Campfire meeting.

Yao Jun swept through the entire forest after killing Ardet, stocking up on plenty of Demonic beast corpses while also killing all but one of the people that Xuhuan wanted him to kill. The only one left on her list was Luosho Li, and killing her would take quite a bit longer than it took to kill these other small fries.

The disappearance of Xuhuan and her mate were quickly noticed by the people in the forest, a few already starting to leave the day after Yao Jun killed Ardet. Yao Jun hadn't seen or heard anything about Luosho Li while he scoured the forest so he guessed that she might have left shortly after killing Xuhuan's mate, taking his body along with her.

Yuri Jahad and Berius Daemon also seemed to have left the forest, meaning that there was no one in the forest who could stand against Yao Jun. Of course, this didn't mean that he went around killing everyone he saw. The only people he killed were the ones on Xuhuan's list, he wasn't so depraved that he would just kill anyone. He encountered a group from the Merged Heaven clan, but after stalking them for a bit, he learned that they served someone known as Sariel Eluard, the Third Young Mistress. Since they had nothing to do with Peyton, he couldn't be bothered to deal with them and resumed scouring the forest for Demonic beasts.

After spending a week scouring the entire forest, making sure that his symbol didn't reach the purple-gold rank, Yao Jun did as the other people had done and left the forest. But unlike them, he didn't start wandering around to look for more inheritances or resources, he found himself a somewhat small frozen mountain and dug a cave into the base of the mountain. He had quite a few Demonic beast corpses and other resources on hand so he wanted to spend a bit of time cultivating before he continued to search for more resources.

Yao Jun took out some wood from his God Gate after carving the cave, setting up a campfire and placing a log he could sit on next to it. He placed a pot on the fire and tossed some meat, water, and vegetables into it to create a simple meal he could eat. At his cultivation level, he could go for at least a few years without food, he would lose the need to eat entirely once he became an Earthly Deity, but most cultivators still enjoyed eating, and Yao Jun was no different.

He took out some wine from his interspatial ring while waiting for the pot to start simmering, occasionally waving his finger to stir the contents of the pot using his law of water. An hour and a half passed in the blink of an eye, Yo Jun still swigging some wine and waving his finger as if only a few seconds had passed since he started. The higher one's cultivation and strength was, the more skewed their sense of time was, some old cultivators could easily spend hundreds of years just sitting around doing nothing, something that seemed completely foreign to Yao Jun.

Just as Yao Jun was about to take another swig of wine, he felt a tingling coming from the symbol on his palm, a faint sensation entering his body from the symbol. He turned his head and directed his gaze out of the cave, gazing far into the distance while muttering to himself.

"He must've forgotten to keep an eye on his symbol, that or he got too greedy. Either way, carelessness kills."

The tingling and the sensation pointed Yao Jun into the distance, directing him towards a specific location, the location of the person currently ranked first. The one currently ranked first was a man named Shiyu Teng Ya, an unaffiliated cultivator. And just now, he had upgraded his symbol to the purple-gold level, meaning that everyone else in the competition would now constantly know where he was.

Teng Ya wasn't the strongest person in the competition, he had only reached the first rank because the others weren't willing to gather too many points just yet, he did not have the strength befitting of a rank one. With his location being broadcasted like this, he would eventually be hunted down and killed, his points and items stolen by someone else.

This would, in turn, cause someone else to reach the purple-gold level and result in them getting hunted down, turning into a vicious cycle that would repeat itself until the competition entered its final stages and more and more purple-gold symbols appeared. Yao Jun gave a light shake of his head and put the jug of wine to his lips, just about to take a swig when a voice suddenly rang out right next to him.

"Aye, carelessness kills, but being too careful is no fun either, you miss far too many opportunities."

Yao Jun's heart instantly clenched and he let go of the jug of wine. He didn't even turn to look who was behind him, his sword instantly appeared in his grasp and he spun around, sending a slash in the direction of the voice, gathering all his might at the edge of the blade.

As he spun around, he saw the one who had suddenly spoken, it was a youth who looked like he was in the middle of his twenties. The youth had ocean-blue hair that hung loosely down to his neck, pale skin and a somewhat frail frame, and eyes that were a verdant green. He was clad in a pure white robe that didn't have a single speck of dust on it. The youth was sitting on a wooden log that hadn't been there before, an aura of carefreeness radiating from his entire being.

