The state of Dragon's Gate.

The 11 people tensed up and did their best to chase away the bone-chilling fear that started to invade their bodies. The red-haired and brown-eyed girl that seemed to be the leader of the group took half a step forward, grasping her saber so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"I am Sh..."

The girl, Shun Tengyi, didn't even get to finish her sentence before she saw the spear in Liang Chen's hand turn into a blur. One of the men behind her suddenly bent to the side so violently that the side of his head almost touched his foot, his body catapulted to the side and crashing into one of the broken buildings.

Shun Tengyi's words and breath caught in her throat as she threw a quick glance at the man, but it was already too late, he died the moment the spear made contact with his body, nearly all the bones in his body broken. That one attack was more than enough for Shun Tengyi to understand that they stood no chance of defeating the target, even if they were to all work together. With that being the case, she quickly put away her weapon and changed her strategy.

"Stop, we surrender! I know we don't exactly have the right to beg for mercy, but we'll tell you everything you want to know if you spare our lives!"

She was the captain of this group, each member here was hand-picked by her when they all first became part of the Dawn's Blade Alliance. She would probably be reprimanded and punished for acting this shameless and lowly, but she had to do everything in her power to protect the rest of her group.

Liang Chen threw a sideways glance at his spear, the maw-shaped head releasing a faint white mist after he unleashed his attack. Upon creating the weapon, he had learned that it would acquire new special abilities upon growing stronger by feeding on blood. He remembered Qian Liao using at least two special abilities, but his own spear currently only had a single special ability, the ability to drastically increase its own speed for a few seconds. Each activation required quite a bit of Qi, but he was very pleased with the effect it had produced. Liang Chen raised his eyes up from the spear, his cold gaze falling on the leader of the group and dashing all her hopes.

"Did you show mercy to these people when they surrendered? And don't worry about that information, you'll tell me everything whether you want to or not."

Liang Chen didn't care whether or not these people surrendered or not, they could be begging him on their knees and he would still kill them without mercy. They were exactly the kind of people he despised, the type of people he would kill no matter what. Shun Tengyi grit her teeth and pulled out her saber again, but her fingers suddenly stiffened as she tried to grasp it tightly.

The saber dropped to the ground with a loud clank, several more following it as the people behind her also became unable to grasp their weapons. Shun Tengyi wanted to move, but a tingling pain started to spread through her body as her muscles tightened up and became unable to move. She and her remaining men collapsed to the ground, their bodies almost completely stiff, their eyes wide open. Liang Chen put away his spear and sat down in front of Shun Tengyi, his eyes devoid of emotion as he placed the tip of his finger against her forehead.

"Works wonders, doesn't it? In small doses, the poison will only cause some numbness, dulling all pain, but larger doses will cause full muscle paralysis and leave you unable to move. Depending on the strength of the dose, your lungs and heart will quickly follow, they will simply become unable to function and stop. It's mostly painless, and that is the only mercy I will afford you. You, however, will have to wait a bit longer before dying."

Liang Chen knew this poison well, he used it on himself during most battles, numbing his sense of pain so that he could fight without pause. Shun Tengyi wanted to believe that Liang Chen was lying, but she could hear the number of breaths coming from behind her decreasing, hers being the only one left after only a few seconds.

Shun Tengyi didn't even have the time to grieve, another poison seeping into her soul from Liang Chen's finger. This poison was one of the few that Liang Chen had specifically made sure he had in his reservoir, the poison of the Fragile Heart Mushroom that he bought in the Storm Wolf sect. Its only effect was to take control of the minds of other living beings, it was something he had bought for moments just like this one.

Shun Tengyi's soul was too weak to resist the poison, and any minuscule resistance she might try to put up was quickly denied by the paralyzing poison that was nibbling at her heart and lungs, a constant threat and reminder. Her consciousness quickly drifted away, her eyes turning blurry and unfocused, Liang Chen starting to ask his questions.

"Answer my questions. Why did you kill the people in this city, why are you looking for me, and who are you working for?"

