Yao Jun could hear a myriad of sounds coming from above, Merged Heaven Clan soldiers most likely swarming around the entrance of the hole he had created as he smashed into the earth. But he did not care one bit, waiting for the swift, but somewhat confused, reply from Sirius and the others.

"You are willing to set us loose, my lord?"

During the last two battles, Yao Jun had not been willing to set them loose, only allowing Ba-Shei to participate in the first battle. Because of that, they had expected the same for this battle, which was even more brutal than the two previous ones. But Yao Jun's lips curved into a somewhat ferocious smile as he responded.

"Why wouldn't I be willing? You guys have been cooped up inside that gate for so long already, had it not been so dangerous, I would have let you out much earlier. With the chaos outside, the odds of you guys getting noticed have decreased quite a bit. And even if you do get discovered, you can return to the God Gate with a mere thought."

None of the Demonic beasts inside his gate were considered his servants or slaves, they were comrades who aided him in his battles. If he could, he would not want for them to be stuck inside the God Gate at all times. Yao Jun glanced at the distant opening of the hole, at the flickering shadows that danced around it, the smile on his face stretching into a smirk as he spoke out.

"The outside is filled with people and Demonic beasts of all kinds and all types of strength, imagine how tasty they must be. I will share the power from the formation core with all of you, giving you full access to the God Gate. Kill and devour as much as you like, increase your strength and reach for higher peaks. And if you find any Demonic beasts that you think would make for excellent partners, I don't mind if you kill and absorb them to become future comrades. So, what do you guys say?"

Since the Demonic beasts inside the gate were considered part of him, he could easily share the power of the formation core with them, drastically increasing their strength, but somewhat lowering his own. But that didn't matter, as he didn't intend to battle much more, but rather serve as a distraction. As long as his Demonic beasts grew stronger, so too would he, so by letting Sirius and the others partake in the battle, he was actually increasing the speed at which his strength grew. Just as he thought, Sirius and the others did not hesitate to speak out with excited voices.

"Please, let us loose!"

Hearing the clear excitement in their voices, Yao Jun could not help but let out a slight chuckle.

"That's what I thought!"

Yao Jun clenched his hands and threw out his arms, frosty Qi shooting into the earth around him, freezing several kilometers of earth. The frozen earth quickly shattered, creating a large underground cavern. He brought out the gate and opened it, Zhuyin and the others swarming out. Yao Jun split up the power from the formation core, spreading it evenly to all his Demonic beasts, waving for them to run wild.

"Go, show them your might!"

Zhuanxu and the others nodded their heads, their eyes glimmering as they felt their strength soar. They spread out to different ends of the cavern, waiting for Yao Jun to make the first move. Yao Jun flew out of the cavern, quickly bypassing the soldiers around the entrance and soaring into the air. He looked at the various soldiers that had gathered around the hole, glancing at the attacks they sent at him. He gave them a short and courteous bow, before stepping onto a silver line and vanishing through space.

"Sorry about that, I'll continue to play with you now."

After spreading out the borrowed power evenly between all his Demonic beasts, his current strength had been lowered to about the Transcended Immortal stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm. It was not enough to fight the soldiers that chased him, but thanks to his control over the laws of space, playing tag with them was something he was still quite capable of.

--

The Merged Heaven Clan soldiers were at a complete loss as to how to deal with the situation in front of them. Their great general had told them about the man in the black armor, about Bloodstained Black, or the Bloodstained Blade as a few other soldiers had taken to calling the man. They were told to either catch him alive or kill him and immediately bring back the body. They did not know why the general cared so much about this man, but they were soldiers that made sure to follow their orders.

They immediately swarmed towards him once he appeared in the battle, piling on more and more soldiers to halt him and try to catch him alive. His strength was far greater than first reported, but their general sent them a message, explaining that it was most likely due to an array supporting him. After chasing him for a bit, watching him slip through their fingers time and time again, even killing some of them whenever they showed even the slightest opening.

Looking at how he took advantage of even the smallest opening, brutally and viciously attacking and killing said soldier, they quickly understood why he had been given the title of Bloodstained. The leader of the soldiers that were chasing him, Andromalus, decided that if they kept trying to catch him alive, they would have to sacrifice quite a few soldiers. To avoid that, he changed the target from capturing to killing, surrounding the target and launching a frontal attack.

The attack was a success, hitting the Bloodstained dead on and smashing him into the earth. Quite a few of the other soldiers would have been crippled by that single attack, so they swarmed around the hole that had been created in the earth, preparing to dig out the target. But to their surprise, the target flew out of the hole, completely fine! He even spoke to them in a cordial, if a rather young sounding voice, before vanishing through space once more.

But that was only the start of the strangeness. The strength of the target had dropped quite a bit after he left the hole, so the soldiers guessed that the array that was supporting him had blocked the attack and weakened as a result. But despite that, the target was still able to flee from them, dodging their every attack as if he could sense it ahead of time. Looking at his nimble motions, Andromalus could only curse at the perceptiveness of someone in control of the laws of space. The target even took the chance to talk to them as he fled.

"So, how long are you guys going to chase me for?"

"Did Elysande give you the order to chase me? Or was it someone else?"

"Come one, you could at least answer one of my questions, or even introduce yourselves. Otherwise, this is just going to get boring very quickly."

The target was clearly in an excellent mood. They could not see his face, but they were certain that he carried a wide smile beneath his helmet. Not only did he talk to them as he fled, but he would also even flee in strange directions at times, killing some small and weak spiders, swallowing them with his shadow. Was he trying to tell them that their chase was boring him so much that it was better to kill such weak spiders?

With the battle still raging on around them, their reinforcements making their appearance and catching the World Tree Clan off-guard, the soldiers thought that the target would at least be somewhat shocked. But he still spoke to them, acting completely calm. Even worse, the soldiers were able to tell that the strength of the Bloodstained was slowly rising, as if the array that was supporting him was recharging as time passed.

But it was after chasing the Bloodstained for nearly an entire day that a proper change happened. The black armor that the Bloodstained was wearing, the one that was missing only a single piece, started to suddenly wriggle as if it was alive. Within a few seconds, the sturdy armor had spread to cover the target's entire body.

But once it covered all of the Bloodstained's body, it changed once more. The previously sturdy armor turned into an elegant black robe that looked like it was made out of silk. At a distance, it looked normal, but upon closer inspection, one could see an almost scale-like pattern covering the entire robe, a massive black gate adorned with Demonic beasts covering the entire back of the robe.

After the armor turned into a robe, the aura of the Bloodstained soared, growing wilder and more ferocious. Were it not for the soldiers seeing the appearance of the Bloodstained, they would believe that they were facing a primordial Demonic beast, a true sovereign. But thanks to the armor turning into a robe, they were finally able to see the Bloodstained's true appearance, and they could not help but be shocked.

Long and flowing violet hair, ghastly gray eyes that seemed to pierce directly into their soul. His features were smooth and delicate, but he had clearly undergone rigorous training, so he exuded a rather manly charm. Despite the robe covering his body, they could tell that his body was streamlined and muscular, packed full of explosive energy that just waited to burst out. But most importantly, he was clearly very young, probably not even twenty yet. This child was the one who had led them on a wild game of tag, this child was the target titled as Bloodstained?

The target was clearly surprised at his armor vanishing, momentarily stopping. Upon noticing that his helmet had vanished, his true features laid bare, his expression sunk somewhat. His eyes turned towards the soldiers, narrowing slightly, a chill descending upon the soldiers as he spoke out, pulling a mask out from his interspatial ring.

"You have seen too much."