Face to face.

Yao Jun wasn't quite sure where the waiting area they were being sent to was, but he had been prepared for a rather bumpy teleportation that might last for at least a few minutes. But contrary to what he expected, the fluctuations in the surrounding space only lasted for a handful of seconds before they started to fade, a dry breeze blowing past Yao Jun and his group.

The place they had arrived in could only be described as a wasteland, the earth so dry and dusty that it was covered in fine cracks. The few yellow strands of grass that struggled to survive didn't even manage to reach halfway up Yao Jun's heel. Narrow and towering buildings were scattered throughout the land quite densely, a few wider buildings interspersed among them.

But just like the land, the buildings had fallen into ruin, and had probably been like that for an untold number of years already. All of them had large chunks gouged out of them, most of the buildings so damaged that they had collapsed and crashed into each other. It was far from the image one would usually get when they enter a place known as a waiting area, but Yao Jun only had to stretch out his senses a bit to figure out why it was like that.

"So even the waiting area serves as a sort of test, they really should just stop trying to put on a false front with their words... Little Lan, it's about time for you to head back, otherwise Lin Shuyen and Tang Long might get lazy and skimp out on their training."

Yao Jun silently muttered the first part to himself after taking in the surroundings, but the rest of his sentence was directed at Yao Xuelian with a small smile. But Yao Xuelian seemed to have already gotten used to his tricks and lies, puffing out her cheeks to look angry.

"Hmph, Papa is definitely lying and only saying that because he thinks it's dangerous."

Yao Jun's smile cramped for a second as his daughter puffed out her cheeks, mainly because she had hit the nail right on the head. Stretching out his senses had allowed him to see that there were currently four battles taking place within the surrounding three hundred or so kilometres, and more and more people were arriving in the ruined city with each passing second so the number of people fighting would only increase.

Yao Xuelian was miffed that her father was planning on sending her away the moment he spotted the slightest trace of danger, but it was hard for her to actually be angry at him. Of course, whether or not she was really angry didn't matter, what mattered was that she had to at least put on a show of being angered so that her stubborn father would learn a lesson.

"Hmph, I won't forgive a lying Papa. Please follow me away from the bad man."

She let go of his hands, her cheeks still puffed out, and grabbed onto the hands of Shan Zhu and Zhuyin, rebelliously turning her head away. The two women smiled bitterly at Yao Xuelian's actions, she would definitely have them accompany her in her upcoming protest against Yao Jun's stubbornness.

Yao Jun flashed the two a slightly apologetic smile and then drew the three people into his God Gate while silently making a mental note that he would let the two women out for as long as they wanted when Yao Xuelian was done with her protest. Two of his three companions had been forced to leave so that meant there was an opening for two new ones to take their place.

And just as he expected, two lights flashed out from his chest shortly after Zhuyin and the others were forced away. He didn't know if the two of them used their seniority to decide that they would be next, but the two that showed up were the human-formed Sirius and Ba-Shei.

Sirius was slightly taller and had clear blue eyes and hair that was a rather deep shade of gray. Ba-Shei had silky black hair that was as black as his scales and his eyes remained in the same amber colour. His mouth didn't open in three directions since he was in human form, but he had a scar-like line going from his lower lip to his throat in the same place where his lower maw would usually split. Yao Jun waved his hand to stop the two just as they were about to kneel, his gaze roaming across his three companions.

"So it's the four of us now... Been a while since that was last the case, almost makes me nostalgic. We're only missing one more and it would really be like it was back in the days..."

Little Gray, Sirius, and Ba-Shei, they were three of his first four Demonic beasts and had been with him for quite some time. The only one that had been with him for longer was Little Thunder, but until they found out if they could revive him or not, there would always be a hole in the group. Yao Jun shook his head to discard the thoughts, letting out a slightly long breath as he beckoned towards the distance with his chin.

"Let's go in that direction, there's no point in meeting with a person like him again."

Yao Jun didn't specify who he was talking about but Sirius and the others didn't ask about it, their senses had probably picked up the same person. The group of four moved away from the spatial array without a concrete target in mind, the plaque would activate in a months time and send them away so they just had to pass the time until then.

It wouldn't have been a terrible idea to just find a place where they could settle down and quietly cultivate or converse while waiting for the appointed day. But whether it was fate playing him for a fool or just an honest coincidence, the specific area he was sent to prevented Yao Jun and his group from doing so.

It wasn't too long after they started walking that they had to stop again. He kept his senses stretched out at all times so he had noticed the various groups scattered around the area, but what he hadn't expected was for several of those groups to suddenly move in his direction, surrounding his group after only a few minutes.

