Chapter 182 - The scattered fragments.

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed dangerously as he observed the youth. The empty-eyed state of the youth reminded Yao Jun of the state that Qiao Xian Yi's servants had after she took control of them with the Human God's Gate. Could it be that she had ended up at the Merged Heaven Clan after she was thrown into the spatial rift during their last battle? While Yao Jun was pondering about what he should do next, Diana continued to glare at Elysande, the behemoth shadow behind her letting out a low roar.

"Just business? So if we pay enough, we can get you to turn against the Final Fire Clan?"

The World Tree Clan soldiers perked up slightly after hearing Diana's words, after all, having another ally was better than having another enemy. And the World Tree Clan had more resources than the Final Fire Clan, so they could easily pay more than the Final Fire Clan was able to. But Elysande quickly shattered that hope, shaking her head with a surprisingly grave expression.

"I'm afraid not. This is a different type of business from usual, the type of business that decides our survival."

Elysande was not lying to Diana, the Merged Heaven Clan would not have chosen to take part in this war if it had not been for the fact that a certain Godking had told them that their survival depended on the Final Fire Clan emerging victorious.

While Diana's expression was twisting slightly as her mind raced to figure out how she should proceed, Yao Jun decided to move into action. He dismissed the shadows and space around him, not using any of his abilities as he silently made his way away from the other soldiers. The moment he used any of his abilities, the frog-eyed youth would sense it, so he could only rely on his physical body as he ran.

Everyone was occupied with the eight powerful people that were talking up in the air, so no one noticed Yao Jun as he ran. Yao Jun's body was incredibly powerful, so even without using his abilities, his speed was very fast, quickly taking him far away from the armies. Yao Jun continued to run until his God Gate no longer trembled, meaning the frog-eyed youth would no longer be able to sense him if he used his abilities.

Yao Jun opened the shadows beneath him, but he did not jump into them immediately. He pulled out a long spear from his interspatial ring, a spear he had gotten from Watkin's interspatial ring. He gripped the spear so hard that his knuckles turned white, his muscles rippling as he pulled the spear backward. Both his strengthening techniques were still active, so the spear creaked slightly under the force.

Yao Jun surrounded the spear with as many of his laws as he could, the tip vibrating as tiny cracks started to spread through space around it. Yao Jun put all his force into his arm and flung the spear forward, the weapon immediately vanishing from sight. The spear flashed through space, the spatial laws surrounding it and causing it to teleport forward, directly towards the frog-eyed youth.

The spear was surrounded by a thick layer of the spatial laws, so Elysande and the others were not able to discover it before it was too late. The spear stabbed into the frog-eyed youth, space collapsing around him as he and the weapon were swallowed by the collapsed space. Yao Jun jumped into the shadows the moment he threw the spear, surrounding the place where he hid with a cover of space, perfectly hiding himself.

But the frog-eyed youth did not die from being sucked into the collapsed space, Yao Jun had something else planned. The moment he was sucked into the spatial collapse, a gate to Yao Jun's God Gate opened at the tip of the spear, forcing the youth into the Demon God's Gate.

Yao Jun also entered into his own God Gate, still wearing the mask that altered his body, as well as covered in his armor, further obscuring his features. He had his Demonic beasts keep a bit of a distance, hiding themselves as he himself walked towards the youth, who was wounded but still alive.

"So this is where you ended up, Qiao Xian Yi."

As long as the youth was within Yao Jun's God Gate, there was no way for him to send any messages to the outside, even his connection with Qiao Xian Yi could easily be severed if Yao Jun so wished. But Yao Jun wanted to use his mental energy to steal some information about Qiao Xian Yi from the youth, so he did not cut the connection immediately. Contrary to what Yao Jun expected, the frog-eyed youth was completely calm, his gaze sweeping the area as he spoke in a surprised voice.

"Oh, there was another fragment lord here? Since when did the World Tree Clan have a fragment lord?"

The moment Yao Jun heard the youth speak, he stopped moving. This way of talking was completely different from Qiao Xian Yi. Yao Jun also noticed that the youth looked at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion, clearly not recognizing him. Thanks to the mask that altered his features, Yao Jun's outline resembled someone from the World Tree Clan, so the youth thought he belonged to that clan. Before Yao Jun could say anything, the youth spoke up again, tilting his head and ignoring the gaping wound in his chest.

"You don't seem to have completed your armament yet, are you a rather new fragment lord?"

While Yao Jun's eyes narrowed as he looked at him, the youth completely ignored him, glancing at the area around him. He was unable to move, but he was still able to see the variety of areas that were in the surroundings, so after a short moment he turned back towards Yao Jun, talking with a polite smile.

"This should be a fragment of the Supreme Law of Demons, but I can't really recall any new demon fragments appearing recently. Would you mind telling me which of the eight fragments you are, and where you managed to pick it up?"

After observing the youth and his actions, Yao Jun had already come to a conclusion, his expression distorting slightly as he spoke out.

"You're not Qiao Xian Yi."

