332 Forget-Me-Not.

"Papa, Papa, look at that one! Look at it!"

Yao Xuelian was eagerly pointing at one of the blankets covered in wares that lined the streets around them, her rainbow-coloured hair bouncing around while her grey eyes gleamed with interest. Yao Jun was holding onto her hand so that she didn't run off, a soft smile present on his face while Little Gray and the others followed at their side.

He wasn't planning on keeping his daughter locked up inside his God Gate, especially now that Guo Luo had left for an unknown amount of time. He might force her to stay inside the God Gate during the Six Dawn's Baptism, but until then he found it hard to refuse her when she so eagerly bounced around and bubbled with the desire to explore a new city.

So since she had learned from Ba-Shei that Yao Jun was about to enter a city, and subsequently thrown a big fuss about him bringing her along, it had led to their current situation. Her eyes didn't stop moving for a single second, there were so many stalls and blankets spread out along the sides of the street that there was constantly a new item she could look at and inspect.

This was coincidentally the largest city on this small planet so this was where most people living on it would head to register for the quickly upcoming competition. It wouldn't be wrong to call the city packed to the brim, there were people no matter where you looked and it would be hard to walk down the street without bumping into people at least a handful of times.

The young girl bouncing around in glee, barely restrained by the leash that was her father's hand, was a fairly strange sight in the city at the moment. A heavy tense atmosphere hung over the city and the people present in it, the approaching competition was so grand and bloody that it made people feel suffocated. A countless number of people would enter it to try their fortune or test their strength, and an equally countless number of people would be forever buried there. Both those entering the competition and those who were close to the participants, all of them were nervous and fearful, soon they might part forever.

And thanks to the fact that people were so nervous and fearful, the loud little girl received her fair share of irked glares, no one wanted to be disturbed like this when they were this on edge. But the little girl didn't take notice of a single one of these glares, her gaze bouncing around without end, a bright light eventually flaring in her pupils.

"PAPA, that one! That one over there, Papa! Let's go, we have to go take a look at that one!"

Yao Xuelian tugged on Yao Jun's hand with both of hers, impatiently pulling him towards one of the blankets covered in scattered wares. Yao Jun relented since she showed more enthusiasm than previously, following her over to the impromptu stall run by a one-legged woman. Yao Xuelian quickly pointed to a certain item present on the blanket, moving her hand back and forth as if that would enhance the way she pointed.

"Excuse me, excuse me, what are those!"

The item that she was pointing at was a wooden box that house four identical bracelets, three pea-sized purple crystals inlaid into what seemed to be flexible leather made from dark green scales. The black-haired lady sitting on the other side of the carpet swept her eyes over Yao Jun and his entourage for a quick second before giving a very enthusiastic description of the items.

"You've got a good eye, little missus! These bracelets contain a little something known as Forget-Me-Not! It's a rather peculiar ore, you know! The ores exist in various shapes, but the moment you break up one such ore, each piece will be able to sense the others. If you bind a piece by inserting a bit of your blood and Qi, you can even make it so that the little piece is tied to you and will crumble when you die. It's popular among married couples or smaller sects since it's a good way to know whether or not someone is alive, it can even point you towards them should you get within a certain distance of each other. Sadly, the pieces I found are only this big, so these bracelets were the best I could do. What do you say, 50... no, 30 Spiritual Grade Spirit Stones, it's a steal!"

Yao Xuelian's eyes flashed brilliantly when she heard the description, but Little Gray and Zhuyin's eyes flashed with a slightly sharp light, both unleashing a very well-hidden burst of Qi. The shadow within Yao Jun's robes had started to move while the merchant described her wares, a hand sneaking out from the darkness and reaching for the place where you would usually carry your pouch.

But that hand was severed by a transparent line running through space, a burst of intense heat reducing the severed hand to ash. Yao Jun hadn't even bothered to move, nor did he bat an eyebrow when a pained screech rang out from someone hidden in the crowd a few hundred metres away.

