The marvelous spoils of battle.

After leaving Diana's tent, Yao Jun proceeded to slowly make his way back towards the quarters that his squad had been assigned. He was not in a rush, strolling with his hands behind his back, his gait leisurely. He could tell that there were a few people looking at him, but he paid them no heed. As he got closer to the quarters, he suddenly heard a loud shout, the sound of someone running towards him shortly following.

"There ya are!"

Yao Jun turned towards the side, spotting the charging Reyner. Reyner quickly reached Yao Jun, his breathing a bit heavy and his face somewhat red from running around. He looked Yao Jun up and down for a few moments, before grabbing his arm and pulling him towards their quarters, his voice somewhat hushed.

"Are ya crazy, Lil' Jun? Now that we're out here, the tension o' the people in the army has shot through tha roof. If tha women see a delicate little thing like ye, they are likely to just gobble ya up to release some o' that tension. And trust me, ya ain't ever gonna be able to explain that to yer wife. It's best if ya just stay hidden here in our quarters."

The two quickly made their way back to their quarters, Reyner vigilantly sweeping the surroundings. Yao Jun was a bit thin, but that was mostly because his body was streamlined, his muscles not bulging. Of course, to people from the World Tree clan, he did indeed look delicate. Hearing Reyner's words, Yao Jun suddenly understood why he had felt people looking at him as he made his way back to the quarters, a light chuckle escaping his lips.

"Don't worry, I made sure I stayed hidden while I was wandering around."

Reyner turned his head towards Yao Jun, sending him a slight glare as he raised his arm, pointing directly at Yao Jun's face.

"That's only what ya think, but how can ya know that there wasn't someone that saw ye? There are plenty o' folks in this army stronger than ya, after all."

Facing the glare and solid argument from Reyner, Yao Jun had no other option than to raise his arms in defeat, speaking out with a chuckle.

"I get it, I get it, I won't wander around anymore, at least not alone."

When the two entered the quarters that had been assigned to their squad, there were already several small fires set up, the smell of roasted meat and vegetables spreading throughout the entire area. Reyner gave a nod upon seeing Yao Jun acting obediently. His face cracked into a smile when he smelled the food in the air, speaking as he rubbed his hands together.

"That's better. Now let's go and get us some grub, we got some great meat cause of the good result of the battle. Would be a shame if we let everyone else gobble it up before we even got a taste."

Yao Jun gave a slight nod of his head, the two of them heading towards the others that were part of their usual group. When they were spotted by the others, the usually quiet Drogo picked up a piece of meat that looked like a roasted deer leg, waving it in the air as he spoke in an intentionally conceited voice.

"Took you long enough to come back. Hadn't it been for our incredibly magnanimous souls, there wouldn't be any meat left."

Reyner's eyes were completely glued to the meat, his speed quickly increasing as he almost charged full speed at Drogo. He quickly grabbed onto the meat, letting out a loud laugh and waving at Yao Jun.

"HAHAHA, ah knew I could trust ye. Lil' Jun, come, come, let us feast to our heart's content."

Yao Jun also joined the group, sitting down by the fire and eating some of the meat. The meat was a bit salty, but it had a gamey flavor that was rather enjoyable. The group continued to eat and chat, talking about the battle they had just been part of. The conversation abruptly stopped when Azemar came walking over, Reyner and the others quickly standing up and giving him a stiff salute.

"Squad Captain!"

Azemar responded with a short salute of his own before he lowered his shoulders and gave a slight wave of his hand, a weary smile on his face.

"At ease, I am just taking a walk to clear my tired mind, no need for all this."

Reyner and the others sat down again after hearing Azemar's words, their stiff bodies loosening up somewhat. Azemar looked at the food for a short moment, before his eyes landed on the nonchalant Yao Jun. He looked deeply at Yao Jun for a short moment, before giving a slight nod of his head.

"Thank you."

After he gave his thanks, he turned and walked away from the group, causing Yao Jun to guess that he had only walked over to say his thanks. Reyner and the others might not know, but Azemar was certain that it was Yao Jun who had caused several of the Final Fire clan formations to collapse. One of the formations that had collapsed was the one that Azemar's squad was facing, greatly easing the pressure they felt. After Azemar left, the others quickly turned towards Yao Jun with a curious gaze, Reyner unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

"Oh? What did the Captain thank ye for?"

It was rare for a Squad Captain to lower himself and thank one of his subordinates, so their curiosity was easily understood. Yao Jun had no intention of telling them about what he had done, so he only gave a casual shrug of his shoulders, coming up with a quick excuse.

"Nothing really, I presented him with a painting before the battle, and I guess he liked it enough to thank me twice."

Reyner and the others nodded their heads, but it was clear that they did not truly believe in his flimsy excuse. But they understood that everyone had some secrets they did not want to share, so they had no intention of prodding deeper, returning to eating and chatting cheerfully. After a short while of eating, Yao Jun bid them farewell and retreated to the tent he was going to share with Azemar. He sat down on his bed, closing his eyes and connecting his mind with the part of his soul that was located inside his God Gate. Ba-Shei and the others were sitting beside him, cultivating underneath the ancient tree that was located at the center of the God Gate.

