Battle of four gates.

Yao Duan He and the woman from the Demon Race nodded their heads and immediately charged towards Wei Yating and Wei Zhong Jun, the earth trembling as pillars of earth shot skyward, pushing Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating backwards and away from Yao Jun and Guo Luo. Yao Jun's eyes narrowed as he looked at Yuan Shen and Qiao Xian Yi, a soft voice that only Guo Luo could hear leaking out from his mouth.

"I won't be able to keep fighting for too long, at most around six or seven minutes. We need to focus on finding a chance to either wound them or finding a chance to flee, ignore everything else."

Guo Luo gave a slight nod of her head, not saying anything as she looked at the two opponents with a serious gaze. One at the peak of the 6th Houtian Sky, and one at the early stage of the 5th Houtian Sky. There was nearly no chance for the two of them to beat these opponents, they could only focus on finding a chance to flee. After Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating were forced away, Qiao Xian Yi placed her gaze on Yao Jun and Guo Luo, dipping into a graceful bow as she introduced herself.

"Well then, Illusion God Guo Luo, Demon God Yao Jun. Human God Qiao Xian Yi and Element God Yuan Shen greet you, we hope that you can die quickly so that we can complete our mission."

Yao Jun did not even get the chance to be shocked at the fact that another person with a God Gate had appeared to kill him, because Yuan Shen sprang into action the moment Qiao Xian Yi finished talking. The shadows beneath Yao Jun and Guo Luo started wriggling, turning into sharp spears that shot towards them.

Yao Jun pushed Guo Luo to the side, his armor appearing on his body as he instantly activated both his strengthening techniques and entered his strongest state. Guo Luo also activated her own armor, a crystalline armor that was white as snow appearing on her body, covering everything but her legs.

Yao Jun dashed forward like a furious bolt of lightning, his sword slashing down at Qiao Xian Yi's head. Since Qiao Xian Yi was the strongest of the two enemies, Yao Jun felt that it was only natural that he would be the one to deal with her. Facing Yao Jun's attack, Qiao Xian Yi's eyebrows pricked up slightly. She had heard that Yao Jun was fast, but she had not expected him to be this fast.

Her Peng clan robe was quickly covered by her own armor, a graceful dress that was deep orange in color, emphasized her chest, and ended in a short and frilly skirt. It was a type of clothing that Yao Jun had never seen before, but now was not the time to appreciate it.

Two silver gloves appeared on Qiao Xian Yi's hands, meeting the sword of Yao Jun. When the sword made contact with the gloves, a cracking sound rang out as space around the two weapons shattered, revealing a small black tear that released a strong suction force. The two quickly separated and the black tear vanished, but Yao Jun still called out to Guo Luo to remind her.

"Space is highly unstable, be very careful, Luo'er!"

Guo Luo was currently facing Yuan Shen, so she only let out a small sound to respond to him. She clearly had an easier time fighting Yuan Shen than Yao Jun had when he fought him. She had spread out small illusions within a 200 meter area and was able to freely move between them, dodging almost all of Yuan Shen's attacks. As for the weaker attacks that sometimes reached her, they would turn into small orbs of light and blow away in the wind before they could hit her.

Yao Jun could not help but be somewhat spellbound as he looked at her fight. In the time he had not seen her, she had grown so strong. A slight smile appeared on his face, but it quickly vanished when he turned back to face Qiao Xian Yi, who was looking at him with a kind smile. While looking at her, he narrowed his eyes and asked her a question.

"The interspatial ring of Guo Jiahao, where is it?"

Guo Jiahao said that he had given his interspatial ring to Qiao Xian Yi, so the items Yao Jun were looking for should be with her. Qiao Xian Yi looked slightly confused at Yao Jun's question, tilting her head as she responded, seemingly not in a hury to fight.

"His interspatial ring? Why would I still have that? I have already destroyed it long ago."

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed dangerously when he heard her response. Within that interspatial ring were the sword given to him by his father, as well as clothing his mother had made for him. His voice was cold and sharp as he spoke out again.

"And the contents?"

Qiao Xian Yi furrowed her brows after hearing his question. She could not understand why Yao Jun was so interested in the interspatial ring of someone like Guo Jiahao. From the strength he had shown so far, it would not be a problem for him to acquire better treasures than Guo Jiahao could ever get.

"Of course destroyed alongside the ring. Why are you so interested in his interspatial ring?"

