Thousand-Arms Tomb.

Yao Jun and the others saw no point in wasting any time since they had set their sights on their next goal, giving the cavern one final sweep to make sure that they didn't miss anything. They then left the cavern, Little Gray changing into his beast form so that the three others could mount him as he flew away.

Sirius and Ba-Shei could also fly, one could control wind and the other was a dragon after all. But compared to Little Gray, they were just too conspicuous, one look was enough to tell that they were special. There was no need to mention Ba-Shei's appearance as a dragon, he would draw attention wherever he went, that was just the sort of existence a dragon was. And Sirius may look like a fairly normal wolf, but the fact that he could run through the air so freely marked him as an uncommon beast, using wind to move through the air was usually more stilted and awkward after all.

Yao Jun sat on Little Gray's back, going through the remaining items in the three interspatial rings while Sirius and the others looked for any landmarks that signified that they were approaching their target. Yao Jun had already marked the items of interest when he first got the rings so he only gave the other items a cursory sweep and sort before he moved on to studying his main targets.

Well, he called them main targets but they were all quite similar to the bronze plate that described some of the more famous treasure-rich areas. Some of the items described specific areas in more details, some gave a description of certain areas that were considered deathtraps, and one of the items was just a list of dangerous people that might take part in the competition. Yao Jun actually viewed this competition very seriously, but his preparation time was far below all the other competitors, who usually did everything in their power and spent all their resources on getting a hold of even the smallest sliver of information.

But what a shame, in the end, their hard work only served to help Yao Jun, making up for a bit of his unpreparedness. Especially the brief list depicting some of the more dangerous areas, it would help him either avoid or intentionally seek them out. Of course, those were all areas he could think about in the future, for now he had to focus on their current goal, which Sirius gave him an update on.

"Milord, we've spotted the twin-horn waterfall so we're getting close to the Thousand-Arm's Tomb."

Yao Jun lowered the fist-sized jagged rock he was holding and put it back into his interspatial ring, raising his gaze and following Sirius's outstretched finger. A mountain resembling a bull's skull rose straight towards the sky a few hundred kilometres away from them, so large that not even this distance could make it look small. Each of the horns on the skull had a wide stream of water that ran up one side and then ran down the other side, vanishing into the skull once more.

The bronze plate that described the treasure-rich locations gave a general description of their surroundings and showed some of the landmarks, but it didn't contain a map of the entire locale where the competition took place. Whether or not such a map didn't exist or whether or not the three people they had killed couldn't afford one was something Yao Jun didn't know, but it did make him a tad curious as to just how large this battlefield actually was.

"Alright, get us a bit closer and then bring us down. The area will probably be swamped with people so approaching from the sky will draw far too much attention. The second stage hasn't started yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we get attacked anyway if we draw too much attention."

Yao Jun stood up and stretched his body as he spoke, his eyes slightly narrowed as he observed the surrounding area. No matter what was said and done, this was a competition. As such, it obviously had the goal of digging out the strongest contestants, the future overlords of the entire universe. As such, a certain level of weeding out the weak was needed, hence the entire thing was split into several stages.

The first stage was what they were currently going through, a one year period where everyone could explore the area to increase their strength as much as possible before the second stage. The second stage was where things really started to get bloody and dangerous, it was when the point collection began.

Every person or beast you killed would add to your score, with the energy-density of your target determining how many points you got. Clearing trials and obtaining treasures was another way to get points, with the number of points you acquired depending on the energy-density of the treasure you acquired. In a way, it could be considered both fair and unfair.

It was fair in that the points you received were based on the strength of the target you killed, you would always get a certain number of points based on the cultivation level of your target. In that way, you couldn't use others to gather up points through treasures and then kill them for all their points. But it was also unfair in that it didn't account for the person's actual battle prowess. Yao Jun was an example, in his prime, he could contend with late-stage Heavenly Deities, but if you killed him you would only get points equal to a middle-stage Heavenly Deity, it really wasn't worth it considering the effort it took.

Whether or not the competition entered the third stage or skipped directly to the fourth stage depended on the number of points that had been gathered in the second stage. If enough people had gathered the required amount of points, then they would all be sent directly to the fourth stage while the others would be booted from the area, starting the final ranking competition.

