228 The castle beneath the waves.

The Hydra couldn't help but be caught off-guard by Yao Jun's statement, his eyes opening wide as he looked at Yao Jun with surprise. He looked him up and down with a dubious gaze, as if he was trying to see what was wrong with him, before speaking up in a somewhat hesitant voice.

"You wish for me to follow you? You do know that I am far weaker than you, right? There is nothing I can do for you."

It hurt his pride to say it, but he was indeed far weaker than Yao Jun right now. He had been stuck in this lake for many years already, there were simply no resources he could use here to increase his strength, he had been stuck in his three-headed state for several hundred years already. Yao Jun didn't deny the words of the Hydra, nodding his head.

"Aye, there is nothing you can do for me, right now that is. But what if you get to evolve a few more times? Follow me and I will let you evolve to a stage no Hydra has ever evolved to before, all I ask for in return is that you lend me your strength and help me crush all my enemies. I will help you reach the peak of all Hydras, but in turn, you will help me reach the peak of all cultivators."

A Hydra was a special type of Demonic beast. It started as one of the weakest Demonic beasts, but it could grow and evolve almost indefinitely. It could grow from one of the weakest Demonic beasts to a monster stronger than many Divine beasts, provided it was given enough time and resources. The reason the Hydra had such a trait, which could almost be called unfair, was because of how special its evolution was.

When a Hydra grew nine heads, it could choose to sacrifice all but one of its heads, absorbing them into its body to evolve a step further. This would lower its strength dramatically, but it could then start growing more heads again, eventually reaching nine heads once more. Each new head would increase its strength by quite a bit more than before its previous evolution, and it could repeat this process into perpetuity as long as it had access to resources and time.

Because of this, Hydras were known to be either peasants or emperors, but never anything in-between. But this extraordinary trait meant that Hydras were both very feared and very desired, countless cultivators trying to track them down to turn into pets. And if they couldn't be turned into pets, they were killed in an attempt to prevent them from becoming too strong.

In the past, Yao Jun had read that Hydras were extinct on this planet, but it wasn't just this planet. Hydras, especially wild and untamed Hydras, were very rare all over the universe. Their special trait made it so that they could practically be called heaven's favored sons, but it also caused them to experience widespread hunting and culling.

The Hydra continued to inspect Yao Jun for a bit after hearing his words, observing his eyes and mannerism to determine if his words were the truth. After observing Yao Jun for a bit, and seeing how clear his eyes were, he nodded his three heads. The Hydra climbed out of the lake and onto the shore, his 30-meter long lizard body and his shark-like tail put on full display.

His claws sank deep into the ground, the light reflecting off his deep blue scales and creating a rather stunning sight in the clearing. He positioned himself in front of Yao Jun, lowering all three of his heads so that they were touching the ground.

"Very well, I will believe those words, oh you future god of demons. Allow this nameless servant to follow you in the future and give his strength to you. If there are any who dare oppose you, I will drag their entire planets into a wet grave."

Yao Jun had removed the technique that hid the energy of his God Gate, so as a Demonic beast, this Hydra knew just what Yao Jun was destined to become if he wasn't killed early. He could also see that Yao Jun's words of helping him evolve were true, so he agreed to follow him. Yao Jun placed his hand on top of the middle head, speaking to him in a calm voice.

"I am Yao Jun, and I have no nameless servants following me, only friends who help me move forward. Since you have no name, let me give you one. In the future, you will be the Deep-Sea King, Yong Bo."

A light shot out from Yao Jun's chest after his words sounded out, surrounding the Hydra, Yong Bo, and absorbing him into Yao Jun's God Gate. Yong Bo was weaker than Yao Jun, so there was no increase to Yao Jun's strength. But after absorbing him, Yao Jun could now clearly feel the existence of the law of water. He felt like he would be able to gather all the moisture in the surroundings with just a wave of his hand, condensing it into a tiny droplet in front of him.

Yao Jun didn't even have to enter his God Gate to be able to tell that it was changing, the inside growing a bit larger as a vast ocean was born. The inside of his God Gate grew each time he absorbed a new Demonic beast or whenever his strength grew, with the increase in size being larger based on his current strength. Yao Jun could feel that with the addition of Yong Bo's ocean, the inside of his God Gate had now grown so large that it was even a little larger than this planet.