They kept a certain distance from him, but the moment he tried to step forward they would hurriedly move closer to stop him. He could guess what their intentions were, his disinterested eyes sweeping over the group and sending a shiver down their spines.

"Quite a few of you, huh? Seeing as you're blocking my path like this, you're working for him?"

The people surrounding him seemed to come from several different clans and sects, and he guessed that several of them probably weren't even all from the same dominion. Yet they had all come to block his path like this, so he had to admit that he had underestimated how far the hands of the Lang clan reached. The men surrounding him didn't respond, but a somewhat triumphant voice that shouldn't have reached them yet came from his left

"I wouldn't say that they're working for me, more like they wanted to do me a favour."

Yao Jun casually turned his head and gazed upon the youth that had appeared a few tens of metres to his side. Lang Haoye was still wearing the same overly-luxurious robes he had been wearing when Yao Jun first same him as he went to meet the Soul-Fang Emperor, but his hair was neatly combed to the side this time and his eyes carried a more arrogant than sharp look.

Yao Jun had noticed him the moment he stretched out his senses, he really hadn't expected to end up in the same place as him despite registering in a different dominion. From this it could be seen that the waiting area was probably universal and not tied to any dominion, but even so, the odds of ending up in the same place as him should be truly small.

He was still quite a distance away when Yao Jun's group was stopped by the others so he shouldn't have reached them this quickly. But Yao Jun's gaze sank downwards and landed on a bracelet that Lang Haoye was wearing, a faintly glowing bracelet that was now covered in cracks.

"A spatial-aligned treasure, huh? I'm warning you, I don't really feel like wasting time listening to you prattle or try to show off your clan's authority."

Of the surrounding people, seven had reached the early-stage of the Heavenly Deity realm, two had reached the middle-stage, and one had even reached the late-stage. But even so, Yao Jun's expression didn't change, nor did Little Gray and the others look worried. Lang Haoye had evidently grown more confident since they last met, practically sticking his nose up with a sneer.

"I'm not trying to waste your time, Yao Jun, but it's not like your time is worth that much after all, isn't that right? You really had me fooled back then, swaggering around so grandly and looking so disdainfully at everything else. But the only ties you actually have are with the Pan clan, man you really made me feel dumb, it's to the point where it feels like a waste to have used all those resources."

Yao Jun raised an eyebrow at all the information that Lang Haoye spouted, it seemed like he had made the Lang clan do a rather thorough investigation after their last meeting. But that raised eyebrow was the only reaction he got out of Yao Jun, Lang Haoye's tone lowering slightly as Yao Jun pushed him on.

"You seemed to have dug down quite deeply. But didn't I warn you about wasting my time?"

"...Still acting all grandly, it's quite irksome. I want the blood from back then, and if you don't have it then I want something of equal value from a different Divine Beast. It's only fair, you made us miss out on an extremely crucial deal."

His elder brother had said that he shouldn't be bothered about it, but Lang Haoye knew how important that deal really was. His brother's chances in this competition would have been leagues better if he could have bought that weapon, but that excellent chance had been perfectly ruined by Yao Jun.

Yao Jun wasn't sure if he should laugh or be dumbfounded by Lang Haoye's request. He had interacted with quite a few people in his life, he had even interacted with some of the largest clans in his own universe, but he had rarely met someone with a mindset as nonsensical as Lang Haoye.

"Only fair? Your position has really made your brain rot, what a waste of time."

He had been entertaining Lang Haoye this long because of his backing, it was the same during their last meeting. But if this was how Lang Haoye wanted to act then Yao Jun had no intention of accompanying him so he shook his head and started to walk forward after he finished talking. Lang Haoye reacted in much the same manner as their first meeting, but Yao Jun had no intention of accepting it this time, especially when the surrounding people drew out their weapons.

"Don't ignore me! Stop right th...!"

"Just kill them, it seems to be the only language understood in places like this."

Yao Jun had shown mercy once, and that alone was already something that others would find extremely shocking, there would be no second time. Ba-Shei and the others immediately sprung into action, Lang Haoye's shadow springing to life and surrounding him like an iron maiden.

But all the hairs on Yao Jun's body stood up in alarm just as the shadow was about to constrict, his pupils shrinking until they were barely visible. All his energy burst forth at once as he drew upon every ounce of strength he could muster, he even activated his Crumbling The Nine Heavens and drew upon the power of as many of his beasts as he could.

And in that peak state of his, he spun around and slammed down the glaive that had appeared in his grasp. The curved blade of the glaive collided with a single arrow, an ear-piercing screeching sound tearing through the area due to the collision.

