ShiranuiShukumei

Have no fear, I swear that I am still here.

Guo Luo and Yun Yantian were a bit closer to the 15 stone wagons so they walked about a step ahead of Yao Jun, who was carrying a shiny-eyed Yao Xuelian who was still filled with excitement after seeing Yun Yantian and Guo Luo's dominant display. She swung her left fist around haphazardly, using her other hand to pat Yao Jun on the head as if she was afraid that he had missed the spectacle just now.

"Did you see that, Papa!? Did you see Mama, did you see her!? Just one word and they all froze, they couldn't even move an inch! Mama's the best, isn't she!?"

Yao Jun simply smiled and nodded his head, swiftly approaching the group of wagons. The people present within the wagons had already stepped out of them to meet up with Guo Luo and the others, a young man, a young woman, and an old man leading them. The two young people were rather similar in appearance, they looked to be in their mid-twenties and had auburn hair as well as green eyes.

The man kept his straight hair to just above his ears but the woman had her curly hair hang freely all the way down to just beneath her shoulders. The two were just barely at the middle-stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm but Yao Jun could see a strange energy reminiscent of the energy found in pills flowing through their veins, it was highly likely that neither of them had reached their current realm by their own efforts.

The old man still had shimmering black hair, but his back was a bit hunched forward and his face was covered in wrinkles, his green eyes were starting to sink into their sockets, revealing that he was already getting well on his years. The man was only at the early stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm, but Yao Jun could tell that he was likely the strongest person present, the only person here at the late stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm had died shortly after they were ambushed.

The old man's insides were filled with wounds, a good portion of his veins twisted or blocked by clotted blood or globs of toxin, so Yao Jun guessed that his cultivation used to be higher but ended up decreasing due to his wounds. The old man brought everyone else and stopped in front of Yun Yantian and Guo Luo, all of them dipping into a deep bow to show their gratitude as the old man spoke.

"Thank you for coming to our aid, Benefactors. I am Pan Huisu of the Pan clan, and these are my great-great-grandchildren, Pan Lim and Pan Liuxian. Were it not for your help, I fear that all of us here might have died or suffered worse fates. You have not only saved our lives but also ensured that we can complete our mission to secure the future of the Pan clan, you have my eternal gratitude. I fear that I do not currently carry anything worth enough to repay this great debt, but if you visit my Pan clan in the future then I swear upon my ancestors that I will see you repaid."

The old man spoke very eloquently and politely, only raising his head again after he finished all his words. The rest of the people behind him also raised their heads along with the man, gazing at Yun Yantian and Guo Luo with eyes that practically shone. The young man and woman, Pan Lim and Pan Liuxian especially so, they looked at Yun Yantian and Guo Luo as if they were looking at their idols. Yun Yantian was quick to respond after Pan Huisu finished talking, he was probably the most sociable one among their group.

"No need to worry too much about repaying us, it would leave a terrible taste in my mouth if I were to ignore you after seeing you in such trouble. But I doubt that you'll be satisfied with such a response, so how about you repay us with information? I am Yun Yantian, and these are my friends, Yao Jun, Guo Luo, and Yao Xuelian. My friends and I are wanderers you see, we only left our nomadic tribe about two years ago so there is still very much we don't know. If you would be so kind as to share some of your information with us then that would be more than enough repayment."

Information was exactly the thing Yao Jun and the others needed right now, it was especially important that they learn about the dangerous areas of this universe as quickly as they could. Yao Jun was also hunting for information about places containing an immensely dense amount of lightning energy, he needed such a location to revive Little Thunder after all. Pan Liuxian's eyes lit up after Yun Yantian finished talking, a sweet smile appearing on her face as she took the chance to speak up.

"That's no problem, no problem at all! If you're willing, you can tag along with us right away! We just have to travel for about two more days to pick up a herb before we return, we can be back at the Pan clan within 10 days!"

Pan Lim and Pan Huisu exchanged quick glances upon hearing Pan Liuxian's swift agreement, but neither of them spoke up or tried to stop her. Yun Yantian exchanged a quick glance with Guo Luo and Yao Jun before nodding his head, a pleasant and calming smile worthy of someone who used to be the young master of a clan hanging on his face.

"Then it seems we will have to impose on you, please forgive us if we show some ignorance, we look forward to traveling with you and learning from you."

Pan Liuxian's smile grew a touch larger upon receiving a positive response, her body taking a step back and swiftly and politely guiding Yao Jun and the others to the largest stone wagon, one that was almost 40 meters long and half as wide. Pan Liuxian bowed politely in front of the entrance of the wagon, which was more fitting to be called a carriage, beckoning for Guo Luo and the others to enter.

"Please enter and make yourself comfortable, I promise that we'll have our best provisions prepared in the blink of an eye."

Pan Liuxian beckoned for them to enter, but Yao Jun's gaze drifted towards the pale-gray horses with seaweed-like hair. The horses seemed a bit uneasy when Yao Jun's gaze landed on them, stomping their feet slightly. Yao Jun could feel that his God Gate was heavily suppressed after he left his own universe, but it was far from as suppressed as he was told it would be.

It was rather similar to how it was when he entered the remains of the first Demon God's Gate so he felt like there was a chance that he could still absorb some Demonic beasts just like he could back then. As for whether or not there were any requirements for this and just why he was different from the first Demon God's Gate, he had no idea.

But what Yao Jun failed to realize was that while just the Demon God's Gate might be suppressed after leaving its own universe, he wasn't carrying just the Demon God's Gate. He also had the Human God's Gate and the Element God's Gate as well as pieces of the Shield God's Gate, the collective energy of these supreme fragments was more than enough to ease the suppression of leaving his own universe.

