Chapter 247 - Unworthy King.

Yao Jun looked at the incoming Baam Noctris and Mascheny Materius with a calm, if somewhat narrowed, gaze. He tapped the darkness around him with a finger, a soft breeze picking up around the shadow that he and Yuri Jahad were hiding in, serving as a distraction to cover up their hiding spot. Baam had fused his law of darkness with the law of space, he might discover their hiding spot if Yao Jun wasn't careful. Yuri bubbled with excitement at the thought of what was about to go down, her fingers moving around restlessly.

"Just look at how close they've gotten, can't we go out already!?"

Yao Jun cast a sideways glance at Yuri, his gaze conveying his very simple and direct rejection. He wanted to observe for longer, wanted to wait for the situation to become more chaotic. There was also something he found curious, something that nagged at him from the back of his mind, Luosho Li's expression, it was far too calm, even when she saw Baam and Mascheny approaching.

Yuri could only puff out her cheeks and let out a huff, her fingers drumming against her thigh as she did her best to wait. Baam and Mascheny quickly reached the battle, both of them sweeping their surroundings with a quick glance. With their arrival, the battle ground to a halt, Luosho Li taking the chance to raise her head and sent a light smile at Baam and Mascheny.

"I was wondering when the two of you were going to show yourself, I was almost starting to worry that you wouldn't show up."

Her words were brimming with boundless confidence and more than just a little joy and excitement. Not just Yao Jun's brows furrowed at her words, the other people also found her to be acting a bit strange. Mascheny's eyes narrowed faintly, a dangerous light flashing in them as she observed Luosho Li.

"I don't know what you're planning, but you better hand over that tower. You might be strong enough to fight either me or Baam to a standstill, but you'll be doomed to lose if we join forces. Hand it over without a fuss and we'll even help you quickly deal with these pests."

Mascheny dismissively waved her hand at the people surrounding Luosho Li, a gesture that caused not only Xiao Yan's but also Berius Daemon's eyebrows to tick up slightly. But both choose to hold their tongues, at least for now, it was true that they would have to beat a quick retreat if these three joined forces. But contrary to what Mascheny expected, Luosho Li broke out into a light giggle.

"Hehehe, I'm quite scared, truly. Perhaps it's best that I secure myself some allies then?"

Mascheny's expression dropped severely after hearing the response, assuming it to be Luosho Li mocking her. But Yao Jun and Baam both suddenly raised their heads and faced the same direction, muttering out at the same time.

"Something's coming."

"She really does have allies, be careful."

Suddenly, and without a single sound, three people appeared next to Luosho Li. There were two men and one woman, all three of them clad in loose gray robes. One man was tall and rugged, his face rather square in shape with a brown stubble decorating his chin. He had brown hair cut in a buzzcut and deep blue eyes that seemed to shimmer slightly. The other man had a more normal build and height, his face clean-shaven and his skin smooth. He had long orange hair and green eyes with a few brown dots visible in the pupils. The woman was a bit short but had a buxom figure as well as silver hair that hung down to her waist and gray eyes.

All three of the new arrivals had reached the early stage of the Earthly Deity realm, but it was easy to tell that they were extremely strong just from the pressure they radiated. Yao Jun's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked at the three people, his eyes containing a mixture of curiosity and confusion. The three people in front of him felt somewhat similar to Demonic beasts, but not like any Demonic beasts Yao Jun had ever seen. Yuri looked at the three new arrivals with sparkling eyes, clearly excited at the prospect of getting to fight them.

"Oh, she brought out allies? It's not often that I get the chance to fight someone so proficient in the law of space, this'll be fun!"

Yuri could only guess that one of these three people had used the law of space to bring them here, but she had to admit that whoever did it was extremely proficient in the law, to not even cause the slightest ripple that she could detect. Yao Jun gave a light shake of his head, correcting Yuri while pointing at the girl.

"She didn't use the law of space to bring them here, she used the law of piercing. She's trained the law to such a high level that she can even use it to pierce through space and emulate teleportation, minus the normal ripples in space. If she can fuse a few more similar laws into it, she might be able to recreate the true law of space, but for now it remains a mere replica."

As someone who had the actual law of space, Yao Jun could detect the peculiarity of the woman's law when she arrived. She hadn't created the normal ripples, making it hard for the others to detect her, but Baam and Yao Jun were able to detect them arriving because they felt something pierce through space. Luosho Li glanced at the three people, her lips forming a content smile.