The man that Liang Chen had met before he entered the city, the one from the Ghost Soul sect, said that they had come for Liang Chen, but he wasn't certain if that was also the reason they killed everyone in this city, he hoped that it wasn't. But the somewhat slurred and slow response of Shun Tengyi shattered that hope, a knot forming in Liang Chen's stomach.

"We work for the Dawn's Blade Alliance and killed the people in the city because we were ordered to, our elders told us to flush you out using any means necessary. As to why we are looking for you, Senior Brother Wu Huan's new master, someone called the Sealing God Empyrean, ordered him to kill you no matter what before leaving the planet, he even sent over several other disciples to help him."

Liang Chen's eyes sharply narrowed, not only because it was confirmed that all of this had been because of him, but also because he heard a name he wasn't expecting to hear here. Sealing God Empyrean, the creator of the Mystic's Hidden Realm and an incredibly powerful cultivator. Liang Chen had an idea of why Sealing God might want him dead, but he wasn't 100% certain so he continued asking.

"Do you know why Sealing God Empyrean wants me dead, how were you able to kill so many without being stopped, and what other things have you and your people done to flush me out?"

Sealing God Empyrean had fought in the Genesis War long ago, it made sense that he might want Liang Chen dead if he somehow found out that he was actually a Sebettu. But that thought was currently thrown somewhat to the back of Liang Chen's mind, he was far more worried about what else these people had done to find him, especially considering how long he was gone. And once Shun Tengyi responded, his worst fears were confirmed.

"Senior Brother Wu Han might know, but we haven't been told why you must die, only that it is imperative that you die. We ourselves have only killed the people in this city, being able to do so thanks to the energy sealing array that has been set up around this entire planet. But I've heard that the other groups, supported by the other disciples of the Sealing God Empyrean, have been able to wipe out the Ghost Soul sect, wipe out most of the Storm Wolf sect, with only about 100 disciples remaining alive in captivity, wipe out 16 other cities belonging to the Storm Wolf sect, and have already kidnapped your sister and are planning on executing her in one year's time."

Liang Chen's heart and fists clenched at the same time, his emotions and energy roiling and seething out of control for a short instance. Shun Tengyi was right next to him so she was hit head-on by the seething energy, her soul disintegrating and her body crushed flat under the violent energy. Liang Chen quickly took several breaths, his eyes completely bloodshot as he did his best to calm himself, cursing quietly as he looked at the dead Shun Tengyi.

"Fuck, killed her before I could learn more."

Liang Chen's fingers drummed incessantly against the ground as his mind raced to think clearly. It was far worse than his worst nightmares, not only had they kidnapped his one remaining family member, they had also wiped out his sect, and Yan Ling's family in the process. Once Yan Ling learned that they had died because of him, how would he be able to face her, how would she look at him?

Liang Chen closed his eyes, his fists clenching so hard that his fingers dug into the earth. He took several more deep breaths, the seething energy in his body slowly calming down and returning to a normal, almost dormant state. His eyes were no longer bloodshot as he stood up, his gaze so calm and cold, so devoid of emotion, that it could only be described as terrifying. He turned his head towards the west, thinking back to the few times he had checked over the maps of this continent as he muttered to himself.

"Should be a city in that direction, there might be a group there, or someone who knows where they are. Someone's bound to know where I can find the rest of the groups, someone will let me know who I must kill."

--

While Liang Chen was heading towards the city closest to Eternal Stream city, there was movement within Green Rivers city, Liang Chen's old home. The golden-eyed and orange-haired Yu Jiang was sitting within the largest mansion of the city, resting in a chair draped with the silky fur of what was once a mighty Demonic beast living at the very peak of the mountain standing at the center of Sky Piercer forest. He was fiddling with a pure white orb made from a strange metal, his pupils moving around as his mind raced. He eventually let out a sigh and sent some of his Qi into the orb, which was supposed to only be used in emergencies, sending a message directly to his Venerable Master.

"Venerable Master, this is Disciple Yu Jiang, a change has happened during our mission. Two people just arrived on the planet, but your great array was unable to place a seal on them so we can't track them. I humbly request that you grace us with your wisdom in how to act."