Yao Jun did not respond to her question, charging forward with arcs of lightning trailing behind him. The sword his father had given him, the clothing his mother had made for him, destroyed? That sword had been the first gift his father had ever given him, now how would he face his father and tell him that the sword was destroyed?

Yao Jun's eyes glanced at Yuan Shen, who was furiously trying to hit Guo Luo with his attacks. Seeing that Yuan Shen would not have the time to interfere, Yao Jun decided to make his move. Qiao Xian Yi sent out a punch towards Yao Jun, space around her fist rippling and tearing.

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed as the wind around him howled, solidifying in several places. Fast as lightning, Yao Jun jumped up and used the hardened air as footholds, jumping over Qiao Xian Yi's attack and arriving above her. While above her, he leaned his body backwards and spun around, sending a slash towards the top of Qiao Xian Yi's head.

As the sword approached her head, a human suddenly appeared above Qiao Xian Yi, a male youth with emotionless eyes that slashed out with a sword to block Yao Jun. Just as the two attacks were about to make contact, Yao Jun's sword vanished into the shadow of his own hand, appearing out of the shadow cast by the human that had suddenly appeared.

Qiao Xian Yi bent her knees and crouched down, dodging the slash that was aimed at her head. While she was dodging his attack, Yao Jun faced the sword that was slashed at him, grabbing onto it with his left hand. The sword was made out of normal metal, so he grasped it tightly and shattered it. Once the sword shattered, he swung his left fist towards the head of the human, caving in the youth's skull and killing him on the spot.

After killing the youth, Yao Jun once more hardened the air in certain spots, using it as footholds as he charged towards Qiao Xian Yi, who had dashed a short distance away. Her cultivation was higher than his, but her God Gate was not specialized for fighting, it was more focused on controlling others and creating followers.

Yao Jun ran through the air, solidifying it as he ran and using the various footholds to rapidly change his positions and attack Qiao Xian Yi from strange angles. If he was facing Yuan Shen, he would have only been able to use ice and lightning, severely limiting him in what he could do and how he could move. But now he was facing Qiao Xian Yi and her human puppets, so he could fight as he wished.

Qiao Xian Yi continuously brought out human puppets to block Yao Jun, forcing him to fight them rather than battling her. Yao Jun could easily guess that her goal was to drag out the fight until his strengthening techniques ran out. Once they did that, he would be unable to resist her. Every time Yao Jun broke past the human puppets and clashed with Qiao Xian Yi's fists, space around them would crack and tear, forcing the both of them to separate themselves.

After the two had battle for a short while, Yao Jun landed on the ground a short distance away from Qiao Xian Yi, his eyes narrowed dangerously. He only had around two minutes left of his strengthening techniques, after that he would no longer be able to stand against her. He glanced slightly at his right arm and waist, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

His right arm was almost completely numb after colliding with Qiao Xian Yi's hands a few times, and there was a hole in his waist that went straight through, a result of him failing to dodge a shard of shattered space. Looking at Qiao Xian Yi who stood a short distance away, she looked completely fine, not even breathing heavily. There was after all a large difference in cultivation, he was able to pressure her, but wounding her would be somewhat hard.

He glanced at Guo Luo, who was fighting with Yuan Shen in the distance. There were traces of blood on her left arm and at the edges of her mouth, her armor cracked slightly. Yuan Shen on the other hand was breathing heavily, his hair disheveled, his eyes bloodshot. Yao Jun's eyes narrowed further, a plan appearing in his mind, the edges of his mouth pulling up into what could only be called a mad smile.

The lightning that was arching around him suddenly grew in intensity as Yao Jun increased how much lightning he let course through his body. The pain it brought with it was greater than ever before, as were the wounds it gave him, but the increase to his speed was also greater. He shot forward, only a slight blur visible as he moved towards Qiao Xian Yi. The human puppets were completely unable to stop him as he moved past them, arriving in front of Qiao Xian Yi.

Qiao Xian Yi punched out with her right arm, preparing her left to block whatever attack Yao Jun could send her way. Her eyebrows pricked up slightly when she noticed that Yao Jun did not send out any attack, nor moved to block or dodge her punch. Her punch connected with his chest, shattering his black armor and pushing the shards into his chest.

Just as she was confused at his actions, she saw his face. Carrying a mad smile that was now stained with blood, he reached out with his left hand and grasped onto Qiao Xian Yi's dress. He exerted all his strength, dragging her after him as he dashed towards Yuan Shen at full speed, the sound of thunder reverberating over the battlefield.

