Finally, face to face.

Yao Jun's hunt for Peyton would be different from when he hunted for the last of Peyton's servants, he had a few clues as to where Peyton was. When he searched through the memories of Mariot, Peyton's last servant in this competition, he had discovered that she had been with Peyton a mere ten days prior, making sure to extract the location from her memories. He didn't expect Peyton to still be there, especially now that he had spent a further two months hiding away in cultivation, but it was at least a place to start.

Yao Jun merged his mind into the surrounding space and teleported away from the area, once again moving to the very edge of his range. He first spent some time teleporting back to the area where he had killed Mariot and from there proceeded to follow the path he had seen in her memories.

While moving, he sensed the presence of another one of Tang Guanyu's tokens but he chose to not pursue it for now, he didn't want anything unexpected to happen before he fought Peyton. He memorized the appearance of the one who held the token, a male youth with blonde hair and green eyes, as well as three scars that formed a triangle on his face, he could go looking for him once Peyton was dead.

He made sure to stay away from Luosho Li, whose position was still being broadcast to everyone else, but he did end up spotting Both Baam Noctris and Mascheny Materius while moving, the three of them making sure to keep a respectable distance away from each other for the moment. At first, he was somewhat surprised that the people famed for being the top three contenders were all so close to each other, but then his gaze landed on a distant mountain carved to look like an ascending dragon.

Godborne Mountain, the place where the final parts of this competition would take place. With Luosho Li and the others starting to move closer to the mountain it seemed like the competition would enter the final two stages sooner rather than later. Yao Jun made a mental note that he had to increase the rank of his symbol but other than that he didn't really bother too much with the situation.

And then, after spending a little over a month teleporting across the half-finished universe, he reached the place where Mariot had last seen Peyton. It was a rather pleasant location, a rather large and slightly wavy meadow covered in grass and knee-high flowers that ended in beautiful white blossoms with tens of tiny petals. But none of these flowers entered Yao Jun's eyes, his gaze was fully focused on the person he could see sitting in the meadow, Peyton Eluard.

Yao Jun had seen Peyton's appearance several times through the memories of his servants, but this was actually the first time he saw him in person. He was rather tall and had a robust body that practically bulged with muscles, his ashen hair was somewhat reminiscent of silk as it hung down to just beyond his shoulders. He had a rather handsome face with neatly groomed eyebrows, a thin nose, and a somewhat pointed and sharp chin. Peyton's brown eyes opened the moment Yao Jun arrived on the meadow, the gaze of the two meeting as Peyton spoke up.

"There you are, I was wondering how long it would take you to come here."

His first words confirmed Yao Jun's suspicions, Peyton had been waiting for him here, it was the only excuse for why he had been in this one location for so long. Looking at how calm Peyton's Qi and breathing were it was clear that he hadn't been cultivating recently, he'd probably been quietly waiting and making sure he was in peak condition. Peyton stood up from his seated position, looking Yao Jun up and down.

"Despite the animosity between us, this is actually the first time we meet face to face, no? Gods, you're scary, do you know that? Surely there must have been others who have told you that before?"

Peyton tilted his head slightly as he spoke, an amiable smile on his face. But Yao Jun could see his pupils tremble slightly as he spoke, he probably wasn't as calm as he looked. Peyton seemed to like talking, either that or he took Yao Jun's silence as a sign of confusion, either way, he kept talking.

"I'm not lying, I get shivers just thinking about you. I still remember when we first met, you were so weak and small back then, you didn't even have a strong body or soul like the others who picked up a fragment had, I didn't have the slightest clue how you managed to get a hold of your fragment. I thought you might be a bit naive and I could get you on our side by just giving you a little information, but you actually managed to surprise me there, I'll admit that."

Those who picked up the fragment of a Supreme Law would have to abandon their previous cultivation, but they retained their soul or body cultivation, as well as their already strong bodies and souls. As such, most of them would still be rather strong after picking up a Supreme Law fragment. Peyton simply continued to talk, neither moving closer or further away from Yao Jun, who remained standing in place while scanning the surrounding area for possible traps.

"I didn't think much about you after our first meeting, we weren't mortal enemies and by the time you became strong enough to actually be a threat, I would have gotten far stronger. But then we met again, less than a year later, and you had grown quite a bit stronger, far faster than you had any right to. You took advantage of my servants being wounded and killed them, showing that your strength was far above your cultivation. Not only did you cultivate fast and weren't as naive as you should be, but your strength was also at a level reserved for prodigies. Gods, you can't even imagine how worried I got when I saw that."

The servants Peyton had sent to kill the Crestborne King were very strong, Yao Jun should not have been able to kill them even though they were wounded. But even so, the servants ended up dead and Yao Jun reaped all the rewards. Yao Jun finished his scanning of the area but found no traps, so he decided to keep listening to Peyton so that he could see if there was a point to all these things he was saying.