"Ba-Shei, how are the spoils of the battle?"

Upon hearing Yao Jun's voice, Ba-Shei and the others quickly halted their cultivation, opening their eyes and turning towards him. Ba-Shei had an embarrassed expression on his face, quickly kneeling in front of Yao Jun.

"...My lord, please forgive me. I...I accidentally lost myself in the heat of battle, resulting in me swallowing almost everything. I only managed to safeguard three interspatial rings."

Ba-Shei pulled out three black interspatial rings from his robe, handing them to Yao Jun, but he seemed to be too ashamed to raise his head and look at Yao Jun. Yao Jun accepted the three interspatial rings, his eyes landing on Ba-Shei, giving a slight nod of his head.

"Three, huh? That's more than I expected, you must have worked hard to keep yourself in check, good work."

Yao Jun had shared senses with Ba-Shei before, he knew of the gnawing hunger that plagued Ba-Shei. The fact that he had managed to hold himself back and save three interspatial rings was already excellent. Ba-Shei quickly lowered his head further, a murmur escaping his lips.

"I don't deserve it."

Yao Jun sank his mind into the interspatial rings, quickly scanning over everything that they contained. After he finished with those three, he also went through the contents of the interspatial rings that he himself acquired. Except for the interspatial ring he had taken from Watkin, the rest were rather lackluster, only containing a few weapons and some Mortal Grade Spirit Stones. After he went over all the items, he started picking out certain things he had found.

"So these are all our spoils, huh. Zhuyin, you can take these. Little Thunder, these should be good for you. There isn't really anything that would be of great help to you guys, so you will have to be satisfied with some Spirit Stones."

He handed a few crystals and herbs to Zhuyin, and a few flowers and mushrooms to Little Thunder. The things he handed to Zhuyin were all resources that had the fire element, while Little Thunder got all the resources that had the thunder element. With these, the two of them would be able to increase the speed of their cultivation somewhat. Yao Jun was just about to hand out some Spirit Stones to Little Gray and the others, but they quickly shook their heads, Little Gray speaking out.

"There is no need for you to give us Spirit Stones, My lord. The Qi present here is far more useful to us, especially the Qi coming from the central tree. It would be better if you keep the Spirit Stones and use them for yourself instead."

Yao Jun fell silent for a short moment. It was true that he did not want to give away too many Spirit Stones, as he had no idea how many he would need to buy the information he wanted. But it was also important to him that Little Gray and the others got to increase their strength. After a short moment, he could only nod his head, storing away all the Spirit Stones.

"Alright, then I won't be courteous. It might be a while until our next battle, so we have a bit of time to focus on increasing our strength."

Yao Jun only spent a bit more time within the God Gate, before returning his consciousness to his body. Once he opened his eyes and made sure that no one was around, he took out one of the crystals he had dug out from a person from the Final Fire clan.

"Now then, let's find out exactly what you guys are."

Yao Jun grasped the crystal, carefully connecting his Qi with the fiery energy within the crystal. Once his Qi made contact with it, the energy quickly flooded out of the crystal, entering Yao Jun's body and coursing through him. The energy felt like liquid fire, his skin turning bright red as beads of sweat appeared on his skin, before quickly evaporating due to the heat.

Despite the painful heat moving through his body, Yao Jun's lips spread into a wide grin. He could feel that the fiery energy was not only slowly increasing his cultivation, it was also strengthening his body somewhat. The strengthening and increase of his cultivation was slow, but it was definitely there. Yao Jun looked at the crystal with a grin, his voice tinged with joy.

"Aren't you quite the wonderful things?"

The crystal he was using right now came from someone who had a cultivation of the 4th Houtian Sky, yet it was already this good, what if he got crystals from even stronger people? At the same time, he was also curious if people from the World Tree clan had somewhat similar crystals, but ones that strengthened the soul instead. Reyner had mentioned that the World Tree clan was known for having strong souls, while the Final Fire clan was known for having strong bodies.

Yao Jun continued to quietly cultivate in the tent, continuously marveling at the wonderful use of the crystals. During the evenings, he would leave the tent and eat a hearty meal with Reyner and the others, chatting about whatever they could think of.

Like this, four days quickly passed by, the time for the next battle arriving. While the squads that were set to fight in the battle marched out, Yao Jun stealthily made his way out of the quarters and followed the army. He stayed in the shadows, tailing the army from a distance. Once the battle was about to begin, Yao Jun moved a good distance away from the army, finding a safe spot from which he could observe most of the battle.

The people fighting now all had cultivations that ranged from the 6th Houtian Sky to the 9th Xiantian Heaven, so he did not want to carelessly enter the fray. His gaze was calm as he observed the carnage, the earth trembling somewhat from the strength of the formations clashing. Yao Jun fondled his chin slightly as he observed the battle.

"Tagging along for those battles seems a bit too risky for the current me."

He might be able to just barely be able to handle the weakest of the captains, but as he might end up facing people with cultivations in the 7th Xiantian Heaven or above, he found that it was too risky. After a short moment of pondering, his eyes narrowed slightly when he decided on what he had to do next.

"Seems like it is about time for me to carve the third channel. I wonder, just how much will you increase my strength?"