Space around the two weapons distorted violently, cracks spreading out on both the ground and in space itself as sharp shards of shattered space were flung through the air. Yao Jun's entire arm felt numb as his feet left the ground, the impact of the collision sending him flying back with the taste of blood in his mouth.

But he didn't forget to retaliate, the cracks present in the surrounding space suddenly erupting with a terrible heat as black flames gushed forth like lava. The black flames that were a fusion of fire, darkness, and space did just as Yao Jun had made them to do, they ate up everything around them and grew unceasingly.

The earth, the closest cultivators, the wind, everything was blotted out by black flames while Yao Jun was still flying back, the roaring of the fire even drowning out the screams of those hit by them. Sirius and the others met up with Yao Jun just as his feet touched the earth again, his expression darkening as he gazed at his front.

"I really don't like unpleasant surprises like this."

The roaring of the flames died out shortly after he spoke out, the fire flickering strangely before it started to shrink. The flames quickly vanished, the cracks in space already gone thanks to the natural repairing that fractured space always did. Standing on the other side of the area that was just ravaged by flames was a young man with silver hair flowing down his back, his yellow eyes looking somewhat exasperated as he locked eyes with Yao Jun.

"I believe that makes two of us, it is much nicer when things go according to plan. Of course, the deal I was aiming for with that Divine Beast blood was the same."

Yao Jun had already made some guesses, but the words of the youth confirmed his identity. Lang Tian Kong, another young master of the Lang clan, but one with a much higher status than Lang Haoye. He also happened to be Lang Haoye's elder brother. Yao Jun rolled his shoulder slightly to get rid of the numb sensation, his eyes narrowing faintly as he looked at Lang Kong.

"Heh, so you've also been angered so much by something so small?"

Yao Jun didn't actually care much about Lang Kong's answer, it was mostly just a bid to buy time while his mind raced. He didn't have much information about Lang Kong's strength, he hadn't really worked on investigating him since he didn't expect the two of them to have too many interactions.

But he could tell a few things from just this first meeting, the first was that he couldn't sense Lang Kong. There was no trace of him even when he sharpened his senses to the limit, which meant that it would be hard for him to know if Lang Kong was sneaking up on him.

The second thing he could tell was that Lang Kong was definitely extremely strong, just a single arrow like that had made Yao Jun's entire arm numb. After his Divine Hunt and the training he did during it, Yao Jun was honestly confident that he could hold his own against a late-stage Heavenly Deity. If he brought out some of his stronger cards he was even confident that he could kill such an existence.

But if he was asked right now if he could deal with Lang Kong, he would be hard-pressed to nod his head. He couldn't sense him so he couldn't tell his cultivation level, but his instincts and the sense of danger he felt from Lang Kong made him fairly confident that he had already entered the Sovereign God realm, he was already a Godking.

As such, it was a troublesome situation where he had to carefully think about his next step so that his daughter that was hiding inside his God Gate didn't get involved. He also had to make sure that Sirius and the others didn't die, but it luckily seemed like Lang Kong wasn't in a hurry to start a brawl.

"Not at all. Things won't always go your way so it's important that you're able to let go of things and move on. I have nothing to say about you getting that blood instead of me, but I do have to say something about you trying to kill my younger brother, even humiliating him when you first met. That, you must surely understand, right?"

It was a very simple reason, and that was also what made it irrefutable. It didn't matter if Lang Haoye was the one who did the antagonizing or started the attack, he was Lang Kong's younger brother so he would do everything he could to protect him. Yao Jun himself was very familiar with that reason since it was one that was extremely dear to him, so he simply clicked his tongue.

"Really poor coincidences, meeting him like this not just once but twice."

That was really the only thing he could say about this situation, that he had terrible luck when it came to coincidences. Not only had he gone to meet the Soul-Fang Emperor when Lang Haoye was there, but they also ended up meeting again here of all places.

Of course, Lang Haoye had waited in the same city as the sealed beast for four years already, and Yao Jun didn't know about the peculiarity of this waiting area so the coincidences weren't as random as they were at first glance. Lang Kong didn't make a move to attack, even putting away his bow while chatting calmly with Yao Jun.

"Do you know what we call coincidences stacked on top of each other? Destiny. So rather than poor coincidences, perhaps you just have a sub-par destiny."

Lang Kong gave a light wave of his hand as he spoke, Lang Haoye getting dragged over to him in a rather crude manner that ended up with him falling on his behind just as he reached Lang Kong. He placed one hand on top of Lang Haoye's head, waving the other in a gesture to show that Yao Jun could leave. Yao Jun's eyes narrowed even further as he saw this, but it was the optimal outcome so he knew that it would be foolish to not take advantage of it.