Looking at the youth, Yao Jun felt nothing, not the slightest hint of Qi or breath of life, it was as if the youth wasn't really there. The youth looked at Yao Jun's sword, his expression turning slightly amused as he shook his head.

"Really, why is it that people like you always react like this? That little black snake did the exact same thing. You don't need to be so on edge kiddo, I just came here because I felt something interesting while I was trying to avoid wor... trying to enjoy my vacation."

The youth quickly changed his last sentence but didn't even raise a finger to block Yao Jun's attack. And yet, the moment Yao Jun's sword got within a few centimeters of the youth's throat, the blade simply stopped. Yao Jun found himself unable to move the sword forward no matter how much strength he put into it, it almost felt like he was a mortal trying to cut through a mountain. The youth pointed at the jug of wine that Yao Jun had dropped, speaking so casually that one wouldn't think there was a sword almost touching his throat.

"Got some more of that? I haven't tasted the wine of your universe yet."

Yao Jun's mind raced as he looked at the youth, quickly trying to come up with a way to handle the situation. After what felt like an eternity, he pulled his sword back and put it away, shrugging his shoulders and taking a new jug of wine out from his interspatial ring, handing it to the youth.

"I've got plenty."

Resisting was pointless, that much was clear to Yao Jun, he couldn't even see how the youth had blocked his attack. At least it didn't look like the youth had come to kill him, so his best choice, for now, was to stay calm and figure out what the youth had come here for. The youth's face lit up as he accepted the jug, taking a large swig before speaking up.

"Hey, that's actually pretty good! Kiddo, I'm Chang Yun, and you don't gotta worry, I'm not here to hurt you. As I said, I'm just here cause I felt something interesting while tinkering with the growth process of this place."

The youth, Chang Yun, looked directly at Yao Jun's chest while talking, as if his eyes could see directly into Yao Jun's God Gate. Hearing Chang Yun's words, Yao Jun was reminded of the first time he met Tang Guanyu, he too had immediately noticed that Yao Jun carried a piece of this universe's Origin Heart. The youth tried to hand the jug of wine back to him, but Yao Jun shook his head lightly.

"You can keep it. If it's something interesting you are interested in, I would suggest you look for someone called Luosho Li, she should be more interesting than me."

Luosho Li carried two fragments of the Supreme Law of Defense, they weren't as special as a God Gate, but he could only hope that Chang Yun didn't know that. Contrary to what Yao Jun hoped, Chang Yun simply let out a laugh and took another swig of wine.

"Nice try, kiddo, but that's not gonna work on me. Tell you what, since you gave me some nice wine, I'll at least be nice and answer some of your questions while I'm skipping out on wor... Enjoying my vacation. I'll warn you though, I won't be answering any questions about who I am, knowing that won't do you any good."

Yao Jun could only click his tongue when his attempt to send Chang Yun away failed. Since he couldn't send Chang Yun away, he figured that he might as well take him up on his offer, rolling his eyes for a short moment while trying to come up with a question.

"You said you were here to tinker with the growth process of this place, what do you mean by that?"

Yao Jun knew that this place was actually a half-finished universe, but how could one tinker with the growth process of an entire universe? Could it be that Chang Yun was so strong that he could alter entire universes? Chang Yun clicked his tongue lightly after hearing Yao Jun's question, drinking some more wine.

"Tch, of course my tongue would slip. Gah, can't really go back on my words so I'll tell you. This place is actually a half-finished universe, the black snake and the golden snake got into a spat when they first met, and this place was so unfortunate that it ended up in their path. Its Origin Heart, the core of the universe, was shattered before it could reach full maturity, resulting in this universe being unable to become a complete universe. I fixed the Origin Heart after the two finished their spat, but the damage that the two of them cause isn't exactly easy to fully repair, resulting in this universe growing extremely slowly. I pop in occasionally to provide it a bit more energy to aid the growth process, hence my words."

Yao Jun could feel his head hurt just from listening to the words of Chang Yun. Shattered the Origin Heart of an entire universe? Repaired the Origin Heart and occasionally came here to aid in the growth process? Just what sort of level had this Chang Yun reached to manage something like that? Yao Jun had been somewhat confident in his strength before, but all that confidence now felt like nothing more than a joke. Yao Jun was thinking if he should ask another question, but just as he started rolling his eyes, another voice rang out from behind him.

"There you are, you old fogey. Did you think you could run here to skip out on work?"