But if not enough people had gathered the required number of points, the third stage would be entered. The third stage was the same as the second, but it had a twist added to it to speed things up. Random people would be teleported around at random times, deposited into dangerous areas, treasure-rich areas, or directly over to other competitors or beasts, practically forcing them to fight. If you were lucky you could end up close to the heart of a treasure-filled area, if you were unlucky you could end up in front of a Demonic beast that was stronger than you by more than an entire realm, it all depended on your luck.

Little Gray did as Yao Jun asked and flew them all a bit closer to the mountain before descending, landing on the ground and shifting into his human form in the middle of a savannah so gigantic that the faded strands of grass towered above the group like trees.

"Giant but dead, it certainly fits the bill for a place containing a tomb."

Yao Jun couldn't help but mutter to himself as he ran a finger along the closest strand of grass, yellow flakes falling off and turning to dust as they hit the ground. A certain dryness hung in the air, it was quite similar to the cavern from earlier, but here it felt like even the air had died somewhere along the line.

"My Lord, please stay close to us and let us take the lead."

Ba-Shei wore a solemn expression as he positioned himself in front of Yao Jun, they would be heading to a place that was definitely filled with people so things would be more dangerous than ever before. They had failed once already, they would not allow a second time to appear. Yao Jun could only nod his head and allow the others to take the lead, Little Gray staying behind Yao Jun so that he couldn't be ambushed from the back.

They were still a bit away from their target, but they were still Earthly Deities so their walking speed was so fast that it really wasn't hard for them to quickly cross a hundred kilometres or more. And thanks to that, they reached a circular clearing in the grass before the sun sank over the horizon. The earth in this clearing was completely smooth and perfectly flattened so Yao Jun guessed that it was man-made, and it wasn't hard to guess that the person who did it was the same person entombed in this clearing.

As for that tomb, it was located at the centre of the clearing, and it was actually just a five-metre wide hole that pierced deep into the earth. Of course, this was just the entrance to the outer rim of the tomb, beyond the blackness of the hole is where you would find the actual tomb of the Thousand Arm's Master, an entity supposed to have wielded a thousand different weapons.

Just like Yao Jun had expected, the several tens of kilometres wide clearing was filled with people of all kinds of races. Most of them kept a respectable distance from the others, gathering in groups of four or five, with the occasional loner. All of them were quietly waiting, occasionally glancing towards the lone youth that was sitting next to the entrance to the tomb.

The youth had three piercing green eyes, the third one actually located on the base of his throat. His hair was an ashen white and swept back, but each strand resembled a very fine needle and carried a sharp sheen, even his pointed ears had a line of this hair running along them. This youth was the guardian of this tomb, he was also the one in charge of the trials you would face, but it was unclear whether or not he was a remnant spirit that the Thousand Arm's Master left behind or if he was a lifeform born from the arrays in the tomb.

Yao Jun swept his gaze over the people present, and while he had expected it, their level still left him quite stifled. In total, there were only four people at the Earthly Deity realm present, several hundred if not thousands of Heavenly Deity, and also quite a few people who gave him a similar feeling to Lang Tian Kong, they were probably already Godkings. And these were just the people present now, the tomb opened once every three days so the inside was probably already crawling with others.

Yao Jun didn't draw much attention since there were already so many people here, at best he received a few inquisitive glances thanks to his low cultivation realm. He had also made Sirius and the others retract their aura as much as possible, Divine Beasts really drew too much attention due to how valuable every part of their body was.

He didn't approach any of the other groups and maintained a respectable distance as he found a spot for himself. It would at most take three days before the tomb opened again so there was nothing to do but wait, trying to intrude would only lead to death, a death that not even Godkings could escape.

He couldn't cultivate his body without corpses, and his soul cultivation was not suitable to be cultivated in an unsafe environment due to the fact that it left him weakened for a short period since he broke down his soul. As such, the best course of action for him at the moment was to observe the other people present, just like they observed the others around them. Everyone was a competitor after all so the more information you gathered the better it was, even if it was just something as simple as noticing a tick that someone might have.

But even so, in this environment where everyone could be considered an enemy you had to be wary of, someone approached Yao Jun. A youthful girl that was close to two metres in height and had dark silver eyes walked up to him, her white hair cut so short that it just barely touched the tips of her ears. But strangely enough, her hair only looked white, a close inspection told him that her hair was actually hollow and transparent, it only appeared white thanks to the light bouncing around inside it.

The girl, who had either already entered the Godking realm or was only a single step away from it, stopped approaching him when Sirius and the others started gathering their energy, her gaze settling on Yao Jun as a wily smile spread on her face.

"Say, how about we team up for the venture into the tomb?"