Troublesome

Julong had spent just shy of a month cultivating in the cave that contained the drop of Saint Blood. He had successfully stepped into the Middle-Stage of the Heavens Gate Realm in that time and had made quite a bit of progress to the Advanced Stage also. The Saint Blood was truly exceptionally valuable to someone at the Heavens Gate Realm.

He had recently left the underground cave, after absorbing every last bit of the Genesis Qi resounding off of the gold drop.

While down there his Spirit had been giving him little updates about the situations above, like how Zhou Yuan had defeated Xiao Tianxuan after breaking through into the Heavens Gate Realm with a Genesis Qi Pillar of 484 ft.

Impressive.

He was currently on his way to meet Yao Yao, once again under the direction of the Ancestral Dragon Spirit. He really relied on it too much, but then again, it was at the request of his Spirit that he find her.

Ever since her name had appeared on the large stone tablet which showed battle achievements, his Spirit had been restless. Was it because it could tell she was being targeted by someone?

All of a sudden the tablet in the sky lit up in a blinding gold, a name slowly inscribing onto it.

'Wu Huang, Ye Ming joined hands against Zhou Xiaoyao.

Zhou Xiaoyao, injured."

Julong stopped when he read it. A wave of anger rolled over him, amplified by his Spirit.

It was recent, very recent.

It made sense now, why his Spirit was so unrelenting in their search. In under a few seconds, the now wrathful Spirit he owned pinpointed the exact location of Yao Yao. She was on the move running from a group of 6 people. They were obviously trying to move in for the kill.

Unacceptable!

She was in the same forest as him, but a few kilometres away.

He shot off instantly, a trail of fiery Qi being left in his wake. He was moving so fast, a mere after image was all that could be seen for just a split second.

Yao Yao seemed to stop momentarily. Becoming surrounded by her assailants.

"Ready to accept your fate?"

At first, it seemed as if she had lost her patience causing her to stop. But all of them were surprised when she just gave them all a soft smile. It wasn't directed at them though, it was directed toward something behind them.

"Yes, I am, because my fate does not involve dying on this day."

It was then that the 6 people finally were able to feel an incredibly fiery and domineering Genesis Qi explode from behind them.

"You wanted to kill Yao Yao?"

His voice was cold, crippled in ice that they could all feel as they turned to face him.

Wu Huang narrowed his eyes at the figure who was revealed to be Julong.

"Who is this, Wu Huang?"

"Another friend of Zhou Yuan. Another factor we had not considered."

The one who Wu Huang replied to, whom he was assuming was Ye Ming, smiled bitterly.

"Kill him. Wu Huang and I will deal with Zhou Xiaoyao."

This seemed to elicit a reaction from Julong, and not anyone else. It was a very scary laugh.

"I don't believe that will be necessary, you mangy dogs."

He appeared beside Yao Yao, an arm out in front of her in a protective manner.

"So fast..."

"I didn't even see him move."

Julong looked straight into the eyes of Wu Huang.

"For the sake of Zhou Yuan, you shall be allowed to live, but I cannot say the same for the others."

Suddenly, rings of spears made of divine looking light encircled the group of 6.

The group could feel the power of the attack and were horrified. He had of course summoned his now Mid-Grade Heaven Genesis Technique, the Spears of Divine Light.

"A Mid-Grade Heaven Genesis Technique!?"

Uproar filled with fear wrung from the lackeys of Ye Ming and Wu Huang, who were busy assessing the Technique. A few seconds later both their eyes widened.

"These are..."

"The Spears of Divine Light!? Who the hell are you?!"

Ye Ming who had seemed calm and composed before had also become frantic just like the others who followed him.

"There are only 3 copies of this Technique in the world, and you should not have one of them!"

"It appears that even the lowborn scum that dared attack Yao Yao know of my Technique. Since you are to die, I will tell you who I am."

The spears all grew in size and ferocity, rattling with power, ready to shoot forward.

"I am the Disciple of the Double-Lotus Saint, Zi Xiao!"

"What!?"

Before anything else could happen, the spears shot forth. Unable to block them, even if they were able to summon a Technique, the 6 were left to tank the full force of the Technique.

They were hit by a round before Ye Ming took out a token, and activated it. It created a dome around them, making them invulnerable. Julong stopped his efforts and looked at what had happened to them. They were all incredibly injured and bloody messes, unable to distinguish skin from the copious amounts of blood on their bodies.

"Heed my words, friend of Zhou Yuan. Though I will now steer clear from your path, someone much greater than either of us will come for your head! You will die, mark my words!"

And with that, they warped out of existence, all as expected. He was immediately able to tell the token was a teleportation token when Ye Ming pulled it from his figure.

"How unfortunate. I'll make sure to kill them next time."

He then felt a gentle hand take his. It turned him around, bringing him face to face with Yao Yao.

"Thank you for coming. I'm not sure if I would have been able to fend them off with my injuries from the surprise attack."

Julong immediately calmed down seeing that she was still in a stable condition.

"Anytime. Now tell me, where are you hurt."

He was rather frantic about trying to check her for injuries, which brought about a small giggle from her.

"They will all be fine, not to mention they are in rather inappropriate places."

"Oh... I see."

All of a sudden the tablet in the sky lit up once more, inscribing yet another name and phrase.

'Wan Julong, defended Zhou Xiaoyao from the combined forces of Wu Huang, Ye Ming and his associates.

"Wu Huang, Ye Ming and associates, gravely wounded."

It was then that Zouqiu Quinyu appeared in a flash of pink.

"Zhou Xiaoyao, I'm here to rescue you!"

She stood proudly on top of one of the rocks around the area, before realising that there was no threat.

"Where is everyone? And why are you here, Julong?"

He only pointed up to the tablet.

She took a few moments to process what she had read, but her mouth gaped after she did.

"So powerful. You really are made for me, Wan Julong."

She tried to approach him but was immediately stopped by Yao Yao.

"Actually, can you help me? I need some help with applying some aid to my wounds. They are in some compromising places."

Julong couldn't help but smirk at the situation. She obviously didn't want her to make any advances on him, both metaphorically and literally. She seriously stopped her where she stood.

"Why not Julong, you are both males, wouldn't it be more appropriate?"

Yao Yao shook her head in disagreement as her figure glowed momentarily, being replaced by her usual female appearance.

Quinyu stopped once more, shock filling her figure for the second time in merely a minute.

"Y-You're so beautiful..."

"I didn't want to draw unnecessary trouble earlier, so I disguised myself. Do you understand now?"

She nodded slowly as Julong watched in further amusement. He was still unaware of the trouble that could have been caused if she had just been herself, but he didn't bother asking as it probably wasn't very important anymore. He had a feeling it's because too many men started trying to make advances toward her in the past.

"Turn around, Julong."

"Oh, right. Sorry, Yao Yao."

She smiled feintly at him before he turned around, unable to see as Quinyu pulled down the back of her robes and began applying aid to her wounds.

"Well on another note, if you two are going to be busy doing that, I'm going to move on. I trust you two can handle yourselves?"

"Where will you go?"

"My goal for my time inside of the Saint Remains Domain is now to reach the Alpha-Origin Realm. So I will go anywhere beneficial to my cultivation."

After a moment of silence, Yao Yao decided to chime in.

"I think I know of a place you can go."