"Don't worry about that, I've already done my fair share of fighting against destiny, this won't be any different."

Space around him and his group warped as he spoke, Yao Jun and the others vanishing from the area while feeling rather mortified. Lang Kong didn't make any moves to chase them and simply smiled at the other people around them, silently gesturing for them that it was about time to leave. They hurriedly did, leaving only the two Lang brothers, the younger one immediately standing up and questioning his brother.

"Why didn't you stop him, Elder Brother! It probably would have only taken a little more pushing and we could have gotten something!"

Lang Haoye wasn't entirely sure exactly what realm Yao Jun's strength had reached, but there was no way he would be able to contend with his elder brother so things would have gone in their favour quite quickly. But the only answer he got to his questioning was a quick slap to the back of the head and some low curses from Lang Kong.

"You're an idiot, a bumbling fool. You're a member of the great Lang clan, act like it and stop sinking to petty lows like this!"

Lang Haoye clutched the back of his head not in pain but in shock. He had expected some reprimanding from his brother due to his actions, but he hadn't expected it to be anywhere close to this. Lang Kong could tell how shocked Lang Haoye was so he did something he rarely did, he sighed.

"Haah. He's an Authority holder, and from the reaction I got, I would say that he houses the core part of the authority, maybe even multiple core parts. He seems to only be at the middle-stage of the Earthly Deity realm, but he not only managed to block my attack unharmed, but he also fills me with a terrible sense of dread. If we actually were to fight here and now then I estimate that my odds of actually making him stay here are only about 20%. He's dangerous, very dangerous, and in time he will definitely become even stronger and all the more dangerous. And you've formed enmity with such a person because you've gotten downright drunk on authority. Tell me, did he look like someone who would show mercy because of your backing?"

That was the honest impression that Lang Kong had of Yao Jun, a dreadful and dangerous man. The worst part was that this sensation felt instinctual, it was simply his senses flaring him a warning signal about the thing in front of him. It was like a calf staring at a tiger, it wouldn't know why the incoming being was dangerous, it would just know thanks to its instincts.

Lang Haoye paled slightly as Lang Kong explained, he knew that everyone who could make his elder brother feel something like that was indeed extremely dangerous. And the fact that he was an Authority holder also made things worse, Authorities were extremely rare and dangerous. It was to the point where the entire dominion they belonged to only had three Authority holders, his brother being one of them.

Lang Kong saw that his brother seemed to realize something, but he knew that he hadn't grasped the full picture yet so he sighed once more.

"Haah, you've really made things needlessly difficult. You'll end up in the same location as me once the competition starts, but there is no way I can bring you to the places I'll be going, you'd just die. And since he was sent to this section of the waiting area, he'll also be sent to the same general location as me. What do you think will happen if you encounter him while I'm in a different place, what sort of end do you think you'll meet then?"

Lang Haoye hadn't entered the competition on his own but as a follower of his brother, this would guarantee that he started the competition in a place where he could gather some good resources with the help of his brother. But since Yao Jun had been sent here, to the section of the waiting area where only people of a certain level of strength could be sent, it also meant that he would be sent to the same general area as Lang Haoye and Lang Kong, severely endangering Lang Haoye's life.

It was only now that Lang Haoye realized that things weren't as good as he first envisioned them, and that he might have taken things a bit too far. His face paled a bit further, his knees buckling as he dropped into a kneeling position.

"Elder...Brother, I know that I was wrong... please help me."

Lang Kong looked down at his brother and felt his head aching, his hands rubbing his temples in exasperation.

"Of course I'll help you, you already knew that when you decided to antagonize him further. You're a bit of a disappointment at times, but you are still my brother so there is no way I will just let you be killed, any threat to your life must be dealt with swiftly."

He spoiled his brother, Lang Kong was extremely aware of that. But even so, he just couldn't help himself, Lang Haoye was his only brother so how could he not treasure him dearly? He continued to rub his temples for a bit as his thoughts moved, a sharp light eventually flashing in his eyes.

"Keep prodding him with people, just drown him in attackers, there's plenty of people that will accept our offer. I don't imagine that they'll be able to kill him, but we can observe him and test the limits of his power and his authority. If worst comes to worst then I'll have to use one of the trump cards, but he cannot be allowed to enter the competition, you'll die if he does."

Yao Jun would not allow any threats to his family to exist, they would be exterminated posthaste so that he could breathe a bit easier. But Lang Kong was the same, so the moment Yao Jun showed his killing intent it became impossible to reach a peaceful conclusion.