Yao Jun wondered if there was a limit to how large the inside of his God Gate could grow, could it become as large as this entire universe, or maybe even larger? Only time would be able to tell, so he temporarily put the thought away. He told Sirius and the others about Yong Bo, letting them know that he would send him over to them once Yong Bo grew strong enough to take on human form. There were countless corpses and their interspatial rings stored inside Yao Jun's God Gate, so there were plenty of things for Yong Bo to feast on to quickly increase his strength.

After finishing his business here, Yao Jun once again connected his mind with the token that controlled this tower, vanishing in a flash of white light. The place he appeared next was a large and empty hall where the entire floor was covered in a red carpet. Unadorned marble pillars lined the wall and held up the ceiling, protecting the lone coffin that stood at the center of the hall. The coffin was made using a type of strange obsidian stone that Yao Jun had yet to see anywhere else, there were no decorations on the coffin, only the words Nine Heavens Sword Empyrean carved onto the lid. Yao Jun stepped in front of the coffin and gave it a slight bow.

"Forgive me for entering here once again, Senior Heng Jiang. But before I left last time you said I could take whatever I need, so I will be doing just that. Also, I wasn't the one who did it, but someone very dear to me has fulfilled your ambition, the seal on this planet is no more."

Sword Empyrean Heng Jiang only had two wishes for Yao Jun, one was that he remove the seal on this planet if he wanted to, and the second was that he remembered his name. Yao Jun still remembered his name, and the seal on this planet had been removed by Yun Yantian and Guo Luo, so both of Heng Jiang's wishes could be considered fulfilled.

Yao Jun placed his hand against his chest and then slowly pulled it away, a green jade token engraved with a sword floating out of his chest and floating in front of his hand. This was the token Heng Jiang had given Yao Jun before he left, it was also the key to controlling this entire tower, something Yao Jun had only learned after using it to enter the tower once more.

The token flew forward on its own, sinking into the black coffin in front of Yao Jun, causing small runes to cover the entire coffin as it turned transparent, revealing that it only contained a thin layer of ash, all that remained of Heng Jiang. The runes gave off a blinding light, shrouding the entire hall in a green light that connected Yao Jun to the entire tower, giving him full control of it.

Yao Jun could inspect every inch of the tower at the same time, he could even move around any living being inside it as he wished, re-organizing it as he wished. He gave the entire tower a quick sweep, ending up somewhat disappointed when the contents of the tower were fairly low-level, not even worth a second glance. Everything of value that Heng Jiang owned had probably been taken by the people who killed him, Heng Jiang might even have used them going through his items as a chance to escape so that he could set up this tower for the future generations.

Yao Jun quickly threw away his disappointment, he hadn't picked up this tower in hopes that there was anything of value in it, the tower wasn't even for him. He waited for the green light to vanish and then gave the now transparent coffin another bow, showing his respect before vanishing from the tower in a flash of light.

He appeared in front of the tower, a cool breeze blowing through the night. He stretched out his arm, the entire tower trembling slightly before suddenly shrinking and becoming so small that it fit in his palm. After shrinking it, he sent the tower into his God Gate.

After sending the tower into his God Gate, he opened an entrance to the God Gate right next to Little Gray, who was currently on the flying ship that was heading away from this planet. As the controller of the God Gate, he could open an entrance to it wherever any of his Demonic beasts were, making it very easy for him to send them resources whenever he found them.

He sent Little Gray the tower and handed him the rights to control it, allowing them to use it as they saw fit. With this, they would have a place where they could live while traveling through the universe. If they chose to accept more people as subordinates while traveling, they could also live within the tower, turning it into a headquarter of sorts.

After sending away the tower, Yao Jun stepped through space and vanished from the area, people already starting to gather to investigate what had happened to the tower. The place Yao Jun appeared again was at the edge of the continent, at the end of a tall cliff that turned into a vertical drop directly into the ocean. He swept the ocean with a quick glance, sending out a quick scan using his law of space, and then sat down on the ground and started waiting.