The scream drew a bit of attention, but the person who had lost their hand had quickly scurried away so that they weren't caught so the minor interlude didn't kick up any further waves. Yao Xuelian's attention was placed on the bracelets anyway so she didn't even wait for the minor commotion caused by the scream to die down before she hurriedly handed over the price that the merchant asked for.

The woman accepted the payment with a smile and handed over the box with the four bracelets, Yao Xuelian bubbling with glee as she accepted it. Yao Jun glanced at her and the box as they walked away, slightly tilting his head as Yao Xuelian slid on one of the bracelets.

"You actually have money? I can't remember giving you any."

She was either within his God Gate or at his and Guo Luo's side so it wasn't like there had ever been any need for her to carry any sorts of funds, hence there had never been any need to give her anything. But Yao Xuelian seemed to misunderstand Yao Jun's question, puffing out her cheeks in an aggrieved manner as she defended herself.

"I didn't steal it! I worked for it! I helped do chores in Papa's castle!"

She held the box tightly against her chest with her elbow as she spoke, freeing up her other hand so that she could point at Zhuyin and Little Gray and have them serve as her proof. Yao Jun smirked a little at her actions, she looked so feisty and angry as she defended herself, but she refused to let go of his hand and instead held the box in an awkward manner to point with her other hand.

"Don't look so angry, Papa didn't suspect anything."

Yao Xuelian still kept her cheeks puffed out for a bit despite Yao Jun's assuring smile. But she quickly either let go of or forgot her anger, fishing out another one of the four bracelets and holding it up in front of Yao Jun, tip-toeing so that she could hold it as close to his face as possible.

"Here, here!"

Yao Jun accepted the bracelet, holding it between his fingers as he twirled it in front of his face, his pupils sliding down and gazing at the two remaining bracelets.

"So one of them is for me, is it. Let me guess, the third one is for mama?"

There was a fourth bracelet in the box, but Yao Jun couldn't think of anyone that his daughter might want to give it to so he didn't ask about it. Time would tell who she planned on giving the final bracelet to, but Yao Jun was looking forward to seeing which of his beast companions would be deemed her favourite and gifted the final bracelet. The answer to his question was quite obvious, but Yao Xuelian still responded with several energetic nods of her head, a sliver of concern appearing in her eyes.

"Yup Yup Yup! You have to promise to give it to Mama when you meet her again, that way you can sleep a bit easier when she isn't around."

Yao Jun's smile turned a touch wry as he looked at his daughter. He slid on the bracelet and then reached down, tapping her forehead a few times and making her giggle.

"You little rascal."

The group kept walking while chatting, Little Gray and the others smiling contently as they looked at Yao Jun interact with his daughter. Little Gray was especially happy, he was the one who had been with Yao Jun the second-longest so he knew how hard Yao Jun had fought over the years, he deserved this peace.

Yao Jun helped his daughter bind the bracelet with a bit of her blood and then bound his own bracelet, faint light flashing in the crystals for a second before vanishing. And once he sent in a bit of his Qi it became evident that the crystals truly did have the effect that the merchant spoke of, he could sense the presence of the three other bracelets.

Yao Xuelian smiled brightly as she played around with the bracelet, the box with the remaining two already put away for safekeeping. They continued to walk, Yao Xuelian occasionally spotting something that interested her and trying to drag Yao Jun over. But before long, they reached the building where you could register for the upcoming competition.

They entered the dome-like hall, which only contained two counters standing in front of two doors leading into other rooms. A small line had gathered in front of each counter, Yao Jun and the others dutifully lining up. Each person who reached the counter would spend a minute or two there and then be led into the door behind the counter, the person in charge of the counter returning after a few minutes without the other person, repeating the process.

Of course, with Yao Jun's senses, what actually happened in the other room was clearly visible to him so he wasn't worried about what would happen. It only took around an hour for his turn to come up, the woman behind the counter removing a palm-sized wooden plaque from her interspatial ring and placing it in front of Yao Jun, calmly and indifferently explaining the process.