The youth in front of him was far too different form Qiao Xian Yi and the other servants she had used, so Yao Jun had to admit that they were most likely different people. But that realization brought with it a horrid discovery, there were other people that also had the Human God's Gate. The smile on the youth's face grew slightly as he gave a weak nod of his head and introduced himself.

"I am the 5th young master of the Merged Heaven Clan, Peyton Eluard, a pleasure to meet you. Now, would you mind giving me your name and answering my question?"

Peyton looked at Yao Jun with great interest, his eyes glimmering. The fact that he was willing to give his name so easily meant that he was either quite naive or that he was confident enough in himself that he was not worried about giving his name. After all, it would be easy for Yao Jun to find out if he was really the 5th young master of the Merged Heaven Clan. Yao Jun's fingers drummed against his thigh for a short moment before he responded.

"I can answer your questions, but first you must answer mine. Since you are the one questioning, it only seems fair."

Peyton's smile grew even brighter after hearing Yao Jun's affirmative response. If he could learn more about an unknown fragment lord, giving away a bit of information was completely worth it, so he quickly nodded his head.

"Very well, I will answer as best as I can."

Yao Jun quickly organized his thoughts, picking out the questions he wanted to get answered the most. He then picked out the questions that were most likely to get a truthful answer, raising his fingers as he listed them out.

"My questions are very simple, how did you figure out that I had one of the fragments, how many fragments are there in total, how did you get your fragment, and what is a fragment lord?"

There were other questions he wanted to be answered as well, but he felt it unlikely that he would get a proper answer, so he settled for these questions. Of course, Peyton might still lie, but Yao Jun felt that Peyton looked a bit careless and naive. Peyton rolled his eyes for a bit, organizing his own thoughts for a short moment before he started to answer Yao Jun's questions.

"I managed to figure out that you had a fragment the same way you figured out that I had one, my fragment started trembling when it sensed you. And looking at this place, it was clear that you had one of the demon fragments. There are eight fragments of each Supreme Law, scattered as hidden realms all around the universe. I got my fragment the same way you did, by conquering the hidden realm that was the 7th fragment of the Supreme Law of Life. Did you not hear the news about the great battle?"

With Peyton answering his questions, Yao Jun was reminded of what that one mountain-like Demonic beast had called him, a shattered fragment of a forgotten god. He was also reminded of the hidden realm that caused his God Gate to tremble, could that hidden realm have been one such fragment of the Demon God's Gate? Yao Jun's mind continued to move as Peyton continued to talk.

"A fragment lord is the title given to anyone who holds a fragment of any Supreme Law. If you hold two fragments of the same law, you are considered a fragment prince, carrying three pieces makes you a fragment king, and four makes you a fragment emperor. Of course, there hasn't been a fragment king for countless years already. There, I answered all your questions, now you answer mine."

Peyton's expression was shining with excitement as he looked at Yao Jun, he seemed like a child that was about to get praised by their parent. But while he looked at him like that, Yao Jun merely gave a wave of his hand, severing the connection between Peyton and the frog-eyed youth. He then inserted his own mental energy into the mind of the youth, going through his memories and confirming that Peyton had told him the truth.

Once he learned that Peyton had spoken the truth, he killed the youth and turned his body to ash, lest he had something on him that Peyton could use to track him. Yao Jun stood quietly inside his God Gate, massaging his temples as he muttered to himself and went over what he just learned and what he already knew.

"Eight fragments scattered all around the universe? Seems like the actual number should be nine fragments. But why didn't the ninth fragments appear as hidden realms?"

According to what he had just learned, there were eight hidden realms for each of the Supreme Laws, allowing anyone to acquire them. But Yao Jun had been born with the Demon God's Gate, the same was true for Guo Luo, Yun Yantian, and Lin Ren. This caused Yao Jun to guess that they were likely a ninth, previously unknown fragment. He could not help but feel a headache as he continued to mutter to himself.

"So there are eight more people out there who have the same Demon God's Gate as me? Also can't forget the others that hold the fragments of the other God Gates. Let's hope there aren't too many like Qiao Xian Yi and Yuan Shen."

Qiao Xian Yi and Yuan Shen were following the orders of an unknown person and were actively trying to kill Yao Jun and Guo Luo. Peyton was not controlled like that, but what if the other fragment holders were controlled like that? Just how many powerful enemies would Yao Jun have then? While mulling it over, a slight thought struck Yao Jun.

"I wonder, what would happen if I were to gather up the remaining eight fragments of the Demon God's Gate, what would it become?"

If a mere fragment of the Demon God's Gate held such great might, how strong would it be if all were to gather together and become one? Yao Jun quickly threw the idea aside, there were other things he had to focus on first.

"Forget about it. First I have to think about a way to get back home and reunite with Luo'er and the others. Maybe we can all go hunting for God Gates together."

Yao Jun could almost picture it already, traveling alongside Guo Luo and the others as they scoured the universe for the remaining fragments of their own God Gates. Once they all managed to complete their God Gates, they would surely be unstoppable, right? Of course, Yao Jun completely overlooked one thing. For the God Gates to be fragmented, there must have been something, or someone, who shattered them in the first place.