First news of a Divine beast.

Yao Jun entered a very simple pattern of tracking Demonic beasts and then killing them, storing their bodies inside his God Gate. The corpses that had an element that suited one of his Demonic beasts was sent over to them while all the other corpses were kept for himself, gathering up a stockpile so that he could cultivate as much of the Blood Ocean's Hunger as he could in one go. There would occasionally be cultivators who tried to ambush him or steal his prey, all of them were also killed and added to his stockpile.

This was the grandest competition of the universe so it wasn't strange it for it to go on for several years, only in some very rare cases did it end within one or two years. As such, Yao Jun didn't think much about how much time he spent stocking up on corpses, three months passing in what felt like the blink of an eye.

The hydra, Yong Bo, reached the early stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm halfway through the first month, finally completing his first evolution. With the increase in his strength due to his evolution, Yao Jun felt more confident in sending him to join up with Sirius and the others, opening a gate and allowing him to join the other Demonic beasts in traveling through the universe and looking for Guo Luo while also whittling down Peyton's network of subordinates.

A few days after his third month of hunting began, Yao Jun temporarily halted his search for new Demonic beasts he could hunt. He spotted a group of familiar people while searching for new Demonic beasts, but that wasn't the reason he decided to temporarily stop his hunting, he stopped because the topic of their conversation interested him greatly.

He stepped through space and vanished, appearing at the top of a small feather-shaped mountain made from solid ice. The entire mountain was surrounded by a plain where the ground was made from solid ice, a one-meter thick layer of snow covering the ground. The familiar group that Yao Jun had spotted, a group of 17 human-looking people with vertical mouths that he had met once shortly after the start of the competition, were currently surrounding a large white wolf that had jagged crystals of ice protruding from his joints. Wounds covered the body of the wolf, blue blood staining his fur and signifying that his life was nearing its end.

The area around them was covered in corpses of white wolves that were very similar to the large one they were surrounding, their murky blue blood staining the snow. The only difference between them was that the still living wolf was the size of an elephant, these dead ones were only as large as a normal wolf. Some of the people with vertical mouths, who Yao Jun remembered were from something called the Tenth Dawn sect, were covered in wounds, with one or two of their group members already lying dead on the ground.

Yao Jun didn't immediately head over to the group from the Tenth Dawn sect, he had already noticed another group of people hiding a short distance away, biding their time. He decided that he would first continue to listen in on the conversation currently taking place and wait for the other group to make a move before he decided what to do next.

The leader of the Tenth Dawn sect group, the same somewhat ugly man with a thin face and dirty-green hair that had led the group the last time Yao Jun met them, was holding a large two-headed axe and pointing the tip at the wolf while talking.

"We just wanted some of your blood, there was no need to respond so aggressively!"

The man had a somewhat large gash on his back, going in a straight line from his right shoulder to his left, scraping the bone. But despite this, he didn't seem to exert any force to hold the axe, as if the wound wasn't impeding him in the slightest. The wolf snarled at them, a few drops of blue blood seeping out from between his teeth and mixing with the red blood that was already staining the fur around his mouth.

"Don't joke with me, do you think I don't know what you intend to do with my blood? Just how much of my blood, how much of my kinsmen's blood, would you need to douse the flames of that fox? Even if she has only just finished getting her sixth tail, it would need the combined might of over half of my pack to douse her flames enough for humans to get close to her. If I let you take that much blood from us, we will be too weak to defend ourselves against the other beasts that roam this plain, you would doom us to death. If death is our only end, then we might as well go out fighting."

The eyes of the wolf were bloodshot, sweeping over the dead wolves covering the plain around him. Yao Jun listened with great interest, as it was an earlier mention of this fox that had drawn his attention to begin with. Very few fox-type Demonic beasts could grow several tails, some could grow up to three, but that was usually as far as they could go.

For this fox to have just grown her sixth tail, Yao Jun could only think of one conclusion, she was a Nine-Tailed Fox, a true Divine beast. And since this group was seemingly here to use the icy blood of these Demonic beasts to douse her flames, this Nine-Tailed Fox was clearly one with the fire element, she might even have more. If Yao Jun could get some of her blood and feed it to those of his Demonic beasts that shared at least one element with the fox, their strength would likely grow by quite a bit.