Yu Jiang knew what the array covering this planet did, it sealed the bloodline and Qi of any being that didn't have an Origin Beast bloodline. Finding just one such person was hard, but now two such beings had arrived on the planet, there was no way that Yu Jiang could avoid being somewhat worried in a situation like this. He expected the response to come in a few days, but to his surprise, the deep and powerful voice of his Venerable Master appeared in his mind almost instantly.

"Two people... One of them should be that Liang Chen, only by fleeing the planet should he have been able to hide for so long. The other one should be the missing woman from the Storm Wolf sect, that Yan Ling. But for her to have an Origin Beast bloodline... She must have somehow managed to awaken her ancestor's bloodline, truly marvelous."

Yu Jiang noticed that while the voice of his master was as deep as always, it actually contained faint notes of tiredness and weakness, something he had never heard before. He pressed his previous question a bit further, but also made sure to ask about what his master had just said.

"Venerable Master, you didn't have to respond so quickly if you are still tired after your meeting with the Nine Star Demon God, you could have finished absorbing the blood of the Dark God first. Also, how are you so certain that the two that arrived are Liang Chen and Yan Ling, do they really have Origin Beast blood in them?"

Yu Jiang knew that his master had gone to visit the Nine Star Demon God to ask for some blood so that he could increase his chances of completing his breakthrough, so he assumed that it was the stress of the meeting that tired him out. But the Sealing God Empyrean shot down that thought with a drawn-out sigh.

"Finish absorbing the blood? To do that, I first need to get my hand on some. Really, I heard that he's somewhat unreasonable and protective, but for him to be so excessive as to just tear it straight off the moment I asked for a few liters of blood? Had it not been for the Nightmare Queen, I fear that he might have torn off both at once, maybe even my legs."

The Sealing God Empyrean still shuddered slightly as he thought back to the scene. His arm was gone before he even had the time to blink, only a jagged stump remaining, it truly was an experience that drilled the difference between him and a Universal Heart into his mind. The Sealing God Empyrean didn't give Yu Jiang any time to stay shocked, continuing to talk.

"As for how I'm so certain, it's because I know that Liang Chen carries the bloodline of an Origin Beast. He interacted with the corpse of Shuten Yimo, even rousing the remnants of his soul enough to awaken it. There are signs in the area that the remnants of Shuten Yimo's soul helped awaken the bloodline within Liang Chen, something I only managed to notice when I peeked into the area to check up on my new honorary disciple. There is no doubt about it, Liang Chen is one of the detestable Sebettu, and one with an exceedingly pure bloodline, he's probably a time-shifted one. I don't know the exact purity of his bloodline, but the longer he lives, the greater the chances are of the Sebettu rising again, he must die."

The Sealing God Empyrean's voice dripped with such hatred that Yu Jiang felt his spine grow cold, his heartbeat turning so erratic that his chest started to hurt. The Sealing God Empyrean quickly reigned in his emotions and continued to talk, telling Yu Jiang what to do next.

"As for that Yan Ling, her ancestor has a bit of the Star God's bloodline. For her to reject the array, she must have skipped over the Sky Wolf part of the bloodline and directly awakened the Star God bloodline, I just don't know exactly how. You can try to contact this Yan Ling to bring her over to our side, but if she is adamant about staying with Liang Chen, you can either kill her and harvest her bloodline, or capture her alive and bring her to me, her bloodline should be good enough to help me with my breakthrough, or I can trade it for some more suitable resources. Now then, I heard you've captured Liang Chen's sister? Execute her. Make it public, declare it to any location where he might be, lure him out and make him watch as you kill her. They took everything from me, so I will take everything from them and then kill them, they should not exist within this multiverse."

The Sealing God Empyrean cut off any further contact before his rage could influence Yu Jiang again, but Yu Jiang still felt cold sweat pour down his back, his chest so tight that breathing was hard. He took several breaths to loosen up his chest, standing up from the comfortable chair and placing away the white orb. His Venerable Master had given an order, now it was time to execute it.