Yuan Shen and Guo Luo stopped their battle when they heard the sound of thunder, turning in the direction where it came from. Seeing Yao Jun charge over, neither of them were able to understand exactly what he was planning to do.

Yao Jun reached Yuan Shen in no time, throwing the still confused Qiao Xian Yi at him. From the time she hit him to him throwing her at Yuan Shen, only about a single second had passed, so she had yet to react properly. Yuan Shen dropped his axes and grabbed onto Qiao Xian Yi, stopping her from crashing into him.

He raised his head towards Yao Jun, his eyes landing on a small red orb that was now floating in Yao Jun's hand. Yuan Shen could feel a large amount of energy gathering in the orb, but he could feel that the orb was made out of fire, so he did not worry too much about it. When Yao Jun sent the orb towards Yuan Shen and Qiao Xian Yi, Yuan Shen did what he felt was natural, he used his control over fire in an attempt to send the orb back at Yao Jun.

But the moment his power made contact with the orb, it released a splendid light. The orb seemed to crack, a gust of cold air, a small tendril of darkness, and the sound of thunder ringing out from within the orb. Yuan Shen's expression turned grim when he realized what was happening.

Yao Jun had purposefully made the orb unstable, filling it with the power of not just fire, but also ice, wind, lightning, and darkness. Once all the elements came into contact with each other, they would release all their energy and explode. The only reason he had made it look like a fire orb was to lull Yuan Shen into a false sense of security, making him believe that he could send it back at Yao Jun.

The orb exploded, fire, ice, lightning, wind, and darkness shooting in all directions. The earth was rended and space cracked and tore, large black tears appearing and sucking in everything around them, shards of fragmented space slicing up everything they came into contact with.

This was Yao Jun's plan. He could not fight for much longer, and it was too hard to beat Qiao Xian Yi and Yuan Shen. Since that was the case, why not use all his power to shatter space around his enemies and force them to be sucked into a spatial rift, either torn apart or sent to an unknown location. Of course, the drawback was that Yao Jun was now almost completely devoid of energy and had several heavy wounds, as he too was within range of the explosion.

Yao Jun looked at the destroyed area in front of him with weary eyes. He was not quite able to see Qiao Xian Yi and Yuan Shen because of the smoke and dust that was being sucked into the spatial rifts, so he was still vigilantly sweeping the area. Guo Luo wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and started walking towards Yao Jun. Just as she was about to speak, she saw that the shadows beneath Yao Jun started wriggling, chains of darkness shooting up and coiling around his legs.

The chains extended out of his shadow and into the area filled with spatial rifts, pulling his body and forcing him to move towards the spatial rifts. The expressions of Yao Jun and Guo Luo rapidly twisted. At the end of the chains was Yuan Shen, whose body was covered with blood, a large scar on his chest. His lower body was already sucked into a spatial rift, only a few chains of darkness preventing him from being sucked in completely. He looked at Yao Jun with bloodshot eyes, his voice dripping with hatred.

"Good fucking plan! A really good fucking plan! But I will fucking drag you with me!"

After his voice sounded out, several more chains shot out from Yao Jun's shadow, moving to coil around him. Guo Luo dashed forward to help Yao Jun, but the chains started to move towards her once she got closer. Seeing the chains move to coil around Guo Luo, he immediately made up his mind.

He drained the rest of his energy, even over-drafting it and drawing from his life-force. A pillar of ice sprouted up from the ground in front of Guo Luo, smashing into her stomach and sending her flying backwards and away from Yao Jun. He had been the reason she had been forced into this hidden realm and lost her eye, he refused to be the reason she was sucked into a spatial rift and suffer an unknown fate.

Since he had used the last of his energy to push away Guo Luo, he could no longer even put up any resistance against the shadow chains, the speed at which they pulled him increasing. As he approached the rift that looked like a black maw, the majestic voice of the titanic bird sounded out in his head, a small red orb flashing past his eyes and entering his chest, sinking into his God Gate.

"You have proven your worth, little demon god. It was quite satisfying to see those little brats take such a beating. I will take care of that girl of yours, otherwise I would not be able to face Master ever again. I hope that the next time you come here, you will be worthy of taking over his mantle."

After the voice rang out in his mind, Yao Jun's lower body was pulled into the spatial rift. He managed to tilt his head slightly, his eyes meeting the eyes of the distant Guo Luo. With the last of his physical strength, he put a bright smile on his face and mouthed a few words.

"I will return to you."

After mouthing the words, the rest of his body was pulled into the spatial rift, vanishing into the darkness as he was thrown across space like a broken rag-doll.