"Hand over the required free and then drop some blood on here to bind the tool to you, it will keep track of you during the competition. If they are your followers then they don't need to register as well, but they can't gather points for you so there's no point in trying to cheat like that."

The woman was clearly used to this process, bored of it already even, but that was only to be expected when you considered how many times she had to repeat it. Yao Jun glanced at Little Gray and the others, questioning the ones currently in his God Gate at the same time, but they all shook their heads. He handed over the necessary fee for himself and dropped a bit of blood on the plaque, the woman nodding her head and forming a needle of Qi and placing it against the plaque so that she could engrave some things inside it.

"Alright, give us your name and the moniker you want to be displayed on the scoreboard, after that we'll head over to the testing area to determine your starting area."

This was the first time Yao Jun had heard about a competition where they actually wanted you to hand over your title at the same time, usually they would just ask for your name and let the public give you a title that they could force onto you after the competition was over. But if this competition had a scoreboard like the one he had gone through in his own universe then he guessed it was just there to add a bit more flair to things. It seemed a bit pointless so he was just going to ignore it, but Yao Xuelian called out in a loud voice to drown him out.

"Just Y..."

"The others said that Papa is Demon God Yao Jun!"

She called out with all her might so her voice echoed throughout the entire hall, drawing the attention of everyone present. Quite a few gazes were cast over, landing on Yao Xuelian and Yao Jun, seemingly examining him. The woman working on the plaque halted for a second, a thin smile forming on her face as she engraved the proper information.

"...The moniker certainly is intimidating."

She tried to subtly imply that the man holding the title wasn't as intimidating as the moniker, but Yao Jun couldn't even be bothered with what she thought. Whether or not he was intimidating was something that didn't need to be known by everyone, his enemies would know it well enough when the time came.

The woman finished engraving his name and title into the plaque and then brought him through the door behind her, the group entering an open room containing a single spatial array. The woman let go of the plaque, a bit of her Qi keeping it afloat in front of her as she explained what they would do next.

"We will test your defensive strength, offensive strength, and mental strength and use the results to determine exactly where you will start when the competition begins. It would be a shame if too many people die because they were sent to a place that's too dangerous for their skills after all."

She gave an appropriate reason for the tests, and for why they split them up based on their results, but Yao Jun guessed at a more likely reason. More dangerous places equalled better rewards, so those sent to those places would be the first to get the chance to acquire them and grow stronger. As for the weaker ones, they would just have to be content with the places they were sent and hope that they could catch up some time in the future. The strong grew stronger while the weak remained weak, it was a nice way to weed out the unworthy.

She didn't explain each test and instead moved straight onto asking which order he would like. But just as Yao Jun was about to respond, his daughter spoke up again, swinging her fists around energetically.

"Which order would you like the tests in?"

"It doesn't m..."

"It doesn't matter, Papa will crush all your tests with ease!"

The corner of the woman's mouth twitched slightly as Yao Xuelian waved her fists around, a truly strange person that would even bring along his daughter so carefreely had come to her. Yao Jun glanced at his grinning daughter, letting go of her hand and pushing her over to the crimson-haired Zhuyin.

"Alright, you go over to Aunty Zhuyin and be quiet for a bit."

Yao Xuelian obediently walked over and took hold of Zhuyin's hand, continuing to wave her other fist around in a silent cheer for her father. Yao Jun returned his gaze to the woman, who cleared her throat and decided on the order of the tests.

"We'll start with mental strength, defensive strength, and then do offensive strength then."

She didn't hesitate after deciding the order, swiping her interspatial ring and bringing out a ring that seemed to be made from murky crystal. She filled the ring with a bit of Qi, the ring floating up and radiating a strong surge of mental energy as a result. The mental energy tried to invade Yao Jun's mind to make him fall into an illusion, but he had both Little Gray and Xuhuan on his side so making him fall into an illusion was extremely hard.

Guo Luo was a separate case since she focused on external illusions, they didn't need you to fall for them or believe that they were real to have any effect. The ring continued to radiate the energy for a little over a minute, growing stronger for every 10 seconds that passed. But it still failed to show any results, the woman nodding her head as she engraved something into the plaque and caught the ring again.