Seeing that the wolf did not have the slightest intention of handing over any of his blood voluntarily, despite his entire pack having already been killed and he himself also being close to death, the green-haired man pulled back his axe slightly and prepared to charge forward.

But just as he and the 16 other people behind him were getting ready to finish the battle, the snow all around them exploded outwards. The silhouettes of other people appeared in the snow, completely surrounding the wolf and the group from the Tenth Dawn sect. The group of people that had appeared consisted of only 15 people, but unlike the group from the Tenth Dawn sect, none of these people had just gone through a battle, they weren't wounded or exhausted.

The group of people that had burst out of their hiding spot looked mostly human, but their eyes were completely blue, it looked like they had been carved out of either ice or jade. Blue veins stretched out from the corners of their eyes, spreading across their faces and forming rather unique patterns on their cheeks. It seemed like they were done with hiding and had chosen this as the perfect time to reveal themselves. The leader of this new group, a rather aged woman with white hair and sunken in cheeks, didn't waste any time, giving her orders in a cold tone.

"Kill them all and then collect the blood."

The 14 other people didn't hesitate in the slightest, letting out a unified shout and then charging forward, a myriad of various laws forming a colorful sight as they soared towards the people from the Tenth Dawn sect. It was at this time Yao Jun decided that it was time to take action. He still had some questions he wanted to be answered, so he couldn't just let these people be killed.

He took a step forward, appearing between the two groups, directly in front of the incoming attacks. The green-haired man had only seen Yao Jun for a short few moments but was still able to remember him thanks to the strong impact he left back then. Upon seeing Yao Jun again, although he felt relieved, he also felt fear at the same time. Yao Jun wasn't on their side, there was no telling what he might to do them.

Yao Jun tapped the ice beneath him with his feet, a thick wall of ice rising up in front of him and blocking the attacks, shattering in the process. The group of ice-eyed people halted their advance after their attacks were blocked, their leader looking at Yao Jun with a wary gaze, wondering where he had been hiding. She was just about to open her mouth when one of the people from the Tenth Dawn sect got an idea, calling out in a loud and excited voice.

"That's him! He's a Guest Elder of our sect, he's come to save us and to kill our enemies!"

The one who shouted out swiped his interspatial ring, taking out a circular disk of stone covered in runes and inserting his Qi into it. The moment he did, there was a faint tremble from Yao Jun's interspatial ring, a square stone talisman with the words Guest Elder written on it flying out and floating in front of Yao Jun. This token was in the interspatial ring the green-haired man had given Yao Jun the last time he saved them, mixed in with the other resources. Yao Jun hadn't thought much about it back then, but seeing it now, his expression sunk.

The youth's ploy could be considered rather clever, identifying Yao Jun as one of them would likely result in their enemies also attacking him, meaning that he had no choice but to kill them if he wanted to survive. And seeing how easily he had blocked their combined attacks, the youth was convinced that Yao Jun would be able to save them all.

The green-haired man felt all the hairs on his body stand on end when he heard the youth shout and saw that Yao Jun's expression sank. He wanted to turn around and loudly scold the youth, but it was already too late, the leader of the ice-eyed people saw the token and handed out her order with a wave of her hand.

"He's one of them, no need to show mercy, the orders remain unchanged."

The group of ice-eyed people charged forward again after they were given the order, fully loyal to the words of their leader. Yao Jun looked at the group, stretching out his right arm and using his finger to draw a line in the air. The 14 people that were charging forward suddenly stopped, a red line appearing on their chests. Blood started to leak out from their mouths, their bodies collapsing to the ground and splitting into two pieces, an upper part and a lower part. The leader had been a bit further in the back, at a slightly elevated position, so the attack had only severed her legs from her body.

None of these people had reached the Earthly Deity realm, they were nothing but fodder to Yao Jun. As for the attack he just used, it was something he had come up with after fighting Meridus, the Earthly Deity who had the law of penetration. It fused the sharpness of a spatial blade, the sharpness of compressed wind, the speed and penetrative power of lightning, and the cutting power of highly compressed water moving at high speed, creating a makeshift version of the law of slicing, a blade that could cut apart all creation.