He didn't have to wait for too long, the ocean below the cliff starting to seethe and roil after around half an hour of waiting. The water rose up, turning into the head of a massive Kraken, its hide such a deep blue that it was nearly black. The entire head was covered in massive blue eyes, each eye stretching at least a few hundred meters in each direction. Just looking at the small part he could see, Yao Jun guessed that this Kraken was just as large as the turtle-like Demonic beast he had met once before on this planet. It also radiated the same terrifying pressure as the turtle, but it wasn't as unbearable as it had been back then. The Kraken looked at Yao Jun' with all its eyes, its surprisingly soft and feminine voice ringing out within his mind.

"Why have you called for me, oh you fragmented demon god? If you have come to ask me about that ancient agreement, you need to know that we are forbidden from speaking about that agreement to you fragments. Only if you manage to become whole are we allowed to speak of it."

This wasn't the first time Yao Jun had heard about this 'ancient agreement'. Back when he first met the turtle-like monster it had also mentioned this agreement, saying that it was forbidden from touching him because of the agreement. Yao Jun was curious about this agreement, but learning more about it wasn't his current goal.

"While I am curious about this agreement, it's not my current goal. There's a large castle located at the bottom of this ocean, I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

There were five things on this planet that had been able to block out Yao Jun's space-based scouting technique, and the castle on the bottom of the ocean had been one of them. The other four were Heng Jiang's tower, this Kraken, the turtle-like monster, and a bird-like shape located in the Cloud Wilderness. He couldn't feel any danger from the castle, but he wanted to at least see if he could learn a bit more about it before checking it out. The eyes of the Kraken turned a bit surprised when it heard Yao Jun's goal. Its voice rang out in his mind again, but the way it spoke seemed a bit strange, a mixture between questioning its own words and talking to itself.

"You are interested in that castle? Well, it's not entirely unrelated to you, so I guess you would be interested in it. You might not be able to do anything down there, but they aren't able to harm you either, not with your strength. He might even be willing to talk with you, he has been in a rather good mood lately after all. Who knows, you might even get to learn a few things from him, you do have a right to know those things after all. I can't tell you much about the castle, as the castle is part of the ancient agreement, but I can tell you that there is no chance of you being harmed down there. If you wish to learn a bit more about that fragment of yours, I suggest you head down there."

After it finished speaking, the Kraken simply dissolved, becoming one with the water of the ocean and vanishing, re-appearing several thousands of kilometers away. Yao Jun didn't move just yet, going over what he had just heard. The castle was connected to his God Gate, and whoever was inside it could tell him more about his God Gate. Yao Jun was very curious about his God Gate, so he was very interested in learning more about it. He spent a bit more time thinking, but then made up his mind.

He stood up and stepped forward, vanishing through space as he teleported away. He appeared underwater, a few kilometers away from the massive castle that stood at the bottom. The castle spanned several tens of kilometers and was surrounded by a myriad of towers and spires, every inch of the castle built using a strange blue stone that gave off a faint glow.

There were quite a few people moving around outside the castle, but they didn't look human. They were humanoid, but were covered in blue scales, webbing between their fingers, and had gills on their necks. They resembled more feral versions of the Primordial Sea clan that Yao Jun had met before.

Yao Jun didn't move closer to the castle immediately, spending a bit of time observing it from the distance first. He was discovered by the scaled people moving around the castle, but no one tried to approach him, giving him plenty of time to investigate the castle. He investigated the castle for a little over two hours, making completely sure that there wasn't a single place that felt off or dangerous.

Just as he was about to move forward and check out the castle from even closer, the two wooden doors to the castle opened, a black-robed man stepping forward. The man didn't have a head, only a mass of black smoke where his head should be. He turned his body towards the distant Yao Jun, giving a polite and graceful bow as he spoke out in a loud voice.

"Young demon god, my master is thrilled that you have come to visit. If you would please follow me, he will answer your questions."

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed slightly, but he still slowly made his way forward. He moved slowly, making sure to keep a vigilant eye on his surroundings, only continuing to move forward when he was assured that there was no danger. He still couldn't feel any danger from the castle, not even when he was right in front of the gates. The headless man waited patiently, beckoning for Yao Jun to follow him. Yao Jun stopped in front of the gates for a short moment, but in the end, he stepped into the castle and followed the headless man down the hall, it was time for him to learn more about his God Gate.