Ruler of the Demon's Gate.

The ship carrying Yao Jun and the others arrived in front of the black castle that was the headquarters of the Demon's Gate sect, landing in the several kilometer wide opening in the forest that stood in front of the castle. A wide path leading directly to the entrance of the castle was carved into the forest, small winding paths splitting off from it and heading to the 10 towers surrounding the castle.

By the time the ship touched the ground and came to a halt, the long path to the castle was already filled with people clad in black robes featuring an image of Yao Jun's God Gate. The people lined up neatly along the edges of the path and knelt down, forming two long lines of people with lowered bodies. Nine lights flashed from Yao Jun's chest, Little Gray and the others appearing behind him, with Little Gray taking the opportunity to speak up.

"Those are all the people we've managed to recruit so far, a grand total of 5192 people. Most of them are only at the early or middle stages of the Immortal Rebirth realm, but all of them carry a fierce hatred for the Merged Heaven clan so they are wonderfully loyal."

Yao Jun didn't say anything in response to Little Gray's words, his gaze sweeping across the people gathered up and kneeling in front of him. Yun Yantian and Guo Luo were also looking at the kneeling people, Yun Yantian whistling when he saw their numbers, it was a rather pleasant feeling to have so many people kneeling to you. But contrary to Yun Yantian's satisfaction, Yao Jun's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Since you've already come, there's no need to leave."

Yao Jun gave a casual wave of his hand, space around a dozen people growing thick and heavy, sealing their movements. While the other people present were alarmed by his actions, Yao Jun flicked his index finger and shot out several arrows of mental energy and poison, each of the dozen people getting pierced by one of the arrows.

"Speak, who sent you?"

By this point in time, Little Gray and the others also started to realize what Yao Jun was doing, their expressions turning somewhat gloomy. The 12 people that Yao Jun had trapped were allowed to walk to the center of the road, their gazes hollow and empty as they spoke up with somewhat mechanic voices

"I was sent by the Seventh Young Mistress of the Merged Heaven clan."

"I was sent by the Ninth Young Master of the Endless Abyss clan."

"I was sent by the Fourth Successor of the Heaven's Gate sect."

"I was sent by the Punishment Elder of the Merged Heaven clan."

"I was sent by the Third Young Mistress of the Final Fire clan."

The dozen people all emotionlessly stated who their true masters were, Yao Jun's poison and mental energy completely overriding their minds. He had detected faint traces on these 12 people when he first swept his gaze across them, most of the traces resembled mental energy marks but there were two of the traces that were quite similar to the traces that Peyton left on his men.

The other kneeling people also finally understood the truth, there had been spies in their midst all along. But that was only to be expected, any sect that was as daring in its actions as this one would inevitably draw attention. Especially now that Yao Jun had arrived here, his presence would quickly become known, the allegiance of the King of Demonic Deities finally becoming known to the universe.

Yao Jun gave a calm nod of his head after hearing the responses, taking Yao Xuelian from Guo Luo's grasp. He held her high and turned her around so that she faced him, smiling brightly at her while playing with her.

"Papa's gonna tickle you now, so you better defend yourself if you don't want to get poked."

Yao Xuelian immediately started to laugh as Yao Jun started tickling her, cheating by using the wind to tickle her in other places while she did her best to defend against his arms. The moment she started laughing and became absorbed in the game, space around the 12 people transformed into a sturdy orb that trapped them all inside. The orb shrank to the size of an apple in less than a second, the 12 people within it crushed into a single chunk of meat and pulverized bones. The chunk of meat was then sent away through space, eventually ending up in Yao Jun's God Gate.

Yao Jun started to walk forward the moment he finished dealing with the 12 people, continuing to play with his daughter to distract her from what he had just done. Yao Jun didn't want his daughter to get too involved in such matters while she was still this young, it was a matter best left for when she was much older than she was now.

Yun Yantian and the others had also been marred by the cruelty of the cultivation world already so none of them had anything to say about Yao Jun's way of handling the situation. They followed Yao Jun closely, Guo Luo on his left and Yun Yantian on his right while Little Gray and the others walked two steps behind him, keeping his parents company.

