Atop the shattered mountain.

After fleeing from the Demonic beast, Yao Jun found a place where he dug himself down into the snow and created a cave beneath the ground where he could rest and heal up his wounds. Not only had he been harmed by the snow that the Demonic beast could use, but the technique that let him strengthen himself with lightning was not perfect, so it left behind burns inside his body, as well as damage to some of his nerves.

"Should only take about a week to heal if I use Demonic beast meat, blood, as well as a few herbs. I have also gotten closer to my destination thanks to the speed, so I should be able to reach it in a single day of travel if I move at my full normal speed."

Yao Jun took out a small pot from his interspatial ring as he spoke, dropping in a few medicinal herbs and some Demonic beast blood. He used his fire to boil up the mixture, as well as using the fire to roast some Demonic beast meat. He had found that eating Demonic beast meat was the best way for him to restore his Qi. And mixing their blood with herbs, and then applying the mixture to his wounds, would also allow his wounds to rapidly heal.

"Really. Eating their meat to restore my strength, and using their blood to heal my wounds. How very much like a Demonic beast."

Yao Jun let out a slight chuckle as he began to apply the blood to the places where he had wounds. As far as he knew, only a few Demonic beasts had blood that had healing properties. So he who could use any type of Demonic beast blood to heal himself was different from normal people. The only cause he could think of was the fact that he was the holder of the Demon God's Gate, so he could only attribute it to that.

In that underground cave, Yao Jun healed his wounds and restored his strength, like a beast licking its wounds after a battle. On the fourth day after facing the gorilla type Demonic beast, Yao Jun felt that he had returned to his peak condition.

"A bit faster than I originally expected. Is it because I grew stronger?"

Yao Jun clenched his fist slightly as he wondered to himself. He had returned to his peak condition three days faster than he had expected, which he found a little odd. The only reason he could think of that he would heal faster was because his cultivation had grown, but would he really heal that much faster simply because he had grown slightly stronger?

"Really, more and more bizarre by the day."

Yao Jun simply shook his head and chuckled slightly, standing up and leaving the underground cave. There was no way a human of his level of strength would be able to heal wounds like the ones he had in only four days. The only beings he knew that could heal that fast, or even faster, were humans with higher cultivation levels or Demonic beasts.

After leaving the underground cave, Yao Jun continued making his way towards the shattered mountain. After four days passing, the lava that had been present at the shattered mountain had hardened and turned into pitch black rocks that were slowly getting covered by the constant snow. With time, all trace of what had happened atop that mountain would vanish beneath the pure snow.

Yao Jun made his way through the snow, dodging into the shadows whenever he felt that a Demonic beast was approaching. Thankfully, he did not have more bad luck, and did not encounter any other strong Demonic beasts. After traveling for a little over one day, he managed to reach the bottom of the mountain. Yao Jun stopped at the bottom of the mountain for a short moment, checking one last time that the resonating he was currently feeling was coming from the top of the mountain. After he made sure that the resonating came from the top of the mountain, he did not hesitate and climbed to the top of the mountain.

The top of the mountain was rather flat, with several large and spiky stones sticking up. From what Yao Jun could see, the spiky stones were the remains of the top part of the mountain. The flat ground was a mixture of black and white, with some places devoid of snow as the hardened lava was still a bit warm in those places.

"So the Great Lord's Gate has degraded so much that it has fallen into the hands of a mere human? If my ancestors were here, the would certainly cry. You defiler of that which my ancestors held holy, have you come here to scavenge and defile even more things?"

A dignified and slightly sad voice came from the center of the open area. Yao Jun's eyes landed on the source of the voice, his eyes narrowing slightly, the resonating in his chest reaching a peak. At the center of the open area, a Demonic beast rose up from the snow.

The Demonic beast was in the shape of a horse, albeit a rather large one. A little over three meters long, and a little over two meters tall. Its fur was a pristine white in color, with three blue streaks going down its side. It had a long mane of silver hair going down its neck, and a single horn that looked like a jagged spike of ice growing out of its forehead. It had a cultivation of the early stage of the 4th Houtian Sky and the eyes it used to look at Yao Jun were filled with disdain.

"Great Lord's Gate? Is that what you call the Demon God's Gate? What is wrong with it being in my hands?"

Yao Jun did not immediately move to attack, instead slightly tilting his head at the words of the Demonic beast. While talking, he was also looking the Demonic beast up and down, trying to figure out what race it was. But even after looking it up and down, he could not come up with any race that it might be.

"The owner of the Demon God's Gate is the lord of all Demonic beasts, so there is nothing wrong with calling it the Great Lord's Gate. And you wonder what is wrong with it being in your hands? The power of the lord of all Demonic beasts is in the hands of a mere human, how can that not be wrong?"

The Demonic beast also did not seem like it was in a rush to attack, slowly explaining with a slightly mocking voice. Yao Jun also had to admit that he had thought about the same thing, why would the power to lord over Demonic beasts be in the hands of humans?

"So the gate used to be controlled by Demonic beasts in the past? Is that even possible? Did your ancestors tell you that?"

Yao Jun continued to ask, slightly interested. At the same time, he also wondered how the Demonic beast knew this. It mentioned it's ancestors earlier, so maybe it had learned from them? But if its ancestors knew this kind of information, just how strong were they?

"Why would it not be possible? My ancestors said that it is a power for Demonic beasts, so it should of course be in the hands of Demonic beasts, only we can release its true power."

The Demonic beast let out a snort, blowing up the snow on the ground. Yao Jun also felt that this made some sense, a power for Demonic beasts would obviously only release its full power when wielded by a Demonic beast. But he would of course not completely trust the words of this Demonic beast simply because its words made a bit of sense to him. Even if the power used to be in the hands of Demonic beasts, it was in his hands now, so it would have to follow his orders.

"Hoh? I wonder if that really is true. I am just going to ask this, but would it be possible for you to simply agree to follow me peacefully?"

Yao Jun looked straight at the Demonic beast as he spoke. His Demon God's Gate was resonating with the Demonic beast in front of him, so Yao Jun guessed that he could absorb it into the gate if he managed to gain its approval. He would prefer if it would be like Zhuyin, voluntarily following him. But if it would not, he would have to beat it down and then see if he could absorb it like that.

"To follow you peacefully? You, who have defiled the power my ancestors revered, you who have come here to scavenge this world that was created for my ancestors by their master? If you had strength, I would not have minded following you to see if a human truly could use the Great Lord's Gate. But you are weak. Following you would only lead to ruin."

The Demonic beast let out what seemed to be a mocking chuckle, its eyes scanning Yao Jun up and down. It could see that he was only at the middle stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, far weaker than itself. If it decided to follow him, all that would await it was death.

"If that is what you think, then I can only beat you down to convince you. And I'll make this clear right now, I was called to this world by the Demon God's Gate, I have not come to scavenge a single thing."

Yao Jun shrugged his shoulders and brought out his sword, taking up a battle stance as he spoke, his lips curling into a slightly ferocious smile. He was the one who had been called to this world, so he would not accept being called a scavenger.

"Very well. Then show me how you will beat me down with that weak strength."

The area around the Demonic beast started freezing after it spoke, the air atop the mountain quickly growing colder, even the snow falling from the sky turning to ice as it came within the range of the cold air.