"We'll do it as we agreed to, you can have their bodies while I get the contents of their interspatial rings."

The three people nodded their heads, and without a single other word being spoken, chaos broke out. Luosho Li and the woman threw themselves at Baam and Mascheny while the two men threw themselves at the surrounding groups, the battle quickly starting again. But from their vantage point, Yao Jun could see that the battle was far from as black and white as it looked.

Ysolde would occasionally launch one or two attacks at Xiao Yan, who in turn would occasionally send a few Demonic beasts towards Berius to hinder him. Even Baam and Mascheny were doing the same, using slight moves to either sabotage each other or some of the other groups. The others here didn't become allies just because Luosho Li brought out her reinforcements, everyone was gunning for the tower she had bought, everyone hoping to get it for themselves. And as such, the battle was, in fact, a free for all where practically everyone was against each other. Yao Jun even saw that Luosho Li's reinforcements would cast a few stealthy glances at her when she wasn't looking, causing him to shake his head slightly.

"Truly, greed knows no bound. Well, I'm here for the same reason, so I don't really have a right to judge."

Was it not greed for Luosho Li's tower that had brought him here to take it for himself? If there was one thing that set him apart from these people it was the fact that he had no intention of backstabbing Yuri while they were fighting, he would follow the agreement they had set up.

Yao Jun ignored the fiddling and impatient Yuri, continuing to observe the battle taking place below them. He paid a great deal of attention to Mascheny, Baam, and Luosho Li and her reinforcements, but he still found his gaze drifting towards Xiao Yan quite a bit. He seemed to have an endless supply of Demonic beasts, hundreds of them swarming forth each time some of the already summoned ones died.

No matter how he looked at it, Yao Jun disliked Xiao Yan's way of using the beasts. He sent them out on suicide attacks as distractions, had them attack people clearly far stronger than them, he even used them as shields to block attacks that came close to him. To Yao Jun, who treated each of his Demonic beasts as a close comrade, this way of using them was revolting. After the battle went on for a little over two minutes, Yao Jun finally spoke up to the impatient Yuri.

"Alright, it's about time we join the fray. The first one we have to kill is Ysolde, and it has to be done in a single attack the moment we enter the fray."

Peyton could take over Ysolde at a moment's notice and recognize Yao Jun, he might even spill his secret, something Yao Jun wanted to avoid for as long as possible. Yao Jun knew that it was no longer realistic for him to hide, he was too strong for that, once a fish grew too large it would be visible no matter where it was in the lake. When a fish became too large to hide in the lake, it could only do the second best thing, distort its appearance to hide how large it truly was. Only by diving into the lake would one be able to see just how massive the fish was, but by then it would already be too late.

Yuri didn't quite understand what sort of grudge Yao Jun had with Ysolde, but she didn't bother questioning it, excitedly nodding her head. Both of them stood up, Yao Jun's black robe coiling around his body as his sword appeared in his grasp. The darkness around them pulsated for a quick second, their location changing almost instantly.

Thanks to his own law of darkness, Baam was the first to notice that something had happened, quickly pulling back a few paces. The second he pulled back, the shadows at the bottom of the valley exploded outwards, transforming into dark spikes that stretched towards the sky, each as thick as a house.

Ysolde just barely managed to dodge two spikes that shot out from her own shadow, her brows furrowing slightly. She then felt something behind her, her instincts ringing out in alarm as she quickly turned around, coming face to face with Yuri, whose fist was already coming for Ysolde's face. But before Ysolde could even think about dodging, her instincts warned her about her back once more, forcing her to cast a sideways glance behind her, her expression distorting when she saw who was behind her.

"You! Yao...!"

Yao Jun jumped out from the spike directly behind Ysolde, his sword right by her neck, slicing into it the moment Yuri's fist made contact with Ysolde's face. She never got to finish her sentence, Yao Jun's sword slicing cleanly through her neck while Yuri's punch sent the head flying into the distance. Yao Jun quickly stored away Ysolde's body, even snatching the flying head and storing it away as well, keeping both safe for later.

The battle once again ground to a halt, everyone's gazes falling on Yao Jun and Yuri. Mascheny and Baam didn't plan on stopping the battle just because of the entrance of someone like Yuri and an unknown cultivator, but both of them stopped when they noticed Luosho Li's reaction to their entrance. Her brows furrowed when she looked at the unknown cultivator, clearly somewhat annoyed and agitated at his arrival. Seeing her react like this, how could Baam and Mascheny not become somewhat curious about the identity of the unknown cultivator?