"Wonderful mental strength, prepare your defences."

She put the ring away and brought out a metal pillar that was nearly two metres tall, several small holes lining the entire pillar. Yao Jun maintained his casual stance as he looked at the pillar, the woman raising an eyebrow in surprise. But she had done her part, so it wasn't her fault if he got hurt due to negligence.

She fuelled the pillar with her Qi, a thick arrow shooting out from one of the holes lining the pillar. The arrow whizzed through the air, but vanished just as it got close to Yao Jun. It didn't leave behind any trace, it simply seemed to vanish as it got close to him. The woman's brows furrowed at the sight, mainly since she didn't understand exactly what Yao Jun had done.

Yao Jun didn't have any intention of explaining anything, but he most certainly hadn't wasted the last few months. He had spent as much time as possible inside the Time-Altering Spire, not skimping on the Spirit Stones so that he could increase the flow of time as much as possible. Hunting Demonic beasts, training with his own Demonic beasts, and spending time with his family, he hadn't wasted a single second.

The pillar continued to shoot out arrows, each one stronger than the last. But each arrow vanished before they could touch Yao Jun, and it was only when the last arrow vanished that it left behind a single flake of pale ash, the only sign that showed what had happened to the other arrows. The woman's eyes followed the single flake of ash as it fell apart and scattered, her voice turning a bit more solemn as she regained herself.

"...Excellent defences. Please hit this item with your strongest attack, it will change colour based on exactly how much damage it suffers."

She put away the pillar and swiped her interspatial ring once more, bringing out a large chunk of crystal that was nearly a metre and a half tall and just as wide. She took a step back to give Yao Jun some space, engraving the results of the defence test in the plaque. Yao Jun tilted his head slightly at the crystal, but another loud shout rang out just as he was thinking about which attack to use.

"Break it, Papa! Smash it to bitties!"

His head turned and his pupils landed on the source of the shout, a jumping Yao Xuelian, her fist waving harder than ever before. Zhuyin smiled somewhat apologetically that she hadn't been able to stop her, but Yao Jun waved his hand so she wouldn't worry about it. Yao Xuelian noticed Yao Jun's gaze, her hops stopping and her head lowering slightly.

"...I'm sorry..."

Yao Jun found it hard to maintain his calm gaze as he looked at her, this little treasure of his really was one of his greatest weaknesses, everything she did touched his heart and made him smile. He turned his head away and stepped over to the crystal, stretching out his hand and placing three of his fingertips on it as he decided which attack to use.

His Qi surged out for a quick second as his attack was launched, and just as his daughter asked for, the crystal cracked and fell apart, crumbling into small pieces in front of him. The expression of the woman finally hardened immensely as she looked at the shattered crystal, her breathing stopping for a short moment.

Yao Jun might not know what it meant, but she knew exactly what sort of level an attack would have to reach for it to shatter this crystal, and it was a level that shouldn't have appeared on a planet as small as this. She quickly drew in a few sharp breaths and walked over, respectfully handing over the plaque she had just finished engraving the final result in.

"...I see. Please do not mind the crystal, we have multiple replacements. All the data has been recorded, please accept this and follow that spatial array over there to the final waiting area. The identity token will activate in about a month and bring you to the competition grounds, it also holds all the information you may need about the competition. I wish you good fortune."

Yao Jun accepted the wooden plaque with a nod and put it away, stretching out his left hand. Yao Xuelian immediately let go of Zhuyin's hand and rushed over to hold Yao Jun's hand, the group heading over to the spatial array and activating it, vanishing from the room. The woman remained standing there for a bit as she looked at the now empty spatial array. In that one instant where his Qi had flared out, she had been able to sense his actual cultivation level. And the fact that his actual cultivation level was revealed only made her all the more shocked at the result he had shown, a disbelieving and questioning mutter escaping her lips.

"Middle stage of the Earthly Deity realm, yet he managed to unleash things at that level... Perhaps a demon god truly has entered the competition this time around..."