Yao Jun's heart clenched even further, another one had arrived? He cautiously turned his head to see who had arrived now, his entire face blanching when he saw another youth only a few steps away from him. Stretching out behind the youth was a spatial rift unlike any Yao Jun had ever seen. Most spatial rifts contained something, either it was pure white light, fragments of space, or a myriad of colors and images that showed the scenery you were traveling past. But the spatial rift behind this youth was completely empty, a perfect black void that seemed to suck in everything else.

The youth had a somewhat slim frame, his muscles perfectly streamlined, and was clad in a sky-blue robe. He had hair as white as snow that was tied into a neat ponytail that hung all the way down to his waist, his eyes, however, were completely black, and it was this pair of eyes that caused Yao Jun's face to blanch. Looking into those eyes Yao Jun felt nothing but an overwhelming sense of terror, far worse than any he had felt before, far worse than the fear he had felt when he first faced an Origin Beast. It was like he was a normal mortal facing the destruction of the entire universe, all-encompassing fear swallowing his very being. A hand suddenly landed on Yao Jun's shoulder, all the fear in his body strangely vanishing as Chang Yun's voice rang out from behind him.

"Come on now, Lil' Ying, you'll scare the kiddo to death, pull it back a little. And hey, I'm not skipping out on work, I found something interesting so I came to take a look. And see, ain't he a little interesting?"

The other youth cast a glance at Chang Yun for a second before focusing his eyes on Yao Jun. His eyes quickly landed on Yao Jun's chest, one of his eyebrows raising in surprise as his gaze seemed to drift into Yao Jun's God Gate.

"Huh, you weren't kidding. Not often you see someone actually using a piece of an Origin Heart. But that's no excuse for you to skip out on work. Do you have any idea how much of that shrew's nagging that I've had to listen to since you fucked off? Even Brother Yang has had enough of it and fucked off on a vacation with the missus. Do you plan to leave all the guarding work to me? If so, I'll just tell that shrew that you're here, leave it to her to bring you back."

Now that all his fear had vanished, Yao Jun paid close attention to the words of the white-haired youth. The part he immediately caught onto was the last thing the youth had said, guarding work. What sort of thing could be so monstrous that people like these had to be on guard? Chang Yun removed his hand from Yao Jun's shoulder and lowered his own dejectedly, raising his arms in defeat.

"Fine, fine, no need for such threats, I'll come back with you. I treasure my neck too much to have that shrew scream down it."

Yao Jun had no idea how he did it, but Chang Yun suddenly appeared in front of him, right by the pitch black spatial rift that the white-haired youth had opened. He tossed the jug of wine back to Yao Jun, pointing at it as he spoke.

"I emptied your wine but only answered one of your questions, I've filled the jug up with some darn good wine, consider that my payback. You should wait with drinking the wine until you've at least reached that Heavenly Deity or whatever realm, otherwise you and that fragment of yours are just going to explode."

Yao Jun glanced at the now full jug of wine, wondering just what sort of wine could cause both him and a piece of an Origin Heart to explode. The white-haired youth cast a sideways glance at Chang Yun, making sure that he stepped into the spatial rift before casting another glance at Yao Jun.

"You and I can be considered somewhat similar, so I'll tell you this. Don't be content or complacent, even with that special power of yours, there are countless people in this vast multiverse that can still easily kill you. Don't slack off in your cultivation, always strive to be better, otherwise, you won't be worthy of having that fragment."

The white-haired youth stepped into the spatial rift after he finished speaking, not even bothering to give his own name. The spatial rift vanished after the youth stepped into it, leaving only the utterly shocked and dumbfounded Yao Jun within the cave. Yao Jun cast another glance at the jug of wine, quickly storing it into his God Gate before letting out a breath.

"Right, let's start cultivating."

Yao Jun completely forgot about the food he had been busy preparing, putting out the fire and covering up the cave entrance before sitting down on the ground with crossed legs. He had no idea who these two youths had been, but just seeing them had been a clear reminder to him, he was still far too weak. He took out the various interspatial rings that he had gathered up over time, quickly searching through them and picking out every book or scroll he could find, quickly starting to read and memorize them one by one.

Increasing his knowledge was one way of increasing his strength, many of these books and scrolls also contained explanations of the various laws and how to use them, reading them would let him get a deeper understanding of his own laws. If he was lucky, some of the books might also contain information about cultivation and other cultivation techniques he could use to increase his strength. First he would memorize all the books, then he would cultivate his body and Qi using the corpses and resources he had gathered up, only once all that was done would he leave the cave.