The kneeling people lining the road didn't even dare breathe too loudly as Yao Jun walked, their hearts nearly stuck in their throats. This was the first time they ever saw the true leaders of their sect, the people whom the two final thrones in the main hall were designed for. And when they finally saw the true leader of their sect, they couldn't help but feel fear. A casual wave of his hand and 12 people who were just as strong as them were vanquished, crushed to paste before disappearing. He even played with his daughter while doing it, the act didn't even seem to register in his mind.

The group quickly reached the entrance of the castle, which was at least 20 kilometers wide, 10 kilometers long, and about 40 kilometers tall, even Yao Jun had to admit that it was a rather grand sight. The massive wooden gates of the castle already stood open, a red-dressed and golden-haired figure walking in circles in front of the entrance. Yang Yuhuan raised her head the moment she noticed their approach, her eyes immediately jumping over Guo Luo and Yao Jun, landing on Yun Yantian.

"You absolute bastard!"

Yang Yuhuan charged over like a vicious beast, her blue eyes practically burning with flames as she wailed on Yun Yantian. She curled up her fists and struck his chest multiple times, but each of her hits was so weak that it wasn't even enough to disturb his robes. Yao Jun and Guo Luo looked at the scene with soft smirks, Yun Yantian's expression somewhat bitter as the sound of Yang Yuhuan's curses echoed out.

"You think that's gonna be good enough, huh? You vanish for years and then think it's all gonna be fine if you return with that casual smile? Do you think I won't beat the shit out of you? Tell me, how many messages have you sent me since you left, how many times have you notified me of how you are doing? Not. Fucking. One. Not a single fucking message, are you kidding with me?"

Yang Yuhuan continued to wail on Yun Yantian like a neglected wife, no one daring to be the one to tell her that it was she who chose to stay behind when Yun Yantian left the planet. Yun Yantian didn't stop her from hitting him, his gaze softening as he opened his arms and embraced her into a tight embrace, burrowing his face into her hair.

"I've missed you."

Yang Yuhuan's arms lost their strength after Yun Yantian embraced her, a few soft mutters of unfairness escaping her lips before she wrapped her own arms around his body, her eyes growing somewhat red. Yao Jun looked at the two people hugging for a short bit before he leaned closer to Guo Luo, quietly whispering to her.

"So when did the two of them get like that? Last time I checked, Yun Yantian swore that he saw her as nothing more than a little sister, and I believe she also saw him as a brother as well."

It had already been quite a while since Yao Jun left his home planet so there were many matters he was not aware of, this was clearly one of them. Guo Luo giggled softly after hearing Yao Jun's question, placing her lips practically right against his ear while responding.

"You've missed quite a lot after you left. They were originally as you said, but when someone proposed that Sister Yuhuan marry someone from the larger clans to aid in the restoration of the Yang clan, Brother Yantian blew a fuse. I was going to say that he was rather dashing when he charged into the first marriage interview and beat up the people present, but after seeing a certain someone go as overboard as to blow up an entire planet, I can't help but think that the scene from back then pales a little."

Yao Jun responded to her words with a quick wink, not the least bit worried about what he did. He then moved his gaze back onto the two people who were still embracing each other, it seemed like had indeed missed quite a few things over the years. But now they had plenty of time to catch up, he would learn about all the things he had missed. He wasn't too interested in telling the story of what he had done, it had basically been nothing but a bloodbath from day one, it wasn't a terribly interesting story. He nudged Guo Luo in the side with his elbow, using his chin to gesture past the black castle.

"Let's give them some time alone, they'll come to find us once they're done."

Guo Luo nodded her head and the two of them continued walking, Yao Jun still carrying Yao Xuelian, who seemed to be getting somewhat drowsy. Little Gray and the others stayed behind to deal with the people of the sect, only Yao Jun's parents following him and Guo Luo.

Yao Jun didn't bother looking for a specific place, he found an empty lot behind the black castle and took out his tower, which Yun Yantian had taken to calling the Time-Altering Spire. He placed it on the ground and had it shrink to a five-meter tall tower, bringing Guo Luo and his parents inside it.

Yao Jun was hoping that he should be getting some peace now, the various clans and sects too preoccupied with recuperating to think about trying to deal with him. As such, he was hoping to spend at least a year or two here, after that he could see about heading to the Lost God Galaxy.