"I decided to threaten you, hoping that you'd go into hiding and never show yourself again, after all, this universe is far too vast for me to find you if you decide to hide. But then you surprised me again by retaliating, you made a truly bloody vow back then, didn't you? With such a threat over my head, I figured that I had to turn my own threat into reality if I wished to sleep easy."

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed slightly when Peyton reached this point, there hadn't been a single day where the threat Peyton had made back then left his mind. The threat he made towards Guo Luo was especially vivid in Yao Jun's mind, just remembering it was enough to fill his chest with icy rage. Peyton ignored Yao Jun's narrowed eyes, his smile becoming somewhat strained and bitter as he cursed.

"And then you fucking vanished, I couldn't find any mention of you no matter where I looked. Before long, this competition rolled around and I thought that I would get at least a few years in here where I could greatly enhance my strength before looking for you again. But then I received the report from Mordred, you were here, and stronger than ever before, strong enough to kill Mordred and other Earthly Deities. Gods, that day became the first in the last 300 years where I failed to get any sleep, that's how much you scared me."

No one knew better than Peyton just how strong Mordred had been, alongside the dagger he had been gifted he should have been more than strong enough to kill Yao Jun. But just like all the other enemies that Peyton had seen Yao Jun face before, Mordred died just the same. Peyton's eyes actually grew a bit forlorn as he continued to talk, letting out a rather weary sigh.

"And one by one, my other servants started to die, your ranking rising all the while, until you finally reached the top rank after killing Xiao Yan. You lost your points shortly after but I knew that you hadn't died to Luosho Li, I guess it's more likely that you handed her your points on purpose, you do seem like the person who likes to keep low. Others might think you're scary for how young you are compared to your cultivation, but only I know the truth, only I know just how quickly you rose from nothing but an ant to a deity."

The first thing Peyton had done after he saw Yao Jun lose all his points was to scour the rankings of the competition for his name. And to his dismay, he ended up finding Yao Jun's name at the bottom, proving that he was still alive. Peyton stretched out his arms, beckoning towards the meadow around them.

"I knew you'd come for me, you wouldn't have killed my subordinates if you didn't plan just that. Running and hiding from you is pointless, your law of space will be able to find me no matter where I hide here. So I chose this place, It will make an excellent gravesite for either you and me."

This place was indeed quite beautiful, and it seemed peaceful enough, so Yao Jun agreed that it would make a good place to be buried. But he had no intentions of dying here so it would have to become the burial site for someone else. Peyton pulled his arms back, crossing them in front of his chest and letting out a somewhat bitter chuckle.

"You know, I sometimes think to myself, 'how would things have gone if I acted differently?' Could we have ended up as neutral if I didn't make that threat back then, maybe even allies if I decided to swallow a bit of my pride and act more friendly? I guess that we'll never know at this point, huh? Our paths have already been set in stone, and the only place they intersect, and subsequently end, is in either mine or your death."

Despite how little he liked to admit it, Peyton had to say that he somewhat regretted his actions back then. If he hadn't gotten that angry, and somewhat fearful, when he saw Yao Jun kill his servants, things would not have reached this point. With Peyton seeming to have finished what he wanted to say, Yao Jun finally spoke up for the first time, one of his eyebrows rising slightly.

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"

He had heard everything Peyton wanted to say and come to the conclusion that none of it held any meaning, Peyton had simply said it for the sake of talking. Hearing Yao Jun's simple response after he himself had done all that talking made it so that Peyton couldn't help but let out a quick laugh from amusement.

"Some have, but I can't help it, I wanted to get these words off my chest before it was too late. After all, either I die and never get to tell anyone, or you die and the words become pointless. And hey, you've hunted me for so long, surely even you must have a word or two you'd like to say after all that. A few words just between us, monster to monster."

Peyton didn't know what Yao Jun had experienced in his pursuit of strength to kill him, but surely anyone would want to at least say a few words after spending over two years on something like that, right? Yao Jun raised his eyebrow slightly again, coming up with a few words that he felt might be somewhat appropriate.

"Back then, you told me that you would sink your fangs and claws into everyone I loved, didn't you?"

Yao Jun took a step forward after he finished talking, taking the heads of Mordred and Valter out from his God Gate, tossing them towards Peyton.

"Your fangs."

He took another step forward, taking the heads of Ysolde, Mariot, and Ardet out from his God Gate, tossing them forward just like he had done with the others.

"Your claws."

The surrounding wind gathered in Yao Jun's hand after he tossed out the last three heads, gathering together into his sword as he pointed the tip at Peyton's throat.

"And now, your head."