Yao Jun only glanced at the beasts for a short moment before removing his gaze, Pan Liuxian giving a quick wave to another person not far away, the young woman nodding her head and vanishing into another one of the wagons. Yun Yantian gave the house-shaped carriage a cursory glance and then took the lead in entering it, Yao Jun and Guo Luo casually following him. The moment they entered the wagon, Pan Liuxian glanced at her brother and great-great-grandfather, her voice quietly ringing out inside their heads.

"Seeing the strength that they revealed just now, this Yun Yantian and Guo Luo are clearly far from normal people, they are probably strong enough to deal with even middle-stage Earthly Deities. We cannot let this chance slip out of our grasps, we must acquire their aid. Our ages look fairly close so I'll do my best to get close to Yun Yantian, Lim, you do your best to get close to Guo Luo. Being friends is good, but it would be for the best if we can tie them to us through marriage, maybe even a child or two. But don't be too pushy, we don't want to accidentally push them away. With them on our side, we should have at least a 60% chance of overtaking the Lin clan this time around."

Pan Lim nodded his head with a deadpan expression, not allowing his thoughts to show on his face. Pan Huisu on the other hand only smiled somewhat faintly and mysteriously, a slight tinge of worry swimming around in his sunken in pupils as he looked at the wagon, giving a warning that even he sounded somewhat uncertain of.

"That last member of their group, that Yao Jun, don't neglect him. He gives me a strange feeling, it's as if he brings with him an unearthly and horrifying chill, I don't think he is as simple as he seems."

The Pan siblings raised their eyebrows in response to the warning, giving somewhat uncertain and not entirely convinced nods of their heads in response. The woman that Pan Liuxian had waved at earlier came over with an interspatial ring and handed it to Pan Liuxian, taking her leave right after.

Pan Liuxian took out several silver trays covered in food and various wines, a slight wind extending from her hands and causing the trays to stably hover in front of her. She then continued to wear her sweet smile and brought the trays into the wagon, Pan Lim and Pan Huisu following right after her.

The inside of the wagon was rather neatly decorated, it was a single large room where the floor was covered in tiles made from woven straw. Dark orange silken sheets covered the walls of the room, a low circular table surrounded by soft pillows supposed to serve as seats decorating the center of the room. A golden chandelier hung from the ceiling, small white gems releasing a soft light embedded into the chandelier. The rest of the room was mostly filled with fragrant plants, causing the entire room to be filled with a pleasant scent. Yao Jun and the others were already sitting around the table, Pan Lim quickly walking over while apologizing.

"Please forgive us for being tardy, finding worthy provisions was a bit hard on such short notice. These wines and vegetables, as well as the fruits, are all produced by our Pan clan, I hope that they are to your liking."

Pan Liuxian placed the various trays on the table and then sat down to the right of Yun Yantian. Yao Jun was sitting to the left of Guo Luo so Pan Lim sat down on her right, smiling softly and politely introducing himself. Pan Huisu was the last on to sit down, his pupils flickering for a short moment before he sat down in the open spot next to Yao Jun, a pleasant smile on his face as he nodded at him. Yao Jun's hands played with Yao Xuelian, who was seated in his lap, his gaze drifting over Pan Huisu's body for a short moment before he took the initiative to speak.

"You're wounded, poisoned too."

Yao Jun didn't even bother waiting for Pan Huisu to say anything, his hand had already stretched out and placed a finger on Pan Huisu's solar plexus. Pan Huisu's entire body tensed up for a short second before he suddenly felt several of the veins in his chest clear up, the blood and poison clotting them vanishing. Even the twisted veins were repaired in no time, his Qi once again flowing freely through his chest, the aura his body was releasing instantly rising to the middle-stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm when Yao Jun pulled back his arm. Not just Pan Huisu but even the two Pan siblings looked at Yao Jun with apparent shock, Pan Huisu stuttering out a few words as he touched his own chest in disbelief.

"You...You're a doctor? You even managed to repair the ruined veins, they're practically as good as new..."

Pan Huisu continued touching his own chest in utter disbelief, checking his own veins and injuries. He knew his own injuries better than anyone, not even the best doctors in the Pan clan knew how to fix them. But now, Yao Jun had simply placed a finger on him and all the wounds in his chest instantly vanished, immediately restoring part of his lost cultivation. Yao Jun gave a slight roll of his eyes as he thought it over, deciding to play along.

"Yeah, I'm a doctor, but I specialize mostly in wounds and the like, diseases aren't my forte."

Yao Jun didn't have a lot of experience with healing others, but the fact that his eyes allowed him to see into other people's bodies made it easy for him to see what ailed them. And as long as he could see it, finding a way to deal with it was easy. With Pan Huisu, it was surprisingly easy to deal with his wounds. Yao Jun just had to use a bit of poison to numb his sense of pain, then a bit of fire to burn away the poison and the blood clots.

He used the dissolving power of Jun Tuan to get rid of the ruined parts of Pan Huisu's veins, replacing them using a bit of ice as a mold and some lifeforce that Yama had stored up to help the veins regrow along the shape of the mold. It was easy in theory, but it required not just an extremely high degree of control over one's Qi but also Yao Jun's special eyes to overlook the entire process. Pan Huisu stopped touching his chest and inspecting his veins, his eyes reddening somewhat as a tear squeezed its way out of the corner of his right eye.

"The heavens haven't forsaken my Pan clan, they have heard our pleas and sent us someone to aid us. Benefactor Jun, I beg of you to return to the Pan clan with me and aid me, the current patriarch, my great-grandson, is in desperate need of your skills!"