There was one who decided to take advantage of this pause in the battle, Xiao Yan. He flicked his finger lightly, a vast horde of Demonic beasts appearing in the valley, simultaneously swarming towards all the other cultivators. Yao Jun furrowed his brows, sweeping the Demonic beasts with his eyes. These Demonic beasts could all feel just who Yao Jun was, but they could do nothing but mutter out quietly with bitter and apologetic expressions when they met with his eyes.

"Please forgive us, we have no choice."

"We must obey the orders of the king, forgive us."

"Oh God, please forgive us for what we must do."

"Please make it painless."

They spoke in their own Demonic language, one that the others, not even Xiao Yan, seemed to be able to understand. Yao Jun's expression sunk slightly at the scene, radiant flames appearing within the entire valley and swallowing all the Demonic beasts and turning them all to ash in less than a second. These beasts were all too weak to even scratch the weakest person here, they were nothing but distractions that Xiao Yan had called out to draw everyone's attention.

The flames vanished as quickly as they appeared, Yao Jun tilting his head slightly right before they vanished, an arrow whizzing past his face as he did so. His gaze landed on the somewhat distant Xiao Yan, who had just unleashed the arrow.

"How can you treat them like that, have you no respect for the ones that have chosen to follow you?"

Xiao Yan didn't know why, but his eyebrows ticked slightly when he saw Yao Jun's glare. It felt almost like Yao Jun was looking down on him, and for some reason, the thought of Yao Jun, someone he hadn't even seen before, looking down on him filled Xiao Yan with discomfort. He would normally just ignore the opponent, but faced with Yao Jun's glare, he couldn't help but respond, a slight sneer on his lips.

"Why should I not be allowed to treat them as I wish? I took part in a bloody five-year-long battle just for the chance to acquire this fragment, I even gave up on my 150 years of cultivation after acquiring it, just so that I could properly use its power! They are my subjects, and I am their King, they should be thrilled to be of use to me, that is the greatest respect I could possibly give them!"

Xiao Yan's chest was thumping, the discomfort he felt from Yao Jun's glare continuing to increase. It was like a fire was burning in his chest, growing stronger with each second Yao Jun glared at him. The others around them looked at the exchange between the two, not in a rush to start fighting again, this was a good chance to observe their enemies. This was the first time Yao Jun heard about having to give up on one's previous cultivation to properly use one of the Supreme Law Fragments, but the knowledge didn't change anything.

"And? If you're their king, why didn't you increase their strength and help them evolve? Why send them out on these suicide attacks that serve no purpose? Are these the actions of a king in your eyes?"

If Xiao Yan had just put some focus on increasing the strength and evolving his horde of Demonic beasts his strength would likely increase greatly. What point was there in having numbers if all of them were this weak? From what he had seen so far, Yao Jun was confident that his 10 Demonic beasts were hundreds of times better than Xiao Yan's seemingly endless army of Demonic beasts. Of course, he was certain that Xiao Yan had more Demonic beasts, he likely had some very strong ones he had yet to take out.

After hearing his statement, more than a few strange gazes landed on Yao Jun, causing one of his eyebrows to rise up. Xiao Yan's sneer grew slightly, the fire in his chest growing hotter and hotter as Yao Jun continued to look at him with those eyes.

"This is why I dislike talking to people who know nothing. Increase their strength? Evolve them? Do you really think I would waste my time coming here if something like that was possible? And what would you know about the actions of a king? By nature of being a king, anything he does will become the actions of a king, the subjects simply have to follow along."

Yao Jun's right eyebrow ticked up for a split second after receiving an unexpected piece of news. People who carried a fragment of the Supreme Law of Demons were unable to strengthen or evolve their Demonic beasts? Was the reason he could do it because of the fact that he carried the God Gate rather than just any normal fragment?

Yao Jun blinked his eyes once, throwing the thoughts to the back of his head and raising his sword, pointing the tip at Xiao Yan and speaking out with a cold voice that contained the unmistakable dignity of who we was doomed to become the moment he awakened his power.

"You just wait patiently over there, I'll come for you later. I don't care what you went through to get that fragment, but let me tell you this. Xiao Yan, you are unworthy of being a king of Demonic beasts."