Yao Jun didn't even step over to the now legless woman, waving his hand and causing the ice beneath her to rise up into a spike that pierced through her chest and reaped her life. He stored the 15 corpses into his God Gate, having the fragment of his soul that was residing within the gate go through their interspatial rings.

Yao Jun's gaze landed on the white wolf, his head tilting slightly as he cast a sweeping glance over the other corpses. The wolf could understand the meaning of Yao Jun's gaze, stepping closer and lowering his head reverently.

"It would be our honor, it is far better than being used by them."

Yao Jun nodded his head and placed his hand on the head of the wolf, a spatial blade in the shape of a spike digging into his head and instantly killing him. Yao Jun then absorbed the wolf into his God Gate, distributing his energy among his various Demonic beasts. Yao Jun then gave a wave of his hand, sucking all the other wolf corpses into his interspatial ring, adding them to his stockpile.

His actions took a few seconds of time, but none of the people from the Tenth Dawn sect dared moved while he was doing so. They could feel that Yao Jun had locked onto them, it felt like a giant pair of eyes were looking directly at them, freezing them in place. After absorbing the wolf and storing away the corpses, Yao Jun turned his gaze onto the group from the Tenth Dawn sect.

He stretched out his arm and grabbed the Guest Elder token, clenching his hand and crushing it. He then stepped forward and vanished from sight, appearing in front of the youth that had shouted out and forced Yao Jun to take part in the fight. Yao Jun placed his palm on the chest of the youth, who was completely unable to move, his lips twisting into a sneer.

"I despise people who drag me into their own troubles without giving it any thought."

Right after Yao Jun finished talking, the eyes of the youth turned lifeless, blood leaking out from his seven orifices as he collapsed to the ground. Yao Jun had already grown numb to killing people like this, so his expression didn't even change in the slightest. Had the youth just given it a bit of thought, he would have realized that Yao Jun appearing between them and their enemies meant that he was likely going to save them and let them flee again, just like he had done last time. After killing the youth, Yao Jun turned his eyes to the green-haired leader.

"You, tell me everything you know about the fox that you were talking about."

The green-haired man felt his heart skip a beat, sweat starting to pour down his back while he started to feel a deep sense of shame in his heart. Even though he was the one with the higher cultivation, he was completely unable to stand up to Yao Jun, he was only able to watch as Yao Jun killed one of the disciples he was responsible for. He also couldn't afford to not respond, he could only tell Yao Jun everything he knew.

"A few hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from here is the territory of a Divine beast, a Nine-Tailed Fox that uses the law of fire and the law of illusions. It has lived there for many years already, killing quite a few cultivators who were dumb enough to enter her territory during these competitions. But just before entering this place, we received a report that she was preparing to grow her sixth tail, officially entering the late stage of the Earthly Deity realm. Growing this sixth tail meant that she would have to face a heavenly tribulation, leaving her in a weakened state should she succeed in overcoming it. Our Senior Disciple Brothers and Sisters have already rushed to her territory to prepare everything else, but they left the job of gathering the blood of ice type Demonic beasts to us, they want to use the blood to draw an array that can weaken the flames she uses to defend herself."

The green-haired man swiped his interspatial ring and took out a thumb-sized jade cylinder, tossing it to Yao Jun. Yao Jun sank his mind into it, a map appearing in his mind and showing the location of the Nine-Tailed Fox's territory. He hesitated slightly when he heard that the Nine-Tailed Fox was entering the late stage of the Earthly Deity realm, but after giving it a bit more thought, he still decided to at least go there to take a look.

News as big as this, it was clear that quite a few people should have received it, quite a few strong people would gather there. Even if it became impossible to get some of the Nine-Tailed Fox's blood, he might meet some of Peyton's men, or even Peyton himself. He cast another glance at the green-haired man, who immediately tensed up. But Yao Jun didn't do anything to him, he had no reason to do so. Space around him rippled, Yao Jun vanishing in a flash of silver light, heading for the territory of the Nine-Tailed Fox, the first Divine beast he would see after entering this competition.