and grabbing hold of her hand.

“You’ll have to forgive Papa, he has some habits that are a bit hard to break. But Mama has already punished me and shown me what will happen if I do it again, so don’t you worry. But do you know what time it is? It’s time for Papa to show off a little, Papa hasn’t really gotten to do that lately.”

Yao Xuelian’s eyes immediately started to sparkle when Yao Jun declared that he was going to show off. To others, he was a terrible demon god, but to his daughter, he was just her silly and loveable father, he rarely actually used his strength in front of her. And the reason was simple, people died when Yao Jun used his strength, blood flowed and screams echoed out.

These weren’t things he was too keen on showing his daughter so he didn’t really act much as long as she was around. Guo Luo knew what Yao Jun was planning, tilting her head somewhat quizically while using her eyes to gesture. Yao Jun knew perfectly well what she was trying to convey so he nodded his head.

“It really is a major universe, there are at least two beasts for each report that I asked for. Most of them are quite far away, but there is a water one that is relatively close, its strength is also at a mostly manageable level.”

Yao Jun had just gotten a taste of the peak, the terror that was a cultivator controlling multiple major universes. If he could be considered intent on hunting Divine Beasts earlier then now he was greedily desiring them, practically desperate to strengthen his own Demonic beasts. So he was going to start his Divine Beast hunt, and the first target would be one suited for Yong Bo.

Guo Luo grabbed hold of Yao Xuelian’s other hand, Yao Jun teleporting them back to Snow’s Muse city. Snow’s Muse city was the capital of the entire Snow Muse province, and as a result, it contained spatial arrays that led to the 20 other provinces on the planet. Yao Jun and his group used the spatial array that led to the Lionfang Province and then used a spatial array in Lionfang city to reach Golden Roar city, one of the cities located within the Bright-furred King territory of Lionfang Province.

He spent a few days within the city exploring it with Guo Luo and Yao Xuelian, stealthily dropping spiders in various places just as he had done in all the other cities they had visited up to this point. Once Yao Xuelian had got her fill of exploring, Yao Jun took them through seven more spatial arrays and then teleported them the rest of the way on his own, reaching their destination four days after leaving Golden Roar city.

The place they reached was a lake so large it was practically an ocean, it served as the line that separated the Lionfang Province and the Sunsong Province. It was the home of countless Demonic beasts, some so massive that their resting bodies resembled islands. In fact, the beasts in the lake were incredibly vicious and ferocious so there wasn’t a single island on the lake, they had all been destroyed by the beasts to dissuade other beings from settling there.

Yao Jun handed Yao Xuelian over to Guo Luo, pinching and tugging on her nose with a smile before turning around to face the lake. His expression shifted into his usual calm and cold one, his feet bringing him out onto the lake, the water rippling faintly as he walked on it. Yao Xuelian and Guo Luo remained standing at the shore of the lake, Yao Xuelian practically not blinking as she did her best to observe Yao Jun.

Yao Jun walked a few kilometres onto the lake before he stopped, his gaze calmly sweeping the still waters. There was no movement even after he had stood there for a few minutes so he lowered his eyes, his gaze seemingly piercing through the water and into the dark depths.

“If you don’t show yourself then I’ll just evaporate this entire ocean and force you out.”

There was finally some movement from the water around him after Yao Jun made his threat, a massive shadow moving through the water underneath him. The shadow quickly reached the surface, a large head that was at least half a kilometre long rising up from the water. The head that revealed itself belonged to a scaleless black dragonfish, nine pairs of large blue eyes neatly lining the massive head. This was the ruler of this lake, a Divine Beast that had reached the very peak of the Earthly Deity realm, already having a foot in the Heavenly Deity realm.

“Foreign Authority holder, what do you want?!”

The Dragonfish wasn’t too pleased with Yao Jun’s threat, but it didn’t move to eat him as it usually would in situations like these. His cultivation was lower, but he radiated a strange sense of danger that put the Dragonfish on edge, making it somewhat uncertain as to how it should act. But if it was displeased with his threat, his following words pushed it completely over the edge.

“I want your blood to evolve one of my friends. About half of the blood in your body should be enough. I can give you something in return, but don’t be too greedy.”

“DON’T BE TOO GREEDY?! HUMAN, I THINK YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS TOO GREEDY JUST BECAUSE I SHOWED A BIT OF KINDNESS!”

The booming voice of the Dragonfish caused the water all around them to toss and turn, large waves rising up and rushing towards the distance. Blood was the greatest treasure that Divine Beasts had, every drop they gave away lowered their strength slightly unless it was replaced by something of equivalent strength. For Yao Jun to ask for half of its blood, he might as well be asking it to give up its life.

Yao Jun felt the water all around him seethe and bubble with energy, the large body of the Dragonfish writhing beneath the surface as a tremendous amount of energy rushed up at Yao Jun. He had expected its rage so he didn’t show any surprise at its actions, ice starting to spread out from beneath his feet as his sword appeared in his grasp.

“You’re the one who attacked first, so don’t blame me for responding in kind.”